No Other Gods.

Jesus said… If you love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

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

Not a SINGLE other god before God!

Did you know some people make their bellies God?

Php 3:18  (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 

Php 3:19  Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) 

Many walk …whose God is their belly.

We don't have to use our imaginations too much here to comprehend what is being said.  Let's look at a few more verses and we will know full well that man will make many things their gods in place of the true God.

Isa 56:10  His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 

Isa 56:11  Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. 

Isa 56:12  Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. 

Luk 12:19  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 

Luk 12:20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 

Rom 16:17  Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. 

Rom 16:18  For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. 

1Ti 6:3  If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 

1Ti 6:4  He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 

1Ti 6:5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. 

1Ti 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain. 

1Ti 6:7  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 

1Ti 6:8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 

1Ti 6:9  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 

1Ti 6:10  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 

2Ti 3:2  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 

2Ti 3:3  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 

2Ti 3:4  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 

2Ti 3:5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 

2Pe 2:9  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: 

2Pe 2:10  But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. 

2Pe 2:11  Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. 

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; 

2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; 

2Pe 2:14  Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: 

2Pe 2:15  Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 

2Pe 2:16  But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet. 

2Pe 2:17  These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 

2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 

2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 

2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 

2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 

2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. 

Jud 1:3  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 

Jud 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Jud 1:5  I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 

Jud 1:6  And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 

Jud 1:7  Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 

Jud 1:8  Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 

Jud 1:9  Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 

Jud 1:10  But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 

Jud 1:11  Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 

Jud 1:12  These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 

Jud 1:13  Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. 

Jud 1:14  And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 

Jud 1:15  To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 

Jud 1:16  These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. 

We are to have NO OTHER gods before GOD.

When we are consumed with ungodliness we are choosing gods other than GOD.

Is God FIRST in your thoughts?

Is God FIRST in your mind in any circumstance?

Is God a TRUE part of your life, a living, breathing, active part of your life?

Where is God in your life?

God needs to permeate every single aspect of our lives. There should be no part of our life that God can't be in, not a single part!

God knows how truly awful we are, God knows us at our worst, God knows and He wants to be a part of our lives. We do NOT change to go to God, not ever! We go to God and He will do all the changing if we are clinging to Him and recognize our hopelessness without Him.

The following is a rather LONG excerpt from the book - Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.  I don't agree with every single thing in the book but it has a lot of spiritual truth.

'The Sacrament of Living

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to  the glory of God.--I Cor. 10:31

One of the greatest hindrances to internal peace which the Christian encounters is the common habit of dividing our lives into two areas, the sacred and the secular. As these areas are conceived to exist apart from each other and to be morally and spiritually incompatible, and as we are compelled by the necessities of living to be always crossing back and forth from the one to the other, our inner lives tend to break up so that we live a divided instead of a unified life.

Our trouble springs from the fact that we who follow Christ inhabit at once two worlds, the spiritual and the natural. As children of Adam we live our lives on earth subject to the limitations of the flesh and the weaknesses and ills to which human nature is heir. Merely to live among men requires of us years of hard toil and much care and attention to the things of this world. In sharp contrast to this is our life in the Spirit. There we enjoy another and higher kind of life; we are children of God; we possess heavenly status and enjoy intimate fellowship with Christ.

This tends to divide our total life into two departments. We come unconsciously to recognize two sets of actions. The first are performed with a feeling of satisfaction and a firm assurance that they are pleasing to God. These are the sacred acts and they are usually thought to be prayer, Bible reading, hymn singing, church attendance and such other acts as spring directly from faith. They may be known by the fact that they have no direct relation to this world, and would have no meaning whatever except as faith shows us another world, "an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

Over against these sacred acts are the secular ones. They include all of the ordinary activities of life which we share with the sons and daughters of Adam: eating, sleeping, working, looking after the needs of the body and performing our dull and prosaic duties here on earth. These we often do reluctantly and with many misgivings, often apologizing to God for what we consider a waste of time and strength. The upshot of this is that we are uneasy most of the time. We go about our common tasks with a feeling of deep frustration, telling ourselves pensively that there's a better day coming when we shall slough off this earthly shell and be bothered no more with the affairs of this world.

