The First Commandment (2) - 07/03/2022

First Baptist Church Leominster

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I'll do so. But sin, seizing an opportunity, sin lies dead.

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Sin came alive, and I died. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, the law is holy, and the commandment, it was sin, producing death in me to what is good.

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And sin might be known sinful beyond measure.

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For we know that all others sin.

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For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not know what sin that dwells within me.

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For I know what sin that dwells within me.

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So I find it to be a law. But I see in my members another law, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me captive to the law.

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Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then

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I myself serve the law of God, who became death, and opened to us the light of eternity, the presence of your spirit, and challenged.

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And in the weeping and the praying.

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In Matthew chapter 4, immediately following the baptism of Jesus, he was led by the

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Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.

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And it was at this precise moment, at the moment of his great hunger, and the moment of his great physical fatigue, the tempter came to him in order to tempt him.

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In his first temptation, the devil said to him, if you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.

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There's no reason for you to be hungry. You're the Son of God. Speak the words and eat.

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Fill your stomach and be satisfied. How did the Lord Jesus respond to this temptation?

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He quoted scripture. It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

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In other words, it was far better for Jesus to obey the Lord God, to depend upon the

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Lord God, and to wait for his provision, than it was to go outside of the will of God and seek to satisfy himself.

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It was the Spirit of God who led him into the wilderness, and he was trusting that the

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Spirit of God would lead him out of the wilderness. In his second temptation, the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, if you're the

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Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

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Go on then, demonstrate to the world your divinity. Demonstrate to the world your divine sonship.

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Go on and prove to all of us that you are indeed the Son of God. And how did he respond to this temptation?

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Again, he quoted scripture. It is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

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The Lord Jesus Christ did not take the bait. He did not budge an inch. He knew that this was a pathetic ploy to induce him to sin.

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He knew that to test the Lord God was to doubt the Lord God, and to doubt the Lord God is to distrust the

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Lord God, and to distrust the Lord God is sin. Jesus wanted nothing to do with this sad and pathetic attempt to make him sin.

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In his third temptation, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their glory.

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And he said to him, all these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.

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And his final response, be gone, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the

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Lord your God and him only shall you serve. And then the devil left him.

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In response to the third temptation, the Lord Jesus Christ again responded by quoting scripture, specifically by quoting the first commandment.

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You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. Matthew chapter four is a very helpful and instructive narrative for believers today.

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Not only because it shows us the tremendous importance of memorizing scripture, but also because it shows us the importance and the relevance of the moral law of God, the 10 commandments.

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The 10 commandments are a practical and beneficial tool to assist us in our sanctification.

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In the midst of spiritual battle, in the midst of spiritual warfare, in the midst of great temptation and great opposition, the

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Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God, the great I am, responded to spiritual attack by quoting the first commandment and by submitting to the first commandment.

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And in the midst of our spiritual warfare, in the midst of our spiritual battles, in the moments of our great temptation, in the moments of our great opposition, likewise, we too must respond to spiritual attack by quoting the scriptures, specifically by quoting the first commandment and by submitting to the first commandment in the exact same manner as the

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Lord Jesus Christ. All that was previously written in former days,

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Romans 15, four, were written for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.

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There are many believers who lack hope. There are many believers who struggle with discouragement, depression and despair.

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There are many believers who, under the weight of their trials and circumstances, buckle and fold and succumb to temptation and find themselves in a settled state of misery.

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The reason is because many believers do not fully understand the nature or the character of the

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Lord God. It's because many believers do not fully understand the depth of their sin and unrighteousness, nor do they fully understand the great depth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Their justification, their forgiveness, their redemption, their reconciliation, their adoption.

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The entire Old Testament, the law, the prophets and the writings were written for our instruction and for our encouragement.

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These were written so that we might live in hope, that we might live with immeasurable hope, that we might live with abundant and overflowing hope.

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The problem is that we often fail to go to the scriptures to find this hope.

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We fail to meditate and reflect upon the scriptures which tap us into this hope.

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Far too often we look for a quick and easy fix, rather than prayerfully wrestling with the scriptures and not letting them go until we receive a blessing.

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Beloved, if you struggle with discouragement, depression or despair, if you often buckle and fold under the weight of your circumstances, if you lack hope, then you must meditate and reflect upon the scriptures.

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You must meditate and reflect upon the law of God. Beloved, you must prayerfully wrestle with the law of God until you receive a blessing.

