We turn to God's word in Psalm 115. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but they walk not. Neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them. So is every one that trusteth in them. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. The Lord hath been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great. The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children. Ye are blessed of the Lord, which made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's. but the earth hath he given to the children of men. The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence, but we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord. This far we read God's word. We take for our instruction this morning the last two questions and answers of Lord's Day 34. What doth God enjoin in the first commandment? That I, as sincerely as I desire the salvation of my own soul, avoid and flee from all idolatry, sorcery, soothsaying, superstition, invocation of saints or any other creatures. and learn rightly to know the only true God, trust in him alone, with humility and patience submit to him, expect all good things from him only, love, fear and glorify him with my whole heart so that I renounce and forsake all creatures rather than commit even the least thing contrary to his will. What is idolatry? Idolatry is, instead of or besides that one true God who has manifested himself in his word, to contrive or have any other object in which men place their trust. Beloved Saints in Christ, the 115th Psalm, you noticed as we read it, is an encouragement to all of Israel to trust in Jehovah our God. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. O house of Aaron, ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. The encouragement was urgent. Whatever was the time at which the psalm was written, it was apparently a time at which people were saying of the God of Israel, He is no God. He is not powerful. And those idol worshippers who were saying of the God of Israel that He had no power, were saying of their idol gods that they had power. Whether it was the time of Hezekiah or not, when you read 2 Kings 18 and other passages also in the prophecy of Isaiah that speak of what the wicked said to Israel during Hezekiah's time, you see that this happens. The wicked grow boastful, they see that their life is going well, and they attribute their success to their gods. They see that there is trouble among those who worship Jehovah and they attribute the trouble to the inability and ineffectualness of Jehovah God to save his people. Do you find people speaking that way? of your God in relation to their God, your neighbors, your coworkers? Do you find them speaking as if their God is a better God because their God allows them more happiness and more joy and more freedom? Do you find them speaking ill of your God because he gives you 10 commandments and those commandments bind your heart, mind, soul, and strength in everything you do? Well then we need to hear the encouragement of the psalmist today too. The encouragement is this. Don't listen to the heathen. They're wrong. Where is now your God? And the answer in the confession that every worshiper of Jehovah makes is our God is in the heavens. not far off in the heavens, not uninterested He's so far away, not He's so far away that He's irrelevant to us. There in the heavens He is governing all of creation and guiding all of history with a view to the salvation of His church. Our God is in the heavens, and that He from heaven has condescended to see and know the things of His people, the psalmist indicates. The Lord hath been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will increase us more and more in heaven, ruling over all. He cares for His people. And what do you say then of the gods of the heathen? Where is now their God? And they say He's right here. Look, he's this stone image. He's this wooden carving. He's right here. He's present with me. And then you say, but what is he doing? Can he hear you? Does he speak to you? Is he blessing you? No, we need the encouragement, do we not, to worship, serve, fear, and love the true God Jehovah. And this issue that's at the heart of the exchange between the heathen and the godly, as set forth in Psalm 115, is also the issue that's at the very heart of the first commandment of God's law, thou shalt have no other gods before me. By which Jehovah is saying there is only one God You must know that there is only one God, and you, the covenant people of Jehovah, must worship and serve and love only one God. Jehovah begins with this one. As if to say, if you don't get this point, covenant people of God, if you don't get this point, that there's only one God and He alone is to be worshipped, then you are in no position to hear the next nine. But also, this is first for this reason. If understanding that there is one only God, you then care little about the law of God, you, you, we, have then committed idolatry. For there are more forms in which idolatry shows itself than just that we bow down to a statue. To say of the law of God, I don't need it, I can take care of myself, is to say, one only true God? Love, serve Him alone? I don't need to, I am my God. So that we might renounce any notion that we have power and wisdom inherent in ourselves, the Lord begins the law by saying, love God, and love God above all. And to that I call your attention this morning, loving Jehovah above all. Notice first the absolute demand, second the underlying reasons, and third the heartfelt manifestation. Like all of the commandments