Know God.

Exo 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 

The First Great Commandment. - No. 1.

A. T. Jones

(Tuesday Evening, March 2, 1897.)

Continued…

Now, you can see that this commandment covers the whole ground of everything, and that we cannot touch a single thought in the whole realm of thought that does not come into this text with which we have started. So, then, we must look at everything in our thinking, we must look at everything that our mind is called to, in the light of that scripture, the first of all the commandments. 

Everything that we are called to put our hand to, we are to look at it in the light of that greatest of all the commandments. Is it a thing that in the fear of God I can enter with all my heart, and soul, and mind, and strength? If it is not, then do I want to touch it?-No. If it is such a thing that I cannot enter upon with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, and with God, what then have I to do with it? If God cannot go with me, then I am breaking the commandments. I am not devoting everything to him. All my strength is nothing if it is engaged in something that he cannot enter, or cannot touch or approve of, or that he cannot accept. 

I know that this is straight, but it is Christianity. It is Christianity, and you and I

must not be content with one-sixteenth part of anything short of exactly that.

We must not allow ourselves to be content for even the shadow of a moment, with anything in this world, less than that everything we enter into, we shall do it with God with us, and then enter into it with all the heart, and all the soul, and all the mind, and all the strength. And I tell you when we come to that, all of us, if all in this house will surrender to him right now, and will hold fast there, we can't imagine what power of God will be manifested in the world. 

The great difficulty from the beginning has been that men would not allow God the place in their hearts that belongs to him.

God started man that way, and he turned away to everything else, and shut out God entirely. God set him free from that darkness, set him free to choose, and called him to choose, whether he would love God with all the heart, all the soul, all the mind, and all the strength. He was set free to choose to let God have his place again; but so many chose that the Lord should not have his own place, that the flood swept them off the face of the earth.

 

Then the Lord started the race again. And the only thing that he asked of each was that he should love the Lord God with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the mind, and with all the strength, and his neighbor as himself. That is all he asked of the eight who went into the ark, and who came out of it. If the first man had loved God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength, no sin could ever have entered. 

After he had sinned, and the Lord had released him from that thralldom, if Adam and all his children had loved God with all the heart, soul, might, mind, and strength, what would have been the condition of the world?-They would have been keeping the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, and righteousness would have covered the earth as the waters cover the sea. Is it impossible that that thing can be fulfilled in man under the bondage of the curse, under the bondage of sinful flesh? Can God so deliver the sinner from the power of sin in the flesh that he can love God with all the heart, soul, might, mind, and strength?-Yes.

Sin could not have cursed the earth, as it is, even with men under the bondage of the flesh which is sinful, if they had believed in God, and kept the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. That is the truth, for that is Christianity.

So, then, you see that all the Lord ever wants in us, all he ever wanted in man since Adam sinned, was and is, that he should keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And the first of all the commandments is, Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. 

In Rom.1:21, it tells that at the beginning "they knew God."

Look at this: man in the starting out of his career knew God. Adam knew God to begin with, but did not retain this knowledge. When Adam sinned and was again started, he knew God. When the race again started after the flood, it knew God to begin with; so that mankind have departed from God all the time. The world was so sinful, is so sinful, and will be so sinful, because it knew God and rejects him, and not because it knew not God. So that the world is not in wickedness because of darkness; the world is in darkness because of wickedness. 

The world began with light; and that darkness has come in, is because of the choice of men; "when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things."

Now notice; what first?-

They knew God; but they did not glorify him as God; they did not give him the place in them that belongs to him.

They did not glorify God,-did not reveal him to man, did not make him manifest on the earth; for Jesus said, I have glorified thee on the earth, and he was God manifest in the flesh.

These men who knew God, would not allow God to be manifest in the flesh. They were not thankful. Then they became vain in their imaginations; then their foolish hearts were darkened; then in their darkness they professed to be wise. That wisdom was foolishness, and then they made images.  Thus you see that the image that is set before men's eyes, in his idolatry, is only the outward manifestation of idolatry, the outward representation of it. The idolatry is already away down in the heart, and has been working several steps of the way out.