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The law of God will reveal your sin, because the law of God is a mirror, but it is also a map.

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It is a map that will point you to your hope. The law of God will direct and point you to the

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Lord Jesus Christ and to the hope that is found in him alone. The law is our tutor, the law is our guardian, the law is our instructor to lead us to Christ.

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You know, there's a very good reason why King David repeatedly stated that he loved the law of God. There's a very good reason why

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King David, night and day, meditated upon the law of God. There's a very good reason why

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King David sought to keep the law of God all the days of his life, because,

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Psalm 119, 165, great peace have those who love your law.

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Nothing can make them stumble. Please turn with me to the book of Exodus.

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Our passage this morning is Exodus 20, verse three. This morning, we continue our exposition of the first and most important commandment.

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This commandment comes before all the others, and it lays the foundation for the entire moral law.

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Let's look at the text together. Exodus 20, verse three. You shall have no other gods before me.

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The first commandment concerns itself with the right object of our worship.

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In other words, we must worship the right God, who is the

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Lord God. The Lord God is to be the only object of our worship. You shall have no other gods before the

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Lord God. The reasoning for this commandment was provided for us in the preface.

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Verses one and two. And God spoke all these things, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

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The reason why we are commanded to have no other gods before the Lord God is because the

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Lord God is the one and only God. The Lord God is the one

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God. The Lord God is the only self -existent and self -sufficient being.

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The Lord God is the only one who has life in and of himself. The Lord God is the great

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I am. And the great I am is also the Lord your God.

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The Lord God brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. He delivered them, he redeemed them, he liberated them from their great distresses, from their bondage to oppressive slavery.

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And in a similar fashion, the Lord God has also brought you out of your sin.

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The Lord God has delivered you. The Lord God has redeemed you. He has liberated you from your great distress and from your bondage to oppressive slavery, your slavery to sin and unrighteousness.

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And thus, we are commanded to have no other gods before the Lord God. Implicit in this command is the great theological principle, sola de gloria, to the glory of God alone.

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As those who have been redeemed by the mighty hand and the outstretched arm of the Lord our

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God, our supreme passion in life is to live for the glory of God.

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The glory of God refers to the radiance of his perfection. It refers to his infinite beauty.

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It refers to his infinite greatness. It is the glory of God that is the spectacular brilliance that emanates from him, that surrounds him and fills the entire earth.

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The glory of God is the sum total of his character. It is the sum total of his infinite worth made obvious.

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This was the reason for creation. And this was the reason for our creation, to glorify the

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Lord God. And consequently, as his creation, our greatest delight and our greatest pleasure will come from admiring, loving, and reflecting upon the glory of the

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Lord God. This is the sum and substance of our lives, to glorify and to enjoy the

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Lord God alone. Thus, commandment number one, you are to have no other gods before me.

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Now, how do we interpret this commandment? What does this commandment mean? Well, a helpful way to understand this commandment is to remember the rules of interpretation, which we talked about a few weeks back.

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The biblical rule, the inside -outside rule, the two -sided rule, the rules of categories, and the brother's keeper rule.

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The third rule of interpretation is the two -sided rule. Every commandment is both positive and negative.

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Where a duty is commanded, the contrary sin is forbidden. And where a sin is forbidden, the contrary duty is commanded.

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One of the best resources, one of the most helpful resources that I have found in studying the 10

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Commandments is the Westminster Catechism, specifically the Larger Catechism.

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The Larger Catechism gives us great insight in detail to the duties required and the sins forbidden.

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Question 104 of the Westminster Larger Catechism. What are the duties required in the

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First Commandment? The duties required in the First Commandment are the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true

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God and our God, and to worship and glorify him accordingly by thinking, meditating, remembering, highly esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing, loving, desiring, fearing of him, believing him, trusting, hoping, delighting, and rejoicing in him, being zealous for him, calling upon him, giving all praise and thanks to him, yielding all obedience and submission to him with the whole man, being careful in all things to please him and sorrowful in anything he is offended and by walking humbly with him.

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These are the duties of the First Commandment. Question 105.

