with me to Deuteronomy chapter 5. Deuteronomy chapter five, last week we started a series on the 10 commandments. We considered the preface to the 10 commandments in verses one to six. The preface proper is found in verse six. Verses one to five is a call to obedience by Moses to the children of Israel on the plains of Moab as they're getting ready to enter into the promised land. So I want to begin reading in verse six in Deuteronomy chapter five. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, 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. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it, you shall do no work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant, your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain, from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice. And He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me." Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for the written word. We thank You for what we have here in the Decalogue. We pray now that Your Holy Spirit would guide us in this first commandment. Give us the grace to see the necessity, God, to have priorities and to have an allegiance that is first and foremost to the true and living God. We thank you that you've redeemed us by sovereign grace. We thank you that you've blessed us richly, that you have called us out of bondage and darkness and sin and depravity and brought us into that marvelous light of the Lord Jesus Christ. God, it's a privilege for us. It's a blessing for us. to be able to worship you and to serve you. And God, nevertheless, we find this principle in us, this contrariness in us, that we are prone to wander and prone to leave the God that we love. So do forgive us now and do cleanse us now from all sin and unrighteousness and transgression and guide us by your Holy Spirit to receive with thanksgiving your word and may it affect the way that we live in this world. And we pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. Well, as we look at this particular section, we notice in the first place there are four commandments specifically related to God Almighty. They concern God, His worship, His name, and His day. Now, the last six are our duty toward man, and we'll take those up as we move through the Decalogue. But tonight, it's the first commandment, Deuteronomy 5, verse 7. One commentator says, the primary purpose of the primary commandment is to assert and protect the exclusive covenantal sovereignty of Yahweh as God over the Israelites and their exclusive covenantal allegiance to Him. I would argue that the first commandment is not only a word concerning theological orthodoxy, but also practical loyalty. The Lord God says, you shall have no other gods before me. So we'll look first at the prohibition of the commandment, and then secondly, the positive aspects of the commandment. But in the first place, notice this reference to other gods. You shall have no other gods before me. The meaning is not, There is a pantheon, there's a whole host of others, and some choose this one and some choose the other one, but I want you to make sure that your choice is of me. He's not actually acknowledging the existence of rival gods. He's not actually suggesting that there are competing deities. Rather, he is speaking to the situation facing the children of Israel. They had come out of the land of Egypt. And when God sent forth those plagues, it was not only to liberate his people, it was not only to bring judgment against Egypt, but it was a mandate or rather a judgment against the gods of Egypt to show that they were in fact futile. They were nothing. And in this particular situation, they are getting ready to enter into the promised land. They are going to go into Canaan. Later on in Deuteronomy chapter 7, God is going to prohibit them from having any social interaction with the Canaanites. They are not supposed to marry them. They're not supposed to have that sort of closeness and intimacy with them. As well, they're not supposed to enter into political alliances because that is contrary to the will and word of God. But they're also not supposed to have any religious alliance, obviously, with the Canaanites in the land. Now, God warns them, but nevertheless, they go into the land and they engage in this sort of idolatry. The people of the land prayed to Baal. The people of the land prayed to Baal as the storm god, as the one who was responsible to water the crops. And perhaps the Israelites would see rain come, and hear the Canaanites praise Baal from whom all blessings flow, and then they begin to conclude that Yahweh isn't as good as Baal. That actually obtained in Israel's history, but there is a prohibition against that. God says, you shall have no other gods before me. The margin reads besides me. There must be no religious worship or service given to rival gods before God. You are not supposed to have a pantheon. You're not supposed to be like those in the ancient Greco world. You're not supposed to have a God of the hills and a God of the valleys and a God of the skies and a God of the land. There is one true and living God and the children of Israel are prohibited from having any other gods before him. It is a demand for total allegiance. It is a demand for covenant loyalty. It is a demand that is echoed by our Lord in Matthew 6, 33. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. In other words, God being who God is, God having done what God had done in redeeming them from the land of Egypt, this is a necessary implication. You shall have no other gods before me. You see the same sort of thing in the book of Romans. After detailing the gospel of free and sovereign grace in chapters one to 11, how does he begin chapter 12? He says, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable service. In other words, if God has saved you through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, then it is necessarily the case that you give him everything in return, not for your salvation, but because you have been saved. And the same thing is true here. You shall have no other gods before me. Now, in terms of the specific sins forbidden in the commandment, I'm sure that I'll miss a few, but I do want to highlight some of the most important. The first is a denial of God. Atheism is what we call this. In the Psalter, we see the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Jonathan Edwards argues that he's not saying there is no God in the sense of philosophical sort of musing, but he is saying no to God. The only other place or one of the other places in the New Testament that speaks of atheism, it speaks of it as a curse. The Gentiles, prior to participating in the covenant promises of Israel, are without hope and without God in the world. They are atheistic. But we know that it's a philosophical orientation today, where the learned among us, the PhDs, the guys who stroke their beards, have philosophically argued that there is no God. That is condemned by the commandment, you shall have no other gods before me, even atheistic scientific ideas that condemn or deny the existence of the true and living God. A second thing is the pursuit of many gods. We would call this polytheism, manufacturing a whole host of different gods. And I want to look at a couple examples of this in the Old Testament. You can turn to 2 Kings chapter 17. 2 Kings chapter 17. Polytheism is forbidden. The acknowledgement the worship and service of a multitude of gods. Now, in terms of Israel's religion in the Old Covenant, they weren't necessarily polytheistic, strictly speaking, but they engaged in what was called syncretism. Now, syncretism was worshiping Yahweh along with other gods. And God is a jealous God that brooks no rival, and therefore that is condemned. And what we have in 2 Kings 17 is a manifestation of syncretism. And essentially what has happened is that the northern tribes have been judged by God. Assyria has come, and Assyria has decimated the northern kingdom. And as a serious custom was, it was to take exiles from other vanquished countries and bring them in and put them in this land of Israel. And yet there were some that were still remaining behind, some true Israelites, and God sent lions to basically judge these people. And they didn't like the lions, as you might be inclined to believe. And so they wanted a way to sort of fend off the lions, and they pursued religion as a means. And they found an old priest from Bethel, which should alert us, because Bethel was a place of idolatry in Old Covenant religion. But nevertheless, he counsels them on the worship of Yahweh. And then notice in chapter 17 at verse 29. It says, however, every nation continued to make gods of its own and put them in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made. Every nation in the cities where they dwelt. The men of Babylon made Sukkoth-Bainoth, the men of Kuth made Nirgol, the men of Hamath made Ashemah, and the Avites made Nibhatz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anamelech, the gods of Sepharvim. So they feared the Lord, and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods. According to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away." Now, if you have ever read this as an accurate assessment of what was happening, you've missed the author's point. He is speaking tongue and cheek. There is no way that he would ever say they worship Yahweh along with these other gods and somehow that was okay. It's dripping with irony. He is showing the degradation of these remaining Israelites mingled with these persons that have been sowed in the land. This is a farce. It is wicked. It is abject wretchedness to suggest that one can have the true and living God along with an idol and somehow that's okay. There was no fear of God before their eyes as they engaged in this practice. You see it in the prophet Zephaniah, and you can turn there, the minor prophet called Zephaniah. Just before Haggai. if that helps. Zephaniah chapter one, basically the Lord through the prophet is highlighting why he is going to bring judgment here in this instance, not on the Northern kingdom because they've already been decimated, but on the Southern kingdom, Judah. And here in Zephaniah 1, notice in verse 4, I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place, the names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests, those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops, those who worship and swear oath by Yahweh, but who also swear by Milcom, those who have turned back from following the Lord and have not sought the Lord nor inquired of Him. See, this idea that we can mingle a bit of Yahweh with these other gods, Baal for instance, and then we will be okay. That is condemned and that is forbidden in the first commandment. Polytheism, a multiplication of gods, or syncretism, which means to take the real and true and living God and mingle him with a false god. Thirdly, the practice of idolatry proper. If you look at the first two commandments, they have the same subject matter. The first commandment identifies the God we're supposed to worship. The second commandment defines the manner in which we worship Him. You understand that? Who we worship, the first commandment addresses. how we worship the second commandment addresses. And with reference to that second commandment, as we will see, God willing, in subsequent weeks, we are never called to be creative in worship. We are never called to be innovators in worship. We are called to be obedient. We call this the regulative principle of worship. God regulates how his creatures enter into his presence. And essentially that means they sing his word, They pray His Word, they read His Word, they preach His Word, and they see His Word in the sacraments. It is Word-based. This is what the Bible tells us, and we don't have the right or the option to make any changes to that. But idolatry is a constant problem with mankind. It's not only addressed, obviously, in the Old Testament, but you have it in the New Testament as well. You can turn to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 1. The Apostle Paul is setting forth the absolute wickedness of all men, Jew and Gentile, and he's dealing specifically with Gentiles in chapter 1. And I think the fundamental problem The fundamental