#132: No Other gods - Commandment 1

On episode 132, Tim begins a series focusing on the 10-commandments.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into episode one hundred and thirty two of Bring
Heaven Down. My name is Tim and I'm the host
of this daily devotional podcast that shows up in your feed.
If you have a topic that you would like me
to address, email the show Bring Heaven Down number seven

(00:22):
at gmail dot com. Someone the other day sent me
an email and asked me to talk about the Ten Commandments.
The email says, my name is Paul, and I was
just curious if you could go over and elaborate on
the Ten Commandments. Please. I love the show and listen

(00:45):
every day. Thank you, Tim. Well, Paul, We're gonna be
talking about it over the next week or two, and
today we're going to start with Commandment number one one,
and Commandment number one says you shall have no other

(01:08):
gods before me. What I find so interesting about this
first commandment is that Moses received the commandments on top
of the mountain from God, and as he was gone

(01:28):
for forty days, I believe it was the Israelite people
who Moses just freed by God's power, were at the
bottom of the mountain, creating a false God a golden calf.
So what is commandment number one? You shall have no

(01:51):
other gods before me. As he was receiving this, they
were building a golden calf. And it's so easy to
point to the Israelites and say, shame on you, what
were you doing? But I'm as guilty as anyone, even

(02:15):
the Israelites and the Old Testament, at doing this specific thing.
Because the Lord has been so faithful in my life.
If I go all the way back to who my
parents were, where I was born, who I meant, jobs
I've worked, how God moved through relationships and jobs, and

(02:45):
different cities and states and districts that I've lived in.
It is by the hand of God that I am
where I am. The Lord has moved through my life.
Yet how quick I am to forget those things when

(03:09):
I focus my attention on something other than God. When
I find my identity in my ability as a husband
and as a dad, When I find my identity in
making my wife or children happy, or I find my

(03:29):
identity in how many podcasts downloads I received on a
specific day, whether it's good and I'm feeling good about myself,
and I have my identity because I did good that day,
or whether it went bad that day and I'm feeling
down or sad because the day didn't go as I

(03:56):
hoped it would. What I want to basically say is
we all fall short in this category, and the reason
why we sin is because we place other gods before

(04:17):
the one true God. And this is the sin that
we should repent of every single day, which again I
fall short of. In my past. I found my identity
in how much money I could save in the past,

(04:37):
and sometimes still today I find my identity and how
good of a husband or dad I am. But the
number one commandment is you shall have no other gods
before me. I'm not sure why we do this. Well,

(05:00):
it's because of sin, I suppose, and we get so
easily distracted by the things happening around us. And there's
a verse in Hoseiah that is one of my favorite
verses in the Bible because I think it so accurately

(05:23):
describes our relationship with God. And the verse is Hoseiah
chapter thirteen, versus six. It says this, when I fed them,
they were satisfied. When they were satisfied, they became proud.
Then they forgot me. How true is that in your

(05:48):
relationship with Jesus. As Jesus satisfied you, and when you
were satisfied. Did you continually run back to him even
though you were satisfied. Sometimes I have, but there's been

(06:09):
more times when I haven't. The way it typically goes
for me is when I fed them, when he fed me.
I became satisfied. When I became satisfied, I became prideful
and proud, and I looked back at what I did
and how I did that, and look at me. Then

(06:34):
I forgot, and then the Good Lord humbles me, disciplines me,
and we start the process again. He satisfies, I become proud,
I forget, and we start the process over and over
and over again. What's so interesting about this first commandment?

(06:57):
And I just heard our pastors say this recently in church.
He said, if you get the first one right, you
shall have no other gods before me. Then you are
going to get the rest of the ten commandments right,

(07:19):
because ultimately all of the other nine commandments are based
off of you shall have no other gods before me.
You get that one right, and you will put God
in his proper place, and you will not fall short

(07:43):
or be tempted to do any of the other things.
But I'm sinful. You're sinful, and we fall short, and
the good news is is that God gave us the
great rescue plan by bringing Jesus into our life and

(08:07):
having him die for our sins, even though we aren't
even close to being worthy of it. We don't deserve it.
We fall short every day, but because of the Lord's
grace and mercy, we are welcomed to have a relationship

(08:33):
with him. It really is an amazing miracle that we
should be grateful for every single day. Thank you for
listening to this podcast today and I hope it was
encouraging for you. I'm excited to talk about the Ten
Commandments moving forward over the next week or two. They

(08:54):
helpe you all have a wonderful day.