Let us call upon the name of our God together in congregational prayer. Our Father which art in heaven, we come unto thee in the evening of this Sabbath day, and marvel as we do so at thy love, for it is thy love that has drawn us unto thyself. There can be no other explanation.

It is thy everlasting grace and lovingkindness in Jesus Christ, according to which thou hast purposed that we shall live with thee, that thou shalt give unto us a home where we might dwell in thy courts, not because thou art a God who needeth a home in which to dwell, for thou art the ever-blessed God, and thou art the God whom even the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain. The heavens are thy throne and the earth is thy footstool, and thou needest not a place where thou shalt dwell. But we, thy creatures, have such a need, and so thou hast been pleased from all eternity to declare that we shall live with thee in the new heavens and the new earth forever, and that we shall therefore inherit the land and inherit the earth, and this through Jesus Christ, And we thank Thee that Thou dost give unto us in our earthly sojourn blessed foretastes of that inheriting the land and abiding with Thee.

For Thou hast built Thy church. Thou hast made Thy temple of living stones, of the members of the body of Christ. And Thou hast founded us upon Jesus Christ, who is the cornerstone and the foundation of His truth. Thou hast made Thy church the place where Thou art pleased to dwell, so that in the wonders of Thy covenant love Thou dost inhabit the praises of Israel.

And we thank Thee, Father, that Thou hast brought us into Thy house again, that here assembled before Thy face we might worship Thee in spirit and in truth, that we might call upon Thy name, we who are nothing, and we who have of ourselves no access unto Thee, but who have been given entrance into thy very throne room through Jesus Christ, who also maketh intercession for us, and who indeed liveth, ever liveth, to make intercession for us. We thank thee for the comforts of thy house. We pray that thou wilt bestow them upon us in this evening.

And we pray, Father, that thou wilt remember thy sheep, for thy sheep are easily scattered. Thy sheep are easily wounded and hurt. And we as thy sheep go astray, every man to our own way, and so can not look to ourselves for any protection. We cannot trust in our arm of strength, for we have none, but must perish all the day. But thou art our shepherd, as thy word has taught. Thou dost fill all our needs, so that we shall not want.

Pray, Father, that thou wilt cause the sheep of thy fold to lie down in green pastures. Remember especially those whose minds are troubled, those who are distressed, and those who feel that green pastures are very far from them. Will thou seek them out by thy word and spirit? Will thou give unto them to eat and to drink? the goodness of Jesus Christ by faith, and wilt thou cause them to lie down contentedly, peacefully. Wilt thou lead them beside the still waters, as thou hast promised, where they might find rest and refreshment in thee.

Restore our souls, Father, and lead us in the paths of righteousness for thy name's sake. We pray that thou wilt keep us from all of the fiery darts of the devil, from all of his stratagems which he has devised against thy word, to make the promises of thy word seem empty and foolish and impossible. We pray that thou wilt be with us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, that thou wilt cause us under that shadow which stinketh and which is cold and frightening that we might nevertheless fear no evil, knowing that Thou art with us, and that Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort us.

We thank Thee, Father, that Thou dost also prepare us a table before us in the presence of our enemies, and Thou dost give us a place to eat and drink with Thee. For just as in every home there is a table where the family gathers and speaks and eats and is nourished, together so thou dost give unto us that table, the table of Jesus Christ, the table of his gospel, by which thou dost feed our souls. And we thank thee that thou dost set this table in the presence of our enemies, the devil himself being chief and foremost among them, so that though the devil rages against the church, and though he seeks by his deceits to convince thy people that thou art not for us, but against us, that thou dost nevertheless feed us and nourish us unto everlasting life by Jesus Christ. Anoint our heads with oil, cause our cups to run over and cause us to see by faith that before us is the good shepherd Jesus Christ and that surely goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our life so that before and behind we are we are walled in and protected by thee indeed thou art on our right hand and on our left Thy banner over us is love, and underneath are thy everlasting arms, so that before, behind, from side to side, above and below, we are protected and kept by thee.

And cause then, Father, that we might dwell in thy house all the days of our life, forever and ever. We thank thee for these promises of thy word. They are a balm to our soul, as nothing else here below can be a balm. For though men and our flesh with all men run after this balm and that, in order to give life meaning and to find happiness and fulfillment, there is no balm but the gospel of Jesus Christ, and no happiness and fulfillment and contentment except in his righteousness.

And so we beseech thee, Father, thou who art the great shepherd of the sheep, Thou who knowest Thy people, Thou who knowest our hearts, wilt Thou bless us, wilt Thou keep us, and wilt Thou comfort us for Jesus' sake? We beseech Thee, Father, that Thou wilt do this the world over, that Thou wilt remember Thy people, not only here in our midst and in our own land, but that Thou wilt remember Thy people wherever they are gathered.

We pray Thy blessing upon Thy saints in the Philippines and in Singapore, and we thank Thee that thy people in the Philippines could gather on the Lord's day, that they could be fed in the green pastures of thy word. Will thou continue to give unto them all that they stand in need of? Will thou establish them, Father? Will thou give to them the gospel of Jesus Christ? And we pray that thou will cause thy word to go forth in that place to the gathering of the sheep of the Lord. Will thou bless also our brethren in Singapore, remember them, sustain them, and establish them.

How little is thy church, how lowly are thy people, how nothing do thy saints amount to in the eyes of the world. But thou dost love thy people, thou dost look upon them with thy face unto them, never turned away. Thine ears just remain open to the cries of thy people, even those groanings which the Spirit maketh for us, with groanings and intercessions which cannot be uttered. For we know not what to pray for as we ought, and often become so weak and so distressed that we cannot even pray.

But we thank thee that thou dost remain our God. and that Thou dost give unto us the Spirit, who is not the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but who is the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, and which Spirit witnesses with our spirits that we are Thy children, with a witness that the world cannot erase, that the devil cannot pluck, and that our flesh cannot assail.

We beseech Thee, Father, that Thou wilt give us this witness and comfort us with it. We pray to that end, that Thou wilt bless the preaching of Thy word this evening for our comfort. Wilt Thou cause that as we hear the first commandment of Thy law, that we might not turn to Thy law for salvation, that we might not seek out of Thy law our obedience, that we might find our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, and even our obedience from him alone, and not from thy law, and certainly not out of our flesh. We pray, Father, that thou wilt give to us then the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, who had no other gods before thee, but who through his life from beginning to end cried, My God, thou art my God, and even hanging upon the cross as one of the last words of his earthly breath cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And this for our salvation, that we might never be forsaken of thee. We pray then, Father, that thou wilt bless the proclamation of this word. Remember thy servant who speaks it, that thou wilt sanctify his lips and cause him to say, thus saith the Lord. Will Thou sanctify our ears also, open them, and cause Thy Word to enter into them and into our hearts by the operation of Thy Spirit.

How wonderful it is, this preaching of the Gospel and this hearing of the Gospel. What a miracle it is, so that no earthly logic or no earthly reason can explain it. Nevertheless, it is true that thou from heaven are pleased to speak peace to thy people through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Speak peace to us this day.

We beseech thee. We pray, Father, that thou wilt continue to bless also the school that thou hast given unto us now on the summer break. Will thou remember Pavilion Christian, remember our students, We thank Thee for Thy work in the hearts of our lambs, so that they, by the operation of Thy Spirit, know Thee, even in their childlike way, and know Thee as their shepherd. We pray, Father, that Thou wilt continue to bless our children and our young people, too. We beseech Thee, Father, that Thou wilt open the doors of the school again in due time, Thou wilt give the teachers and the board and all who are involved in the rearing of the covenant seed the preparation needed in these weeks and months. We beseech Thee, Father, that Thou wilt rear our covenant seed through the education that they receive. We pray also, Father, that Thou wilt remember the rulers of our land We thank Thee that the hearts of kings are in Thy hand and Thou turnest them whithersoever Thou wilt as the rivers of water.

We beseech Thee that Thou wilt cause the hearts of the rulers that Thou hast appointed over us to countenance the preaching of Thy word everywhere, whether the rulers are those who know Thee and who believe or whether they are Thy foes. But we beseech thee, Father, that thou wilt so rule and guide them that they might countenance the preaching of the gospel and not stand against it.

For we know that the days of persecution come. We feel that persecution already from the false church and from wicked men. And yet, Father, we know that the day comes when the machinery and engine of the state shall be turned against thy church, and that many shall suffer in the tribulation the likes of which the world has not yet seen. But now as thou hast given us this space to preach the word, and even beyond our shores, not only in our borders, but in other lands as well, thou continue to send forth thy word according to thy will for the gathering in of thy people.

We pray that thou will give to us towards our rulers submissive and obedient hearts that we might show all honor love and fidelity unto them not cursing the rulers, not speaking evil of the gods, for we know that thou hast appointed the rulers according to thy eternal good pleasure. And so we pray, Father, that thou wilt give unto us submission unto them as unto thee, that we might be good citizens of the land in which thou hast placed us. And this, not for our glory, for never must glory redound unto us, but for thy glory, that there might be a witness unto men, that we are not the lawless, but that we are those who have been saved by grace from lawlessness and from all the guilt and pollution of our sins.

We beseech thee, Father, that thou wilt do this for thine own name's sake. Forgive the sins that we have committed against thee. We cannot improve ourselves. We have within us that flesh, the sin power, the sin principle, our totally depraved nature, which is wretched and filthy, which is as a foul fountain within us, pouring forth all manner of iniquity, and we cannot escape it.

But we thank Thee for our Savior, who has covered the guilt of it with His own blood, and has borne the iniquity of that nature, and has borne that guilt away. We thank Thee for Him, how lovely our Savior is, for within Him was no foul nature, but within Him was pure and perfect love for Thee, and for His people whom Thou didst give unto Him.

We pray then, Father, that Thou wilt give us the assurance of this righteousness that is ours by faith alone, and not by our works. And give unto us also a life of gratitude, which also comes from the Lord, and not from the law, and not from our flesh. We pray that Thou wilt give us this life of obedience, that we might honor Thy name. Will Thou hear our prayer, Father?

Answer us in the abundance of Thy mercy, for Jesus' sake. Amen. We worship the Lord now in the giving of our offerings. The first offering is for the Evangelism Fund, and the second is for the School Fund. ♪ ♪ ¶ ¶ We return now to Psalm 37. This time singing verses 29-34. Again, we sing of inheriting the land. Verse 29. And in verse 34, "...the exalt shall he the earth to inherit." And all of this through Jesus Christ who has the law of God in His heart. Verse 31. Verses 29 now through 34 of Psalm 37. The just and nearest shall know him, and ever let it flow. The justest of all. ♪ In his heart, in steps I'm not away ♪ ♪ The wicked man doth watch the just ♪ ♪ And seemeth him to slay ♪ ♪ And if the Lord will not forsake me ♪ ♪ Hardly found in his hands ♪ ♪ A righteous well he hath found now ♪ ♪ When he in judgment stands ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord and keep his way ♪ ♪ When the endfall shall be near ♪ When there is in the dark nothing in the light.

We turn in God's Word this evening to 1 Corinthians 8. 1 Corinthians 8. In 1 Corinthians 8, the Apostle Paul answers a question that he received from the church in Corinth. He has given instruction to the church regarding reports that he heard in chapters 1 through 6. In chapter 7, he began answering questions that the church had submitted to him. The question that he answers in 1 Corinthians 8 concerns things offered unto idols. The question is, may we eat them, eat those things.

The instruction of the Apostle Paul here leads the church through that question. And in the course of answering that question, the Apostle teaches that there is one only true God. And that is the basis of the first commandment which we consider this evening. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 1 Corinthians 8.

Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him. As concerning, therefore, the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many and lords many, But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him. Howbeit, there is not in every man this, not that knowledge.

For some, with conscience of the idol unto this hour, eat it as a thing offered unto an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. But meat commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse.

But take heed, lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. For if any man see thee which has knowledge, sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols? Through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died. But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

This is God's Word, holy and inspired. May He apply it to our hearts this evening. On the basis of that passage and many others, we have the instruction of the Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 34, questions and answers 94 and 95. Lord's Day 34, beginning with question 94.

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, expecting 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 congregation and our Lord Jesus Christ, this portion of Lord's Day 34 explains the first commandment of God's law, thou shalt have no other gods before me. That first commandment of God's law is a commandment about God, who is the only true God. The first commandment of all the commandments teaches us that we are to have no other gods. And therefore, at the very outset of the law, we learn that God's revelation of Himself concerns Himself. God has Himself at the center of all of His revelation. Or, as we sometimes say, the revelation of God is theocentric. We see that again as we come to the first commandment of the law. All of theology is from God and by God and unto Jehovah God. The first commandment of the law of God is the law. It is a thou shalt and a thou shalt not of the law. thou shalt have no other gods before me."

That means that the first commandment is not the gospel. And that means that the first commandment will not and cannot give you anything or me anything this evening. We are not to come to the first commandment this evening in order to find in that commandment our righteousness.

The First Commandment has no say regarding the righteousness of the members of Remnant Reformed Church. The law cannot make you righteous. The law cannot show you your path to righteousness. The first commandment of the law will not give you righteousness, nor will the first commandment of God's law give you obedience. The first commandment will not even give you obedience in the matter of having no other gods. This first commandment cannot make you love the Lord your God with all your heart. so that you avoid and flee from all sorcery and soothsaying and all other things forbidden according to the Heidelberg Catechism. We are not to seek our righteousness or our obedience out of this first commandment of God's law. That is not the office of the first commandment. It is not the purpose for which God has given it.

Rather, your righteousness is found in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in the law and not in the first commandment. Your righteousness before God with regard to having no other gods is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ, for He had no other gods. He perfectly loved the Lord His God. And so, the righteousness of Christ and that righteousness alone is our righteousness. Also, our thanksgiving to God is from Jesus Christ and His gospel alone. The fruit of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ is that the Church of Jesus Christ, by the operation of Christ, through His Word and Spirit, seeks to flee from all idolatry. It is not the law that will give you your righteousness or your obedience, not even in this matter of having no other gods, but it is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that will give you all things.

Why then do we have the law? And why then do we have a sermon on the law? In the first place, the law's office is to be a rule of gratitude so that the first commandment of the law is the rule concerning how we show gratitude unto God. It does not give us our gratitude, but it is the rule of that gratitude.

You, church, redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is how you show your thanksgiving to God. You have no other gods before Jehovah. And in the second place, this law, this preaching of the law, must be preached in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not because the two are the same thing. They are not the same thing. The law is not the gospel, and the gospel is not the law. But the law is preached in the light of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that your righteousness before God, you know to be Jesus Christ and His obedience and His atonement alone. And the law being preached in that light is then the rule of your and my gratitude unto God.

That is how we consider the first commandment of God's law this evening as we consider it under the theme, the first commandment. In the first place, consider one true God. In the second place, consider having one true God, using the language of the commandment. And in the third place, gratefully having one true God. The first commandment, one true God, having one true God, and gratefully having one true God. We begin then with the fact that there is one true God. The heart of the first commandment is that there are not many gods, there are not several options for who is God, but there is one only true God.

The proof of that fact is found in the language of the first commandment itself. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Lying behind those words is this truth, there are no other gods besides me, and therefore have no other gods before me. I am God, I am Jehovah, and I am God alone.

That is also emphasized in the catechism's exposition of the first commandment. Question 94 mentions the only true God. We learn rightly to know the only true God, not many gods, not many options, but an only true God. And then again in answer 95, that one true God the catechism speaks of.

When the Catechism speaks that way, it speaks in harmony with the other Reformed confessions, with the whole Reformed faith. For example, the Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 1. This is how the Belgic Confession, the first of all the Reformed confessions, begins. Article 1.

There is one, only God. We all believe with the heart and confess with the mouth that there is one only simple and spiritual being which we call God. The Heidelberg Catechism the Belgic Confession, the Reformed faith, and the scriptures teach that there is one only true God.

This truth stands over against every claim of man that there are other gods, and indeed men claim that there are other gods. Man is awash in gods. Man cannot help himself from making and inventing other gods. The ancient cultures of the world all had their gods that are the study of much archaeology and much historical study yet today. The modern cultures have their gods, whether those ancient idols that they carried with them into this day, or whether that be the modern gods of health and wealth and leisure and work, and the god that is essentially man. Man cannot help himself from making gods.

As men have said before, man's heart is an idol factory, so that he churns out these idols. Over against all of the false gods of man and all of the inventions of man's diseased and sinful mind stands the truth that underlies the first commandment that there is one only God. This is the testimony of the scriptures over against all of the idols.

Psalm 96, verse 5. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Psalm 115, verses 4 and 9. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. But then verse 9, O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. Psalm 135 verses 13 and 15. Thy name, O Lord, endureth forever, and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations. And verse 15, the idols of the heathen 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. Neither is there any breath in their mouths. They that make them are like unto them. So is everyone that trusteth in them.

And the passage that we read this evening in 1 Corinthians 8, For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many and lords many, but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

The testimony of the scriptures over against the constant folly of man in making to himself all manner of gods is that there is one only true God. The one true God, according to the Heidelberg Catechism, has manifested himself in his word. This is how we know the true God in distinction from all the gods of the idols. The scriptures teach this one true God. Question 95, 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.

God has shown Himself in the Scriptures also as the Belgic Confession teaches in Article 2. After opening in Article 1 with the confession there is one only God, Article 2 teaches by what means God is made known unto us. And after a paragraph teaching that God makes Himself known to all men in the creation, The confession says, secondly, he makes himself more clearly and fully known to us by his holy and divine word. That is to say, as far as is necessary for us to know in this life, to his glory and our salvation. The true God, the one true God has manifested himself in his word. The fact that the true God, the one true God, is known from his revelation in his word means that all of the idle inventions of man are not God whatsoever.

Though they call them gods, these inventions are not God. Not only is man inventing new gods, but man is constantly trying to reinvent the true God. Men have heard of the true God. They have heard of that true God in the creation. Men have heard of that true God in the Bible. As the Word of God has reached them, as sermons have come to them, men hear about this God. And the first thing that man tries to do with that God is to reinvent that God and make that God in the likeness of man.

Those reinvented gods are also not God. They are not the true God. They are as much the diseased imaginings of men as are the idols. If that sounds too harsh, that the reinventions of God are idols, that means that the God of evolution is not God. but an idol of men's minds, and that the God of the well-meant offer of the gospel is not God, but the idol of men's minds."

If that sounds too harsh, then remember the Reformed definition of idolatry, which it gets from the Word of God. The reformed definition of idolatry in question and answer 95 is this, 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. When men reinvent God, contrary to his word, they are committing idolatry. And then remember, if that sounds too harsh, what the Apostle says about the false gospel that men are constantly inventing and bringing.

In 2 Corinthians 11, the Apostle says to the Corinthian church, would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly and indeed bear with me For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. And then the apostle a little bit later says in verses 13 and following, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.

The apostle there taught that those false teachers who came in with all kinds of subtlety, they came in quoting Bible verses, they came in speaking of Jesus, proclaiming his name, but their Jesus was another Jesus. It was not the Jesus that the apostles had preached. It was not the Jesus of the word of God. And their gospel was another gospel and their spirit was another spirit.

All of this is part of the reformed instruction then that the sin of idolatry includes reinventing the true God according to the imaginations of men. The proper use of the scriptures then with regard to The knowledge of God is that the Scriptures teach one message from beginning to end. There is one current in the river of Scripture. There is one direction that the Scripture flows, and that is in the direction of this truth, that God is God. That's the revelation that God has given from heaven. and the revelation that returns to Him, and the flow of that river, the current of that truth, is that God is God.

The one true God is the God who has revealed Himself in the Scriptures. With regard to this one true God, He is the God who is made known by Jesus Christ. God has revealed Himself in Christ so that the one true God in all of His saving power and in His grace for His people is known through Jesus Christ alone. That is a striking truth regarding the one true God. We cannot disconnect the truth of the one true God from the truth of the one Lord Jesus Christ. In the first place, God has made known Himself as the One through God, through Jesus Christ, because only the true God could be the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God is the Father of Christ. That is how Christ was revealed. He is the Son of God with power. And the disciples beheld the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Only the true God, who is the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as He is revealed in His Word, could be the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Only that one true God could So work upon Mary that the holy thing that was born of her was the Son of the Highest, the second person of the Trinity come in our flesh according to God's eternal decree and purpose. The one true God is made known in Jesus Christ because only that God who is revealed in the scriptures could be the father of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the second place, this one true God is known through Jesus Christ only because Jesus knew only this God.

When Jesus worked, He did not speak of many gods that He was serving. He did not speak of gods according to the diseased imaginations of men. And there were many gods of the diseased imaginations of men. But Jesus spoke of one God and knew that one true God alone. The one true God is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is taught strikingly In 1 Corinthians 8, verse 6, which we read earlier, the apostle here, remember, is demonstrating that it is not principally sin to eat those things that are sacrificed unto idols. And why is it not principally sin? Because those idols are nothing. Those idols are not gods. They're called gods, they're called lords, but they are not gods and they are not lords. Now the law that must rule the eating of things sacrificed to idols is the law of love. Nevertheless, it is not principally wrong to eat those things sacrificed to idols because those idols are nothing.

The apostle is teaching the doctrine that there is one true God and one true God alone. And now how does he teach that doctrine? He teaches in that doctrine by referring, in the same breath as he refers to one true God, to the one Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 6, But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him. The revelation of the truth that there is one true God is made known in the one Lord Jesus Christ. The truth that lies at the heart then of the first commandment is that there is one true God.

The first commandment now speaks of having no other God. That's the negative. The positive would be having the one true God. thou shalt have no other gods before Me." What does it mean to have no other gods? What does it mean to have the one true God? To have the one true God means that that one true God is everything for me. It means that that one true God is what determines my whole life. It means that consciously and knowingly I have that God as the one who is my sovereign. I have that God as the one who is my Lord. I have that one God as the one whom I serve. To have God as God means to have that God as everything.

The biblical phrase to describe that idea of having God as everything is the phrase, God is all in all. That is a phrase that the scripture uses to describe the wonders of the new heavens and the new earth, that God shall be all in all. When the Lord Jesus Christ has returned, when the Lord has delivered up the kingdom to the Father, then God shall be all in all. The meaning of that phrase, all in all, is that God is the entire meaning and purpose of every single aspect of my life. In that phrase, all in all, there are two alls. God is all in all.

The second all in that phrase refers to everything in my life. It refers to my vocation. It refers to my family. It refers to my church. It refers to everything that belongs to my life, to my waking and to my sleeping, to my eating and to my recreation. all of the life of the child of God, every single thing is incorporated in that second all.

The first all in the phrase, God is all in all, refers to God. God is all in my all, so that in all the things that I do in my life, God is the meaning and the purpose of it. That's what it means to have God as our God. And that's what it also means then to have no other God before Jehovah. There is nothing else in our life that comes before Jehovah in every single aspect of our life. God already is this. God is all in all. There is nothing else than God. For God is the one who has made all things. God is the one who upholds all things. God governs every aspect of my life.

To have God as all in all means to live in all things in this consciousness and in this conviction. To live deliberately according to this truth that God is my all in all. The Heidelberg Catechism expounds that idea of having God as our all in all when it says negatively that the first commandment means that I avoid and flee from all idolatry. And idolatry is then further defined in question 95 as having Besides the one true God who has manifested himself in his word, any other object in which men place their trust, I avoid and flee from all idolatry.

I flee from all sorcery. Sorcery is the use of spiritual powers in order to obtain whatever man wants to obtain. Soothsaying is the appeal to spiritual powers to tell the future so that I can order my way according to what these spiritual powers tell me the future shall be. Superstition, which is the use of our working or of certain powers and certain things in order to avoid all calamity.

Invocation of saints, prayers to the saints or any other creatures, all of these are forbidden as having another God besides Jehovah. This is what it means to have God as our God and to have no other God, that we avoid and flee from these things. And then positively, that I 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. The Catechism's description of all of these things is the expounding of the idea of having God as our God, living consciously and deliberately and knowingly with God as the center and meaning and purpose of every single aspect of my life.

Do you hear that law, Remnant Reformed Church? And do I hear that commandment? The commandment is that you have God, and that I have God, and that you know that God to be your all in all, and you live that way in all the stations of your life, every moment of every day. That's the commandment that comes to the Church of Jesus Christ. Have no other gods before me.

And now we see the office of the law. The law does not give you righteousness, but rather the law exposes you and exposes me and exposes every man as sinners. You and I deserve the curse. We do not deserve salvation for our handling of the first commandment. The catechism brings that out too. when it opens answer 94, rather, by explaining that I, as sincerely as I desire the salvation of my own soul, avoid and flee from all idolatry. You and I have not fled and avoided all idolatry, soothsaying and all the rest. You and I have not loved God with all our heart and trusted in him and sought all things from him alone. The office of the law is to expose us as sinners. We do not deserve the salvation that the Lord gives.

In fact, the Heidelberg Catechism becomes very pointed in its explanation of this first commandment when it says that I renounce and forsake all creatures, every last one, rather than commit even the least thing contrary to his will. That's the first commandment. Renounce your life, renounce the whole world, rather than commit the least thing contrary to God's will. Man says, but I love my life and I love this world and I would rather renounce and forsake God that I might keep my life and keep this world. And that's not merely man in general, that's you, that's me. That's our response to the first commandment. It's our flesh's response to the first commandment.

Renounce and forsake all creatures No, I renounce and forsake God rather than lose any creature that is precious to me in my life. I will keep my life. I will keep the world. And I will have an idol instead of God if necessary in the keeping of my life.

The first commandment's office then is not to give us righteousness. It is not to give us even obedience. The office of the first commandment is to expose us What then is the hope for the child of God? Where can that hope be found? Not in the law. Not in ourselves. But that hope is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus Christ had God as His God. He had the one true God. The confession of His heart and the words of His lips were that God My God he had no other gods, but God was all in all for the Lord Jesus Christ we can see that throughout the Psalms and here is one of the Blessings of the Lord revealing that the key to the Psalms is that they are Jesus songs so that in the Psalms we hear the very words of Christ himself and have the confession of Jesus own heart before Jehovah we have here the inner workings of and the inner thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ. What does Jesus say about God?

Psalm 31 verse 4, Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me, for Thou art my strength. Into Thine hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. And then verse 14, But I trusted in Thee, O Lord, I said, Thou art My God. That's Jesus' confession, having God as his own. Psalm 43, verse 5. Psalm 43, verse 5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. Psalm 63, verse 1. where the Lord confessed, O God, Thou art my God, early will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. Psalm 89 verse 26, where the confession of Jesus Christ is this, or is said about Him, He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.

Again, Psalm 104, verse 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, Thou art very great. Thou art clothed with honor and majesty. Psalm 118, verse 28. Thou art my God, and I will praise Thee. Thou art my God, I will exalt Thee. Psalm 140, verse 6. I said unto the Lord, thou art my God. Hear the voice of my supplications, O Lord. Throughout the Psalms, we have the Lord Jesus Christ having God as his own by his own confession. Thou art my God.

And when Jehovah God visited the Lord Jesus Christ with the curse of the law, in fact, the curse of the first commandment, because we had broken that first commandment and God laid that curse upon Christ. When God cursed Christ for our disobedience to the first commandment, even then, the Lord Jesus Christ had God as his God as he cried out, Psalm 22 verse 1, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Jesus Christ, is righteous. He's perfectly righteous. He perfectly obeyed the first commandment of God's law. And Jesus Christ has perfectly fulfilled the law's curse against our sins of disobeying the first commandment. And that perfect righteousness of Christ in his atonement and in his obedience to the law, that perfect righteousness is counted as yours and counted as mine so that we stand before the bar of God's justice, perfectly righteous, not by the law and not by our keeping of it. but by the Lord Jesus Christ and His keeping of it." And that means then that having the one true God is a matter of gratitude so that we gratefully have the one true God. And this too is the office of the law. The law exposes our sin and the law is the rule of our gratitude.

That means that the first commandment may not say to you, and it may not say to me, You must have no other gods unto salvation. You must do this in order that you might live. The law has nothing to say to you. and nothing to say to me about the terms of our salvation." The law may not tell us that our salvation is at stake in the keeping of this law. That is not the office of the law. The law has no say. From that point of view, we are dead to the law with regard to the say regarding our righteousness and salvation. We do not owe the law any explanation. The law may not come to us and say, you must obey unto salvation.

That's finished in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been buried with Him into His death and been raised with Him in newness of life. His righteousness is our righteousness. His obedience to that law is finished. He obeyed it perfectly. And that perfect obedience is counted as our own.

But rather, the word of the law to the child of God may only be this, that this is the rule of your gratitude. The truth for the child of God is that we obey this law, not unto salvation, but because of salvation. And we desire to keep the first commandment, not that we might gain righteousness with Jehovah, but because we already are righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel has declared unto us our righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the gospel will also give us the obedience to this law. Not the law, but the gospel will give that obedience. The law is the rule of our grateful life unto Jehovah. And for that reason, we love the law. We couldn't love the law If the law told us how we were to be saved, then we would have to hate it. Then we would have to put it from us as a useless thing. But because our salvation is outside of that law, in the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness, we love the law of God and love this first commandment of God's law. In the light of the gospel of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who had God as His God and who had that God as his God in our place and for our sakes.

This is the rule, then, beloved church of your grateful life. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Amen. Our Father which art in heaven, we thank Thee for the gospel of our salvation and for the finished work of Jesus Christ. We thank Thee also for Thy law, which is the rule of our grateful life. We pray, Father, that Thou wilt give unto us, according to Thy Spirit and by Thy Word, the comfort and peace of our righteousness in Christ. For being justified by faith, we have peace with Thee through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And give unto us by our Savior and His Spirit, through the operation of that Spirit by the Word, also our obedience, that we might love Thee and have no other gods before Thee. And wilt Thou give us this, to Thy name's honor and glory, In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

We return now to Psalm 37 and finish the psalm. Verses 35 through 40, the last five stanzas. Take special note of verse 37. Mark thou the perfect. and behold the man of uprightness. Do you mark him? Do you see him? By faith, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look upon him and see his end, because that surely of this man, the latter end is peace. And that is true for Jesus. His end is peace. And because that's the end of Jesus, that is the end for his people. Are you troubled? Are you distressed? then mark Jesus and behold his latter end as peace and know it to be yours as well. We'll sing verses 35 through 40 of Psalm 37. like a green bay tree. He meshed in the sands in my shore, blood found deep.

♪ Born of the perfect and behold the man of all greatness ♪ ♪ He has made surely of this man the wiser in his feet ♪ ancestors are, shall be destroyed to earth. The letter and the flint in them shall be cut off forever. But the salvation of the just lives from the Lord above. ♪ In the time of their distress ♪ ♪ Their strength of truth ♪ ♪ The Lord shall help and heal them ♪ ♪ He shall them free and save ♪ ♪ From wicked men because in Him ♪ ♪ Blessed be the Lord, our God, the God of Israel ♪ ♪ For he alone doth wondrous works in glory and excel ♪ ♪ For he alone doth wondrous works in glory and excel ♪ His glorious name throughout eternity.

The Lord, let his glory live. Amen, so let it be. The Lord, let his glory live. Amen, so let it be. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Amen.