INTRO:

The first question that needs to be entertained is "Why study the Ten Commandments?" The following list represents but a few reasons why we should:

[1]. "...that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;" (Deut. 28:58)
[2]. "...for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20)
[3]. "...the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ" (Gal. 3:24)
[4]. "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." (Rom. 7:12).
[5]. We are commanded to think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report (Phil. 4:8).

 

I. RECOGNITION OF A PERSONAL GOD

The very construction of the verse suggests that God is a Personality and therefore cannot be contained in materialistic objects.

A. To have a personal God is to acknowledge Him as a God. The gods of the heathen are idols (Ps. 96:5) and we know that an idol is nothing (1 Cor. 8:4).

• To acknowledge Him as God is to say there is none other like Him (1 Kings 8:22,23; Ps. 89:6).
• A good acknowledgment of God can be found in (1 Kings 18:39).

B. To have a personal God is to choose Him.

• It is one thing to acknowledge the person of the one true God, but quite another to choose Him (Josh. 24:15).
• Before choosing God for our God, there must be knowledge. We must know Him before we can choose Him, as in marriage (1 Chron. 28:9). We must know God in His attributes, His holiness, His mercy, His promises and His Son (Phil. 3:10).

C. To have a personal God is to enter into a solemn covenant with Him, that He shall be our God. After the choice, the marriage covenant follows. Even as Israel entered into a covenant with God (2 Chron. 15:12), so do we with Christ (Eph. 5:29-33).

D. To have a personal God is to reverence Him, (Ps. 9:7) Even the seraphims covered their faces in the presence of God (Isa. 6). Peter had it right when he said "...Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord." (Luke 5:8).

E. To have a personal God is to fear Him. The Psalmist said "I have set the Lord always before me..." (Ps. 16:8) and "Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord..." (Ps. 25:15). He who fears God imagines that whatever he is doing God looks on, and as a judge, weighs all his actions. The result will be that we "Stand in awe, and sin not..." (Ps. 4:4) . The fear of God can destroy the fear of man (Dan. 3:16-18).

F. To have a personal God is to trust Him. (Ps. 141:8; 2 Sam. 22:3)

II. THERE MUST BE NO OTHER GOD

A. Riches - (1 Tim. 6:10) It is foolish to trust in something that will deceive you (Matt. 13:22), hurt you (Ecc. 5:13), and give you false hope (Prov. 10:15; Job 31:24).

B. The arm of the flesh - (Jer. 17:5) The Syrian trusted in their army, which was so numerous that it filled the country; but this arm of flesh withered (1 Kings 20:27-29).

C. Wisdom, intelligence and education - (Jer. 9:23) Many a man makes an idol of his wit or craftiness (Job 5:13). Ahithophel had great wit and his counsel was clever, but it brought him to his own end (2 Sam. 17:23).

D. Pleasure - (2 Tim. 3:4) A little of the proper pleasure is proper (Ecc. 3:4) however what we see today is not only an abuse of this liberty but the avalanche of sensual pleasure that is ungodly.

E. The Belly - (Phil. 3:19) There are many who do nothing but indulge the appetite which is idolatry.

F. A Child - (Ps. 127:3) Thomas Watson, an old Puritan Preacher said, "If we love a child more than God, we make a god of it. How many are guilty in this kind? They think of their children, and delight more in them than in God; they grieve more for the loss of their first-born, than for the loss of their first love. This is to make an idol of a child, and to set it in God's room. Thus God is often provoked to take away our children. If we love the jewel more than him that gave it, God will take away the jewel, that our love may return to him again."

The matter may be summarized in the words of Solomon in (Ecc. 12:13,14). "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."