Think of it. Where does idolatry begin?-In the heart. Where in this course does idolatry begin?-When they knew God, they glorified him not as God; right there they all begin. Then where is there any middle ground between the knowledge of God, and idolatry?

Think carefully now. They knew God, and, "This is eternal life, that they might know thee."

The knowledge of God is eternal life; that is settled.

They did know God; they had eternal life in the knowledge of God.

That is written. But they went into idolatry. How many steps from the knowledge of God did they take to get into idolatry?-Only one. Then, how many steps from loving God with all the heart, might, mind, and strength, need to be taken to reach idolatry?-Just one. Then if I do not love God with all my heart, and all my soul, and all my mind, and all my strength, what am I?-An idolater. 

It may be I have no graven image before me. These people did not in the beginning. But they did have an image, a conception, formed in the mind, and when they made their graven image, it was simply a representation to stand before the eyes, of what they already had in the mind. The first man who made an image had a conception of that in his mind before he made it. The first man who made an image had the conception that it should be his god, and that conception was there before he made the image out of wood or stone. Then that image of stone, that he set before his eyes, was only the outward form which he made to represent to him in that shape what the god was that he already had in his mind. Then did he not have a god before he made that graven image?-Yes. Where was it?-In his heart. 

They became vain in their imaginations. Whose imaginations?-Their own. Here is that man who is imagining something; he makes an image of his imagining, and sets it before his eyes outside of him. Imagining is simply mental image-ing. And the image in stone is but the tangible form of the image-ing in the heart. Where was the image first made?-In his mind; in his own imagining, in his own thinking. But who was there when he had separated from God?-None but Satan and himself? Then, whence can his thoughts come?-From himself and Satan only.

 

So then, you see plainly enough that idolatry is in the heart; the conception, the image, is already there before the image can appear outside. Though his god be the sun, moon, or stars, this conception, his idea, his imagining, is there before he puts it into outward form in the sun, moon, and stars. 

All that appears in idolatry is simply the reflection of what is in the heart. And God must be in the heart, with all the heart, all the soul, all the mind, and all the strength, or else idolatry is there. There is no middle ground. 

In fact, after the flood, when men first left the true God and went away and had gods of their own-they allowed these gods to occupy the place of God to them, thus showing that when they knew God they recognized him as their only ruler. When I love God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, and with all my strength, who alone will be my God?-God.

Who will be my only authority?-God.

Who alone will have authority over me?-God.

Is he capable of exercising right authority?-Yes.

Is he capable of keeping man straight?-Yes.

When a man loves God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, he does not need any other law or authority to keep him straight in the world. Who is his governor?-God.

And is God able to govern when we love him supremely?-Yes.

But, when man leaves God, and goes into idolatry, is he capable of governing himself?-No.

 

Now after the flood, while they yet knew God, they recognized him as their only King and Governor. They had no other ruler. When they first departed from God, and put other gods in his place,-I mean at the beginning, when they went away from God, and put other gods in God's place-they allowed those other gods to occupy the place of rulers. They professed that these gods were their rulers. They had no kings; men did not yet profess to set themselves up as rulers. Men professed that the gods were the kings; and the men who were in authority were only the representatives of the gods, while the gods were the real kings. 

The evidence of this you will find in "Empires of the Bible," page 50. Here are the first records that were found in Babylonia, where the race started, and where the confusion of tongues took place-where the race forgot God. I read:- 

To Ninridu, his King, for the preservation of Idadu, Viceroy of Ridu, the servant, the delight of Ninridu. 

Here the ruler, Idadu, in writing an inscription to his god, professed that he was simply the viceroy of his god. He did not claim to be a king. Thus you see that the god was this man's king. The god was held to be the king of the people, and this man who was in authority, was only the god's viceroy, or lieutenant. 

This shows that the knowledge of God as the rightful Ruler, was so recent that no man had the courage yet to set himself up for king. Do you see that? Think carefully. When God was the only ruler, he was, of course, their only king; but when they turned away from him and took other gods, their knowledge of the true God was so recent, his relationship was so recent in their knowledge, that when they put other gods in the place of God, and set up these false gods as their king-a man in authority amongst men had not the courage to take the title of king; but chose to be known as the viceroy of the god who was to be the real king. I repeat it. The knowledge of the true God as the only King was so recent in the minds of these men that no man had yet the courage to take the title of king. Their recollection of God as the only King and Ruler was still so clear that it was too much like an attempt to dethrone God, for any man to take the title of king. 