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What are the sins forbidden in the First Commandment? The sins forbidden in the

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First Commandment are atheism, in denying or not having a God, idolatry, in having or worshiping more gods than one or any with or instead of the true

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God. Also, the not having and avouching him for God and our

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God, the omission or neglect of anything due to him required in this commandment, including ignorance, forgetfulness, misapprehensions, false opinions, unworthy and wicked thoughts of him, bold and curious searching into his secrets, all profaneness, hatred of God, self -love, self -seeking and all other inordinate and immoderate setting of our mind, will or affections upon anything and taking them off from him in whole or in part.

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As well as vain credulity, unbelief, heresy, misbelief, distrust, despair, incorrigibleness and insensibleness under judgments, hardness of heart, pride, presumption, carnal security, tempting of God, using unlawful means and trusting in lawful means, carnal delights and joys, corrupt, blind and indiscreet zeal, lukewarmness and deadness in things of God, estranging ourselves and apostatizing from God, praying or giving any religious worship to saints, angels or any other creatures, all compacts and consulting with the devil, the hearkening to his suggestions, making men the lords of our faith and conscience, slighting and despising

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God and his commands, resisting and grieving of his spirit, discontent and impatient at his dispensations, charging him foolishly for the evils he inflicts on us and ascribing the praise of any good we either are, have or can do to fortune, idols, ourselves or any other creature.

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These are the sins forbidden in the first commandment. Now certainly we don't have time to go all, to go through all of these.

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The duties required and the sins forbidden are quite substantial, they are quite lengthy.

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None of us have ever come close to keeping this commandment, not the duties, not the sins forbidden.

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In fact, no one will ever be able to, no one has ever been able to keep this commandment, no one except the

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Lord Jesus Christ. He fulfilled the duties perfectly and he refrained from the sins perfectly.

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Jesus Christ is the law keeper and we are the law breakers. Not only have we repeatedly broken the law of God, we continue to repeatedly break the law of God in our thoughts, in our words, in our deeds.

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The first commandment is a mirror that reveals just how far we have fallen short of the glory of God.

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The first commandment reveals our sin, it reveals our need for a savior and it reveals what we must do in order to please the

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Lord God. The law is a map, it directs our paths, it directs us how to have no other gods before him.

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Well, what does this mean? What does it mean to have no other gods before me?

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What does the phrase before me refer? Well, the literal meaning of the words before me means before my face.

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You shall have no other gods before my face. You shall have no other gods in front of me.

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You shall have no other gods in my presence. Question 48 of the

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Westminster Shorter Catechism, what are we specifically taught by these words before me in the first commandment?

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Answer, these words before me in the first commandment teach us that God, who sees all things, takes notice of and is much displeased with the sin of having any other

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God. Beloved, the Lord God sees all things. The Lord God takes notice of all things.

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He's omniscient, he's all -knowing, he's omnipresent, he is all -present.

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There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to him whom we must give account.

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And the Lord God is greatly displeased when we place other gods in front of him before his face.

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Turn with me for a moment to the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter eight. Ezekiel was one of the major prophets of the

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Old Testament who prophesied to the people of Israel during their captivity in Babylon. At this time, the northern kingdom of Israel had already been conquered by the

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Assyrians. In 722 BC, the Assyrian army invaded the northern kingdom and they took all of the remaining survivors into captivity.

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About 100 years later, the southern kingdom was invaded by the Babylonians. And over the course of 20 years, after three different invasions, in 586

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BC, all of Jerusalem was destroyed and all of the remaining survivors were taken back to Babylon into captivity.

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The prophet Ezekiel was taken captive after the second invasion and he was made to live in Babylon by the

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Kabar Canal. And it was here that the word of the Lord came to him. Ezekiel was to prophesy to the

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Israelites that Jerusalem, their beloved city, would soon be destroyed and their exile in Babylon would be greatly prolonged.

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There was no hope of an immediate return to the promised land. Central to Ezekiel's prophecies was the reputation of the

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Lord God. Central to his prophecies was the glory of the Lord God. Ezekiel was commissioned to prophesy to the

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Israelites that the Lord God was indeed wholly just and wholly right in his judgment upon them.

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The Lord God had repeatedly warned them, both the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom, of their great immoralities, their great idolatries, and their exceedingly great pride.

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Second Kings 17. Yet the Lord warned Israel in Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes in accordance with all the law that I commanded your fathers, and that I send you by my servants, the prophets.