that we'll notice, this one has two parts, one explicit and the other implicit. And what is explicit is the negative prohibition that there be in our life no other gods than Jehovah. Jehovah makes clear in his law, and as it's stated in Deuteronomy 5 as well as Exodus 20, it's very clear, he means not one more than him. A person can look at the law as it's worded and say, no that's not exactly what he's getting at. The commandment was, thou shalt have no other gods before me. And therefore it's okay to have some other gods to put my trust in some other creatures or things as long as Jehovah is first. But when Jehovah says no other gods before him, he's not talking about a level of priority and that we may have as many gods as we want so long as he is God number one. He says you may have no other gods to my sight. No other gods that I can see, and this Jehovah remember, Who forbids us to have any other gods than he can see is the all-seeing and all-knowing God. So if I have an idol that I hide in a corner of my heart and you can't see it, and those closest to me can't see it, But I go worship that idol, I serve that God here and there in secret throughout the day, Jehovah says, I see it. That idol too, you must be rid of. No other gods. That's the explicit negative demand of the first commandment. The positive part, the second part is implied. If there is to be no other God than Jehovah, then we may not then choose to be indifferent to Jehovah. This is not a matter of saying, I know there's only one God, but I don't really have a relationship with that one God. I'm indifferent to Him. Positively, the commandment requires us to acknowledge Him as the one only true God, love, serve, glorify, and honor in all of our life, with our heart, heart, soul, mind, and strength. And that this is the positive keeping of the first commandment is clear, first of all, from the summary of the first table of the law. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And it's also the teaching of Moses in Deuteronomy 6, which was the Old Testament summary of the law. And I read that earlier this morning. And again, in Deuteronomy 11, verse 1, Moses, in giving the law to Israel, makes clear, Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, always. This is the keeping of the first commandment of the law. It has a positive and a negative aspect to it does this law, but both positive and negative are underscoring the absolute demand of God in this first commandment. You and I can't escape that. Jehovah is not saying to us once in a while you may take a vacation from me as your God. Once in a while you may serve another one. Just do it kind of quickly, briefly, and then come back to me again. Jehovah God is saying that there is not a one, one billionth of a second in the life of any child of God in which we may not be positively glorifying Him. The demand is absolute. In the first place, that's clear again from the words, before my face. We are always before his face. Always in his sight. And so the command is always in force. In the second place, the absolute demand of the commandment is clear from the prohibition and the use of the word not. Were Jehovah to have said in this first commandment, remember that I am your only God and you are to love me in all things, then you and I would go around life saying, yes Lord, I'm doing that, I'm doing that, I'm doing that. There would have been then just a general and a generic positive direction and as long as we were going in this positive direction we would content ourselves that we are pleasing to him on this point. But when he says thou shalt not he means to say to us that on the one hand it is our nature to do the very opposite of what he commanded. And therefore in the second place, that it's our calling to be examining our life again and again to detect those idols and root them out of our hearts. There's three points of significance to drive home in underscoring that this is an absolute demand. The first point is that Jehovah sets the rules. He is sovereign. He is our creator, as the psalm indicates. He is also our savior and redeemer, as we all confess. And therefore, he sets the rules. He said to Israel, I am Jehovah thy God. Therefore, here are ten commandments and you are to keep them. Israel is not free to decide what those rules or commands are. She is not free to try to interpret them in a way that will allow her to deviate from them. She must understand that what God requires of her is her calling. The second point of significance is that when Jehovah sets his rules, gives his law, he does not do so vaguely. He does so clearly. Thou shalt not is clear. Dad says, go do this. Sons, you might say, well I'm not quite sure how. That's not so clear. When dad says, you will not do this, son can never say dad, I interpreted that differently than you meant it and think that son could come away with the upper edge. Dad says to son, but I told you no. You know what no means. And therefore, our part in the covenant, or our calling before God, you see, is not difficult to understand. We may not have one God other than Jehovah. And in the third place, the significance of this absolute demand is that it's goal and purpose is the enjoying of and manifesting of covenant fellowship with the one only God. And that's what's at stake. One only God has not only created but has redeemed me. Sent his son to give his life for me. Rose again to bestow his life upon me. And at stake now is my calling to live in a way that shows I love Him, and am thankful for Him, and that I delight in fellowship with this Jehovah God. When Jehovah says, thou shalt have no other gods before Me, He's saying to us in essence, I don't have any other people than you. As your divine husband, I do not have two wives. Therefore, in order that you manifest your enjoyment of and gratitude for this exclusive relationship, you will not have two husbands. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. I need yet in the first point to drive home how that absolute demand applies to you and to me today. For there is of course this objection to everything that we're hearing. Yes, it's true, it's true, but we're not Jews. The Ten Commandment was given to the Jews at Mount Sinai. It's for Jews and we are Christian. Of course, you wouldn't make that argument because as a mature Reformed congregation you understand the unity of the covenant of God. And that the Jews in the Old Testament were the people of God, but now also Gentiles are brought into the covenant with God. And the covenant God, who brings Gentiles as well as Jews into his covenant, does not then change the demands of the law. So the law applies to our God's covenant people. Then you remember what Peter says in 1 Peter 2.17, and he is speaking to Gentiles, fear God. Two words that really mean to say, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And you remember what John says in 1 John 5.21, little children, keep yourselves from idols. So let's get a little specific. We'll do it again in the third point as we come more to the wording of the catechism, but now my goal is to apply it in a more positive way. We have this command, love the Lord your God in all that you think and say and do at every moment, and let's see how does that work out in our life. In the first place, it's clear that we understand that Jehovah's not saying we may not love anyone else. In fact, the second table of the law makes clear we are to love our neighbor also. But our love for our neighbor must not come in the way of our love for God. A husband must love his wife. Parents must love their children. Brothers and sisters must love each other. And the saints in the church of Jesus Christ must love one another. But, It is possible that in our relationships we put our love for our neighbor, our closest neighbor, husband or wife, above our love for God. And that we may not do. This really affects and directs the husband in his love for his wife. The husband's love for his wife does not become a matter of just making her happy, being sure that she doesn't break down in tears because he's not being nice or giving her what she wants. The husband's love for his wife is a matter of saying to his wife, wife, I so care about your soul. It's happiness and your relationship with Jehovah God that what I do for you, even what I say you may do, and what I join with you positively in doing and encourage you to do, is because I love God. To love Jehovah above all is to love the neighbor in the service of Jehovah. children, there are times when you suppose your parents aren't the nicest parents. They're not giving you what you want. They're not being the kind of parents your friends appear to have. Remember this, though. If your parents are godly parents, then they are treating you at every moment in the things they say, in the things they give, and in the things they don't give, in such a way as shows their love for Jehovah. And the parent, the parent who serves the idol of wealth and of materialism and the other idols of this world and the idol of self and self-importance, will let the child have all kinds of things that feed and enable the child to serve that idol. But the parent who says to his or her son and daughter, no you have a curfew, no you won't be going out with that person that night, Yes, I will be observing what's going on in your phone because I love Jehovah and because I would teach you the love of Jehovah. That parent is keeping the first commandment of the law. So much as regards our relationship to other people, but now let's come to events and activities and things. To love Jehovah above all is to recognize that we may enjoy recreation and entertainment, we may eat food and drink drink, but at no point may these things become our God or draw us away from our God. And so you might enjoy watching sports, and there are certain sports I also enjoy watching. But to say I'm going to skip church today because this sport is on TV, or to say I'm going to hurry home from church today because this sport is on TV, or to say I'm going to spend my Saturday watching these sports and Sunday What an anticlimactic day to the weekend. Saturday was the day I really served my God and was happy. This is not fitting. One who loves Jehovah above all. So young men, when your love for a girl interferes with your love for Jehovah, then that's a sign that the girl must go. And she's probably not, first of all, the problem either. The problem, first of all, probably is your own heart and the question of what role does Jehovah play in your life. Now this is going to get very relevant for us even more in the last days. Do you love your job? I could even rephrase that and say, do you like your job very much? And that's a nice thing when you do. But remember that you and I, in love for Jehovah and serving him above all, will stand ready to give up even our job if love for him requires it of us in days of persecution. We have many possessions and we're wealthy. We do, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, fight the temptation to put our trust in our possessions. We do, by the grace of the Spirit, acknowledge that they have come from God. But are you ready in the days, the last days, to give up even food and drink and no longer to receive it because you love Jehovah God? This is the positive keeping of the first commandment of the law. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the psalmist in that vein in verse one makes one more application. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. For a person might say, I don't love food so much, I don't love entertainment so much, but a person might say, if he or she were honest, but I do love my name. In fact, my name and love for my name is what guides and governs me in all that I do I am great in some area. I work hard to be superior and excellent in some area, so people will notice me. And the psalmist says, and leads us to say, even in that area, we will put Jehovah first. Not unto us. Not for our sake. Not because of what we've done. but unto thy name give glory. This is the absolute demand of God in the first commandment. There are three underlying reasons for this command. The first has to do with the folly of idolatry. In this one we can focus on what the psalmist says in Psalm 115. He sets forth the folly of idolatry at length in verses four through seven. They have all of the parts of the human anatomy, at least the sculpture has been formed in such a way that they have ears and a mouth and they have a throat And they have hands. Now, if you would go up to that ear, the psalmist is saying, and look into it, you'll just see more wood. If you'd go up to that mouth and try to pry it open, you won't be able to. If you were to say to those hands, hands, move, greet me, wave. The hands won't wave. The idol is dead. And therefore I want vanity to create this idol or this image and suppose that it is your savior. Now this folly which is set forth here at length, and Isaiah does the same in Isaiah 44 in a very graphic way, that really is the same folly that I fall into and you do when in our mind we fashion an idol, or when in our heart we reserve space for one person that we idolize, or one thing that we idolize. These things are creatures, possibly creatures of God, people and things, but how can a creature save us? And it might even be that these things are not so much creatures of God, other people and things, but creatures of our own mind, imaginations of our own heart. How can what I have formed in my own heart and mind save me? The folly of idolatry. And therefore, says the psalmist, it isn't only the idols themselves, but they that make them are like unto them. The worshiper of the idol is as dumb, as deaf, as speechless, as impotent, spiritually speaking, as is that idol. And in what contrast do these idols stand to Jehovah God, our God, who is in the heavens, and hath done whatsoever he hath pleased, and hears our prayers with his ears that aren't just ears of wood or stone, and speaks to us in his word, and sees and beholds, and with his nostrils smells the incense of our worship, and is pleased. The vanity of idolatry is underlying reason number one. But I need to take that to heart, and so do you. True happiness does not come from a person, a thing, an activity. Apart from my worship, my service to, my close devotional life with, and my opening up the word of the one true God, Jehovah. In the second place, the underlying reason has to do with truths about Jehovah. Some of them I've noted already because they're in the psalm. He's the creator and he's the exalted God. Verse 3 as well as verse 16, the heaven, even the heavens are the Lord's. And though I already drove home the point that He has a mouth that works and speaks and ears that hear, a related truth about Jehovah then is that He is a covenant God. Covenant creating, covenant keeping, and covenant enjoying and manifesting. He speaks to us with a view that we speak to Him. He declares His glory to us with a view that we behold it and enjoy His covenant fellowship. So says the psalmist later, in this time in which the heathens say, where is their God? It doesn't look like things are going very well in Egypt, the psalmist says, but the Lord will bless us. He is our help. Number one, He is our help. He is the one who can turn this situation in our lives around. He is our shield, number two. He is our defender and our preserver. The attack, the words of the enemy, where is now their God? Our attacks, their arrows, their darts. And with the shield of faith, which is faith in Jehovah God, those attacks will have no bear no fruit or will not move us. And then Jehovah hath been mindful of us and he will bless us. Think of all the times in the history of Israel past and the church past when things didn't look well for the church and suddenly there was a turning. Now was that coincidence? Was that luck? Or was that Jehovah? And was that Providence? When all goes well in the lives of the heathen and they attribute that to the power of their gods and then suddenly they are cast down as in a moment and destroyed. Their God can't save them. Their fortune never had been on account of the power of their gods anyway. But when in the life of the child of God things are not going well, they are miserable, they are grievous, and even in that misery and grief the child of God says, I love the Lord. He finds that there comes a time in his life when the grief is taken away. I'm not preaching a health and wealth gospel. I'm not saying the Lord will suddenly make your life so pleasant on earth that you'll forget all your troubles. It might be the moment of death! But in that moment, the Lord will say and show that he's going to do something to save that