This is the old sacred-secular antithesis. Most Christians are caught in its trap. They cannot get a satisfactory adjustment between the claims of the two worlds. They try to walk the tight rope between two kingdoms and they find no peace in either. Their strength is reduced, their outlook confused and their joy taken from them. I believe this state of affairs to be wholly unnecessary. We have gotten ourselves on the horns of a dilemma, true enough, but the dilemma is not real. It is a creature of misunderstanding. The sacred-secular antithesis has no foundation in the New Testament. Without doubt a more perfect understanding of Christian truth will deliver us from it. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is our perfect example, and He knew no divided life. In the Presence of His Father He lived on earth without strain from babyhood to His death on the cross. God accepted the offering of His total life, and made no distinction between act and act.

"I do always the things that please him," was His brief summary of His own life as it related to the Father. As He moved among men He was poised and restful. What pressure and suffering He endured grew out of His position as the world's sin bearer; they were never the result of moral uncertainty or spiritual maladjustment. Paul's exhortation to "do all to the glory of God" is more than pious idealism. It is an integral part of the sacred revelation and is to be accepted as the very Word of Truth. It opens before us the possibility of making every act of our lives contribute to the glory of God. Lest we should be too timid to include everything, Paul mentions specifically eating and drinking. This humble privilege we share with the beasts that perish. If these lowly animal acts can be so performed as to honor God, then it becomes difficult to conceive of one that cannot. That monkish hatred of the body which figures so prominently in the works of certain early devotional writers is wholly without support in the Word of God. Common modesty is found in the Sacred Scriptures, it is true, but never prudery or a false sense of shame. The New Testament accepts as a matter of course that in His incarnation our Lord took upon Him a real human body, and no effort is made to steer around the downright implications of such a fact. He lived in that body here among men and never once performed a non-sacred act. His presence in human flesh sweeps away forever the evil notion that there is about the human body something innately offensive to the Deity. God created our bodies, and we do not offend Him by placing the responsibility where it belongs. He is not ashamed of the work of His own hands. Perversion, misuse and abuse of our human powers should give us cause enough to be ashamed. Bodily acts done in sin and contrary to nature can never honor God. Wherever the human will introduces moral evil we have no longer our innocent and harmless powers as God made them; we have instead an abused and twisted thing which can never bring glory to its Creator.

Let us, however, assume that perversion and abuse are not present. Let us think of a Christian believer in whose life the twin wonders of repentance and the new birth have been wrought. He is now living according to the will of God as he understands it from the written Word. Of such a one it may be said that every act of his life is or can be as truly sacred as prayer or baptism or the Lord's Supper. To say this is not to bring all acts down to one dead level; it is rather to lift every act up into a living kingdom and turn the whole life into a sacrament. If a sacrament is an external expression of an inward grace than we need not hesitate to accept the above thesis. By one act of consecration of our total selves to God we can make every subsequent act express that consecration. We need no more be ashamed of our body--the fleshly servant that carries us through life--than Jesus was of the humble beast upon which He rode into Jerusalem. "The Lord hath need of him" may well apply to our mortal bodies. If Christ dwells in us we may bear about the Lord of glory as the little beast did of old and give occasion to the multitudes to cry, "Hosanna in the highest."

That we _see_ this truth is not enough. If we would escape from the toils of the sacred-secular dilemma the truth must "run in our blood" and condition the complexion of our thoughts. We must practice living to the glory of God, actually and determinedly. By meditation upon this truth, by talking it over with God often in our prayers, by recalling it to our minds frequently as we move about among men, a _sense_ of its wondrous meaning will begin to take hold of us. The old painful duality will go down before a restful unity of life. The knowledge that we are all God's, that He has received all and rejected nothing, will unify our inner lives and make everything sacred to us.

This is not quite all. Long-held habits do not die easily. It will take intelligent thought and a great deal of reverent prayer to escape completely from the sacred-secular psychology. For instance it may be difficult for the average Christian to get hold of the idea that his daily labors can be performed as acts of worship acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. The old antithesis will crop up in the back of his head sometimes to disturb his peace of mind. Nor will that old serpent the devil take all this lying down. He will be there in the cab or at the desk or in the field to remind the Christian that he is giving the better part of his day to the things of this world and allotting to his religious duties only a trifling portion of his time. And unless great care is taken this will create confusion and bring discouragement and heaviness of heart.

We can meet this successfully only by the exercise of an aggressive faith. We must offer all our acts to God and believe that He accepts them. Then hold firmly to that position and keep insisting that every act of every hour of the day and night be included in the transaction. Keep reminding God in our times of private prayer that we mean every act for His glory; then supplement those times by a thousand thought-prayers as we go about the job of living. Let us practice the fine art of making every work a priestly ministration. Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there.'