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But they would not listen. But they were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the

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Lord their God. Both Israel and Judah despised the statutes of the

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Lord. They despised the covenant of the Lord. They despised the law of the

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Lord and the many, many warnings that had been given to them. Both Israel and Judah failed to turn from their wicked ways, but rather, they continued headlong in their sin.

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Their hearts had turned to false gods. Their hearts had turned to idols. They walked in the customs of the inhabitants of the land.

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They were building up the high places, setting up pillars, worshiping the ashram on every high hill.

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They even burned their sons and daughters as offerings and used divination and omens, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of the

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Lord, provoking the Lord to great anger. In Ezekiel chapter eight, the hand of the

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Lord fell upon Ezekiel, and the spirit of God lifted him up between heaven and earth, and he was shown a vision of Jerusalem.

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Ezekiel was shown all of the great sins and all of the hidden abominations that were provoking the

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Lord God to jealousy and to wrath. Ezekiel eight, five.

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Then he said to me, son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes towards the north, and behold, north of the altar gate in the entrance was this image of jealousy.

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And he said to me, son of man, do you see what they are doing? The great abominations that my house of Israel are committing here to drive me far from my sanctuary?

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But you will still see greater abominations. Verse seven.

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And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. Then he said to me, son of man, dig in the wall.

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So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. And he said to me, go in and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.

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So I went in and saw. And there engraved on the wall all around was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel.

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And before them stood 70 men of the elders of the house of Israel with Jazaniah, the son of Shaphan standing among them.

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Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of the incense went up. Then he said to me, son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures?

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For they said, the Lord does not see us. The Lord has forsaken the land. He said also to me, you will still see greater abominations than they commit.

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Verse 14. Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate and the house of the Lord, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

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Then he said to me, have you seen this, oh son of man? You will still see greater abominations than these.

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And he brought me to the inner court of the house of the Lord, and behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar were about 25 men with their backs to the temple of the

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Lord and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east.

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Then he said to me, have you seen this, oh son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger?

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Behold, they have put the branch to their nose. Therefore, I will act in wrath.

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My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice,

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I will not hear them. Prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, the children of Israel had been greatly provoking the jealousy and the wrath of the

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Lord God by worshiping creeping things, by worshiping loathsome beasts, by worshiping their many idols, by worshiping and weeping for the god

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Tammuz, by worshiping the sun, by filling the land with violence and corruption.

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Beloved, all of these abominations were carried out before the face of the

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Lord. The children of Israel flaunted their gods before the face of the

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Lord. The children of Israel flaunted their gods before the face of the Lord, their God, the

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God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, who had brought them out of the house of slavery.

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The children of Israel were guilty because they violated the first commandment.

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They had provoked the jealousy of the Lord God. They had provoked the wrath of the Lord God, and their judgment was severe.

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Their judgment resulted in their expulsion from the promised land, and they returned to slavery.

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They returned to oppression and to bondage. The gods of Egypt were no match for the

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Lord God. The gods of Egypt were unable to contend with the Lord God, but the

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Israelites had forgotten the awesome power and the work of the Lord God.

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The Israelites chose to worship and follow other gods, but these other gods were also no match for the one and only true

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God. The many false gods and idols of Israel were unable to contend with the

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Lord God. These so -called gods were not able to deliver the Israelites from the Assyrians, nor from the

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Babylonians. These so -called gods and idols were not able to redeem them. They were not able to liberate them.

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They were not able to free them. Why were the Israelites so foolish as to trust in these other gods?

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Why were the Israelites so quick to abandon the Lord God and devote their lives to these lesser so -called gods?

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Why did they abandon their creator and worship and serve the creation? Beloved, these are questions that can easily be directed back towards you and me.

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Why are we so foolish to trust in other gods? Why are we so foolish to trust in our idols?

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Why are we so quick to abandon the Lord God and to devote our lives to lesser so -called gods?

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Why do we abandon our creator and serve his creation? The answer lies within the heart of man.

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The heart of man is deceitful above all things. The heart of man is desperately sick.

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The heart of man is utterly broken and man is unable to repair it. So who can give us insight into the heart of man?

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I can't understand it. You can't understand it. The world certainly cannot understand it.

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Only the creator of the heart of man. Jeremiah 1710,

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I the Lord search the heart. I the Lord test the mind. I the

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Lord give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds. Why are we so foolish to place our trust in false gods and idols?

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Genesis chapter three, the fall of man, the curse, the sting of sin.

