Who Takes First Place? (Part 2 of 2)

As Christians, we're commanded not to allow anything to take God's place.

Now, that may sound like an easy law for believers to uphold, but today on Truth for Life, we'll discover how even good things and good people can replace God in our hearts and minds. Alistair Begg is teaching from Exodus chapter 20. We're focusing on verse 3. This God, says the writer in Deuteronomy, is unique. Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 39. You should turn to it if you would like to see it. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, chapter 4.

This is very important when you're talking to your friends. Deuteronomy 4.39. This is what God says.

Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. I am so sick of this Mother Earth junk. I'm fed up with it. I'm fed up with these people on channel 3, 5, and 8 sitting there as if they were in charge of the weather. Or they're in touch with somebody who's in charge of the weather. Oh, Mother Nature will be shining on the air show this afternoon. Oh, yeah?

It's bogus. Listen. Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above.

He makes it rain, he makes it drought. And he's in charge on the earth below. There is no other. There's nobody else.

There's no one else. Now, you see, that immediately backs you into a corner, doesn't it? Because our culture says, We don't mind you having a God, providing you've just got a God. But we don't want you coming here with the the God story. See, we can have the a God story but not the the God story. Because after all, this is the realm of competition. And as long as we have a McDonald's, we don't have a Burger King.

As long as you have a Burger King, you have the right to have an Arby's. And in the same way, when you talk God, everybody says something a little stall. You go to the average university, they've got all their little deities set up. And the last thing in the world you want to do is to be thought some kind of obscurantist freak who says, You know, I think Deuteronomy 4.39's got something to say here. There is no other rather than the God who made us.

And because of that, he says in verse 40, Keep his decrees and his commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time. In other words, I'm God, I thought it up, this is how you should do it, do this, and it's really good. But if you want to bring home a tumble dryer and try and mix concrete for a new patio in the back of your house, that's not a smart idea.

There is not a tumble dryer made that will do that job the way that the concrete mixer is supposed to do it, and I don't suggest that you put your laundry in a concrete mixer. Why? Because they weren't put together for that. This God that we worship is creator, he is unique. As we saw in a previous study, he is plural, he's powerful, he's perfect, and he's praiseworthy.

You should write those four things down. Perfect doctrine of God. All you need to do then is go and find the whole Bible explaining those four words. The God that we worship, the God who reveals himself here in Exodus chapter 2, is plural.

In other words, he is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The cults can't do anything with that. They don't have the idea of a Trinity. Hinduism says there have been many avatars.

Christianity says God has revealed himself only once. Both Hinduism and Christianity cannot both be right. One is wrong. Judaism says that God is totally monotheistic.

He is Yahweh, he is Jehovah. Christianity says Jesus is God. We cannot both be right. Islam says this. Buddhism says that. Christianity says something.

We cannot both be right. The hundred-year convocation of the religions of the world. Got off to a flying start. Everybody said, What a wonderful time we're going to have. Here's little Johnny with his idea, and Fred, and Billy, and they're all here. Mary as well.

And one thinks that God is the Father, one thinks it's the Mother, one thinks God is monotheistic, and he's a Trinity. Oh, it's going to be wonderful, says the writer at the beginning of the week, when we all get together and discover that we all believe the same thing. Did you read the articles about Thursday, Friday?

It was fantastic! The Muslims were kicking up a right shindig with the Buddhists. The Buddhists were blowing out the Hare Krishnas. The Hare Krishnas were ticked off with somebody else, and the whole thing was a major dog's breakfast. It was proving the stupidity of it all. And, says the writer, although they agree the thing is messed up, they cannot agree on the solution.

Of course they can't! Because this is God's infallible truth. Because God, as he reveals himself, is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is one in essence.

They are coequal from all of eternity. He is the triune God. He is plural. He is powerful.

He speaks, and it happens. He is perfect. He is without flaw. He is self-existent, and he is worthy of our praise. All that men would not say hasn't nature been good to us, but all that men would say, What a wonderful, almighty God who has chosen to do these things!

