This afternoon we will be considering Baptist Catechism number 52 and 53. Question 52 asks, what is forbidden in the First Commandment? Answer, the First Commandment forbideth the denying or not worshipping and glorifying the true God as God and our God, and the giving that worship and glory to any other which is due unto Him alone. Question 53, what are we especially taught by these words before me in the first commandment? Answer, these words before me in the first commandment teach us that God who seeth all things taketh notice of and is much displeased with the sin of having any other God. And for our scripture reading we will go to Romans chapter one verses 18 through 25. Hear now the reading of God's most holy word. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. But they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 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 worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. We have already learned what the first commandment is. The first commandment is, thou shalt have no other gods before me. And we have learned what the first commandment requires. It requires us to know and acknowledge God, to be the only true God and our God, and to worship and glorify Him accordingly. And now we ask, what does it forbid? We have learned what it is, what it requires, and now we ask, what does the first commandment forbid? What does the first commandment command us not to do? And I do love how our catechism handles each of the 10 commandments with care. First, we are taught what each commandment is, and then with each one, we ask, what does it require? And finally, what does this commandment forbid? It's as if the authors of this catechism took each of the 10 commandments, set them down on a table, and then walked around them to examine them from multiple vantage points. When you read our catechism, you get the impression that those who wrote it considered the Ten Commandments to be very important and worthy of careful consideration. Indeed, that is what they thought. After all, of the 114 questions in our catechism, 41 are devoted to teaching about the Ten Commandments. That is questions 46 through 86. That's almost 40% of our catechism. being devoted to questions about the Ten Commandments. Our Catechism teaches us about Scripture, about the world that God has made, about God and our place before Him as human beings. It teaches us about Christ. The Gospel is contained there, but the Catechism also teaches us about the Christian life, how it is that we are to live. Indeed, the Ten Commandments play a very vital part in the Christian faith, and that is reflected in our Catechism. The moral law, brothers and sisters, is very important. By considering it we come to see that we are sinners who need a Savior. In other words, the Spirit of God uses this law to convict us of sin and to drive us to faith in Christ Jesus through the preaching of the gospel. Furthermore, this law, the moral law, functions as a light to our feet as we walk in this world which is filled with darkness. It is this law, the moral law, that is written on the hearts of God's people by the Spirit, and it is this law, written also in Holy Scripture, that shows us the path that we should take. Also, we can say that God uses this law, the moral law or natural law, to restrain evil in the world generally. Though there is much evil in the world, men and women are not as evil as they could be, for God is in fact restraining evil now. He restrains evil in many ways and one way that He does it is this. He has left a sense of this moral law within the hearts of even the unregenerate who continue to be image bearers of God even after the fall. You may go to Genesis 9-6 and you may go to Romans 2-1 and even the passage that we just read a moment ago testifies to this. Even the unregenerate have this sense of God, they have this sense of God's law left within them. It's one of the ways that God restrains evil in this world, even in the present day. So the moral law is very, very important. It functions in these three ways. It shows us our sin and drives us to Christ. makes us aware of our need for a savior. It functions as a light to our feet. It shows us which way we should go in Christ Jesus. It helps us to see what is pleasing to the Lord. And also it is used to restrain evil within the world. So the moral law has these three uses. It's no wonder then that the writers of our catechism Devoted so much time, or spilt so much ink, to the consideration of God's moral law, as summarized in the Ten Commandments. So then, what does the First Commandment forbid? That is what question 52 asks. In other words, what does it tell us not to do? Our Catechism identifies three things. One, the first commandment forbids us from denying God. In fact, to deny or to refuse to acknowledge Him as God is a very great sin. The scriptures teach us that the fear of God or the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So that you cannot have wisdom, you cannot live a life that is wise, you cannot live a life according to truth without first acknowledging God. Proverbs 9.10 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. So this is where wisdom begins. Wisdom is the art of living well, we might say, and to live well we must live according to the truth and here is the most important truth of all, God is. And if we wish to be wise, if we wish to live according to the truth, we must start with the fear of the Lord. We must acknowledge that God exists and we must fear Him, meaning we must have reverence for Him. We must bow our hearts and our lives before Him. This is the beginning. of wisdom, and so our catechism is right to tell us that the first commandment forbids us from denying God. We must not deny God. We must acknowledge that He exists and we must fear Him. Two, the first commandment forbids us to not worship and glorify God as God and our God. I am afraid that some people assume they are keeping the first commandment, which is, you shall have no other gods before me. So long as they do not bow to another god besides the Lord. Are you with me here? I think for some people when they hear the first commandment, you shall have no other gods before me. They assume that they are keeping this commandment so long as they do not bow to another God besides the Lord. They assume that as long as they keep themselves from bowing down to another God, then they are guiltless as it pertains to the first commandment. But no, the first commandment does not only forbid us from worshiping other so-called gods, it also forbids us from failing to worship and glorify the