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Sin has utterly corrupted, distorted and infected the heart of man. Man is born not with a good heart and a spiritually healthy heart, rather man is born with a bad and spiritually dead heart.

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The natural man has a heart of stone. It is ice cold. It is uninterested and unable to respond to the spiritual things of the

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Lord God. And yet these cold and dead hearts are still actively looking for something to fix them.

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These cold and dead hearts are still looking for something to fulfill them. The natural man is searching and longing for something or someone who will bring them satisfaction, who will bring them delight, who will bring them contentment and purpose in their lives.

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This is why John Calvin so famously stated, man's nature so to speak is a perpetual factory of idols.

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The human heart manufactures and turns out one idol after another, after another, after another.

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The human heart is constantly and desperately searching for someone, something to worship and adore.

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And the human heart will never rest in this pursuit nor will it find lasting satisfaction until the

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Lord God makes the heart new. Ezekiel 36, 26,

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I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

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I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

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Beloved, unless the spirit of God regenerates the heart, then we cannot obey the first commandment.

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We're not even able to do so. But even after the Lord God regenerates our heart, after the

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Lord God has made our hearts new, we still often strive to pursue other gods, other things, other idols.

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This is the reason why the scripture calls the heart of man so deceitful and so sick and so untrustworthy because it still looks for something better even though there is nothing better out there.

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Our sinful flesh deceives us into thinking that the Lord God is not enough.

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And so to our detriment, we pursue other things, other created things.

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King Solomon is a great example of a man who fell into this trap, the trap of idolatry. King Solomon was the greatest king of the ancient world.

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He was the wisest, the wealthiest, the most powerful and the most magnificent king that this world has ever seen, that this world will ever see.

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1 Kings 9 verse four, as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, that I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever.

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As I promised David your father saying, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel. But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then

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I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them. And the house that I have consecrated for my name,

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I will cast out of my sight. And Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all people.

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King Solomon failed to keep the law of God. In an effort to please his many foreign wives,

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King Solomon went after other gods. King Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the

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Sidonians. He went after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. King Solomon allowed his heart to be turned away from the

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Lord God and thus his kingdom was torn from him. In the book of Ecclesiastes, after King Solomon had pursued every one of his desires, after King Solomon had pursued every material possession and every possible pleasure, he then revealed the conclusion.

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Did pursuing these things bring him delight? Did pursuing these things bring him contentment?

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Did pursuing these things give him satisfaction and fulfillment? Ecclesiastes two, verse 11.

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Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it and behold, all was vanity and a striving after the wind and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

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Verse 17, so I hated life because what is done under the sun was grievous to me for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

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Beloved, this is the end result for everyone who fails to keep the first commandment.

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This is the end result for everyone who puts another so -called God or idol before the face of the

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Lord God. The sum of your life will be vanity. It will be empty.

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It will be a striving after wind. Philip Graham Ryken remarked, the desire to have more and more is insatiable but the shiny new products and exciting new experiences cannot quiet the nagging doubt.

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Is this all there is? Isn't there something more to life? When we break the first commandment, we discover that other gods do not satisfy and cannot save.

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Isn't that the truth? No other so -called God will ever satisfy the longing of your heart.

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No other so -called God can ever satisfy the longing of your heart. Only the

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Lord God can satisfy the longing of your heart. Only the Lord God will satisfy the longing of your heart.

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The only thing that can fill the void in the human heart is the

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Lord God who is the creator of the heart. The problem with idolatry is that it is misplaced worship.

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Rather than worshiping the Lord God, we worship, adore, revere and exalt something or someone else.

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Rather than worshiping the Lord God, we submit to, we seek after, we hope in, we give to and speak about something or someone else.

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Rather than worshiping the Lord God, we look to the idol for peace, for meaning and for happiness, which the idol will never deliver.

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Beloved, if the object of your worship is anything or anyone other than the Lord God, other than the

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Lord Jesus Christ, then the consequence of your life will be vanity, emptiness, futility and a striving after the wind.

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King Solomon failed to keep the first commandment. He failed to protect his heart.

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He failed to keep it wholly pure towards the Lord God. And the consequence of his sin was dire.