Bow Low Before Him Who Is Spirit- Our God.

Jesus said… If you love me, keep my commandments.

Exo 20:4-6  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 

We are to WORSHIP nothing other than GOD, NOTHING. That includes EVERYTHING other than GOD.

We are to BOW DOWN TO NOTHING other than GOD.

We are to SERVE NOTHING other than GOD.

This is a heart worship we are talking about here. We know that if we bow down in many circumstance it is not to give honor or worship to anyone, but for other reasons. If I serve you dinner I am not worshiping and honoring you as my God, I am being a servant to you as duty dictates, as GOD dictates. 

GOD FIRST in ALL WE DO.

It's not God first just on the day we worship. It's not God first only when we are in trouble. It's GOD FIRST ALWAYS!

You can rest assured that if we do not put God first always that things will go awry in one way or another.

We cannot make an image of God, He does NOT want us to make an image of Him.  Not once did God pose for a picture, or for a statue to be etched out of stone. Jesus did NOT want His image worshiped, He wanted worship in the same way as the Father. 

We are not to bow down to ANYTHING other than the presence of God in our hearts. If we fall to our knees in prayer, our face to the floor bowed as low as we can and our heart is lifted up to God, it is not us bowing to an object on earth but to the spiritual in heaven, the spiritual in us crying out to the spiritual- the Holy Spirit- UNSEEN.

Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 

We are to have FAITH in the things NOT SEEN.

Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. 

THINGS NOT SEEN - yet he prepared for those unseen things.

Heb 11:27  By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 

Moses endured by SEEING him who is INVISIBLE. How do you see the invisible, through faith, through heart worship!

Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 

Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. 

We have faith in the UNSEEN and we wait with PATIENCE for what we do NOT SEE, we HOPE.

2Co 4:18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 

Things we see are TEMPORAL!

Things we do not see are ETERNAL!

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 

1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 

WHOM WE DON'T SEE- JESUS CHRIST- YET WE LOVE.

We believe, we rejoice in the UNSEEN- through faith.

Just imagine had we a God who desired images of himself to be worshiped. We can imagine it because people all around the world are doing just that, worshiping images of their gods. Temples have been reared just to house huge images. People are considered destitute if they can't even afford a tiny image to put in their home. Seriously, there is a huge following for image worshipers something God NEVER wanted, not ever.

So important is it to our God that we do not worship images that He included it in his royal law, in His commandments.

We should in fact have NOTHING in our lives we believe more important than our relationship with God, nothing, not a single thing. This is truth. NOTHING.

God alone is to be honored, worshipped, bowed down to- our spirits bowed low before Him who is Spirit.

The Power of God's Name.

Jesus said… If you love me, keep my commandments.

Exo 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

We tend to ignore this commandment a lot as if it has become outdated, old-fashioned, irrelevant. How could it become this way? Because Satan has used all his effort into making it so. The glory Satan revels in as he hears the name of the Holy One spoken frivolously, falsely, profanely- used as a curse, a swearing word, is beyond our true comprehension. We don't think about Satan much at all as his works surround us and have become so much a part of our lives that they've become the norm. Evil has become good, and good has become evil in so many, many ways.

People use the name of God in such a way they aren't even thinking of God at all as the words spew from their mouths along with other profanity. They don't know what they are saying on a conscious level, but on a subconscious level they know the holy name should not be bantered about so awfully. They know using the name of God to swear vilely is wrong, just as they know using other curse words are wrong. There are situations they find themselves in- even the person whose language is virtually nothing but one curse word after another- they find themselves in situations where it is NOT advisable to use those words. As soon as they are in that particular situation it solidifies the truth that using those words is not something appropriate, they know this and have learned not to care at all. We know that using God's name in a curse, using His name in vain, swearing by His name falsely is all wrong- we know whether we want to say we do or not.

God knows too, and no one who uses His name in ways other than in recognizing His holiness will be guiltless, no one. We must repent and seek forgiveness for our sins, and that means every sin- every use of our God's name in vain.

We take the name of the Lord in vain when we swear falsely. We take the name of the Lord in vain when we use it profanely. When we use God's name with disrespect- which is every time we say His name without reverence, without the acknowledgment of His holiness. When we talk of God it must be with the comprehension of His Creatorship, His Redeeming of us. When we talk of God it must be knowing His power, the power of His name.

Dictionary Definition-

Vain- devoid of substance or meaning.