one true God as He has commanded in His Word. There is a difference between these two things. So a person who acknowledges God's existence and a person who claims to fear God but yet neglects or fails to give God the worship that he so deserves is in fact living in violation of the first commandment. I think it is important for us to realize this. When God says you shall have no other gods before me, he must also mean you shall have me as your God. So then we sin against Him when we fail to acknowledge Him, worship Him, and glorify Him as He has prescribed in His Word. Thirdly, our catechism rightly teaches that the first commandment forbids us from giving that worship and glory to any other which is due unto God alone. We must acknowledge Him as God. We must worship and glorify Him accordingly as God, and we must not give that worship and glory to any other which is due unto Him alone. Brothers and sisters, please consider how prone we are to do this very thing. It is very, very easy for us to love the things of this world, created things, in a way that only God should be loved. It is very easy for us to labor for the things of this world and not for God and to trust in the things of this world instead of God. Think of how prone we are to give the worship and glory which is due unto God alone to created things rather than the creator of all things seen and unseen. We should remember that this is the human tendency described in Romans one in that passage that we read earlier. Though God has revealed Himself generally to all men so that all know Him in this generic sense. They know that He exists, that He is powerful and worthy of worship. Men in their sin do not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him but they become in their thinking, and their foolish hearts are darkened. They live in sin. They claim to be wise. They became fools, the text says. And what do they do? Well, they exchange the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. And here is the fundamental error. They have exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. So men and women can perceive, in the world that God has made, that God exists. There's a testimony concerning that fact embedded within their heart by nature. They are made in the image of God. All men see this. Even the atheist sees this, really. They know that they are to live for something and trust in something outside of themselves, ultimately. They might say that they don't, but they do when pressed, you see. All people can see this. They know that something is to be worshipped. Think of all the religions that exist around the world. Men and women have this impulse to worship something. Where does that impulse come from? It comes from the fact that God exists. They know He exists and that He's to be worshipped. And what do they do? They suppress the truth about God. They twist to distort our comprehension of Him and they worship and serve created things instead of the creator of all things. You know, we tend to think about idolatrous peoples, those who actually bow to images of created things when we think of this error, this sin of man. But I think we are prone to this as well. It's so easy for us to begin to live for the things of this world, to love the things of this world, to trust in the things of this world in a way that only God should be loved, and lived for, and trusted you see. It's a propensity that we all struggle with. And if you have faith in Christ, brothers and sisters, you have been washed by His blood. You've been renewed by His Spirit. You've been reconciled to the Father by His finished work. You've been freed from this bondage to sin that I've been speaking of. But I think you would agree we do still struggle with this propensity because of the corruptions that remain in us. This temptation that comes from the world around us, and from the evil one himself. We are still prone to worship and serve the creature. rather than the creator. Christians even stumble when they love their children, their spouses, or their comfort supremely with the kind of love that should be reserved for God alone. Can you see it? It's easy for us to slip into this. It's easy for us to begin to love even very good things with the kind of love that should be reserved for God alone. Christians stumble when they make money, possessions, a career, and good health their ultimate hope. Christians stumble when they place trust, not in God supremely, but in things like government, and family, and investments, and their own plans for the future. This idolatry thing is a tricky thing, isn't it? It's easy for our hearts to grow attached to the things of this world in a way that they should only be attached to the God who created all things seen and unseen. I set these examples of misplaced faith, hope, and love before you, and I hope that you could see how easy it is for us to go astray. We must be on the guard against it. We must understand what the first commandment requires and what it forbids, and we must have it as a light to our feet. I'd like to now briefly consider Baptist Catechism 53 with you. I think it's a wonderful question, an interesting one. It will also give me an opportunity to make some clarifying remarks about what I just said. Question 53 asks, what are we especially taught by these words before me in the first commandment? It's a great question. The first commandment is, you shall have no other gods before me. And here our catechism is asking, what is meant by these words, before me? The word before can be interpreted in two ways. First, it could mean above, or in a higher position or place. If I say that I don't know why I chose that name. But if I say that Sally finished the race before Jimmy, I mean that Sally finished in a higher place than Jimmy, maybe in first place. And if that were the meaning of the word before, then the first commandment would have this sense, you shall not have any gods above me or in a higher position than me. And if this were the meaning of the word before, then some might think it is okay to have other gods besides the Lord so long as they are placed under or beneath him somehow. Are you following me? That is a possible interpretation of the English word before. But the word before can also mean before my face or in front of me and within my view. If you go to a restaurant, and you order a meal, at some point the waiter or waitress will bring out your meal and they will set it before you. You understand? Used in this way, the word before does not mean above or in a higher position, but in front of or within your sight. The waitress brings out the meal and they place it before you, in front of your face, so that you might eat of it. Clearly, this second sense is the sense in which the word before is used in the First Commandment. The Hebrew original is more clear than the English. Also, the rest of Scriptures make it quite clear that the Lord is not merely to be honored as the highest of many gods, but rather He is to be honored as the only true God, the Creator of all things seen and unseen. And the Lord is very much displeased when we have any other God besides Him that is within His view. Isaiah 46.9 states the matter very clearly, there the Lord says, �Remember the former things of old, I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like Me.� We are to have the Lord as God alone. No other gods are to be set before him or before his face, in his sight, that is to say. He alone is to be honored as God. In fact, as I understand it, there is kind of a growing trend, even amongst professing Christians, to say that, well, maybe there are other gods, but they are not to have a position above God, they must be in subordination to Him. I see you shaking your heads, but then when you really think about it, you shouldn't be surprised. Our catechism is right to answer the question, what are we especially taught by these words before me in the first commandment? In this way, these words before me in the first commandment teach us that God, who seeth all things, taketh notice of, and is much displeased with the sin of having any other God. So if we put other gods before God, that means He sees it. It's not just that they're put in a higher place than Him, but He sees it. When we slip into idolatry, He sees it. It's before His face, it's before His eyes, and He's very much displeased with it. Deuteronomy 30, 17 through 18. Psalm 44, 20 through 21. Psalm 90 verse 8 are listed as proof texts in our catechism and they clarify that this is the sense of the word before in the first commandment. Now for that word of clarification that I made mention of earlier, the first commandment forbids us from having any other gods except the one true God, the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. We are to love Him alone as God. We are to worship and serve Him alone as God. We are to trust in Him alone as God. We are to delight in Him and glorify in Him alone as God. But let me ask you this. Does the first commandment require us to love God only? To serve God only? To trust God only? And to enjoy God only? Clearly the answer to that is no. The scriptures command us to love one another, don't they? So it is right for us to love one another. Husbands and wives are commanded to love one another. So when a husband and wife love one another a whole lot, that's a good thing and not a bad thing. The Scriptures are very clear about this. The Scriptures also command us to serve one another. And are we not to trust one another? Are we not also permitted to enjoy the good things of this life? Things like food and drink, things like family and friends, along with every other good thing in this world that comes from God's hand within its proper bounds. I think this is a very important principle here, brothers and sisters, to take note of. When the first commandment forbids us from worshiping any other God besides the Lord. It is not saying, do not love other things, period. Do not trust other things, period. Do not serve other things, period. Do not enjoy other things, period. No, it's this, God alone is to be honored, loved, worshiped, served, trusted in as God, you see. There is a certain way in which we are to love the Lord and yet we are permitted to love the good things of this life within their proper bounds as being gifts from God's hand, you see. were to love and enjoy the things of this life, to the glory of His name, we are to see them, and I've been using this phrase ever since we went through that wonderful study on contentment, as tokens of God's love to us. So, it's not as if these two things are in competition with one another. Well, I have to make sure that I don't love my wife too much, because then I'll be guilty of idolatry. Are you with me? It's not that. You, husband, should love your wife to the fullest extent possible. There should be no limits to your love for your wife, but you're to love your wife as your wife and not as God. Yes? It's not as if when you sit down for a good meal, you think, I better be careful that I don't enjoy this meal too much, lest I slip into idolatry. No, enjoy the meal to the maximum. And as you enjoy that meal, give thanks to God who provided it for you, to the glory of His name. Same thing with drink, same thing with friends, same thing with the house that you live in, the clothes that you wear, the friendships that you have. You are permitted to love and to enjoy those things to the maximum, but within proper boundaries in the sense that they are loved and enjoyed as creaturely things and not as the creator of all things. Do you see the difference? I think sometimes we get a little afraid of loving things too much because we might be guilty of idolatry. No, there is a way to do this where in all things God gets the glory. I say this because I want you to know that loving God and loving other people and other things are not in conflict with each other. God alone must be loved, worship served, and everything else must be loved in its proper place as creatures, as gifts from God and to the glory of His name. What is forbidden in the first commandment The First Commandment, �Forbiddeth the denying, or not worshipping and glorifying the true God as God and our God, and the giving that worship and glory to any other which is due unto him alone.� And what are we especially taught by these words before me in the First Commandment? These words before me in the First Commandment teach us that, �God, who seeth all things, taketh notice of, and is much displeased with the sin of having any other god.� Let's bow for a word of prayer now, and then we will go to corporate prayer. Our Father in heaven, I pray that you would increase our love for you, that we would love to contemplate You, that we would love to lean into You and rest in You as our God, as our only source of hope and life. I pray that we would serve You as Your creatures, for You are worthy. I pray that You would draw from us the worship that You deserve. And as we do enjoy and love the good things of this life within their proper bounds, I pray that we would do these things to the glory of Your name. Help us to glorify You in our eating, and in our drinking, and in everything that we do. May you get all the honor in Christ's name. Amen.