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His sin was greatly displeasing to the Lord God. Now, if you're anything like me, you may be asking the question, if the wisest and greatest man who ever lived violated the first commandment and fell into gross idolatry, then what possible chance do

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I have? So how can we ensure that we are not placing other gods or other idols before the face of the

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Lord God? How do you know if your heart is pure and true and directed towards the

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Lord God? Or if it is infatuated with something or someone else? Let me give you two very practical questions.

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These are questions that you need to be asking yourself in those moments of self -examination, which we should be doing regularly.

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Question number one, what do you love? What do you truly love?

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What do you love above all else? What do you desire above all else?

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What do you spend your time on? What do you spend your money on? What do you get really excited about?

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What's the first thing you think about when you wake up? What's the last thing you think about when you go to sleep?

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Is it your career? Is it your school? Is it one of your hobbies? Is it another person?

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Your spouse, your child, or one of your close friends? It could be power. It could be achievement.

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It could be pleasure. It could be comfort. It could be entertainment. It could be anything, or it could be anyone.

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Beloved, the Lord God is good. And the Lord God has given us many good things.

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But we must not allow any of these good things to replace the Lord God as the object of our supreme affection.

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If we do, then we are exchanging the truth of God for a lie.

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And we are worshiping and serving the creature rather than the creator. Question number two, what do you trust?

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What do you truly trust? Where do you turn in times of trouble?

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Do you turn to alcohol? Do you turn to drugs or medication? Do you turn to sleep?

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Do you turn to shopping or fitness or some other recreation? Do you turn to some other obsession to pull you through the tough and difficult times of life?

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What are you trusting in for your security? Are you trusting in your job? Are you trusting in an insurance policy?

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Are you trusting in a pension plan or your stock portfolio? Are you trusting in your government?

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Are you trusting in your family? Are you trusting in yourself? Beloved, whatever it is that your heart is trusting or whoever it is that your heart is trusting, that what or that thing is your

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God. To love and trust in anything or anyone more than the

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Lord God is to make it a God and to put it before the face of the

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Lord God. Matthew Henry wrote, pride makes a

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God of self. Covetousness makes a God of money. Sensuality makes a

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God of the belly. Whatever is esteemed or loved, feared or served, delighted in or depended upon more than God, that whatever that is, we do in effect make a

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God of. Beloved, the world in which we live is filled with God substitutes.

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The world in which we live is filled with false idols. The world is full of things that can easily take the place of the

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Lord God in our daily lives. The world is full of things that can be put before the face of the

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Lord our God. And one of the reasons why we have such a hard time identifying idolatry in our own lives is not because we don't worship and serve false gods anymore, but because we worship and serve so very, very many false gods.

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As Christians, we are just as inclined to this type of false worship as everyone else in the world.

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Like the Egyptians, like the Israelites, like King Solomon, we are, we tend to be an idolatrous people.

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The only solution, the only remedy, the only thing that can tear our idolatrous hearts away from all our other affections is true love for the

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Lord God. Beloved, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

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This is the great and foremost commandment. You shall have no other gods before me.

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You cannot serve two gods. You cannot serve two masters. A divided house will not stand.

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A divided heart will not stand. So you must make your choice. Whom will you worship?

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Whom will you serve? Whom will you obey? Therefore, Joshua 24, 14, fear the

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Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the

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Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your father served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the

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Amorites in the land who you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the

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Lord. Let's pray. Amen. Our Father, we thank you for the new life that we have in Christ.

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We're thankful, Lord, that you've given us a new nature, that we're a new man. And Lord, we recognize that we still struggle with sin.

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We identify with Paul and his struggle in Romans chapter seven. It's not me doing it, but the sin that indwells within me.

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We have a huge problem with sin. So Lord, I pray that we would eradicate the sin in our life and that we would look to you and give us,

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Lord, that heart to love you more than anything else. Help us to see the deceitfulness of sin, that the things that we look to for comfort and hope, those do not deliver.

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They cannot deliver. They will only leave us empty. It's a striving after the wind.

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Lord, give us wisdom. Help us to see the truth. Help us to walk in the spirit. Lord, we pray that we would abound more and more in love for you, that we would have greater affection for you.

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We pray, Lord, that you would wean us off of all of these little idols, these lesser gods that we often look to.

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Lord, we pray that our heart would be pure, that it would be wholly devoted to you. For we know,

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Lord, the pure in heart will see God. Thank you for these things, Lord. Thank you for your patience.

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Grow us in these things to your glory, to your praise, to your honor. Thank you,