Alright, open again in your Bibles to the text that was read just now in Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. For those of you who are familiar with Exodus chapter 20, now this is the commandment chapter alright, the chapter where the Ten Commandments are recorded. Now I must confess that the first time I actually heard of the Ten Commandments, now the credit must go to Charlton Heston alright, now the one who acted as Moses alright in the award-winning film “The Ten Commandments”.

And I believe therefore this is the same for many people alright. Now if not for these kinds of films or movies, they probably have never really heard of the Ten Commandments. So we are beginning a new series this morning. Now we are looking at the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments alright. And so this morning we shall look at the first alright- the first commandment now recorded in verse 3 of Exodus 20. Verse 3 of Exodus 20, so let me just read that verse again alright. Exodus 20:3- “You shall have no other gods before Me.”. Now let me point out that this commandment is about true worship. This commandment is about true worship.

We are all worshippers, and you probably know of other people who are worshippers. On a Sunday we come and we say we are coming here to worship, but the question is: What is worship? Now we are worshippers. We come here to worship. We know there are people who are worshipping but have you ever asked what really is worship? What can we say of our own worship? Is it true? Is our worship true worship? Or what is true worship? Now that is our subject matter this morning, and that is the point of the first commandment. It is about true worship.

And I would like to point out from this commandment two things about true worship. True worship are either this or they are false. And let us be clear alright, else our worship might actually be false. So what then are the two things about true worship as we see in this commandment? Now let me point out from the very outset it is, first of all, now true worship is both intense and exclusive. True worship is both intense and exclusive. Now let us, therefore, spend the remaining of the time to meditate upon these two great truths about worship.

Now, first of all, worship is intense. Worship is intense. Remember, we are talking about worship. So what is worship? Now here turn with me to Deuteronomy alright- Deuteronomy chapter 6, and here we have Moses alright- we have Moses speaking to the children of Israel and he said to them these words. He said to them these words. Remember Moses was bringing them to the Promised Land, and at this point, he is reminding them. He’s reminding the children of Israel before they enter into the Promised Land these words.

Deuteronomy chapter 6 and beginning in verse 1. He says: “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess”. In other words, Moses tells them I want to remind you of some important truth before you go in and possess the Land. So what is that Moses wanted to remind them of?

Verse 2: “that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, that your days may be prolonged. Therefore hear”. Now verse 3 is a command to them. It is an imperative. He says therefore or hear therefore. Hear what? He said: “Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, that you may multiply greatly as the LORD your God of your fathers has promised you— ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’”.

And then he repeats that in the next verse. Verse 4: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD your God, the LORD is one!”. Now we pause here and think of what Moses is saying here to the people. We are going into the Land. We are going to possess the Land. Now you remember when God called Abraham out of the land, out of his family to follow Him, do you not remember that God was calling Abraham to come out of a pagan culture? Now in the words of Joshua (now you keep a finger in Deuteronomy chapter 6), now let me just read from Joshua what Joshua said of Abraham’s calling.

You see in Joshua, now listen to these words in Joshua chapter 24. Joshua said again to the children of Israel. He said: “Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, for their officers; and (they represented or) they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, (he said you see) “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham, the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; they served other gods.”.

But God called our father Abraham out from that polytheistic culture, a culture where they served many gods. And God said: I’ve called Abraham to serve the one and only true God. Now that is what God is saying to the Israelites that I am your God and I am the only true God. And so here back in Deuteronomy chapter 6, Moses is kind of reminding the children of Israel of this great fact. Do you not realise? Do you not remember that our God is the only God?

And so when you go in to possess this land that God has promised, now this is a land filled with people who worship many gods. But do not be like them. You have been called up from a polytheistic as it were culture and you’re going into a polytheistic culture. But I want to remind you that there are no many gods. There is only one God. Now that is what the first commandment is about: “you shall have no other gods” because there is only one God, and I the Lord, I Yahweh is the only true God.

And so back in Deuteronomy, now back in verse 4 when Moses reminded the children of Israel this great truth about their religion, about their worship. Now he said these to them: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!” The LORD our God, the LORD is one! And they were to remind themselves constantly. In fact, they were to recite these three times a day: “The LORD our God, the LORD is one!”. Or it may be translated this way: “The LORD our God, the LORD alone is God!

That is what “the LORD is one” means- the LORD alone is God. Now you see, God saw it fit that the people of God needed this reminder. Now I believe that we need this reminder today as well. We are worshippers of the true and living God, and there are no other gods- there are no other gods. Now what is the implication of that, you might ask? So what is the implication of this great truth of our worship that we Christians, we worship the one and only true God, every other are forced? Now, what is the implication of that?

