Passage: Exodus 20:1-3

The Big Idea

“You shall have no other gods before Me.” The law is holy and good, but it can’t make anyone keep it. Its job is to show us what love looks like, expose how far we fall short, and make us thirsty for Jesus. And if we’re honest, we’ve all broken the first command: we turn to money, relationships, approval, screens and a hundred other things before we turn to God. But Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law; He came to fulfill it, for us on the cross and in us by His Spirit. In Christ, “no other gods” isn’t a standard we strain to reach. It’s a description of the new life He gives.

A Roller Coaster

We’re about to board a roller coaster. It’ll get worse before it gets better.

First, what the first commandment says.
Then, how impossible it is to keep.
Then, the wonderful grace of Jesus that forgives us and actually enables us to live it.

“I Am the LORD Your God” (Exodus 20:1-2)

God spoke all these words: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

“You need to know who I am and what I’m like. You’re going to be My people, representing Me and serving Me. I chose you for this.”
“So I’m giving you a law: a standard to live by. It’s here to help you, to remind you who I am and what I require.”
“And you can’t possibly keep it. You can’t measure up. But that doesn’t make the law disappear.” God doesn’t lower His standard because it’s too hard for us.
He knew that. We’re about to know it too. But He had a plan: “I didn’t come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it” (Matthew 5:17).
His plan is to lift us to the standard of the law by simple faith in Jesus, throwing ourselves on Him in complete dependence.

What Is the Law For?

Paul says we’ve been released from the law, having died to what once held us, so we now serve in the new life of the Spirit, not the old way of the written code (Romans 7:6).

We’re not under the law as our way of relating to God. We have a new way.
When Jesus died, He ended any requirement to keep the law to earn God’s favor.
But not so we could do whatever we want. So we could serve Him, not as slaves, but as children who gladly serve their Father with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.

And yet the law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, right and good (Romans 7:12).

The law isn’t the enemy of grace. It’s grace’s servant.
It doesn’t hurt our relationship with God. It helps by showing us our deepest need for Jesus.
It’s a gift from God, and it’s perfect.

The goal is love

Paul says the goal of the commandment is love from a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith. Some have wandered from these into meaningless talk, wanting to be teachers of the law without understanding what they’re saying (1 Timothy 1:5-7).

You can summarize the whole law in one word: love. Love God and love others.
The first commands deal with loving God; the rest with loving others. When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus said to love God with everything and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40).
The law states the requirements. It shows what love looks like. Nothing more.
But if someone teaches the law without telling you how it can be kept, they don’t understand what they’re saying. Instead of blessing people, they’re just pronouncing a curse on them.

The law is good, Paul says, if it’s used the way it was meant to be used: not for the righteous, but for the lawless, the rebellious, the ungodly and sinners (1 Timothy 1:8-10).

If. There’s a right way and a wrong way to use the law.
The law is a description of perfect living, a picture of how God would live if He became a man. Jesus kept it perfectly, because it simply described how He would act in every situation: in love.

Are we “anti-law”? No. We just use the law the way God says it’s meant to be used: to show us our guilt and our need for Jesus, not to make us right with God.

We’ll study the Ten Commandments on that foundation. By the end, we’ll be “ninjas of the law,” knowing how to use each one the way God designed.

What the law can’t do

The law is perfect. But it doesn’t change us. It can’t make us keep it. It only shows our need for a Savior, how far short we fall, our inner sinfulness and brokenness. It doesn’t fix anyone. You can’t use it to produce righteousness. It doesn’t make good people or good Christians.

“Just do it” isn’t how God designed us to work.

Any attempt to live by the law, just imitating what you think is expected, leads to failure, frustration and finally giving up. The law can only be fulfilled by Jesus.

God offers a different way, a new life. By faith in Jesus, God credits His law-keeping to you. When God looks at you, He sees the life of Jesus in you: success instead of failure. And God also gives the inner change of heart needed to actually live it, so we end up keeping His commands by nature instead of by effort. That’s pure grace, given freely to all who call on Jesus in faith.

So what does the law do for a Christian?

It shows us our need for Jesus. It drives us to Him.
It shows us what the life of Jesus looks like.
It shows us what the Holy Spirit has enabled us to do.

It describes how a Christian lives, but it isn’t the source of that life. It’s the cookie cutter, not the dough. The pattern, not the garment. The blueprint, not the building. The online listing for a car, not the car you drive home.

So how should you feel when you hear the law’s requirements? Guilty. Not good enough. Broken. Empty.

How can that be God’s love? Because we have to feel that way if we’re ever going to really come to Jesus as Savior. Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). The law makes you thirsty.

So let’s get thirsty.

(Many teachers divide Moses’ law into three kinds: moral laws like the Ten Commandments, ceremonial laws about worship and sacrifice, and civil laws for governing the nation.)

“No Other Gods” (Exodus 20:3)

“You shall have no other gods before Me.”

No other object of worship. Nothing else is your boss.
Since I am God, you can’t ultimately listen to, follow, trust or obey anyone else, or put your confidence anywhere else.
You must trust Me. Obey Me in everything I say. Believe everything I say.
Your life isn’t about you. It’s Mine.
I decide what you do, say and think. You’ve surrendered all rights. I am God; you are My servant.

