1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,000 Here we are back again in our fourth heart-to-heart talk together regarding God's 10 rules for 2 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:10,000 living. 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:21,000 I know we speak of them as the Ten Commandments, but in reality they are literally God's ten 4 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:29,920 rules for you and for me when it comes to living this daily life. 5 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:36,120 Now very important is the argument in which God stated his laws. 6 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:38,440 Watch me closely. 7 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:46,520 The first four deal with man's relationship with God and then the last six with man's 8 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,560 relationship with man. 9 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:58,040 Because remember something, before a man, before a woman can live rightly with each 10 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:03,480 other he must first get right with God. 11 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:07,400 And it's just like that. 12 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:13,800 I reminded you in our last heart-to-heart talk together that there are those who constantly 13 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:17,960 remind us that the golden rule is their religion. 14 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:23,600 But remember something, the golden rule is nobody's religion because the golden rule 15 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:27,120 is not a religion. 16 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:32,680 It is merely the expression of religion. 17 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:35,120 That's all. 18 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:47,800 For until a man has found God he begins at no beginning and he works to no end. 19 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:50,760 I repeat that. 20 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:54,800 You think you are a very intelligent person. 21 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:58,880 You think you know all the answers. 22 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:15,240 But until you become a Christian, until you have found God, you are beginning at no beginning 23 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:24,000 and as you work daily you really have no goal whatsoever. 24 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:30,520 You are working to no real end. 25 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:31,520 Consider that. 26 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:36,440 Now the first commandment is somewhat surprising. 27 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:43,360 We would think that it would be, thou shall believe in a God, which is of course a law 28 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:44,360 against atheism. 29 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:48,040 But there is no such law. 30 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:52,680 You cannot find in all of the Bible. 31 00:02:52,680 --> 00:03:02,920 You cannot find one word of scripture where God tries to prove his own reality. 32 00:03:02,920 --> 00:03:04,840 Do you even know why? 33 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:09,560 Because God took care of that in our creation. 34 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,520 We do not teach a baby to hunger, to thirst. 35 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:14,280 Nature does that. 36 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:20,920 It seems almost the minute that little baby makes his first cry, the very second it comes 37 00:03:20,920 --> 00:03:26,720 into the world, the first thing the youngster does is, it's hungry. 38 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:30,960 The baby comes into the world hungry. 39 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:33,880 The baby isn't taught to hunger. 40 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:38,520 The baby comes into the world thirsty. 41 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:43,840 It is not taught to thirst. 42 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:48,920 We do not teach a baby to hunger or to thirst. 43 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,960 Nature has already done that. 44 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:59,320 However, we must train our children to satisfy their hungers and their thirst with the right 45 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,960 things. 46 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:11,200 In exactly the same way, man instinctively believes and worships. 47 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:15,600 The one in darkest Africa. 48 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:24,360 The tens of thousands and thousands in India, without exception, worships. 49 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:28,360 But he worships the wrong thing. 50 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:36,800 For man instinctively believes when he comes into the world, as surely as he comes in, 51 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:43,760 born to hunger and to thirst, he also comes into the world with the capacity to worship 52 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,080 God, a capacity for God himself. 53 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:53,840 That's the reason nowhere does the Bible attempt to prove the existence of God. 54 00:04:53,840 --> 00:04:55,520 Man is created incomplete. 55 00:04:55,520 --> 00:05:01,640 He cannot be at rest until there is a satisfaction of his deepest hunger, the yearning of his 56 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:02,640 soul. 57 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:13,240 But the danger lies in the fact that man can pervert his worship instinct and make for 58 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:18,880 himself a false God. 59 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:26,880 That's exactly the reason why in God's Ten Rules for Living, these Ten Commandments, 60 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:38,060 the very first one is, thou shalt have no other gods before me. 61 00:05:38,060 --> 00:05:50,800 Do not pervert your worship instinct and make for yourself a false God. 62 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:56,760 For no false God satisfies the longing of the soul. 63 00:05:56,760 --> 00:06:06,680 Only one can give real satisfaction and that is the true God, the mighty creator. 64 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:13,200 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 65 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:14,200 That's it. 66 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,680 That's the word of God. 67 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:19,760 All right? 68 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:32,480 If God is what he claims to be, he will be, he that is, he that was, if he is all of this, 69 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:39,760 then he must be the supreme object of worship. 