In Deuteronomy five verse six the Almighty makes THE most definitive statement He ever uttered: “I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD ….”  Here He identifies exactly WHO He is in no uncertain terms.  When Moses asked Him what to tell the Israelites in Egypt when they ask who had sent him, God replied, “Tell them I AM THAT (WHO) I AM sent you.”  Case closed.

In verse six God proclaims the second most important thing He would ever say when telling them exactly why He was freeing them.  He replied that He was the God “… WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, FROM THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE.”  God’s purpose in bringing the people out of Egypt was to remove sin from within them and to remove them from within an atmosphere of sin.  Scripturally, sin characterizes Egypt, as well as Sodom and Jerusalem (Rev. 11:8).  When He opened the Red Sea for them to escape from sin He symbolically baptized them in the sea and in the cloud that overshadowed them (1 Cor. 10:1,2).  Symbolically, Moses had baptized them, thereby washing away their sins, rendering them holy, righteous and sinless.  This is the first recorded instance of justification–the removal of all past sins (Rom. 3:25).  At that point the Israelites were a holy people, having no sin–holy and in good standing with God.

Notice the word “bondage” relative to sin in verse six.  Sin makes one a bond servant to Satan, the father of sin and the god of the sinner.  Sin is the method by which a sinner identifies his god.  Sin separates the sinner from the true God (Isa. 59:2).  The Lord said that He had brought the Israelites OUT OF … BONDAGE (TO SIN).”  While in Egypt for over 400 years they had come to worship the gods of the Egyptians–bull calves.  Recall that at Mt. Sinai the people wanted to return to Egypt.  Weak-willed and fearful, Aaron formed a golden bull calf out of their gold (which the Egyptians had given them) and announced that bull calves were: “… your gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Exo. 32:4).  The people had asked Aaron to make them “… gods who will go before (lead) us” when they left the true God who was at that time meeting with Moses on the top of Mt. Sinai (32:23).  Note it: after seeing the miracles God performed in Egypt, watching Him part the Red Sea, watching Him provide quail to eat and bringing forth of water out of a rock, seeing the display of fire, clouds and smoke on the mountain and hearing Him speak to them in an audible voice, THE PEOPLE LOOKED TO A MAN-MADE IDOL TO LEAD THEM BACK TO EGYPT.

Though they had been brought out of sin, they still harbored sin in their hearts.  Though they had been freed from Satan’s control over their lives, SATAN STILL HAD CONTROL OVER THEM BECAUSE: “MY PEOPLE LOVE TO HAVE IT SO” (Jer. 5:31).  The greatest joy man can experience is true, God-obeying holiness and knowing that he is one with the Lord.  False Christians get joy the same way atheists do–by sinning and remaining one with their god–Satan.  Satan can counterfeit many of the things God can do.  He creates false joy, false peace, false assurance, false conversion, false rebirth, a false god, a false savior, a false church and a false salvation.  Over the past 2000 years billions of people have lived the false Christian life while “knowing” that they are saved and born again.  I was assured by a friend after I exposed God’s Truth to her: “This one thing I know–I’M SAVED,” which she also had written on a sign.  I imagined Satan smiling.  Now we will learn exactly what God was referring to when He talked about not having any gods BEFORE HIM.

After telling us Who He is and why He wants to bring us out of Satanic bondage, He explains exactly what the gods are which people place BEFORE HIM: “You must not make for yourself any GRAVEN (MAN-MADE) IMAGE or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth, or that is in the waters beneath the earth” (vs 8).  Notice that we are to make NO IMAGE that in any way has anything to do with our worship of and service to Almighty God.  What we must understand is that no matter what man’s intentions are when owning such things as crosses, fish symbols, statues, pictures, carvings, etc., GOD SEES THEM AS IDOLS–gods that one has placed before Him.  When God says NO He means NO.  PERIOD.  As I have been told concerning God’s attitude toward physical objects used in worship of Him, “But that’s not why I do it.”  The Scriptures tell us that intent is irrelevant.  Disobeying God’s Word proves that the church sinner hates Him (Deut. 5:9/ Lk. 10:16).  Why one does something is not the point.  GOD SAYS NOT TO DO IT.  Enough said.

An idol is anything that in any way or to any degree stands between God and man.  Our idols/gods are those things that we spend our free time thinking about, talking about and doing.  Gods/idols come in a variety of forms such as sports, sports figures, recreation, money, things/stuff, cars, houses, vacations, clothing, entertainment, entertainers, food, drink, status, success, etc. can all become idols.  Recall that the rich man was denied salvation because of “one thing”–his lust for things  (idols)–Mk. 10:21.  Christ gave His all; can we give anything less and expect to receive the salvation He died so that we can receive?  His Holy Bible says NO.

The ultimate question relative to idolatry is: WHAT DO I DO WHEN I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT TO DO?  What we do tells us where we stand with God, or if we stand with Him at all.  What do we do on Saturday, which God calls “My Holy Day” which He sanctified, blessed and commanded that His people observe as their Sabbath Day of rest during which they are commanded to congregate in His name for the purpose of uniting in worship of Him.  Jesus said that if we worship Him but do not obey His Words we worship Him “… in vain” (Mat. 15:9).  Vain worship is worse than no worship at all.  Recall that God said He HATED THE ISRAELITES’ WORSHIP, THEIR PRAYERS, THEIR SINGING, THEIR CONGREGATING, THEIR PREACHING, ETC.   Why? BECAUSE THEY CONTINUED TO SIN (Amos 5:21-27).  Note it: GOD HATES OUR WORSHIP OF HIM IF WE CONTINUE TO SIN.  SIN, WHICH IS A PERSONAL CHOICE, IS ITSELF IS AN IDOL (GOD) WHICH THE SINNER PLACES  BEFORE HIM. L.J.

Memory verse: John 8:31–“You are My disciples if you obey My commandments.”  Jesus was speaking to the 12 disciples whom God had specifically chosen for Him (Jn. 17:9).  Having been chosen by God to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, etc. and doing what they were ordained to do did not guarantee their salvation.  Recall that Judas did all of those things, AND HE WAS BOTH A THIEF AND A TRAITOR.  Read All That Glitters.  Key word–Glitters.