The Heart of the Law

Series on Exodus

V. The Conscience of God’s People

A. Worship in Love

1. The Sole God, Text: 20:1-3 and 22:20

Title: The Heart of the Law

Introduction

We come now to an exposition of the law of God. Our text is the first commandment which is the foundation of everything else in true religion, And God spoke all these words: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” And in Exodus 22:20, in a similar vein we read, Whoever sacrifices to a god other than the Lord, must be destroyed. We are to worship the one true God alone. There is in man what is called a semen religionis, a seed of religion, that is, an innate knowledge that God is there. Paul teaches us this in Romans 1:18-20, The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. While sinful man suppresses the knowledge of the true God, he cannot suppress completely his own religious nature. When the true God is not worshiped someone or something else is. This commandment implies this truth. We must have a god, but then it goes on to state that the Lord Jehovah or Jahweh must be our God. We are apt to miss the force of this text if we do not see the exclusiveness of the true religion. Over against the popular idea that religion is good as long as you worship some god, this text asserts that Jahweh alone is to be worshiped. The language identifies Jahweh as the one who redeemed Israel from Egypt. I am Jahweh God, the self existent, eternal God who is there ,and i will not tolerate any other gods before my face. God is intolerant of atheism, idolatry, or polytheism. We are all familiar with the great commandment given in the Old Testament and reiterated by our Lord Jesus in Mark 12:30 and 31 as the sum of all the commandments, Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all you soul, with all your mind and with all your strength and your neighbor as yourself. Thus Paul says in Romans 13:10, Love is the fulfilling of the law. This is not intended to replace the ten commandments which actually tell us how to love God and how to love our neighbor. It is rather intended to show us what is at the root of our obedience. A man cannot worship the God of the Bible alone and have no other gods unless he loves the Lord. I want us to consider four characteristics of the man who truly loves God, and therefore worships God alone. These characteristics are desire, delight, dedication and dread.

I Desire

This is the first movement in loving God. We must of course believe that He is there, but believing someone is there is a far cry from love. Desire is what characterizes love on a human level. We desire the company of one whom we love, whether it is in friendship, family or romance. So the Psalmist says in Psalm 42:1and 2, As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? In the Old Testament jealousy is a virtue attributed to God. Jealousy is implied in our text. We may love other people in different ways but we keep a special kind of love for our wives or husbands and jealously guard it. As there is no room for anyone else in the relationship of spouses, so there is no room for anyone else in our relationship to God.

II Delight

Desire leads to delight. The Psalmist speaks again in Psalm 16:11, You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. The joy we experience in earthly relationships with those we love arises out of our contact with them. In our relationship to God our joy increases in direct proportion to his communicating himself to us by his Word and Spirit and our openness to these. He gives himself to us through his ordinances and through our service, but, in this life below, it is always less than what we desire. God is not physically present to us like a friend or a spouse. The fullness of joy of which the Psalmist writes is found only in our future life. This is what Paul is speaking of in II Corinthians 5:6-8, Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord, and also in Philippians 1:23 and 24, I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. I point you to an important truth that worshiping the true God alone is life’s greatest source of delight because it fulfills our greatest desire.

III Dedication

But as we know there is a tension between what we now experience and what we will. This tension may be viewed on the one hand as a curse because we cannot experience the fullness of God’s fellowship and friendship. We are, in a sense, barred from the exclusivity of it. Many things take up our attention. Moses himself after the incident of the golden calf and the breaking of the tablets of the law experienced this frustration in part. He made a request of God, “Show me your glory,” in Exodus 33:18-20, Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the LORD said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Even Moses’ experience was limited. On the other hand this tension results in our zeal. Zeal is the indignation of the soul, the revenge it takes on whatever is an impediment to attaining its desires, and zeal is a mark of truly loving God. For example sin hinders our fellowship with God. if we desire a deeper relationship with God, we will be zealous to purge sin from our lives. Someone living a careless life of disobedience does not love God. He has no zeal. The words zeal and jealousy are very closely related, and often used to help define each other. The zealous person is the one who is jealous for his relationship with the beloved.

IV Dread

The Bible never separates fear from love. You see the Biblical view is not that all fear is removed from those who love God, but rather that the proper fear of almighty God takes on a new dimension. That is, there are two kinds of fear, servile or filial, that of a slave or a son. Both may fear but they fear in different ways. The fear is just as real, but it has different implications. The servant fears being cast off and destroyed. The son fears legitimate discipline. Now to give an example of that, we can fear both the consequences of our sinful actions to ourselves, and also the consequences to our loved ones. When I was a child I knew that I was loved. That love was returned and reciprocated with a blessed fear of displeasing those who loved me. I did not fear being spanked for a wrong act as much as I feared displeasing those who loved me. The same is true of love and fear in our relationship to God.

Conclusion

These four attributes, then, may serve to tell us if we are obeying the first commandment, to have no other gods before the true and living God. if we have desire, delight, dedication and dread of offending, all these are characteristics which show that we truly love God.