Exodus chapter 20. You will know immediately what Exodus 20 is about. It's about the law of God. Last week, Moses with Israel arrived at Sinai. And the Lord prepared them to meet with Him there. It might just be profitable to read a couple of verses of 19 just to refresh our minds so that we can come with freshness to this Word. So let's go to Exodus 19 perhaps for a moment. Verse 1, it says there, When the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. So this is the third month after they left Egypt, they arrive in Sinai. For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness, and there Israel camped before the mount." Now, again, it's just good to try and visualize this. We have a gathering here this morning, and there's all age groups represented, newborns, right, to the most mature amongst us, and I'll not name who the most mature is, but nevertheless, There's a big edge representation here, and you can think of that all those years ago. Here's Moses, and with him are a couple of million people, children right up to adults, all of their different complications and difficulties and needs, many of them encouraged, many of them in difficult straits. On top of that, all of their cattle and their possessions. You can think about the cows and the sheep and the goats and whatever else they had, and all of their tents. This is a massive operation. And they gather in the wilderness of Sinai, and then the Lord calls them to come out on this day around the mount, and that is exactly what happened. You come then to verse 17 of chapter 19 that says, and Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the nether part of the mount. So they all leave their possessions, they leave their stuff as families, they all come and they gather around the mount. So, that brings us then to chapter 20 and the verse number 1. Let's read it together. And God spake from the mountain, God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any grieving image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them, for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God. visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children onto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy onto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. That's the first two commands. Number three then is verse seven. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Command 4, verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour to do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Number five is verse 12, and here we finish. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Amen. We'll finish there. It would be my intention this morning to briefly touch on the first five commandments, and then we'll move on next Lord's Day morning as well. We have been following Moses and the people of Israel as they travel from Egypt right over to the promised land. And they have already traveled a significant distance with the help and with the blessing of the Lord. And the Lord has shown his mercy, his grace, his power, and his blessing to them. That's the case with everyone who's a believer here this morning. You're on the road for some time. Short or long, whatever, but we've been able to prove the goodness of God. They now have arrived in what we call Mount, or as it's called in the Scripture, Mount Sinai. And here, in these following chapters, are some of the most significant events in biblical history. Of huge importance, the children of God, because here we have the giving of the Ten Commandments, but the law of God is elaborated. upon. So this morning, I want to briefly look at these commands. We're going to do the first five, God willing, this morning, and then the next five next Sunday as well. After that, we're going to go into a brief study of the book of Leviticus, perhaps one or the very most two weeks. Now, why would we endeavor to do so? Well, Chapter 19 begins this stay at Mount Sinai. And I want you to understand this. The people of God remain at Mount Sinai right throughout the whole of Exodus now, to the end of Exodus. That's 27 chapters. They are there for the whole of the book of Leviticus. And they will still be there in the seventh chapter of Numbers. So there's a sizable portion of God's word, 54, approximately 54 chapters given to this one stop in Mount Sinai. So why am I only taking a couple of weeks to go through it all, 54 chapters? Well, the main reason is we looked at the law a couple of years ago. We also spent many months in the book of Leviticus a couple of years ago. And we also spent several months on the tabernacle, which is coming up next here. And we dealt with that at length some years ago. So it's sufficient for us at this point just to Stand back and look at the whole, and sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes it's good to get your magnifying glass out and go over every single detail, every verb and all the rest of it, but sometimes it's good to stand back and see the whole collectively. And that's what we'll be doing for the next few weeks as Moses, with Israel, stop at Mount Sinai to meet with God. Moses, of course, is the great lawgiver. We want to see the law that he gave. And perhaps as we look at God's law, let me start by myth-busting. Because sometimes it's thought that here is the first time God's law comes into existence. That's not true. God's law always existed. God's law exists as long as God exists, because the law is merely and is actually an expression of His will. God has always required perfection. So from before the foundation of the world, it was always wrong to kill. It was always wrong to steal. It was always wrong to have any other God. before the true Jehovah. God's law always existed and still stands to this very day. Now, I will give you this, that in Exodus 20, it's the first time God's law is summarized and recorded for men to read. Now, that's the difference here. It's the first time it's been given to men in this succinct form, summarized and written down to read. We're not going to take the time, but there are other various passages of Scripture that speaks about the Gentiles who didn't have the law. Before they knew God's law, they were a law unto themselves. And what that means is the law of God was impressed upon their heart. In Noah's day, those wicked people, they didn't have the law in written form, but it was impressed upon their heart. What do we call that? We call that our conscience. That's what it is. God's law impressed upon your heart. And every human being has the law impressed upon them by their conscience. But this morning, we come to the written law of God. And I don't want you to switch off this morning thinking, well, I know the Ten Commandments inside out. I have them memorized. I've been doing this since Sunday school. Don't let the devil and your flesh deceive you of pride this morning. I can assure you, the more you look at God's law with greater maturity in your own faith, the more you will see and understand how this represents the glory of God and it shows us how sinful we actually are. So, Moses ascends the mountain and God gives the first commandment. Let's read that first commandment, please, together. You find it there in the verse number two. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. So what exactly is God demanding here? Let me put it another way. He demands absolute authority over the people. and exclusive unshared preeminence as God. I'll read that again. He demands absolute authority over the people and exclusive unshared preeminence as God. The Lord is demanding here that he is honored and respected as the only God and no one else and nothing else. It forbids that this position that belongs to God be given or shared with anybody else. Exclusively, Jehovah. So, we understand what it means. But how? As a believer, how do we keep this commandment? How do we rightly honor God as God? Well, I'm going to give you a list of words. The first word is recognition. How do you honor God as God? How do you obey the first commandment? Will you take time to recognize Him as God? Whenever you pray, do so. You can begin your prayers by recognizing Him as God. 1 Kings 18.39, it says here, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, He is the God. The Lord, He is the God. Take time, discipline yourself to sit down and recognize Him as God and call Him that. That's how you obey this commandment in prayer as you worship Him. And so we recognize him as God and the only God. There's no room for polytheism here. You go over to India and Nepal, and there are many, many deities. It's confusing. You can't even know them all by name, let alone worship them all. The Lord makes it very clear here. One God. Worship him exclusively. And so we recognize him as God. Furthermore, we behold We behold His glory. And again, if you want to fulfill the first commandment, when you pray, for example, when you come into God's house, or all day, every day, endeavor to behold His glory. Think about His magnitude, His excellence. John 1 14, we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father. As you think through the day when you travel, whatever you're doing, washing the dishes, sitting at your computer, from time to time, think about everything around you. All created by God. He's the one who's given us, okay, we can make computers, we can make food, but where do all of those elements come from? God made all the elements. How do we have life? God gave it. Everything and everywhere, you will see the glory of God. And so we recognize Him as God. We behold the glory of God. And you choose Him. Choose Him to be your God. You're not even saved here this morning. I would encourage you to take to heart the words of Joshua, Joshua 24, 15, choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. We will serve Jehovah. And that great verse that the Lord called me through into ministry, that great verse in 1 Kings 18, 21, if the Lord be God, follow Him. So they recognize Him as God. Behold Him as God. We choose Him as our God. Furthermore, we adore and respect Him as God. That's how we fulfill this commandment. We worship the Lord respectfully. or approach to him ought to be respectfully conducted. Think about the seraphim, the angels in glory. They cover their faces with their wings. What about Elijah? When the Lord drew near, he bowed his head, he covered his face out of fear. Men and women, we come before God. Remember who you're coming to, the only true God. We ought to fear him. He's not your best buddy. that you go to hang out with. I don't like that language. That's not biblical language. No, we fear God. That means terror. Or as Matthew said, 10, 28, fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him. That means be terrified. Fear Him, which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. And that language isn't there just to encourage you to come to church and sit nice and look well. No, it means you ought to be terrified. And why would you not be? The more you know of God, the more you ought to be afraid of God, His excellence, His power, the hell that He can cast you into. If you're saved, if you're genuinely saved, I mean, you'll have people that'll say, you know, I trust God. I trust the Lord will take me to heaven. But they've no fear of God. And I know that because they can break God's law without a second thought. They don't really care. If you're really saved, you'll be afraid to break God's law because the fear of God will be in you. Keep that in mind. He is loving, but also remember his power. Do not treat him irreverently. Furthermore, we ought to trust this God. We ought to exercise trust in him. He's worthy. As I prayed at the very beginning of our time here, he's in scripture called the faithful God. And he's shown himself to be faithful. From Genesis right through Exodus and in your personal experience, he's worthy of your trust. And you can trust your most treasured possession, your eternal soul with him. And he will faithfully take care of it. Furthermore, we ought to love. We ought to love him as God. We love him. Why? Because he first loved us. We have a merciful God. And furthermore, we ought to then obey Him as God. So there's some ways that we can fulfill this commandment. Have no other gods before me. We recognize Him as God. Behold His glory. Choose Him for our own God. We adore Him respectfully. We fear Him. We trust Him. We love Him. We obey Him. And I have to ask you, how are you getting on with that? Because if you feel in anything I've mentioned there, and that is only a summary. We spent weeks on these commandments a long time ago. That's a summary. How are you doing with this? Because feeling is breaking God's law that's worthy of hell. Well, this same God who demands that we honor him as God invites you to come, that you would put your trust and faith in him. Let's move the second commandment then. found in verse four. Thou shalt not make unto thee any grieving image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them or serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate me and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. A lot of words there. Can I just summarize it by saying this? The first commandment demands that we worship the one true God. Command number two is about worshiping the true God in the correct manner. There's a logical progression here with these commands. You see, it is possible. It is possible that you go to command number one there and you can say, yes, that's Jehovah. That's the God of this book. I go to church and I worship my God. But you could worship that God in the entirely wrong way. And that's what command two is saying. You cannot worship this great God whatever way you want. We do it the way he specifies. Now it makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Worshiping the right God, the right way. And there's one example given here concerning that of idols. So idol worship is wrong. Now, I'm very conscious today, I'm sure, well, at least in Protestant circles, there won't be many people bowing down to physical statues of or God or any other God or whatever. Now you go again to India, you go to Nepal and there are statues absolutely everywhere. But thinking in the context of us here this morning, let's take what's taught here. Now we ought not to bow down to idols and what would be wrong with this? Think about it seriously. What would be wrong with going to a wee Christian bookshop and getting just a wee image of Jesus Christ and sitting in your bedroom and begin to pray before that wee eight hour. What is actually wrong with doing that? Well, I would put three things to you this morning. The first thing is this, it's insulting. It's insulting. Because you are representing an infinite God. full of wisdom and power and holiness and justice and goodness and truth. And you think, as a fallen creature, we have the ability to make a little image of him? That's an insult to God. Remember who you're dealing with. Furthermore, it's impossible. How could you have an image of God? He is spirit. You can't draw a picture of a soul. You can't make an image of a spirit, no. God, God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. You can't make an image of them. Thirdly then, it's irrational. It's irrational. When, for example, let's say you go to meet the Queen. It may be unlikely, but let's say it happens. You go to meet the Queen, you walk into the palace, and there's the Queen, she's on her throne, the crown's on her head, and what do you do? You turn to a big picture, a painting of her, a great painting, well painted, and you bow down to the painting. That'll be daft. That'll be an insult to her. It's the exact same with us. Why would we bow before a little statue when we have God before us in our presence? He is omnipresent in God's house. He says, I will be with you when two or three meet. So it's insulting. It's impossible. It's irrational. Now, you will go to, and I need to make a mention to the Roman Catholic Church here because they would hold their views very strongly and they would say, well, images are layman's books. And what they mean by that is when you have images, Not everybody might be schooled in the Word of God and might not understand the Bible. And so they put images around their buildings and bring their images home. And it's layman's books. You don't have to read. You just look at the picture. Let me tell you something. Those layman's books are teaching you lies. Because you look at a cross, with a weak man hanging on that cross, they say, that is not my Savior, and that is not my God. That's a pathetic, depraved man's attempt at portraying the blessed Savior. It's not layman's books at all. It's heresy. It's evil and violent. God says there's no time for it. So we don't need images to remind us of what God is like. He's given us His Word, and He sent His Son, and that is sufficient. Perhaps we haven't time to go into all the details of this command. Let me just briefly mention a couple of things here in verse 5. It says here, the Lord's a jealous God, okay? So verse five, thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them for, because I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. Now, why would it say that there? Why does God put that in there? Well, very simply, if I can make an illustration to help you, we're thinking here about idols. And the Lord calls idol worship something that'll be sin and makes him jealous. Why? Let's take the picture of a young man and a young woman and they get married and all is well and all is good. And the wife says to her husband, you know, I think there's something I can do to love you better. I'm going to go and spend my time with other men. And those other men will remind me of you and help me love you better. That's daft. That's an adulterous woman. That's someone who is not content. And that's like idols. The Lord is saying, you're taking little other things to remind you of me. Come to me, the Lord says. Do not provoke jealousy. And again, we can't really move on here just without at least mentioning what's said here about God judging the children of fathers and mothers who commit the sin of idolatry. What does that really mean? Well, listen, if a father lives for idolatry, he brings his children up in a home that worship idols, what will happen? Those children will grow up being infected being poisoned by those images, by that false theology, by that heresy, and God will always judge those who sins against them. Should be a third, fourth, fifth, whatever number of generations. You be careful then, dear parent, as to what you do in your home and how you lead your young. Let's move on here really quickly to the third commandment. And the third commandment is found in verse number seven. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. I think it is shocking. It is shocking that God would have to even say that to mankind. What sort of creatures are we? That the one who has created us and blessed us and sent his son to be a redeemer, that we would have to even be told to use his name respectfully. but such is our fallen state. As one man said, commonness of provanity shows commonness of judgment, or predicts commonness of judgment. When you have a lot of people who are taking God's name in vain, it shows that people and that nation are ungodly. and they're heading to hell as darkened sinners. And listen, you and I know what it's like. You can go walk down the street. You can walk past a school playground. You can go into your doctor's surgery, the hospital. You can put your TV on, your radio, your internet, and you are bombarded with God's name tight in the vein. Swear words, curse words, and that is correct. A commonness of provate predicts commonness of judgment. The more you hear it, the more you can be reminded of all those people going to a lost eternity because the God they are cursing now will someday judge them unless they repent of their sin. So taking God's name in vain is very serious. It's also very, very sad. Can I say, the Lord never repealed this command. The Lord never took it away. In fact, when Jesus Christ walked amongst men, he emphasized this commandment. Remember what the Lord said, Matthew 12? He speaks here about sinning, and he says, blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. shall not be forgiven." Blasphemy! Taking God's name in vain. Against the Holy Ghost, the Lord says it will not be forgiven. Now that text requires a sermon in and of itself, but take it for what it is for our application today. Blasphemy is a serious sin that God will condemn, unless forgiven. Save the Holy Ghost is a little bit different there, but that's for some other day. Let's move on here as we try to push through these. The fourth commandment is in verse number eight. Again, it goes into great detail here. And that should straight away draw the importance of this in your mind. Verse number eight, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And then the command goes on. Just in case you don't understand that. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord by God. In it thou shalt not do any work, any work, none. Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, so don't send your kids out to work. Might be on leave, and you think, well, they can work. Don't send your manservant or your maidservant. How often have I come across people like this? I've worked with people like this, all right? They wouldn't lift their hand on the Lord's day because the Lord's day is holy, yet they send their staff out. I know that. For I work with those men, not in the Lord's day, I can assure you. Anyway, verse 11. Well, verse 10 finishes off by talking about your cattle and the stranger that is within thy gates. All of these things stop. Now, there is necessity for the farmer to take care of the flock. And there is, obviously, works of necessity and mercy, and they are found elsewhere in God's Word. Christ makes that very clear in his ministry. You know, if an ox is fallen, or a sheep, or whatever animal he used, falls into a ditch in the Lord's day, do you leave it there? The Lord says, no, you come and you help it out. There must be those acts of mercy and care where it's necessary. And furthermore, there are hospitals required and all of those things. The Lord makes that all very clear. But again, let's just be very specific with our commandments. The greater problem in our day isn't understanding what works of mercy and necessity are. Our problem today is simply obeying this commandment at all. Verse 11. Now, how often have you heard people say, you know, I'm just so busy. Work is hectic at the minute. It's just pouring down upon us. Lockdown is lifted and we're getting really busy again. I haven't time to take God's day. The Lord made heaven and earth in six days. You're hardly busier than Jehovah. And yet he stopped. and he took the Lord's day, the Sabbath day. So, verse 11 finishes off, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Now, let's just take some time to consider this commandment for a moment or two. It starts by saying, remember the Sabbath day. So we're prone to forget about this. We see that elsewhere in the Bible, remember the Lord's table We're called, we're called not to forget certain things that are of great importance. Don't forget about the Lord's day. The Sabbath, remember the Sabbath day. And Sabbath just means day of rest. That's what it means, a day to rest. But look what it says here. Just look, that's really careful. Don't miss this. Remember the Sabbath morning. No. Remember the Sabbath evening. No. Remember the 12 hours of the Sabbath. No. Remember the 24-hour period, otherwise commonly known as day. The whole of it. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And that is most important, men and women. When it says keep it, That means that you don't pass it by. You don't fail to observe it, but you preserve it. And look really closely here. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it, and that word holy is the bit that deals with all the misunderstandings that surround God's day. There are plenty of people that will say, you know, I can go out shopping, I'll go to church in the morning, I'll even go to church in the afternoon, but I might be out that day doing other things and other activities. No. It doesn't say remember the Sabbath day to keep it as a holiday. Now, that's a very similar word, holiday, but it is entirely different. A holiday is your day for your recreation. It's your day for rest from your regular work that you can be invigorated to go and work some more, whatever. A holiday is entirely different from a holy day. The word holy, I remind you, means separate. That's what it means. God is holy in the perfect way. What that means is he's separate from all of creation. God isn't created. He's the creator. He's holy. He's different. Nothing else like him. We as God's people are supposed to be, well, we are holy, but we ought to live a holy life. We're separate from the rest of mankind because we're saved, we're washed, we're redeemed. Well, the Sabbath day is a holy day. What does that mean? You keep it separate from all the rest. It's not like any other day. You don't do the usual things you do on other days. There may be very legitimate tasks. Whatever it is, you set it to the side. This day is different, and you must keep that in your mind. What I do today, is this making it a holy day? Is it making it a special day? Is it a day where I am drawing everything towards God? Is everything directing me to Christ? It's a day where your soul has to be revitalized and to be refreshed. So, just in case that's hard to understand, the Lord spells it out abundantly clear. You have six days, verse nine. You have six days to labor and to do all your work. Not four days, Monday to Thursday. Not five days, Monday to Friday. No, six days, Monday to Saturday, to do all your work, your career, your garden lawn, washing your car, whatever. You have six days to do all of that work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath, the day of rest. Rest from what? arrest from your labors that your soul might be focused upon the things of God." That's abundantly important and most clear here. Is that clear enough today? Because men and women, is there a command which is so frequently broken as this command, even amongst the people of God? And I know, listen, I know there are Other Christians, good men and women, preachers that I have the utmost respect for, outside of our denomination. Other churches who preach the gospel, I completely respect them for their walk and their conduct, but this commandment, is so grossly misunderstood. I don't want to oversimplify it either. I know there's New Testament verses that people struggle with, but let me tell you this. Is it okay to murder today? No. Is it okay to steal? No. Is it okay to have another God before you? No. All these commandments are very much alive today as they always have been and required. Now, You come to the New Testament, and there's a glaring problem. Before I move on, I need to mention this as well. There's a glaring problem because we don't keep the seventh day. Did you read what verse 10 said there? The actual day of the week is given, but the seventh day, that was yesterday. Were you here yesterday? Was I here? No, because the church wasn't even open. So why do we not keep the seventh day? Well, I'll tell you why. When Christ rose again, you'll note that he did not rise on the seventh day of the week. He rose on the