I will read another inscription from this same land, from the same time:- 

"To Ninip the King, his King,

Gudea Viceroy of Zirgulla, his house built."

"To Nana the Lady, Lady splendid,

His Lady, Gudea, Viceroy of Zirgulla . . . raised." -Empires of the Bible, p.50. 

Here is a man who built a house in honor of his god. This man says he is viceroy of this god, who is king. This man Gudea does not profess to be king. He is in authority, but he does not profess to be king. Who is the king?-His god. That shows to you again that the knowledge of the true God as the only King was so recent in their minds, they had not gone so entirely away from God and from the idea of God as only King and Ruler, as to be willing to set aside the idea of God's kingship, and allow a man to take the title of king. 

A. F. Ballenger.-The man in place of authority, then, claimed to be the viceroy of his god, and not a king? 

Yes. There were no kings yet. We are not speaking of man as king. There were no kings yet amongst men. There were men in places of authority. A man was ruling over others. He had power, but he did not call himself king. He was not known as king, and would not yet allow himself to take the title of king. Why? Because he had not yet got so far away from the idea of the true God, as sole rightful King, as to be brave enough, as to have wicked courage enough, to set aside all idea of any godship as king, and set himself up for king. 

These are the earliest records that have been found in that land. You can see that they are amongst the very earliest. They are records from the time before men took the title of king at all, and when they had the idea of the true God as being King. 

But here is a record a little earlier than that, which speaks of the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel. On the fourth page of "Empires of the Bible" you have the Bible account of the confusion of tongues. This is the account that the people wrote amongst whom the confusion of tongues occurred. In the Bible you have the Lord's record of it. In this inscription on the bricks that were buried in the ruins of Babylon and have been discovered, you have their account of it. You can set it alongside of the account in the Bible, in the eleventh chapter of Genesis, and you will see the two things exactly alike. Here is what they said about it:- 

". . . Babylon corruptly to sin went and small and great mingled on the mound.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Their work all day they founded, to their stronghold in the night entirely an end he made.

In his anger also the secret counsel he poured out to scatter abroad, his face he set he gave a command to make strange their speech.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Violently they fronted against him. He saw them; and to the earth descended, When a stop he did not make.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Violently they wept for Babylonvery much they wept. 

This is one of the earliest accounts there is. These others are next to it. But these others show that there was a time when there was no king yet amongst men; that the man in authority would not take the title of king; that his god was his king; and the idea of the true God being king was so recent that he was not courageous enough to say that he was king. As yet it was usurping too much authority in the face of his idea of the true God.  \

That was before Nimrod. Nimrod was the first man who had the courage to take the title of king in the face of the idea that God was king. So I read on page fifty of "Empires of the Bible:"- 

Nimrod was this bold man. The name that he bears signifies rebellion, supercilious contempt, and, according to Gesenius, is equivalent to the extremely impious rebel. And "he began to be a mighty one in the earth." Or, as another translation gives it, he "was the first mighty one in the earth." 

Nimrod was the first man who ever took to himself the title of king; the first one to hold kingly authority and openly wear the title of king. And his name signifies exactly what that thing meant amongst the people over whom he set himself. 

Now, not my statement, but the statement of an authority upon this subject, says this:- 

With the setting up of Nimrod's kingdom, the entire ancient world entered a new historical phase. The oriental tradition which makes that warrior the first man who wore a kingly crown, points to a fact more significant than the assumption of a new ornament of dress, or even the conquest of a province. His reign introduced to the world a new system of relations between the governor and the governed. The authority of former rulers had rested upon the feeling of kindred, and the ascendancy of the chief was an image of parental control. Nimrod, on the contrary, was a sovereign of territory, and of men just so far as they were its inhabitants, and irrespective of personal ties. Hitherto there had been tribes enlarged families-Society; now there was a nation, a political community-the State. The political and social history of the world henceforth are distinct, if not divergent.-Empires of the Bible, p.51. 

What, then, was the origin of the State?