Israel had a very hard time worshiping only one God. They were constantly tempted by the gods of the land, like Baal and Ashtoreth, gods tied to power, fertility and sex. When you worshiped a god, you took on its character and shared in what it represented.

Worship Baal, and life is about wealth, power and influence. You find meaning in how much you have, always reaching for more, as if the more you have, the more your god approves.
Worship Ashtoreth, and life is about indulging in pleasure and relationships.

God says, “No. Only Me.” And His character is holy, always good.

You can’t let any other god satisfy you.
You can’t seek what you need from any other god. You need something? Ask Me, and I’ll give it to you.
You can’t even be friends with other gods. We’re at war, and they’re My enemies.

James asks where our fights and quarrels come from. From desires battling within us. We want what we don’t have, and we fight for it. We don’t have because we don’t ask God, or we ask with wrong motives, to spend it on our pleasures. “You adulterers! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?” (James 4:1-4).

James uses the picture of a marriage.
Imagine a wife asking her husband for money so she could go pay another man to satisfy her desires.
That’s how we treat God when we break the first commandment.

Do We Have Other Gods?

“You shall have no other gods before Me.” Do you?

Yes. If you said no, you’re either Jesus or not being honest. And you’re not Jesus.

We trust money. We pursue it, serve it and submit to it before God. God says, “Trust Me alone.”
We trust relationships to give us meaning and value and satisfy our desires. God says, “Trust Me alone.”
We trust approval and popularity: likes, shares and affirming comments. We bow at the altar of our phones every day. God says, “Trust Me alone.”

Here’s a test: What do you turn to when you need something? When you’re sick? Broke? Stressed? Lonely? Empty? Sad? Frustrated? Even when you’re fine?

Whatever you turn to is your idol, your god of choice.

It can be almost anything: medicine, substances, sex, work, entertainment, games, approval, psychology, social media, nightlife, even church and Bible studies, your phone, your bank account, your house, your kids, your spouse, your parents. Good things become gods when they take God’s place.

Jesus said that anyone who loves parents or children more than Him, or won’t take up his cross and follow Him, isn’t worthy of Him (Matthew 10:37-38).

When God’s children run after other gods, we lose the peace and joy that come from walking closely with Him, and He lovingly disciplines us to bring us back (Hebrews 12:6).

The Law Makes Us Confess

How does this make you feel? God demands to be the center of your whole life.

The law is designed to show us how high and perfect the command is, not how close we come. We don’t measure up. We’re guilty.

The command brings us to say: “I’m guilty. I’ve failed. I’ve broken this command again and again, and I confess it now. I’ve filled my life with other gods. I haven’t been faithful. I’ve played the harlot with many other gods.”

“I humble myself and confess my sin to God. And instead of promising to try harder, I’ll trust in the finished work of Jesus on the cross.”

God knew about my failure before I was born, and He’s already provided everything I need to be forgiven.

Jesus will justify us when we ask Him in faith. And He will fulfill this command in us. He comes into our hearts, changes our very nature by His grace and enables us to keep it from the heart.

When we humble ourselves, confess that we can’t keep this command and ask Jesus to save us, His response is always to supply what we need to actually live it.

How? He makes us new people, children of God, with new desires.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, and everything has become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

According to the Bible, you are this new person the moment you believe and receive Jesus.
What was impossible before is now normal and possible.
The law says, “Worship and trust God alone.” Jesus fulfilled this in how He lived, and He died on the cross to fulfill it on our behalf.
He took our countless failures into His body and put them to death.
Then the Spirit comes into our hearts, and we’re enabled, equipped and given a new heart to keep His law.

The Enemy’s Lie

The enemy will tempt us many times to doubt that we’ve been given this new nature. He’ll throw out the bait: “You need those other gods. You can’t live without the sex, the power, the substance, the status, the money, the car, the phone, the friends, whatever gives you purpose.”

It’s a lie. You’re a child of God. All things have been made new. That old self died on the cross. You live a resurrection life in the power of the Holy Spirit, whether you fully understand it or not.

When we’ve been deceived and turned to a false god again, it’s a simple thing to repent.

I invite you to join me in repenting of unbelief. We haven’t fully believed the gospel. We’ve cut short the work of the cross by believing the enemy’s lie that we can still find satisfaction in other gods.

No more.

“You shall have no other gods before Me” isn’t a bar we’re straining to clear anymore.

It’s the only way we know to live in the Spirit.
It’s a description of the life of faith every Christian is called and equipped to live.
It’s what we really want once we’ve surrendered to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

How do I get this new heart, this life and power? Call out to the Lord and ask. He isn’t like idols of silver and gold that can’t answer. He’s mighty and gracious to all who call on Him (Luke 11:13).

Grace Takeaway

The first command speaks to us today: “No other gods.” We can respond, “Okay, I’ll try harder.” Or we can say, “I’m guilty. Forgive me, and give me Your Spirit.” When you ask for His Spirit, the answer is yes. And if you’ve been giving in to the enemy’s lies and your flesh’s cravings, it’s a simple thing to turn and believe the gospel again. Jesus fulfilled this command for you, and He’ll fulfill it in you.

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The First Command: No Other Gods