no one else could do. He's going to make our souls sinless. He's going to bring us into fellowship with him to a degree that we can never have on earth. That's Jehovah and his power. This is what the psalmist is doing as he thinks back to what Jehovah has done and therefore his confidence and he turns into the futures He will bless us. He shall increase you more and more. That's our God. The Heidenberg Catechism now sets forth one more thing about our God, and I need to make it explicit. And that is that this Jehovah manifests himself in his word. What is idolatry? Idolatry is, instead of or besides that one true God, who has manifested himself in his word. And what we are reminded of there is that if you would know your God, and see that at every moment in your life He loves you and He's blessing you. You cannot and I cannot live apart from His Word. We need more than just going to church on Sunday to hear a sermon on his word. We need an opening up of his word in our families and in our personal lives every day. And as we go to the word, we ask the question, what is Jehovah saying about who he is? When we go to the Word asking what does He reveal in it about who He is and what He does, we come away every day saying our God is in the heavens and He has done whatsoever He has pleased and He is pleased to redeem sinners into covenant with Himself. That answers the question of the heathen. Where is your God? Well, we'll say he's in heaven, and he is as to his being, but he's also omnipresent, but this is how close he is, right here. They can't say that about their God. Their idol did not give them a history of redemption included in which were the gospel revelations about that God sending his son into our flesh. That idol can't do it, and besides, he's already in the form of wooden stone. How can he send, and why need he send a child of his in the same form? Their idol cannot speak to them as they read his word. Their idol did not give them commandments how they are to live. They have made up those commandments for themselves. This is how close our God is to us. Which leads me then to the third truth, which serves as an underlying reason. And that brings us back to the introduction to the law. This Jehovah has redeemed Israel from Egypt's bondage. There are idol-worshipping nations that achieved great victories in war, but have you ever heard of another God? Is there such a story of one? who opened up the Red Sea or some other body of water for his people to pass through? And then when the enemy were chasing through that dry strip of ground, brought the waters back on them? Did an idol do that ever? Have you heard of another God who visited plagues upon the enemy? 10 of them sent his own prophet to announce them. making very clear that these are not random coincidences. These are acts of Jehovah God. Have you heard of another God who said to his people, come here to Mount Sinai and stand and camp at the foot of the Mount while I thunder to you my word and my will? Have you ever heard of an idol doing that? This Jehovah did for Israel. And he did it for you and for me also inasmuch as he sent Jesus Christ into our flesh. took our nature, our sin, its guilt, and its curse upon himself, and tasted hell, did an idol, either himself or in some representative he sent, which he couldn't, did such ever bear the wrath of God, our God. He did it in Jesus Christ. He did it to you. He did it to me. And now I am righteous before him. I have every motivation to keep his law, but I have also every power, which is to say the power of the Holy Spirit. covenant-keeping Jehovah God, saving sinners in order to manifest to them His glory that we delight in Him. Here is a reason for the keeping of the first commandment. And now, our doing so, thirdly, must be heartfelt. Catechism drives us home. All that I do in obedience to the first commandment of the law of God may not be and must not be only outward. not only with my lips, not only with my hands, not only with my head and ears, but also with my heart and with my soul, as sincerely as I desire the salvation of my own soul." Which isn't to say Because I really want to come out on the right side of God, I'd better work hard so that I'm on the right side of God. That's not the point. Conditional keeping of the law. But this is the point. I see what Jehovah has done in saving my soul. I desire that that salvation grow. I'd be preserved in it. My love for it and enjoyment of it develop, and one day in heaven I behold the face of God. That's my desire, a godly desire, and that desire will not be fulfilled or realized if I turn aside to idol gods as sincerely as I desire the salvation of my own soul. I must love God with my whole being and avoid and flee from all idolatry. And it is at that point now that answer 94 of our catechism comes to specifics. It'd be one thing again if Jehovah said, be sure you love me, and we'd say, yeah, we're loving him. It'd be one thing if the catechism said, be sure you flee idolatry, and we could say, yes, we're fleeing idolatry. But it says, flee sorcery, witchcraft. Witchcraft is fairly in vogue in society today. There's a preoccupation with witches, or if not witches per se, then with a spirit world. And we know such a world exists, don't we? We're not denying the presence and the existence of devils. They do exist, Satan and his hosts. But as I desire to serve Jehovah God and glorify him alone, I will avoid any contact with the demon world. Are there songs you listen to? Are there mantras? Are there games you play that would bring you into contact with the powers of