Verse 5: “Therefore, you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.”. Now that is the implication of it. This is the only true God. This is the only God that deserves all your love and all your affection and all your worship. You cannot divide your worship. He alone deserves all honour and glory. He alone deserves our worship and our devotion. Verse 6: “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.”.

You see the emphasis? There’s kind of a repetition here. There is only one God. We are worshippers of that one and only God. Forget about these other gods that people have made. Only one God, and give of yourself completely, totally, wholeheartedly to the worship of this God. He says: “these words I command shall be in your heart”. Remember it. And not just you should remember it. Verse 7: “You shall also teach them diligently to your children”.

Tell your children. If you are parents, you have children, now this is what you are told to do. Tell your children: No other gods. Only one God, and give of your heart totally to this one and only God. That is our duty. If you are a parent, that is your foremost duty to tell your children: No, no, not these other gods. Only one God and give of yourself. Love this God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind.

And you shall do them how? “You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”. Can you again see how Moses here is trying to impress upon the children of Israel this point? Can you not see the importance of this first commandment that there is only one God?

How often do we read the first commandment that way and say to ourselves: Only one God. You shall have no other gods? And you will say to our children daily. You see, in fact, we should perhaps remind ourselves three times a day- morning, afternoon, and at night. Now should we not also remind our children constantly? When they were a baby, we remind them. When they grow up to be a teenager, we remind them. And they grow into a young adult, we continue to remind them.

It is so easy for us to get distracted and so easy to be lured away and lose that love for the one and true God and turn to other gods. Now that is the command here. Verse 10: “So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.”.

Don’t forget this one and only true God. Don’t allow the comfort of this life to cause you to forget this one and true God. He deserves your worship. He deserves your love, not just love but your utmost love, your intense love. Verse 13: “You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you (for the LORD your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.”.

There’s a warning here. So do not get distracted. Do not go after these other gods. You see, here God is already seeing the tendency of the people. When they go into that land filled with people who worship many, many gods, the tendency of God’s people to go after these other gods. And so there’s this severe warning you know, you shall not go after other gods. If you go after other gods, I shall punish you. Tell your children, tell your neighbour, tell your friends, tell everyone there is only one true God.

That is what worship is about. Worship is here in Deuteronomy, knowing and believing that there’s only one God who deserves all our love- who deserves all our love. Love this one true God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. In other words, worship is loving God. To worship God is to love God, and this love ought to be intense, not just lovey, lovey love. Ought to be intense love. Ought to be a love that is with our whole heart and whole being and with all our soul and strength.

Go to Deuteronomy 10:12. Deuteronomy 10:12, and the Bible says here: “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you”? If this morning you know if this question were to ask you: What does the LORD your God require of you? Now here’s the answer: “But to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul”.

There is a constant emphasis in the Bible that we who are worshippers of the true and living God, He is the only God and we are to love Him with all our heart and with all our soul. It ought to be intense. It is like when we, you know, the Sunday-school children sing: “Wide, wide as the ocean; Deep, deep as the sea. Now high, high as the skies, heavens above.”. Now it is like saying that to God.

Do we not come to church this morning and is this not what we are saying to God as we sit down? God, this is how much I love You. I love You this much. This much. If you’re not loving God that way, you’re not truly worshipping Him. Worship is to love God intensely. Now, what is intense love? What is it to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might? What is it? Now if that is what true worship is about, anything less than that is unacceptable worship. God deserves everything. God deserves everything. Anything less is not true worship.

What is intense love? It is this. John 21:15, Jesus asked Simon Peter. “And He said, “(Simon Peter or) Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?””. Now that is what intense love is about. This is what God is demanding of us. He said if you love Me, do you love Me more than this? Now someone asked me that question last Friday as I preached on this text, say what does this mean? This means everything or anything, and that’s what God is asking. Do you love Me more than anything or anyone in this world? If you love anything or anyone more than God, now you see that is not true worship. That’s intense love.

Intense love is to tell Jesus You are My everything, You are My all. What is intense love? Now intense love is this, it’s as Paul writes to the Philippians in Philippians 1:21. Philippians 1:21, and he said this. He said: “For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.”. Now that is intense love. Or in chapter 3 in verse 7: “But what things were gain to me, these I counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ”.

Now that is intense love. Everything else is rubbish. It’s nothing in order that I may have Christ. It is Christ. It is Christ. It is Christ that I want. Is that your heart cry as you come to church this morning? Lord, it is Christ. It is Christ that I want. Now everything else is as dunks. What is intense love? Intense love is this as we read in Psalm 84. Psalm 84, and listen to David here. And this is intense love in Psalm 84:1-2, David cries out: “How lovely is Your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD; Yes my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”.

Now how many of us can honestly and truly say this morning when I came to church this morning that is my heart cry. As I come, I’m crying out to God and I’m saying these words of David: “My heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God”. That is true worship. It is intense in this sense. What is intense love? It is as recorded in Genesis chapter 22. It’s in Genesis chapter 22, and we read of Abraham. In Genesis chapter 22, and here we are told in verse 2.

Genesis 22:2, and it says here about Abraham, and God was giving him a test. And God said to Abraham: “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love”. Now listen. It’s almost like God was rubbing it in as He was testing Abraham. I want you to take your son, not just any son but that son Isaac and the son whom you loved. And then He says: “go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”.

God is saying to Abraham. He says: Give Me your best. As we come to God in worship, God is saying the same to us. Give Me not your second-best; Give Me your best. And so how would you come out through this test for Abraham? And God said this to him in verse 12. And He said: “Do not lay your hand on that lad, or do anything to him; for now I know”. God told Abraham as Abraham comes out of the test, and God said stop. Enough because now I know. There is something God knew about Abraham, and what was it that God knew about Abraham?

God said now I know. I know that you love Me. I know that you love Me. Can God say that to us this morning and He say to you: “Now I know that you love Me. You truly love Me by your action, not just your words. By your life. I know that you love Me with intense love.”? That is what intense love looks like. You know what this commandment is therefore saying to us, the first commandment: “you shall have no other gods”? Now, this is what it’s saying to us. It is saying as Jesus points out in Revelation chapter 3. Revelation 3:15-16, and listen to these words.

Revelation 3:15-16, and Jesus said: “now I know your works”. God is constantly observing us. God is constantly taking note of our lives and our actions because He demands a certain standard from us. He demands something from us because He is God, the one and the only true God. And Jesus says here: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth (or I will spit you out of my mouth).”.

Now, what is the first commandment saying to us? It is this: It is a sin to be nominal. You get it? You understand what the first commandment is saying? It is a sin to be nominal. You know what? Very often we have this conversation among ourselves, we say that every church member is a nominal Christians. Only you know normally we say the exceptional, the few, now those are the zealous ones. Now in every church, the average Christians are nominal Christians.

Nominalism is a sin. Therefore every church is a sinful church. It is a sin to be lukewarm, a sin to be neither cold nor hot. In fact, as we read here in Revelation 3, it is offensive to God. It is not just you know the nominal. Sometimes we speak of nominal Christianity as if they’re acceptable, those are the norms. It’s offensive to God. God will spit them out of their mouth. It is unacceptable worship. If we come here as nominal Christians, if we give to God so-called that kind of average worship, nominal worship, God will spit us out of His mouth.

It is a sin to be dead Christians. It is a sin to be lacking in zeal for God. It is a sin not to have fervent or not to be on fire for God. It is a sin to lose your first love for God. Now all those are condemned in the Bible. Where is your first love? Where are your priorities? What kind of Christian are you? What kind of worshippers are you? Nominal? Average? Those are unacceptable worship because the first commandment demands intense worship.

That leads us to the second thing we should grasp in this first commandment. What does it teach us? Secondly, it also teaches us that true worship is exclusive worship. It is not only intense (God demands that anything less is unacceptable), it is also exclusive. Now one of the first lessons we teach our children is sharing. This morning I went into that children’s room, and Ezra was having her (his) fruits. And the mother told Ezra this morning: Now share your fruits with pastor, and Ezra was very kind. He took one piece and he gave it to me alright.

Now that is what we teach our children- share their toys, share their sweets. But there are things we must never share. There are things that we must teach our children never to share. We must tell them never to share family secrets. Don’t tell people where your mommy put her jewellery. Never to share their pin number or their password. And when you young people, when you go to the youth camp in two weeks’ time, and if you forget to bring your toothbrush, don’t share toothbrushes alright.

So there are things that we must never share. Now, what is the greatest recurring problem of the Israelites in the Old Testament? What is the greatest repeated or recurring problem of the Israelites in the Old Testament? It is this, turn with me to Second Kings chapter 17. Second Kings chapter 17, and look first of all at verse 41. 2 Kings 17:41- “So these nations feared the LORD, yet served their carved images; now also their children and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day.”.

Now God was warning the children of Israel about what other people were doing. Now then you look at verse 33: “They feared the LORD, yet they served their own gods—according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.”. And he’s saying here the Israelites had exactly the same problem. Although he says here they feared the Lord, but they served these many other gods like these other nations.

Despite the warning that Moses gave them that when you enter into the Promised Land, you are going into a culture where people worship many gods. He said don’t be like them because there is only one true God. But they went in and they succumb to the temptation, and they like these other people served many gods. The problem is not that they don’t worship the true God. The problem is that though they fear the Lord or they served God, they also served other gods.

Now that is the problem with a lot of Christians today. It is not that they do not come and worship the one and only true God. But in their lives, they also have other gods. They also serve other gods. But this commandment says: “You shall have no other gods before Me”. Worship has to be exclusive. We must have no other gods, only this God. So when it comes to the worshipping of God, it’s all or nothing.

Jesus said you cannot. You cannot serve God and mammon at the same time. It’s either God or mammon. Joshua, remember he said to the Israelites in the same context in chapter 24 where he reminded them of how God called Abraham out of a polytheistic culture. Then he tells them now you choose. Choose you this day whom you will serve. You cannot have both. Choose you this day whom you will serve.

Or in First Kings chapter 18, the prophet Elijah made the same challenge. If the LORD is God, serve Him. If Baal is God, then go serve them. But you have to choose. You cannot have it all alright you cannot have both. True worship is to give God our total allegiance with all our heart and all our soul and with all our strength. If you have other gods, do you know what it means? If you worship the true and living God and you have other gods, do you understand what it means?

Turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel chapter 16, now this is what it means. Ezekiel chapter 16, beginning in verse 28. Verse 28, now listen to the Word of God. Ezekiel 16:28, and God said: “You also played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied.”. Verse 29: “Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, the Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied.”.

You were never satisfied. You have this God and you have that God. And of course, here, God is speaking in terms of prostitution. You have this man, you have that man, and you’re still not satisfied. Verse 30: “How degenerate is your heart!” Says the LORD God, “seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot. “You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned payment.”.

In other words, God is, first of all, using the picture of a prostitute to show their sin and that you are like a prostitute. And then He said you are actually worse than a prostitute. When you have other gods, you are worse than a prostitute. How so? Verse 32: “You are an adulterous wife (it says here that an adulterous wife is worse than a prostitute), who takes strangers instead of her husband. Men make payment to all harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, and you hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry.

You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given to you”. The prostitutes get a payment for their service, but you pay other people to do it. Now God speaks in those terms to tell us what breaking the first commandment is really all about. When you have other gods, you are a spiritual prostitute, and worse, you’re like the adulterous wife.

You see, it is utterly offensive, totally unacceptable. You see, that must kind of ring in our ear. As far as God is concerned, do not think that just because you’re in church this morning, God ought to be so happy. God, at least you see me in church. Maybe average you know, maybe half-heartedly. Maybe my mind was thinking about other things. But God said this to you: It is utterly offensive and totally unacceptable. I have nothing. Nothing.

Once we come to understand something of this, we wonder how much of worship each Sunday were actually acceptable to God, not just here in this church but everywhere. We Christians have this mentality that we’re doing God a favour just by coming to church. When we are not giving our best to God; when we are not coming with zeal and fervency, the heart that cries out to God: God, my God! My heart cries out to You! My soul thirsts for You!

How many people come to church with that kind of intensity and heart? It’s utterly unacceptable, God says. That is what it means to have other gods in our lives. Do you have another woman in your life? Do you have another man in your life? You know those kinds of question is very offensive, but God’s question to us is this this morning: Do you have another God in your life?

Now that doesn’t sound very offensive alright. That sounds normal. That ought not to be so. Do you have another God in your life? That is what the first commandment is about. It’s about true worship, and true worship is both intense and exclusive. Let us pray.

“Our Father in heaven, we bow and indeed our heart cries out to You and perhaps we’re ashamed that so often the kind of worship that we give to You are so far, far, far less than what You demand and what You deserve. And we pray Lord that You’ll help us to understand what this commandment is saying to us that we must have no other gods besides You.

But You are the only true God. You are the Living God. You are the One who created us. You are our Saviour. O God, You deserve everything from us. Help us O Lord. Grant us grace to give that to You, to give our love with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, for these, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.