Webster's Dictionary-

Vain- To take the name of God in vain, to use the name of God with levity or profaneness.

Lev 19:12 And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.

Jer 7:9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely…

Mal 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers…

Mat 5:34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:

Mat 5:35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.

Mat 5:36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.

Mat 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

The Law of Love.

Jesus said…

If you love me, keep my commandments.

Recently studying the commandments of the royal law- the ten commandments written in stone by the finger of God- the ten commandments which Jesus over saw there on Sinai- the ten commandments which Jesus said would not pass away- these commandments given to humanity by our Creator as invaluable knowledge of the God we love and serve, the God who loves us- we continue with the fourth commandment.

Exo 20:8  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 

Exo 20:9  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 

Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 

Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 

Restrictive or freeing?

The Lord gave us this unique commandment signing it with His seal-

Name, Title, Location -  the LORD thy GOD - CREATOR - HEAVEN, EARTH, SEA.

The Seal of God.

Every week in which there are seven days we are given the seventh day to devote solely to God and God's will.  God tells us to not work on this day- not do the very things that are engaged in for self-focus. We work, why? Because we were told this-- 

Gen 3:17  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 

Gen 3:18  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 

Gen 3:19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. 

We need to work to live because no longer would sustenance be provided for us.  God did not want us to get so caught up in providing for ourselves that we would lose sight of our need of Him. Truthfully, God created the Sabbath before man sinned because God wanted human begins -those of independent thought and will- to forever enjoy the bond that the Creator wanted to have with His creatures. A special time set aside for the Creator and Creature that nothing could disrupt- no activity whatsoever would interfere with this weekly, full day renewal. When man sinned the need for the Sabbath only became more paramount. The Sabbath is vital for the creatures to keep to be as close as they possibly could be to their Creator in their sinful state.

Commanded to love. Each of the ten commandments reveals the love of God for us. Not a single commandment was given to restrict us in any way, but rather free us in the love of God.

God's love for His creatures is set in stone, renewed in the blood of Christ, our Savior who kept the ten commandments perfectly.  We, if we love Christ, will also keep the commandments, the law of love.

Honor Your Parents.

Honor.

When we honor someone we are giving them great respect and admiration.

We are commanded-

Exo 20:12  Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 

And Jesus said if we love Him we will keep His commandments. We are looking at the royal law, the ten commandments that He gave, that He expounded upon, that He lived- fully keeping them all without breaking a single law because we know this--

1Jn_3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Sin is a transgression of the law.

When you commit NO sin you transgress no law.

There has to be a law for you to be able to transgress it for there to be sin.

Jesus committed no sin.

Jesus did not transgress the royal law.

We are told to honor our father and mother.

We are to give great respect and to admire our parents. We owe our very lives to our parents. And while there are many parents who are abusive, dismissive, loveless, and some who even give up their children so others can raise them, a parent deserves at least the respect and admiration for the life of the child, the existence.  It's hard to admire or respect those who are abusive, very hard but not impossible.

We are to honor our parents and this goes hand in hand with loving our enemies if need be -should our parents be our enemies and yes, they can be.

Mat_5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

Admire and respect, it's a choice you can make. This choice is easy to make when you have loving parents, but not so easy when you do not having loving parents.

We are commanded to honor our parents because they are our physical life givers. We can do this. Our heavenly Father loves us even though we are very abusive to Him- this is truth.

Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 

Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Rom 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 

Sinners- transgressors of the law of God, breakers of the ten commandments, and yet, God still loves us.  Should we do any less towards our parents should they fail to treat us with love?

We do know this…

Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 

We have a heavenly Father.

Our heavenly Father is decidedly deserving of our admiration and respect.

So even if our physical father and mother falls far short of what one would consider worthy of honor or respect, we honor them because our God would have us honor them. Out of our love for our heavenly Father, we love even those who may seem to be the most unlovable. All through His power, through His grace, through His mercy, through the Holy Spirit, we love, we honor those He would have us honor.

Thou Shalt Not Kill

Killing.

Jesus said- If ye love me, keep my commandments. Joh_14:15 

This is one of those commandments He was speaking about-

Exo 20:13  Thou shalt not kill. 

Jesus also said this about that particular commandment-

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Mat 5:21,22

Yes, they'd heard about the commandment not to kill, and if they did kill they'd be in danger of the judgement. Now, Jesus is telling them that they shouldn't be angry with someone- without cause.

Being angry without cause is just as deserving of judgement as killing. How is that possible? It's possible because the intent of the heart is what God looks at and it is very possible for a person to have a hatred set in their heart that drives their anger, yet hasn't brought them to take a life. The intent of the heart is so important. We have to take stock of our intentions. We have to give our hearts wholly to Christ. We have to let God create a clean heart in us.

Our Lord tells us if we LOVE Him we will KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS and He can say that to us because those commandments reveal our hearts fully. When we choose to keep the commandments we are choosing to love God and love others in the deepest way we possibly can.

To murder someone is to steal their life from them. Cain, the first human being born to human parents stole his brother's life from him. Cain, followed the Wicked One- Satan. The wrongness of taking life is not something that needs explaining from me, we know it's wrong, we all know murder is wrong. We all know hatred in a heart is wrong, and not of God. We all know we need God to create a clean heart in us, renewing a right spirit in us. We desperately need God to do all for us we cannot do.  If we love Him, we will keep His commandments. We will know the commandments and keep them in our hearts knowing they are guideposts to love, to life, to God. God revealed Himself in His commandments, we have to treasure them, they are eternal.

Lust Hurts.

Jesus said- If we love Him we will keep His commandments.

Exo 20:14  Thou shalt not commit adultery. 

Did you know that even lusting after another person that is not your spouse is adultery?  You don't have to have physical contact to commit adultery. Jesus said it is wrong, and it's the truth. So many people say it's harmless to look at others with lust, it's harmless to flirt, it's harmless to get aroused by others, that it's all natural. Guess what? It's not. It's our flesh nature that has been perverted by sin that has made the unnatural seem natural. Excuse it in whatever way you want to, and people want to, boy, do they want to. Come up with all kinds of reasons, explanations, excuses and so on and so forth that you want, you will NOT alter the WORD of GOD! What has been perverted by sin will never be considered good, never, no matter how many doctors, scientists, therapists, even ministers try to work it around to being acceptable, it is NOT. 

Lust HURTS, lust is SIN! It's NOT natural! We are NOT animals without higher thinking abilities.  We make CHOICES. We CHOOSE between right and wrong. We are TOLD what is right and what is wrong and then we have to choose between them. Lust hurts us, and it hurts others, and it hurts God.

Sin opened the door to the ability to choose wrong over obedience to God. We choose, no one makes the choice for us.

We face the choices and when we try to make our choice of sinning into something acceptable to God we are only being delusional. People have made great strides to call sin good and they've deluded most of the world's inhabitants. Satan, the wicked one, has manipulated people for thousands of years and they have fallen victim to his deceptions. God will allow the truth to be know if a person really wants to know the truth, most do not.

Remember Jesus said--

Joh_14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Do you love Jesus?  Jesus said…

Joh_14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Jesus took from the royal law the commandment about adultery and expounded on it as He expounded on others. He did NOT do away with any of the royal ten commandments, not one!

Jesus said this-

Mat 5:27  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 

Mat 5:28  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 

You don't have to physically commit the act of sex in order to commit adultery. You simply have to indulge in the lust in your mind and you've committed adultery.

The TEMPTATION towards lust isn't the sin, it's the INDULGENCE, the ACCEPTANCE, the ENCOURAGEMENT of lust that takes the temptation and turns it into sin.

So, if you're watching pornography you are doing so in order to feel the lust you obtain from watching it, and that is sin. If you're married, that is adultery, and if you're not married, it is fornication, both sins.

Sugarcoat it all you want until you twist things to call evil good and good evil, millions upon millions will do just that to their own condemnation.

If you've been caught up in the sins of lust, married or unmarried, you need to REPENT - forsake and give up the sins- and seek forgiveness!

Adultery also has a more far reaching meaning as well… in the example of God and His chosen people-

Jer 3:20  Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. 

Jer 3:8  And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. 

Jer 3:9  And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. 

Jer 3:10  And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD. 

Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 

Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 

We are told to COME OUT OF BABYLON, come out of the lifestyle that calls evil - good and good - evil.

By the grace of God we need to know and follow the truth as God reveals it in His word. We are told to keep His commandments. We are told what the commandments are, and we treat them lightly without looking into the depths of them, into the heart of their truth. We say we keep the commandments all the while we break them over and over again because we do not know the heart of them. God help us all!

May we not be deceived! May we shun the life of modern day Babylonians and not partake of the sins of Babylon. May we NOT receive the plagues that will come upon those who embrace modern Babylon, please, LORD keep us from all evil! 

All through Your love, Lord Jesus, our Savior!