evil? Flee them as sincerely as you desire the salvation of your soul. Secondly, soothsaying might seem rather inconsequential as you're at the county fair to see a booth for a fortune teller and say, yeah, a couple of bucks. Someone will read my palm. They'll tell me. It's just, it can be kind of interesting to see what they say about my life. and maybe come out of there saying, ah, they're on to some things. There's some way in which they know my future. But the Reformed fathers say, and this on the basis of scripture, this is what Israel was told in the Old Testament to do also, flee. That doesn't mean go walk up to the tent or the room, look at the board, see how much it costs. Move the other direction. Why? Because that fortune teller is also relying on the powers of darkness, the devil, and his hosts. in order to predict general things about your future, the specific details of which future Jehovah God holds in His hands, and He guides and directs according to His will and word, and His love for you, and you don't need to know the devil's perspective on the matter, but to trust that Jehovah will guide your life aright. Thirdly, superstition. Superstitions are a denial of providence. In some way, we might say, yeah, we're not a superstitious people. And yet, what if on August 12th of a certain year, something bad happened to you? And the next year, on August 12, another thing bad happened to you. Come the third year on August 12, are you going to begin your day saying, Lord, my life is yours, and I am yours, and even bad things that come from thy hand are sent in love, or are you going to wake up fearing what August 12 is going to bring? we do become a superstitious people. But superstition is a denial of God's providential guidance of our life and his love for us. Then the catechism goes on to speak of invocation of saints or other creatures, prayers to any other being. So that includes Roman Catholicism, of course. But remember, that your prayers and my prayers are to be prayed only to Jehovah God. As the catechism turns to positives, it underscores that the keeping of this commandment requires on our part growth, lifelong growth, for the positive keeping of this law requires me to learn rightly to know the only true God. And that learning process will go on throughout my entire life. I don't, at age four, or 10, or 20, suddenly say there's everything I need to know about him I already know. My life is one of learning rightly to know him. Turning to scripture again, but seeing how the principles that he teaches about himself in scripture are underscored in his government of creation and in history. And praying for the spirit to understand his word. And then trust in him. which the psalmist exhorted the people to do, but now we come down to a few specifics. In the first place, as was the occasion for the psalm, trust in Him when life is hard, not just when all goes well. In the second place, this trust in Him is to be shown by submitting to Him. And when life goes hard, it becomes my nature to think I need to find a way out of this hardship. Instead of saying the good Lord has put me here and will guide me through it, and I would still serve Him, I want to try to get out. And when I try to get out prematurely from the Lord's viewpoint, then I resort sometimes to my own wisdom in trying to get out, and I'm willing to even violate his law. So we are told to submit to him. Submit to his will in regard to the hardships of our life, but also submit to his will in regards to his law still being in force. Then expect all good things from him only. There are two points that are being underscored. when you get good things, recognize they came only from Jehovah, and so thank him, but also recognize that all that he gives is only good. It might not be the way it made me feel, the way I received it, but it is in accordance with his will. And therefore, finally says the catechism, love, fear, glorify him and then again underscoring the heartfelt manifestation, do it with my whole heart. Now this finally is the test of the child of God. When you and I go to bed every night and examine our life in light of the law of God and ask, have we kept it? Have I renounced and forsaken every creature rather than commit even the least thing contrary to his will? That is the heartfelt keeping of the first commandment of God's law. And the child of God, as he hears this expounded, says two things. First of all, I have him. And second, I can't. No, I can't out of the power of my old man. I can't in my own strength. My heart, as it came to me from Adam through my parents, cannot. And therefore remember, when Jehovah spoke to Israel at Sinai, and when he speaks to us today, he does not speak to us anymore as those who are still in Egypt in the bondage of sin, but as those to whom he has given redemption and deliverance, a new man, a new heart. And when he says thou shalt, he means to say, you can begin. not in your strength, but you can begin in the strength and power of the one only true God. Therefore, trust Him, love Him, find your forgiveness of sin in Him, and then by the power of His Spirit, show the world and all around you that He is your only God, because He is the only God. Amen. Our Father, which art in heaven by thy Spirit, empower us to do what we could not of ourselves. But may we then do it willingly, joyfully, and from our heart, for thou art the God who has redeemed us in Jesus Christ. And now we pray, fill us by thy Spirit, Give us so to love Thee that we do not even the least thing contrary to Thy will. We pray for Christ's sake, amen.