Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1736

June 21, 2026

Deuteronomy 5.1-7              Click here for audio worship.

Dr. Ed Pettus

(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“First Commandment – What is Forbidden”

 

And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, while I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said: “‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.’”

 

• Disbelief and Idolatry

 

Last Sunday we looked at this commandment from the book of Exodus, and if you did not know before, the Ten Commandments are also found in the book of Deuteronomy! Last Sunday we considered the question of what is required of us in the First Commandment. We are required to acknowledge that God is the only true God, the Living God. We are obligated to worship and glorify God only, required to submit ourselves to God in devotion to discipleship. We are commanded to walk with the Lord, to obey His Commandments, walking in repentance and humility before the Lord. These are the things required of all who desire to obey the First Commandment. Today we consider what the First Commandment forbids.

This sermon breaks down what is forbidden into four broad categories. We begin with forbidding disbelieve and idolatry. Disbelief is atheism, those who say there is no God. The Bible does not speak well of them! Psalm 14.1, The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. The atheist denies God’s existence and so instantly breaks the First Commandment. The Bible is not concerned about being nice in a case like this when someone is called a fool. It is not that a fool is just silly, but the fool is morally deficient, rebellious, and has a serious spiritual heart problem. The Bible does not speak nearly as much about atheism as it does idolatry, believing in other gods. And yet, atheism seems to get a lot more attention in our time. I suppose that is because of the dominance of scientific thinking that requires proof and data before something will be believed as true. But the Bible calls foolish anyone who denies the existence of God. Such people are called corrupt and do nothing good.

The Bible speaks a great deal about idolatry. This makes more sense because the Bible is about God and people of faith, and the temptation for people of faith is more likely idolatry than atheism. One of the most disturbing passages on Israel’s idolatry is from Judges 2.11-15, And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. 13They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. 14So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. 15Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.

One of the most disturbing phrases in the Bible might be when God deals with idolatry and the result is that He “gave them over”. One other passage where this occurs is Romans 1.24-25, “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” In Judges God gave them over to plunderers who would certainly have evil intent and in Romans God gave them up to their own lusts. I’m not sure which is worse, but they are both serious consequences to idolatry.

“‘You shall have no other gods before me.” This Commandment forbids disbelief and any other gods. Every human being has been made in the image of God and part of our created order is to worship. Even atheists worship something or nothing, but they devote their lives to something even if it is nothing! Idolatry is more direct in that it is the outright worship of some other god: spiritual, physical, emotional, in whatever way people break this Commandment and it will have consequences in God’s justice.

 

• Irreverence

 

A second category of broken Commandment is irreverence. Irreverence can be shown through ignoring the Commandment, ignoring God, forgetting God, or lying about God. Israel was good at forgetting God, forgetting particularly what He had done for them over and over again. Deuteronomy 8.11-14, 17-19, “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery...Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.

 

Israel failed to honor what God had done by forgetting what God had done. They basically put God aside and gave themselves the credit for their deliverance. Irreverence is putting God on the periphery of one’s life. That is most often seen today when people only think about God when there is a dire crisis. Irreverence is using God like a life preserver or a fire alarm, calling on Him only in an emergency. The opposite is to show reverence to God. It is respect and honor to the God we are to worship and serve. Disrespecting God breaks the First Commandment and is therefore forbidden.

 

• Misplaced Love

 

A third category on what is forbidden in the First Commandment is misplaced love. I do not think it takes great insight to see that self-love is a major issue in the world today, certainly in our country where there is so much focus on the self. It is also a warning in the Bible. 2 Timothy 3.1-5, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal,not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” It is possible to view everything Paul lists after “lovers of self” as a result of that self-love. Those who love themselves will be lovers of money, proud (as in Pride Month), arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents and so forth. Lovers of self forget to praise God, they do not think they have to. They forget to to thank God because they depend only on themselves. They do not honor or obey God because they have misplaced love. This breaks the First Commandment.

The First Commandment forbids our divided love – love of self, love of money, love of anything that diverts our love for God. This is why Jesus spoke of loving God above all others. Luke 14.26, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” The context is not about hating in the way we think, but loving others less than loving God. Our love for God is misplaced if we love others more than God. I trust that the greater love for God will promote a deeper love for others, that we might love others as Christ has loved us!

The Larger Catechism has a long list of sins that could fall under the category of misplaced love. Self-love may be the top contender in the world today. When we fail to trust God in things like refusing to be corrected by His Word, we have misplaced love. When we are lukewarm in our faith, we have misplaced love. When we are dead to our duty to God, we have misplaced love. Hardness of heart, blinded by the world, pride – all are breaking the First Commandment for they are all forbidden.

 

• Lack of Contentment

 

The final category includes all that breaks the Commandment through lack of contentment. We are called to be content with God as our God. We are called to be content with all that God has given and all that God promises. Lack of contentment hinders gratitude and excludes gratitude. When we are not content we ask questions like: “Is that it? Is that all?” We want more than what has been given us. Lack of contentment leads us to mistrust of God. The apostle Paul teaches us to be content. 2 Corinthians 12.10, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

One of the most quoted verses, as well as one taken out of context, is Philippians 4.13. I will begin at verse 11...

Philippians 4.11-13, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

 

Keeping the First Commandment involves learning to be content with God. As Paul writes we shall be content in whatever situation we are in. You see, contentment is about trusting in the God who strengthens us. The phrase “I can do all things through him” is learning to be content in all things. It is not about athletic ability or even being able to do all things as in everything. No, it is about being content and therefore about keeping the First Commandment.
There is a Hebrew word I would like for all of us to know. It is “dayenu” and at root means enough, as in having enough. Dayenu is the word used in the Jewish Seder meal where sentences are spoken that basically tell of contentment in the Exodus story. “If the Lord had not taken us out of Egypt and not made judgments on them, it would have been enough.” “If He had split the Sea for us and had not taken us through it on dry land, it would have been enough.” Contentment is about having enough and being satisfied with what God has done. Even more, it is being content even if God has not done something! To love God alone and trust Him is to live in a constant state of dayenu. It is not that we are always satisfied about everything, but we are satisfied with God. Contentment honors God in that we are satisfied completely with who God is and what God has provided. We are never satisfied with sin or things like doing what is right when something needs to be done.

One final thought on the First Commandment: one of the titles or names for God in the Old Testament is El Shaddai. It means “Almighty God”. It is sometimes translated as the “God who Satisfies” and therefore the One who says enough. That is a great name and a wonderful understanding of God.

“‘You shall have no other gods before me.” The First Commandment requires loyalty to God alone and therefore forbids loyalty to any other gods. Failing to keep the First Commandment leads us to attribute all things to ourselves and then any contentment that comes is credited to us rather than God. This too is forbidden. Misplaced love breaks the Commandment. Irreverence breaks the Commandment. They are forbidden by the First Commandment.

May the Lord lead us and strengthen us that we may do all we can to do what the First Commandment requires of us and what the Commandment forbids in us. May such obedience lead us to live in holiness, righteousness, and the beauty of God’s love. Thank God for the First Commandment to have no other gods before the Living God. Amen.