You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me

You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me

Exodus 20:2-4

20 And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the

land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.

4 “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;

Exodus 20:4-6

Thou shalt not make any graven image

Graven image is translated from the Hebrew word. Hebrew: לספּ

graven image {peh'-sel}to cut, carve, or shape stone, wood, or precious metal into an image for

the use of worship

Contrary to popular belief, idols were not worshiped. They were used as a means of worship.

An idol was something made in the likeness of a particular God, who they believed would possess

that idol.

Diana was the goddess of fertility.

Those who worship Diana would make graven images of a woman with numerous breasts,

because breasts represent fertility.

Baal was the Canaanite god of fertility (weather).

Those that worshiped him made an image of a man holding a lightning rod in his left hand and a

thunder bolt in his right, because They believed thunders brought forth a bountiful crop.

The reason the pagans made idols was because they believed that the gods would possess them.

Diana would not possess an idol that was made in the image of Baal, and neither would Baal

possess an idol that was made in the image of Diana.

Therefore, the idol had to bear a resemblance to the god it represented in order for the god to

possess it.

In Hinduism, the concept of a single, supreme God is often expressed through various forms, with

the Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva)

representing the three main aspects of creation, preservation, and destruction, respectively.

Polytheistic: they believed is the existence of many gods, not just one.

Henotheistic: they believed that even though there were many gods, certain gods were superior to

others.

Yahweh was and is the one true God.

He is eternal and self-sufficient.

Yahweh - He is omnipotent, (all powerful) omniscient, all knowing) omnipresent.

He's the Creator of all things. He has the attributes of infinitude.

Diana was a fertility god who supposedly had the power to help animals and people conceive, but

that's the only power that she had.

Ephesians 3:20-21 (NAS)

Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to

the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all

generations forever and ever. Amen.

There is nothing that you can craft.

There's no picture you could draw that could accurately portray who God is.

Exodus 32:19-20 (NAS)

And it came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing;

and Moses' anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot

of the mountain. And he took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire,

What sin did they commit?

Exodus 32:4

And he took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it into a molten

calf; and they said, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."

Exodus 32:5

Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said,

"Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD."

The celebration that Aaron called for was in honor of Yahweh, not another God.

Exodus 32:4

And he took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it into a molten

calf...

The 2nd Commandment of Marriage:

You shall not put anything, whether material or immaterial, above your spouse.

Exodus 20:3 KJV

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Who is to be worshiped and who is not to be worshiped.

Why

How

Quote

The Unitarian Universalist Church describe themselves as a liberal religion characterized by a

"free and responsible search for truth and meaning". They assert no creed, but instead are unified

by their shared search for spiritual growth.

Old pagan gods never die, they just change their names!

Athena - Greek god of knowledge, wisdom, and education.

Bacchus

the Greek and Roman god of wine and revelry. The god of pleasure.

His motto - eat, drink and be merry!

Mammon

the god of riches and wealth.

Matthew 6:24

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will

be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Aphrodite

Ancient Greek goddess of sexual love and beauty

Old pagan gods represented:

1.Education.

2.Pleasure.

3.Money

4.Sex

Exodus 20:3 KJV

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

“Elohim” means worthy of worship.

gods {el-o-heem'}worthy of worship

The pagan gods were always referred to as “Elohim”.

Worship means to have an intense love for something.

It doesn't mean to enjoy.

It doesn't mean to desire.

It doesn't mean to want.

How do you know if you're worshiping something or just enjoying it, desiring it and wanting it?

How can you discern the difference?

If you have sex outside of marriage, it means that you have a greater love for sex than you do for

God.

Worship is an intense love for something.

Principle: When your love for something is more intense than your love for God, then it's become

a god to you.

And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your

strength.’ Mark 12:30 NLT

Why would he add strength? Because of what worship means. It's an intense love.

And how will we know? We'll know by our obedience.

Jesus said we must do this, because God is Jehovah Elohim.

Jehovah is the transliteration of Yahweh.

If you have a greater intensity of love for something than you do for Jehovah, it becomes a god.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a

sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a

daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own

household.

Matthew 10:34-36 ESV