issue, and I think that if we as God's people get this point, it will hopefully help us to pray better and to preach better to a society that looks very much like what we find here in Romans chapter one. If you notice in verse 18, he says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. There is a natural or logical procession there. Ungodliness comes before unrighteousness. In other words, what we think about God affects the way that we live in this world. If we take God out of the universe, then what's wrong with abortion? What's wrong with euthanasia? What's wrong with gender rebellion? What's wrong with sexual perversion? Nothing, if there's no moral governor, if there is no just judge of all the earth. And so ungodliness comes first, conspicuously, to highlight what men think about God affects the way that men live in light of that reality. So they are, this wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them. For God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world is invisible, attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even as eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man. and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lust of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. You need to understand that what Paul is doing in this bit of scripture is expanding upon what he has said. Ungodliness and unrighteousness. We drop down and we see homosexuality. We see the specific violations of the commandments in verse 28. Verse 29, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. So you see, we see those things in our society, but we have not yet connected it to the ungodliness. The reason why our culture looks the way our culture looks is because men have abandoned the true and living God. It's not necessarily in the first place this issue or that issue. These are symptoms of the issue which is a denial of the true and living God. The exchanging of the glorious creator for the creature. A preference of those things God has made versus the God who made them. And this is Paul's point in this particular passage. Idolatry is rampant. You get to Acts chapter 17, Paul at Mars Hill. What happens when he goes to the city of Athens? It says that his spirit is provoked within him when he looks around and he sees all these idols. It was a testimony not to their religiosity, but to their apostasy and their defection from the true and living God. So idolatry proper is condemned in the first commandment. So, fourthly, is the practice of sorcery and witchcraft. You see this in Leviticus 19, Deuteronomy chapter 18. Deuteronomy chapter 18 is an extended sort of discussion on this. Israel was not supposed to go to soothsayers and fortune tellers and witches. Israel was a religion that had prophets that spoke for the true and living God. You get to that particular scene in 1 Samuel chapter 28. Remember that Saul puts all the witches out of the land until he hears no word of the living God. Then he seeks out the witch at Endor and she brings up what they call Samuel. Now, brethren, it worked. It did something. I'm not convinced it was Samuel, but they certainly saw and heard something. God forbids Israel to go to the pagans for their witchcraft and soothsaying, not because it doesn't work, but because it's wicked, vile, evil, and rebellious against the true and the living God. And so these things are condemned throughout scripture. And then I would suggest, fifthly, the sin of heresy. The sin of heresy is a denial of God. The first commandment, you shall have no other gods before me. Later on in the sermon, I'm gonna argue that one of the things required by the commandment is that we know God. See, there's a close connection between verses 6 and 7 in Deuteronomy chapter 5. You shall have no other gods before me. Well, who's me in that proposition? It's the me of verse 6. I am Yahweh, your God, that has brought you out of the land of Egypt. So any messing with, tampering with, distorting who God is as scripture reveals him, in other words, what we call heresy is a violation of the first commandment. Now you have freedom of speech and freedom of religion in this nation of Canada, but God never gives us that. God never gives us the ability to be wrong. God never says, you can think whatever it is that you want about me, and I'll just try to fill those shoes. He doesn't do that. We need to think God's thoughts after him. We need to understand what the scripture says concerning him. This isn't nebulous, it's not generic. You shall have no other gods before me. Some sort of undefined, some sort of generic God up there. It's the Yahweh of verse six that has acted on behalf of his people in sovereign grace to deliver them from the land of Egypt. Listen to James Durham comment on this sin of heresy. He says, those guilty of this commandment, all gross idolaters of any sort, who usually are mentioned under the name of heathens, Jews who worship not the true God in His Son Jesus Christ, all heretics that deny the Godhead of any of the persons, as Sibelians who make but one person, Arians who make Christ a made God, Photinians who make Him a pure man, and all that make a plurality of gods, or that lessen the divine attributes, and give to the saints God's due, in adoration or invocation, or in a word, whoever contradicts any truth or maintains any error." See, again, you have the right in Canada, express yourself any way you want, but you don't have that right under God. You have to think properly about God, and this commandment calls us to engage in that sort of thought. We are not at liberty to distort, to twist, or to get wrong who God is. He goes on to say, for thereby they fasten it upon God and His word and wrong Him who owns no such thing. And to these may be added all ignorant persons who know not God. And then I would suggest a sixth thing that comes out of what we saw there in Romans 1.25. Paul says, who these sinful wretches of which we obviously are part of, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. So any expression of devotion to the creature before the Creator. That is a violation of the first commandment. And again, hearken back to Matthew 6.33. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Our devotion, our allegiance, our connection ought to be first and foremost to the true and living God. Edward Fisher in the Marrow of Modern Divinity says in a word, whatsoever the mind of man is carried after, or his heart and affection set upon, either more or as much as upon God, that he makes his God. In other words, what do we prefer the most? We've made that God. Now that's not just a bale. That's not just an asherah pole. That's not just some sort of stick or stone or something that men fabricate. It could be good things. What does Jesus say with reference to money in Matthew chapter six? You can't serve God and mammon. Money in and of itself isn't immoral. Money doesn't rob banks. Money doesn't kill people. Money doesn't get up and and do horrific things. It's how man uses money. We can take good things, good creatures, and make idols out of them. We can put other things before the living and the true God. And I think Fisher is right on that particular note. We need to guard our hearts even with our love for the creature. And in terms of the ways in which the command is broken, the thoughts, The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. He doesn't always verbalize that, he doesn't always vocalize that, he doesn't write big philosophical treatises to try and justify this atheistic point of view, but the fool says in his heart, there is no God. That is certainly a way that we can be guilty of violating this first commandment. As well, the words. Turn to Malachi, the prophet, for just a couple of examples of their sort of denial of God, their lack of allegiance to God, the final prophet in the Old Testament. The book of Malachi, chapter 2 at verse 17, in the first place. Chapter 2, verse 17 indicates how they had done this. You have wearied the Lord with your words, yet you say, in what way have we wearied him? In that you say, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them, or where is the God of justice? Now that may seem far removed from us, but I don't think it is. I think there's a lot of this in professing people of God today. They don't see the justice of God executed the way they think it should be. And so they start to wonder, they start to throw up their hands and say, well, doesn't God care about the gross injustices? Doesn't God care about the suffering? Doesn't God involve himself in the affairs of men? I don't think that's far removed from many people that profess the name of Jesus Christ. This sort of idea that God is not sovereign when it comes to providence. The idea that God does not delight in justice, or God does not delight in goodness, because there seems to be an absence of that goodness targeting His people. They do more of the same in chapter 3. Notice in chapter 3, verses 13 to 15. Your words have been harsh against me, says the Lord. Yet you say, what have we spoken against you? It's kind of an interesting pattern in the prophet Malachi. The prophet indicts them for a particular offense, and then they say, what do you mean? Who, us? What are you talking about? That in and of itself is wrong. When the prophet of the living and true God indicts you for something, he's right. You're not. You're not going to win that exchange. Don't say, I can't believe that you're pointing these things out to me. I can't believe that you would suggest that I haven't been perfect. I can't believe that you would suggest that I haven't told my covenantal line as I ought. That's precisely how they respond in each of the cycles, in each of the oracles that the prophet Malachi brings to them. What do you mean? Who, us? And it's the same sort of thing here. Yet you say, what have we spoken against you? You have said, it is useless to serve God. What prophet is it that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked as mourners before the Lord of hosts? So now we call the proud blessed for those who do wickedness are raised up. They even tempt God and go free. So the point is, with reference to this first commandment, we break it by thoughts, we break it by words, and of course we break it by our deeds. And again, Matthew chapter 6, Jesus says in verse 24, you cannot serve God and mammon. There is an evident commitment to mammon on the part of those, at times, who profess the name of Jesus Christ. Again, money in and of itself isn't wrong. Having money isn't wrong. It's what we do with that money that can be wrong. And oftentimes, it shows that our attention is divided. As C.S. Lewis says, once in a while, a young man says, well, I'm just trying to make my way in the world. But he doesn't realize it's the world that's making its way into his heart. So we need to guard against those particular expressions. And of course, in Romans chapter one, the sodomy, the perversion, the brutality, the murder, the rage, the abject wickedness that filled society then and fills it now is symptomatic of idolatry. They've exchanged the truth of God for the lie and they've worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. So that is the prohibition. Again, we could probably expand on that, but that's what we're gonna do tonight. Now let's look secondly at the positive aspects of the command. The first place, we must know God. It says, you shall have no other gods before me. The Westminster Larger Catechism sort of details what's involved in this commandment. We need to know God, we need to show love to God, we need to have fear of God, obedience to God, trust in God, and the worship of God. I just want to focus tonight on the knowledge of God. In the first place, the necessity of knowing the true and living God. And I think a bit a reminder as to who the verse 6 Yahweh is is probably necessary for us, not because we're dense or not because we're foolish, but because there's no greater thing than the creature can consider than who God is. Doesn't Jesus define the essence of eternal life as the knowledge of God? This is eternal life. They may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I suggest, brethren, when we get to heaven, it's not going to be the pearly gates that captures our eyes. It's not going to