first day of the week. Why was that? Why? Well, the seventh day was given so that they would remember God's greatest work of creation. That was the day God rested. And so the pattern was set, rest on this day as God has given it. Then Christ came. He rose again, not on the rest day, but he rose the next day, the first day of the week. And that would have been puzzling for the people then. Maybe even for the disciples as well. What does that mean? Just to confirm this, the Lord didn't see them again until the next first day of the week. And then the next first day of the week. And you will find that over and over again the Lord met with them on the first day of the week. So before the Lord ascended, they were already meeting together every first day of the week. Because they knew that's the day the Lord meets with us. You go into Acts. And they make very clear, the Apostle Paul makes it clear, Acts 20, they were meeting on the first day of the week. They were commanded to bring your tithes on the first day of the week. What was the day of Pentecost? When was the Spirit of God poured out? On the first day of the week. So by the time the New Testament's closed, the New Testament church, under God's direction, are now meeting on the first day of the week. Why? Because there's a greater work now than creation that we should be remembering. Creation was an awesome act where God made everything in six days. And it's well worthy of your time on a Saturday to think about God's great creation. But he did something greater 2,000 years ago when his son came into planet Earth. He was clothed in flesh. walked amongst men, he died on the cross, bore the sins of all those who trusted him, and rose again. And so we now keep a different day because there's a greater event for us to remember, even greater than creation. That's why you're here today. And that's why you should be excited about God's day. This is the day of redemption. When redemption was complete, what did Christ say on the cross? It is finished. But that wasn't the first day of the week. So what was finished? His work was finished. He had lived. He had woven together the robe of righteousness. He had died for us. He was buried. But then the first day of the week, what happened? Redemption was complete. Christ had finished His work. He had died on the cross. He had dealt with sin. And then the Father would raise Him again. Redemption sealed for the people. That should excite you every Sunday. when we come to meet together. This is the day that redemption was completed for me. Let's move on here. Enjoy the Lord's Day, let it refresh your soul and be strengthened. Really quickly here, let's just come to the last one, the fifth commandment. You find it on, in verse 12, it says, honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days belong upon them. You know what? We'll leave that for next week, okay? We have dealt with four this morning, and we'll endeavour to fly through the rest of them next Lord's Day. But let me tell you this, brothers and sisters, what do we see here thus far in God's law? I think it's very clear from these Scriptures, command number one, there is a demand that we worship God exclusively. Commandment number two demands that we worship the one true God correctly. Commandment three demands that we honor God and treat his name with respect. And by the way, I didn't deal with it there, but when it talks about God's name, that means everything whereby he reveals himself, his word, his attributes, his characteristics, not just the name of Jesus Christ, every way he reveals himself, because that's what a name is. Anyway, fourth, the commandment here demands that we spend one specific day in worshiping God. Can you see the emphasis then? That we cannot treat the Lord the way we want to. We are duty bound to do these but also to enjoy them because it is true, blessed as the Psalm said, blessed is the man and woman and young person whose heart is inclined to obey these laws. you will find blessing, and you will find heaven before you. If you're not saved this morning, I want you to see how you have grieved God with the failure on many, many levels. And we're only dealing with the first table of the law. We have the second table to deal with here because there were two tables of the law given, and we'll read that in a few weeks' time. men and women, let's endeavor to pray that God would give us a heart to indeed obey the Lord. O gracious God and heavenly Father, O Lord, we must tremble when we see the scope of God's law And Lord, how we do sin against Thee, even dearly in thought, word and deed. I suppose the first commandment, Lord, is the one we are all guilty of feeling in the most. Lord, our adoration and our respectful approach of Thee. Lord, exclusively worshiping Thee. And at times, although we may not set idols before us or say that we have other gods, yet we treat other things and other events and other people, we treat them with such diligence. that we treat them in a God-like manner. Heavenly Father, help us to put first and foremost thy will and thy way. Save us, Lord, from selfishness. Save us, Lord, from treating ourselves as gods. Save us, Lord, from treating our happiness and our pleasure and our ambitions as our gods. Lord, thy will must be always at the foremost of our minds. So help us, Lord, to love thee, and none other. If there's any here who are unsaved, O God, this day, bring them to their knees and save sinners. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen.