Sermon Series Recap: The Ten Commandments Today Part 1 - GBC Bulletin Column #43

We began the New Year at Grace Baptist Church (Wood Green) with a series of messages from the Ten Commandments exploring the subjects of God, God’s nature and worship, God’s name, God’s Day, Parents, Life, Sex, Possessions, Speech, and Desires. Here is a brief recap of the first four, which are about loving the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

1. God

"I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before/besides me" (Ex. 20:2-3). God is. God acts. God is above all.

2. God’s nature and worship 

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image...for I the Lord your God am a jealous God..." (Ex. 20:4-6). Idols obstruct our worship of God. Idols offend the God we worship. Idols obscure the God we worship.

3. God’s name 

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." (Ex. 20:7)
To take God's name in vain is to diminish his glory and greatness among men. We take God's name in vain when we use it: irreverently (flippant words that mention God's name or are derived from it); profanely (pairing God's name with cursing and vulgar expressions); hypocritically ("Lord, Lord!" in prayer/song/speech but we don't really know him); and blasphemously (attributing God’s work to demons and vice-versa, etc.).

4. God’s Day 

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy..." (Ex. 20:8). We need a day of rejoicing (dedicated to praising God for all that he is and all that he has done in and through Christ). We need a day to rest. We need a day to remember (God's work of creation, and his redeeming work of re-creation in the likeness of Christ).

This was printed in the worship bulletin of Grace Baptist Church (Wood Green) on 09 March 2014.