be all of the gold. It's not going to be all of the pomp and the majesty. The land is all the glory of Emmanuel's land. It's going to be Christ that we're taken up with. It's going to be the Godhead. It's going to be the Father, Son, and Spirit. It's going to be the reality that we are with that one who is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. So the knowledge of God is most excellent. The knowledge of God for creatures, the knowledge of God for redeemed creatures, which we profess to be. And with reference to the necessity of knowing the true and living God, I have three things I wanna suggest. In the first place, we need to know the doctrine of the Trinity. Because when Yahweh says in verse six, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, he is the Trinity. If you go back to Genesis chapter one, you see a Trinity of persons even there. Verse one, Genesis one, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, let there be light, and there was light. God the Father, God the Spirit, God the Word, God the Son. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus is the Logos of God. He is the agent of creation. The New Testament makes that clear, but I see the Trinity of Persons in this passage. Genesis chapter 1 at verse 26. Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Turn to Psalm 33. Psalm 33, just a couple of Old Testament passages on the trinity of persons, but we'll look more detailed at the New Testament. Psalm 33, divine commentary on what we have previous. Notice in Psalm 33, six. By the word of Yahweh, the heavens were made. There's Jesus again. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The word became flesh and tabernacled among us. So it's by Jesus, Yahweh, or by Jesus, the word of the Lord, the heavens were made. And all the host of them by, notice the language, the breath of his mouth. The Hebrew word breath there is also translatable as spirit. I think Psalm 33, 6 indicates or intimates a trinity of persons involved in the creation account. Turn to the New Testament, Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28, rehearsing some ground that we covered in the past. So hopefully repetition will seal the deal. Notice what Jesus says in Matthew 28, 18. And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name, singular, the name singular, not the names of, but the name singular of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Our confession of faith, chapter two, which I highly commend in terms of the knowledge of God, says, in this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences, or persons, the Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided, distinguished by several peculiar relative properties, and personal relations. So there is distinction among the persons. There is this one true and living God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now our confessional formulation highlights that God is one in one sense in terms of substance or essence, but he's three in another sense in terms of person or subsistence. So when you speak to a Jehovah's Witness and you highlight the doctrine of the Trinity, they say it's contradictory. It can't be that something's three and that something's one. It's not three and one in the same sense. It's three persons, one essence. It would be contradictory to maintain three essences, one essence, three persons, one person. That would be heretical. But to maintain with the confession, rightly reflecting what Scripture teaches, God is one. One essence, one substance, who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each has the whole divine essence. It's not like 33 and a third percent. It's not like some have a little bit less than the others. No, that's not what the confession, rightly reflecting Scripture, indicates. Tritheism says that Father, Son, and Spirit are three different essences in the genus God. Tritheism is wrong, it's heretical, and that's not the doctrine of the Trinity. Modalism, or Sabellianism, is another heresy represented today by oneness Pentecostalism. T.D. Jakes, by the way, is a oneness Pentecostal. T.D. Jakes, by the way, unless he has repented or recanted, is a modalist and should not be trusted at all. But with reference to modalism, it says that the one divine essence or person manifests itself in distinct modes. So God was the Father, He became the Son, and now He's the Spirit. That's heresy. You cannot maintain that. Tritheism is wrong. Modalism is wrong, as is subordinationism. That claims that the one divine essence is marked by a gradation of degree or rank. So there's degree or rank among the three persons of the Trinity, and there are some Protestants that are very dangerously close to this particular heresy. They teach the eternal subordination of the Son. The son is subordinate to the father in the work of redemption. In the economic trinity, of course, the son willingly submits himself to the father, but that's not in terms of essence. And to try and make that case is to do disservice to the scriptures and ultimately denies the son his glory, his power, and his majesty. So with reference to the Trinity, it's not just something that we kind of have an idea about. We know that the Bible says Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We need to have a good understanding of it because we need to understand in order to worship, in order to praise, and in order to have no other gods before him. If we are wrong on who God is, then most likely we're gonna be wrong about everything else in religion. There are several triadic references in the New Testament. I'll just highlight a couple. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 13. Verse 14, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. Now notice Paul doesn't say, I'm going to argue now for the triunity of God. I'm going to argue now for the distinctiveness of Father, Son, and Spirit, yet one God, each having the whole divine essence. He doesn't do that. This is a benediction. This is simply who God is, Father, Son, and Spirit. Notice in Galatians chapter 4, and this is just some of the triadic or threefold sort of reference to God. Galatians chapter 4. specifically verses four to six. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, father. Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Father, son, spirit. Turn over to Ephesians chapter 1. You're all familiar with this great passage. Verses 3 to 14 is one long sentence in Greek. It's broken down or punctuated a bit more fully in these English translations because we don't typically traffic in those sorts of sentences. And so what the authors or the translators do is they put a little punctuation along the way, but it does break it up. 3 to 14 is one long sentence of praise to the Father for the work of the Father, the Father blessing us through the sod, and the Father blessing us through the work of the Spirit. The Trinity is everywhere in the Bible. Notice I didn't say in the New Testament. I would argue again. The Trinity is definitely Old Testament. B.B. Warfield makes the observation that, you know, when you get to the New Testament, the fuller light of Revelation is turned on, and you see everything that was in this room, this parlor, all the furniture was there. Well, it was there in the Old Testament, but the light wasn't shining on it like it is in the New Testament. But I think there is a little bit more light with reference to the doctrine of the Trinity in the Old Testament than sometimes we're led to believe. It's not simply a New Testament revelation, though I must admit, the sending of the Son and the Spirit is the best affirmation of the doctrine of the Trinity. But in Ephesians, Paul celebrates what we have from God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As well, we have 2.18. Look at Ephesians 2.18. Well, picking up in verse 14, for he himself is our peace who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near, for through him, Christ, we both have access by one spirit to the Father. Again, this isn't just one text here or there. It is literally littered throughout the scripture. God is Trinity. The Lord God Most High is one true and living God who has eternally existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In fact, Westminster's shorter catechism says, are there more gods than one? No, there is but one only, the true and living God. And then it says, how many persons are there in the Godhead? There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. Now again, brethren, you may not write, you know, Augustine's treatise on the Trinity. You may never fully explore Augustine's treatise on the Trinity. You may never read John Owen's treatment on the Trinity. You may not ever read, say, Stephen Charnock or some of these Puritan divines on the doctrine of the Trinity. But you simply cannot say, well, that's, you know, that's something I just can't understand. Yeah, you can. You absolutely positively can. God is one in one sense and three in another. I don't know how that's so difficult. I don't know why that's such a confusing sort of doctrine or why it's such a confusing thing. Does the Bible affirm one true and living God? Absolutely it does. Does the Bible affirm the Father is God? Yes, it absolutely does. Does it affirm that Jesus Christ is God? Yes, it absolutely does. Does it affirm that the Holy Spirit is God? Yes, it absolutely does. Does it affirm three gods? No, there is but one true and living God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Spirit. We cannot get this wrong. In fact, Francis Turretin, in his Institutes, makes this observation. It is not sufficient to know that God is as to existence or what He is as to His attributes, but we must know also who He is as to the persons as He presents Himself to be known by us in His Word. Hence, whoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father. 1 John 2.23. And he that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. John 5.23. Therefore, God has revealed himself as one in essence, three in persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now this is a Very perceptive and excellent statement that he makes here at the end. I mean, I think the whole quote is excellent, but listen to what he says. Thus, he who does not acknowledge and believe the Trinity has not the true God, but has erected for himself an idol in the place of God. Now, we're not usually the way, we don't usually traffic in that sort of severity, but that's true. Jesus, as I mentioned this morning, says in John 8, if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. Thomas makes that lofty confession of faith in John 20, 28, my Lord and my God. Look at John's gospel. It begins and ends on that crescendo that Christ is God. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. It ends with that confession of Thomas, my Lord and my God. What is the Bible telling us? The Bible is telling us there is one true and living God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So in terms of the first commandment and sort of the positive aspect of that commandment, we need to know God. And firstly, we need to know the Trinity. We need to know who the Father, Son, and Spirit are. Secondly, we need to have the knowledge of the perfections of God. Oftentimes we call them attributes, and I don't really have a problem with that, as long as we realize it's not the case that God is sort of made up of these particular things. I think perfections rehearses better the truth behind these things. Now, in terms of the perfections of God, I think our confession is fantastic here. It's a bit of an extended quote. We're not going to go much longer, so indulge me this few moments. It says, the Lord our God is but one only living and true God, whose subsistence is in and of himself, infinite in being and perfection, whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, Almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will for his own glory, most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, the rewarder of them that diligently seek him and with all most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin and who will by no means clear the guilty. There is so much good theology packed into that short compass. I wish every believer read that on a regular basis. I think that when