Now, you see, that only happens by grace. By nature, man is confused. Now, why is this important?

Well, it's important for multiple reasons. Despite the fact that all these people go to church—let me quote you—although ninety-five percent of Americans say they believe in God, it is by no means clear that they acknowledge the God of biblical revelation. Who speaks to them from beyond himself and awakens in men and women a sense of dependency, a sense of moral unworthiness, and a sense of obligation to do his will?

See? So you say, Well, I want to get religious, and I want to come to church. Okay, come along to church.

This is Parkside Church. Well, what's it like? Well, it's like a lot of things. Yeah, but I mean, what'll happen if I come in there? I mean, will I feel good? Well, what do you mean? I mean, will the seats feel comfortable?

The seats are comfortable. Yeah, but will I feel like I'm a good guy? No, probably not. Not unless your wife tells you you're a good guy, or one of your friends, or something else. If the Bible speaks that way, then you'll feel great. But if the Bible says you're a bad guy, you're gonna feel like a bad guy.

And guess what? If you don't like feeling like a bad guy, you're never coming back. Because if your view of God is that he exists to make you feel like a good guy, the only place you're ever gonna go and worship is someplace where God fits your bill. And men and women today are unwilling to admit what they have to admit to start a relationship with God at all.

Number one, I'm a sinner. Americans that I talk to use the word God with a large G to refer to a general principle of good in life. God is a cosmic principle, or God is a force, or God is whatever you want him to be. But the idea that God is self-existent and he is to be feared and he is to be loved is nowhere in the reckoning. So we've got a paradox. And that is that while a knowledge of this God of the Bible and a knowledge of the Bible and a commitment to the core beliefs of historic Christianity—while all of those things plummet, America remains one of the most religious countries in the world.

But at the expense of truth, at the expense of the God of Revelation, at the expense of the reality of Scripture, at the expense of a commitment to the core beliefs that have underpinned all that built this place on the foundation on which it now stands—we're on shaky ground. That's why I say to you, these are days of great opportunity. To talk to our friends in these lines, to engage them in conversation—enough of this being known as a bunch of crazy people waving things and tramping around—we meet people one at a time. Their lives are their lives.

There's good, there's bad, there's problems, there's success, there's questions, there's everything. By and large, many of them are confused. Some have a background that is understanding these things.

Some of them come from nowhere. Slogans are not going to do it. Trite expressions of the religious right will not transform men and women's lives. It's going to take a painstaking commitment to engage in dialogue concerning truth, concerning God, concerning the Bible. And, loved ones, I say to you this morning, you cannot do that unless you learn your Bible, unless you know the truth, and unless you're sensitive to those things. So when you say to people, you know, we had this thing on the Ten Commandments. Someone's going to say, oh, blooming Ten Commandments? Isn't that a drag? Well, you can say, well, this sermon was a bit of a drag, but the Ten Commandments, they're not. No, they're okay.

Why is that? And then you can start to tell them. Tell them that we must do this because of who God is and because of what God's done. Isn't that what he says here in Exodus 20? He says, the reason I want you to do this is because I redeemed you. I redeemed you. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. And having brought them out, he gave them the law.

Why? To redeem them? No, to frame their way of life. What has happened to us? 1 Peter 1, verses 18 and 19, check them, you'll find it. He says, we haven't been redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold. We have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. We have been set free, realizing we're unable to keep God's standard, casting ourselves upon God so that Christ would give to us what we do not deserve.

Then, having been redeemed, we want to find out how to live. And number one, you shall have no other gods before me. Okay, well, let's finally talk about gods with a small g. What does it mean, you shall have no other gods before me? Or in your translation, it might read, besides me. Well, it would be like taking a second wife while your first wife is still alive and well and happy to be your wife.

It would be the breach of an exclusive relationship. And God says, I am in an exclusive relationship with you, I have pursued you, I have redeemed you, I am your God, and therefore, you shouldn't have any other gods that take my place. Now, we need to realize—and we'll say this again and again, going through these Ten Commandments—that the commandments are not restricted to outward actions.

But they are also relating to the disposition of our minds and our hearts. I don't know about you, but I think I come to the first commandment, and I look at this, and I picture scenes from subcontinent of the world, with people dancing round poles or bowing down before statutes or going through elaborate incantations and rituals and mantras and so on. And I say, Oh man, I'm glad I was born where I was born so we don't have to really worry about the first commandment. Because we're not into any of that stuff. I mean, we got the first commandment down. You shall have no other gods before me.

Got it? We're not of any of those dumb gods, none of those idols, none of that stuff. We're not burning all that tissue paper like on the streets of Hong Kong. We're not taking perfectly good apples and oranges and leaving them there to rot, waiting for the little deity to come by and feeling like a Granny Smith some afternoon. We're not that stupid. We don't do that stuff. We've got it down.

Hey, wait a minute before you go too quickly. You see, in paganism, the reason that they do all of those things in relation to God is because they believe that God exists for them. And so if they will do something for it or him or her, then he in turn will do something for them. So therefore, we come along and we do our little ceremonies. And then we seek to make God obligated to us. We say our mantras, then God fills in for us. We do our incantations, and then God does something for us. That's the view of paganism.

Did you hear what I said? That's the view of paganism. That's the view of secular America. We don't know who it is, but we figure he's up there somewhere.

And if we want to find out what you're supposed to do, then we can obligate him or her or it to us, and all will be well with us. So before we start congratulating ourselves that we've got TVs and we've got computers, therefore, presumably, we don't have a problem with these gods with a small g. Listen, all of these things, all of the advances in technology and all of the improvements for which we're thankful cannot mask the deep foolishness and immaturity that pervades our culture. Think about the best campuses now in the American university context. Those that are on the forefront, what are they doing? They're establishing professorial chairs for earth cults, for feminine deities, and for New Age nonsense.

I mean, just get their brochures and check. Just check, and you'll find out it's true. What? The people who put the men on the moon are thinking about worshiping the earth? All these scientific rationalists who woke up one morning at the end of the 19th century and realized how smart they could be are talking about worshiping some kind of feminine female god deity? Yeah.

Why? Because when men and women cease to believe in the God of Revelation, they don't believe in nothing. They start to believe in everything.

And that's where we are. It's not that men and women don't believe in God. It is that they believe in gods. And any belief in we gods means that we're not believing in the God of Revelation.

And so this morning, if the cap fits, let's wear it. Think of those of us even who profess faith in Jesus Christ, and we would want to go out and say, Oh yeah, we've got this one really buttoned down, we understand this. We're not going to put any other gods in God's place. Can I ask you, do you have a comprehensive understanding of the rule of God within your life?

I'm not asking you divorce from me. I've been asking myself the question this week. Is God in charge of your Mondays? Do you have a view of God in charge of your work? Or is work another department, under the control of a different head of the department, namely, another little deity? Is God in control of your relationships, of your comings and goings, of your dating game? Or is that actually in the department of another little deity? Is God in charge of the success quotient of your life and of mine, of our aspirations and our dreams, of our apparent successes, of our amassing of things and of stuff?

Is this God of revelation in charge, or have we delegated it to sub-deities? To the degree that I allow anyone else or anything else to enable me to make my decisions, which I ought to make simply in obedience to God, I am violating the first commandment. When I put my job and the privileges of my task before God himself, I have begun to worship the privilege of preaching. When you worship your family as if you were going to have your family forever, you are no longer worshiping God. I want to go so far as to say that when you or I put our families, no matter how much we feel the right to be committed to our families in places that is God's alone, then we just violated the first commandment.

Or your wife, or your husband, or your girlfriend, or the one you're going to marry, or your job. Let me end by turning you just to two verses in the Old Testament. Jeremiah 9 and Joshua 24. God speaks through the prophet Jeremiah, and he says, I'm commanding you today, if you want to start boasting, to make sure that you don't boast about these few things. Verse 23, this is what the Lord says, Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, or the strong man boast of his strength, or the rich man boast of his riches. But let him who boasts boast about this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises kindness and justice and righteousness on the earth.

For in these I delight, declares the Lord. Is it right to be physically fit? Definitely.

Do we really need to stand in front of those mirrors all the time preening ourselves? Probably not. Is recreation wrong? Definitely not. Is golf good?

Depends how you play. But whenever even good things and good people take my heart, then I have ceased from obeying the first commandment. The final verse is in the book of Joshua, and in verse 24. Joshua 24.

You know the situation well? The covenant has been reviewed. Joshua has rehearsed the way that God has led his people out.

He's given them a land, and he's done all these things for them, and then Joshua stands them up and he says, Now listen, verse 14, Fear the LORD, and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.

Because the fact of the matter is, we'll serve something, or we'll serve someone. And every one of us, when we walk out these doors this morning, we go out to serve and worship. We worship at all kinds of shrines and in all kinds of ways, and the question is, are you going to worship the living God, or are you going to serve these other gods? Choose whether you will serve God or whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you're living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. I can ask you this morning, where are you in relationship to this first commandment?

God's law has been written on all of our consciences, but only in Christ is it written on our hearts. Ask yourself in this dying moment, who's in charge of my life? Who's on the throne of my life? Who calls the shots in my life? Who takes first place in my life? I am the LORD your God, he says.

He shall have no other gods before me. It is vitally important that we seriously consider who is really in charge of our lives. We're listening to Truth for Life.

Alistair Begg returns in a minute to close today's program. Alistair just mentioned how vital it is for us to understand what the Bible says, so we can talk to others about God and his word. That's why at Truth for Life, we're committed to teaching the Bible with clarity and relevance every single day. We believe scripture is true, and it teaches us all we need to know about life and God, including why the Ten Commandments are still relevant today.

We trust God will work through the teaching you hear on this daily program to convert unbelievers, to help believers become more established in their faith, and to encourage pastors and strengthen local churches. In addition to Alistair's daily teaching, we also offer books to help you grow in your faith. Our recommended book today is titled, Read This First, A Simple Guide to Getting the Most from the Bible.

This is a small handbook that contains many step-by-step instructions to help guide you through getting the most out of your Bible reading. We don't often think about this, but the Bible contains many different writing genres. For example, some books in the Bible take the form of a narrative, stories of the people of God. Some books are poetry, other books are about law or about wisdom. Each genre applies differently to our lives. So we should read those different books differently.

The book Read This First explains the best way to pick up on the flow of the text, and it gives tips for how to understand what you're reading based on the writing style that's used. Whether you are new to the scriptures or you've been a student of God's word for some time, you'll gain many helpful cues as you read the book Read This First. Request your copy today when you give a donation to Truth for Life.

You can tap the image you see on the mobile app or visit us at truthforlife.org slash donate. Now here's Alistair to close with prayer. Father, look upon our hearts today. You know as you made us. We don't want to pretend before you.

We don't want to play at church. We don't want to be simply sloganeers walking out from here. We want your truth to take root in our hearts. We want to hear your Word in the Bible.

We want to understand it, and we want to live it. We want you to help us to get rid of little gods that we've begun to include in our thinking, gods of our looks, of our ego, of our success, of our acquisitions. Help us, Lord, not to worship there. And then help us tomorrow, when we feel like worshiping there again, to remember that we said today that we didn't want to worship there.

Help us to help one another in this, because all of us are learners from the one who knows the answers. And may the love of the Lord Jesus draw us to himself. May the joy of the Lord Jesus give us strength to obey his commands. And may the peace of the Lord Jesus keep our hearts and minds today and forevermore. Amen. I'm Bob Lapeen. Join us tomorrow. We'll continue our Encore 2022 series. We'll find out how Jesus turned the earthly definition of love completely on its head. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.