The Ten Commandments, Part 1: Lesson

This document discusses the First Commandment to have no other gods before God. It explains that the Commandment requires loving God with all one's heart, soul, mind and strength. However, humans naturally put other things like pride or possessions above God. The document uses examples to show how people violate this Commandment and fail to truly love or obey God alone.

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The Ten Commandments, Part 1: Lesson

Uploaded by

Nana Tweneboah

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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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5

5 The Ten
LESSON

Commandments, Part 1
“You cannot say, ‘No, Lord,’ and mean both words; one annuls the
other. If you say no to Him, then He is not your Lord.”
D. J AMES K ENNEDY

K i r k ’ s C o m me nt Now we’re going to look at the Law of God to see how

it serves as a schoolmaster to lead sinners to Christ. Any soldier who wants to
be effective in warfare will become intimately familiar with his weapons.
Think of the Commandments as ten great cannons given to you by God, each
with tremendous power to destroy self-righteousness. If we want to be effec-
tive in reaching the lost, we must be intimately familiar with these great
weapons that God has given us. As we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who
opened up the spiritual nature of the Law when dealing with sinners, we will
discover the key to genuine repentance.

QUESTIONS & OBJECTIONS

“The First Commandment says, ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.’
That proves He isn’t the only God!”
That’s true. Man has always made false gods. An old adage says, “God cre-
ated man in His own image, and man has been returning the favor ever
since.” Hindus have millions of gods. Sometimes gods are made of wood
or stone; other times man makes up a god in his mind. Whatever the case,

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making a god to suit yourself is called “idolatry,” and it is a transgression

of both the First and Second Commandments.

w o t m w o t m w o t m w o t m w o t m w o t m w o t m w o t m w o t m w o t m w o t m

n this lesson we will look at the First Commandment: “I am the LORD

I your God, which has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus
20:2,3).
We are to have no other gods before (or “besides”) the one true God.
He is to be preeminent in our hearts. Jesus said that “the first of all the
commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first
commandment” (Mark 12:29,30).
There is only One who can stand uncondemned regarding this Com-
mandment. Jesus of Nazareth lived a life without sin; He was perfect in
thought, word, and deed (see Hebrews 4:15). Everything He did pleased
the Father absolutely. The cross not only revealed that He loved His Fa-
ther with all of His heart, soul, mind, and strength, but it proved that He
loved His neighbor as much as He loved Himself.
Those who profess to keep this Commandment would do well to run
their eyes over the Westminster Confession of Faith. This was penned by
godly men in 1646, and expressed their thoughts (based on Scripture)
about the essence of this Commandment:
The duties required in the First Commandment are, the knowing
and acknowledging of God to be the only true God and our God; and
to worship and glorify Him accordingly, by thinking, meditating,
remembering, highly esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing, lov-
ing, desiring, fearing of Him, believing Him, trusting, hoping, de-
lighting, rejoicing in Him, being zealous for Him, calling upon Him,
giving all praise and thanks, and yielding all obedience and submis-
sion to Him with the whole man; being careful in all things to please
Him, and sorrowful when in anything He is offended; and walking
humbly with Him.

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LESSON 5 ● THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, PART 1

Someone once said, “It is agreeable to reason that men who have their
beings from God, and are upheld in them by him, and are followed with
the bounties of Providence; and especially who are made new creatures,
and are blessed by him with all spiritual blessings in Christ, that they
should give up themselves to him, and cheerfully serve him in their day
and generation.”
Sinful humans, however, don’t love God. They don’t delight to do His
will. Instead, the Law of sin and death has written its bloody signature
across the godless human breast (Romans 7:21–24). Our inborn cry is,
“Not Your will, but mine be done!” The devil is our father and his will we
gladly do. The carnal mind is not subject to the Law or God, nor indeed
can it be (Romans 8:7). See how the Law condemns us. We fail to love the
God who gave us life.
The inevitable result is that sinful man will think that he himself is
God. His pride takes over his brain, as shown in this quote by Jeremy
Rifkin in his book Algeny:
We no longer feel ourselves to be guests in someone else’s home
and therefore obliged to make our behavior conform with a set of
preexisting cosmic rules. It is our creation now. We make the rules.
We establish the parameters of reality. We create the world, and
because we do, we no longer feel beholden to outside forces. We no
longer have to justify our behavior, for we are now the architects of
the universe. We are responsible to nothing outside ourselves, for we
are the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever.

QUESTIONS
1. Name the First of the Ten Commandments.

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2. Why do you think humanity has such a shallow understanding about what
God requires of them? (See 2 Corinthians 4:3,4.)

3. What do you think could be the greatest sin of humanity?

4. In what ways have you transgressed this Commandment?

5. Using Psalm 14 and Romans 3:10–18, list the characteristics of human

nature.

6. How did Jesus demonstrate that He kept this Commandment?

7. Why should we put God first?

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LESSON 5 ● THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, PART 1

P R E A C H E R’S P R O G R E S S
Alec Smart: “Hey, Christian. I want you to give me the ‘good’ test.”
Christian: “Are you sure?”
Alec Smart: “Yep.”
Christian: “Okay, then. Have you ever told a lie?”
Alec Smart: “Never.”
Christian: “Not once? Not a fib, white lie, half-truth, or an exaggeration?”
Alec Smart: “Never!”
Christian: “You have always spoken the truth, the whole truth, and noth-
ing but the truth, so help you God?”
Alec Smart: “Yep.”
Christian: “Have you ever stolen anything?”
Alec Smart: “Never.”
Christian: “Not even a ballpoint pen?”
Alec Smart: “Never!”
Christian: “Okay. Have you kept the First of the Ten Commandments?”
Alec Smart: “Yep.”
Christian: “What is it?”
Alec Smart: “I don’t know.”
Christian: “It is to put God first in your life. Have you loved God with all
of your heart, soul, mind, and strength?”
Alec Smart: “Yep.”
Christian: “The Bible says that there are none who seek after God. So one
of you is lying—either you or God, and the Bible says that it’s impossible
for God to lie. So you’ve broken the First of the Ten Commandments, and
you’ve broken the Ninth by lying. You will be in big trouble on Judgment
Day.”
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SCHOOL OF BIBLICAL EVANGELISM

FEATHERS FOR ARROWS

A father once purchased a TV for his kids to watch cartoons in the after-
noon. When he arrived home that night, his kids didn’t come to greet
him; they were busy watching TV. His homecoming had become a non-
event. He walked over to the TV and turned it off, explaining to the chil-
Memory
dren that he had purchased it for their pleasure, but if it came between
Verse
him and their love for him, it was going. They were setting their affection
“You shall love on the gift, rather than on the giver. If we love anything more than God
the Lord your
—our spouse, child, car, sport, or even our own life—we are setting our
God with all
affection on the gift, rather than on the Giver. Placing anything above God
your heart, and
with all your
is a transgression of the First of the Ten Commandments.
soul, and with
all your mind, Last Words
and with all
your strength: Kurt Cobain (in his suicide note):
this is the first “Frances and Courtney, I’ll be at your altar. Please keep going,
commandment.” Courtney, for Frances. For her life will be so much happier without
MARK 12:30 me. I love you. I love you.”