we get a glimpse of who the Bible tells us God is, it should promote great humility on our part. It should promote in us a recognition, a realization of the great chasm that exists between creator and creature. When we look at a definition like this, or a description like this, which simply takes the various things that the Bible teaches and brings it together in one helpful sort of paragraph, it's mind-blowing, brethren. This is the God with whom we have to do. I'm convinced that no one in the world ever thinks of God in these terms. I'm almost convinced that no one in the church thinks of God in these terms as well. Now, many of these perfections or many of these attributes we're very sort of familiar with. We're not so familiar with most pure spirit. What does the confession mean by that? The confession means that God is pure act. There's no potency in God. There's no becoming in God. There's no growing in God. There's no progression in God. God is pure act. He is a most pure spirit. It goes on to highlight that he's without body. He's non-corporeal. He is spirit, according to our Lord Jesus Christ in John chapter 4. He's without parts. Again, there are not things that sort of make up God. This is the doctrine of divine simplicity. And if this doctrine is compromised, then the rest of the doctrine of God collapses. I would suggest that's why we have such problems with who God is in this modern age. It's because we've denied or haven't thought through the implications of simplicity. God is a simple being. We are compounded. We are made up of other things. God as simple indicates that there's nothing prior to God that went into the manufacture of God. And then the confession says that he's without passions. That means that God is not like us. It means that God is impassable. It means that God can be most loving, most gracious. There's no increase, there's no diminishment. The doctrine of divine impassibility tells us that all that God is, He always is, and He always will be, and He's always been. There's no change, there's no flux, there's no movement, there's no increased blessedness, there's no diminished blessedness. Nothing of the sort occurs with God. This God is wholly other. We are inclined to think that God is simply the highest in a particular chain of being. We look at dog, we look at man, we look at angel, and we put God in that same category. That's not the way it is. We have much more in common with a worm than we do with God in terms of a chain of being. God is creator. We are creature. Worms are creature. We have far more affinity with them. The Bible sets forth this distinction between the creator and the creature, and it is good for us to ponder that, it is good for us to recollect that, it is good for us to know the God with whom we have to do. And I would suggest our confession of faith, I would suggest it is a good place to start in terms of understanding the perfections of God. If you're so inclined to studying more, give me an email, I can recommend some books to you that I think would be very helpful in this regard. I mean, think about it. How many times do the people of God get caught up with various and sundry doctrines without ever having pondered, meditated upon, or mused on just who God is? We can be as guilty as the pagans out there for having this generic, sort of nebulous, undefined view of who God is. The Bible doesn't let us. The Bible tells us who God is. The Bible shows us and demonstrates it in a great and glorious way. And in Psalm 111, it says, great are the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them. Have you ever seen somebody that is caught up in the study of biology, or they're caught up in the study of astronomy, or they're caught up in the study of the creature? I'm not saying that's necessarily wrong, but the greater the works of the Lord, they are studied by all who delight in them. Do we study God? Do we study His creation? Do we study providence? Do we study the doctrine of redemption? Do we delight ourselves in the knowledge of God? Is that what Jesus says in John 17, 3, a reality for us? that this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. We need to know the Trinity. We need to know the perfections of God. And thirdly, and finally, we need to know something of the external works of God, how God relates to the creation. God created. Genesis 1 to 3 is truth. Now, I know there are a lot of competing theories out there that have tried to upbraid that, but there is no reason whatsoever why any person should ever get on that bus. Genesis 1 to 3 is a comprehensive statement of the creative power of our great and glorious God. We read in Psalm 115 in terms of providence, our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. Do you know what the psalmist is doing in Psalm 115? He is ridiculing the concept of idolatry. These idols have eyes, but they can't see. They have mouths, but they can't speak. They have ears, but they can't hear. They have hands, but they can't handle. They have feet, but they can't run. And then he says this in Psalm 115a, all those who worship them will be like them. That is a condemnation upon man who has exchanged the glorious God who has created for those things which are created. And it is wrong, it is a violation of the first commandment, and positively with reference to that commandment, we ought to learn who God is. We ought to know God, we ought to increase in that understanding and take seriously the admonition of 2 Peter 3, 18. But grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Brethren, practically that means come to church. Brethren, that means practically read your Bible. Brethren, that means practically read James Dolezal, all that is in God. That means practically be familiar with our confession of faith. It means practically that you are growing in your understanding of who God is. You don't have to be a PhD. What's the Psalmist say in Psalm 19 and then again in Psalm 119? The law of Yahweh makes wise the simple. You don't have to have gone to seminary. You don't have to have gone to Bible school. You just have to read your Bible and good theology. What is God or who is God? God is spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, and is being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. That's Westminster Shorter Catechism. I've often said our little children who can speak that truth probably know 90% more theology than many who are preaching, so-called preaching in churches today. We have to get serious about theology proper. We have to know the true and living God. We have to understand, not like Augustine perhaps, not like Paul perhaps, but accurately what Paul and Augustine taught in terms of the triunity of God. We need to ponder these perfections. It's an encouragement. Do you realize our confession says concerning God that he is most loving? Do you ever just think about how great that is? The doctrine of divine impassibility secures that for us. It's not the case that on Sunday he looks down and he sees you in the right place at the right time and his heart swells with love for you. And then on Monday you're doing something wrong and that love decreases or diminishes. He's most loving. Some say the doctrine of divine impassibility presents to us a static and inert God. No, it doesn't. It shows us a God who is most. It shows us a God who is fully engaged in the lives of his people. It shows us a God who is committed from beginning in the middle to the very end in terms of their redemption. If we do not know God, brethren, we are in big trouble. And if we do not know God, we're not going to successfully face the various assaults and challenges that we are facing today. I cannot, for the life of me, entertain the thought that there are believers out there that scratch their heads and say, well, I think the Bible says this, that, or the other. You need to start to know where the Bible says it. That's why when we have Bible studies and we have the Saturday morning thing, and whenever we're not live streaming, I ask, where does the Bible teach this? I'm really not trying to be a nasty, mean teacher. I'm simply wanting you to realize you need to know where these texts are. You meet Jehovah's Witnesses, you meet Mormons, you meet atheists, you meet God-hating rebels. You're going to vote in a month. How do you do that without the sufficient knowledge of who God is as Trinity in His perfections and with reference to His external works in terms of creation and providence and redemption? The knowledge of God is crucial. Read the prophets and see how God takes to the people of God when they don't know Him. My people perish for what? for their adultery, for their perversion, for their abortion. Yeah, but my people perished for what? For a lack of knowledge. What does God say through the prophet Jeremiah in chapter 9? You can turn there. This will be the last text we look at. Jeremiah chapter 9. The apostle Paul cites this or invokes this in 1 Corinthians 1. Jeremiah 9, 23, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight, says the Lord. That's where our boast ought to be. That's what we should be about as the people of God. Those who know their God engage in exploits for Him. Those who don't sit around like passive people doing nothing ever for the kingdom of righteousness. So let me encourage you, read your Bible, read your confession of faith, attend the corporate means of grace, and seek by grace to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's not just my sort of suggestion. The first commandment demands it. The first commandment condemns sin against God, but the first commandment requires allegiance to God. We'll take up the rest of those particular points, the Lord willing, next week, but in terms of this particular commandment, it teaches us two things. In the first place, it shows us our need for the Savior. It shows us our need for Christ. Heidelberg Catechism number three, how do you know, or how do you come to know your misery? The law of God tells me. One commentator says, the first commandment is always a call to repentance because we are rarely single-minded in our commitment to God. The commandment taken seriously produces the response, God be merciful to me, the sinner. See, in the first place, this commandment has a pedagogical use. It functions as a child tutor to show us our waywardness, to show us our rebellion. Perhaps we've embraced atheism. Perhaps we've embraced idolatry. Perhaps we've embraced polytheism. Perhaps we're heretical in our orientation. This is a call to repent. You shall have no other gods before me, says Yahweh. And if you are not saved, the way to know the true and living God is to come to the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. As we saw this morning in Stephen's blessed sermon to the household of Cornelius, that everyone who believes or whoever believes in his name will receive the remission of sins. So that commandment calls us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to understand who God is and to worship him accordingly. And then secondly, The normative use of this commandment ought to get into our hearts, ought to get into our minds, and ought to cause us to take seriously the requirement that we grow in our understanding of who the Lord God Most High is. Well, let us close in a word of prayer. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for these commandments delivered on the plains of Moab, delivered at Sinai in Exodus 20. And God, we know they are as important, as valuable, as necessary today as they were then. And God, we know that You give us the Holy Spirit so that we may indeed comply, and we rejoice in that. We ask God that you would help us to appreciate the knowledge of God, to grow in our understanding of who you are as Father, Son, and Spirit. Help us to reflect upon those perfections of God and as well those works of God in terms of creation and providence and redemption. Lord, help us in these things and help us to think your thoughts properly, help us to value and prize the Holy Scripture, and may you sanctify us by your word. Your word is truth. We pray that you would go with us now, grant us safety in this coming week, grant us the grace to serve and to glorify and to praise you, and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation.