1st Commandment — Law Homily

As you've heard it said, there is no end to the depth of God's Word.

We could spend every moment of every day of our lives, and we would only scratch the surface of this treasure trove of truth.

And this is also true of the Word's ability to expose our sins. Even in the simplicity of the

Ten Commandments, we stand condemned each and every day, and certainly every week as we read together.

And yet, we still stand by the grace of God. And with that in mind, this morning we begin anew the reading of the

Decalogue with the First Commandment in Exodus 20, verses 1 through 3.

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. As we consider the First Commandment, it's rather easy to look at those around us, to look at the world around us, and see all the ways in which they are failing.

Even our American society is guilty of absolutely wicked and heinous sins, including the worship of foreign gods, the worship of demons.

We've allowed the gods of Egypt back in, idols that our forefathers laid their lives down to eradicate from our land.

And we would be right to notice this, and to demand the removal of these high places once again.

And in fact, we must. Not only for our sake, but for those who would come after us.

The Lord has brought us out of such a land and has called us to come to him alone and worship.

He has called us out to be a part of an everlasting covenant, both we and our children.

Now this morning, as the gathered people of God, we must not only observe the state of our nation and even our state, but first and foremost, we must allow the law of God to shine a light on the darkest corners of our own hearts.

While we might not be joining in with the pagans down in Texas to worship the 90 -foot tall chubby -cheeked monkey, but we often do make our own desires our own very special idols.

And though we may not be advocating for the erection of the 155 -foot demonic statue in North Carolina, we often are guilty of prioritizing our own preferences over the right worship of God.

It's fairly easy to reject such ostentatious displays, recognizing them for what they are, the emblazoned creation of sinful men, a

God made in his own likeness. But it's that same impulse to make a

God in our own likeness that we can so often get us into trouble.

We confuse our feelings and desires with the very word of God and selfish acts of pride.

Every week we pursue our own happiness over the glory of God and the good of others.

We justify it in the moment, minimizing consequences, saying no one will know or that God will understand.

And yet it's a sin and we must mortify it and repent.

God's mercy is great, but that does not give us license to sin or to forsake his commandment.

Romans 8, 12 through 13 says, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh.

For if you live after the flesh, you shall die. But if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.

And we might call this the God of self. This is a subversive and sneaky

God that often does go unnoticed and unchallenged. But make no mistake, its aims are on the throne.

It's on the altar of self that we sacrifice our families in pursuit of our own dreams.

We sacrifice our children so that our potential isn't held back. It's here that we snap at our children because they've inconvenienced us while doing the very things that were intended by God to bless them.

We forgo family worship time and time again because we're just too tired at the end of the day or we just can't miss the big game.

This God of self causes us to lose sight of who God is and to forget his instructions to us.

We revert to selfish instinct and elevate our own feelings and desires as a

God that we must satisfy in order to have happiness. Now, not only does this first commandment give a prohibition of placing anything before God, including ourselves and monkey statues, so too it compels us to rightly worship the true and living

God. We must first recognize him as such and simultaneously pledge our allegiance to him as the sovereign of the universe.

Because he is God, he has a right to dictate to his creation not only how to worship him, but how to live before each other.

And as we seek to live virtuous and pious lives before the Lord, we must exalt him and bring every action and thought, even the small ones, especially the small ones, in submission under his authority.

The other nine commandments flow from this truth, but here we must start and lay our foundation.

Now, as you consider all the ways in which you've placed yourself above the true God, I'd like to invite you, if you are able, to kneel before your

God and confess your sins to him in prayer. Lord, it is so easy, so natural, even to us,

Lord, to forget the ways in which you have cared for us,

Lord, the ways in which you've called us to worship you, Lord, for us to place other gods before you.

Lord, as we examine ourselves in these moments, we do ask that you would even reveal to us the areas in which we don't see ourselves doing these things, and yet we are.

Lord, we ask that you would, in your kindness to us, reveal these things and give us a heart of disdain towards our own tendencies, towards idolatry, towards forsaking our first love, which is you.

Lord, strengthen us in our faith to cling unto you, to not let other things come before you, or to take every thought captive in Christ, that we would be able to be discerning enough to know when it is that our flesh would seek to undermine our love for you.

Help us, Lord. We do ask, as we confess that we do fall short, we ask in your strength, by your

Spirit, to help us through, to help us overcome the tendencies of our flesh in these ways, and all these things we do ask in Jesus' name.

Amen. If you would, please stand with me. As we hear from God, he adjudicates over us, speaks justice over us, upon these matters where we have sinned and fallen short before him.

It's important for us to remember that, again, as we do come before a holy, holy, holy God, that none of us are perfect, none of us are without sin, but all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And the wages of sin, the payment for that, is death. We owe to God for our shortcoming, death, our life.

And yet, as God speaks justice over his people, he does not lay that punishment down upon us.

He has instead laid that punishment upon his own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, on our behalf.

And so, let us remember and not be prone to forgetting, placing, again, other gods before the one true

God, that our justice, though we may feel like we are sinners who continually fall short and need to be punished in some way or another, let us not elevate our own words over the words of our

God, who says in his word from Hebrews 2, verses 14 through 18, assuring us of our pardon.

For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.

Just as we live lives as men, the Lord Jesus Christ took upon himself flesh, that in him we might find the full satisfaction for our sins paid for, the wages that we owed paid for by him on our behalf.

And God in his word again assures his people that we are pardoned. Let us receive that in faith and trust that that is sufficient for us.

That we do not stand before a judge who is seeking to hand down a harsh punishment upon his people, but rather has already handed down the punishment upon Jesus Christ.

And now we are set free, found forgiven and innocent before our