70 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:42,800 Every man needs a God. 71 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:48,560 There's no man who has not somewhere in his heart, in his life, in the essential that 72 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:55,640 it be, a shrine in which is a deity to whom he worships. 73 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:57,760 And I believe that. 74 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:02,760 I believe that with every atom of my being is as impossible for a man to live without 75 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:10,760 having an object of worship as it is for a bird to fly if it's taken out of the air. 76 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:18,000 The very composition of human life, the mystery of man's being, demands a center of worship 77 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,360 as a necessity of existence. 78 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:25,000 All life is worship. 79 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:31,440 There may be a false god at the center of life, but every activity of being, all the 80 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:38,240 energy of life, the devotion of powers, these things are all worship. 81 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:42,920 But the question is whether the life and the powers of man are devoted to the worship of 82 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:48,760 the true God or that of a false God. 83 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:59,160 The moment a man gets out of touch with God and loses the vision of him who is the great 84 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:09,240 Jehovah God, the mighty creator, God Almighty, the very second he gets out of touch with 85 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:17,040 him, invariably he puts something else in the place of God. 86 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:22,480 You've seen it over and over and over again. 87 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:30,680 But when you consider there is only one God who is the giver of every good and perfect 88 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:46,480 gift, only one true God, the great I Am, the God from all of eternity past, the God 89 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:56,640 from all of eternity out there in the future, the great God of this moment who holds within 90 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:03,960 the palm of his hand the giving of life, the taking of life, the blessing of the life. 91 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:08,680 Little boy was bringing home a loaf of bread and someone stuffed the youngster and said 92 00:09:08,680 --> 00:09:11,680 to him, what do you have there? 93 00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:12,680 He said a loaf of bread. 94 00:09:12,680 --> 00:09:15,040 Where did you get it? 95 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:16,960 From the baker. 96 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:17,960 Where did the baker get it? 97 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:18,960 He made it. 98 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:21,960 But what did he make it? 99 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:22,960 A flower. 100 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:25,560 Where did he get the flower? 101 00:09:25,560 --> 00:09:28,960 From the miller, of course. 102 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:31,520 Where did he get it? 103 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,520 From the farmer. 104 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:36,980 Where did the farmer get it? 105 00:09:36,980 --> 00:09:41,780 And then suddenly the truth dawned upon the little boy's mind and he looked up and smiled 106 00:09:41,780 --> 00:09:47,640 all over and said, why from God? 107 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:51,880 Well then from whom did you get that loaf of bread? 108 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:59,160 Oh, I see the kid says, from God, of course. 109 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:06,600 And here is the little boy who in the last resort acknowledges God to be the giver of 110 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:11,000 every good and perfect gift. 111 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:19,200 And in this materialistic age, you've heard many a man say, my business supports me and 112 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:20,200 my family. 113 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:21,200 That's not true. 114 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:29,360 You may work every day and you may work hard, but it's the life. 115 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:33,040 God in reality supports him and his family. 116 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:42,440 It is God who gives the strength to that man in that physical body that he might earn the 117 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:45,860 living. 118 00:10:45,860 --> 00:10:49,880 We are dependent on God for the next beat of that heart. 119 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:51,400 You say you're independent? 120 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:52,400 Not really. 121 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:56,000 We need to get back again. 122 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:04,200 The selfish materialistic world of men and women need to get back again and realize who 123 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:10,920 is still at the helm of things, who is still in control. 124 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:13,720 I don't care how much money you have. 125 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:17,760 I don't care what great influence you might have. 126 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:24,720 I don't care what your status in life might be, how warm you may feel physically. 127 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:32,040 That every blessed one of us is dependent on the mercy of God for the very next beat 128 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:33,040 of our heart. 129 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:38,360 Now that's being mighty dependent on God. 130 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:44,640 And not one of us is living an independent life, a life independent of God. 131 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:49,000 It's like that. 132 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:53,800 That's the reason God says, put me first. 133 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:57,120 Your business second, your family second. 134 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:03,400 And I shall never forget, I don't think I was any more than 16 years of age when I was 135 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:07,320 in Boston, just beginning in my ministry. 136 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:12,080 And I was the guest in the home of Mother Jones. 137 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,520 Her husband was the head of the Boston shoe company. 138 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:20,160 And while being a guest in her home one afternoon we were having tea together, she said, you 139 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:24,760 know, the secret of my husband's business was just this. 140 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:33,800 And she said, he always kept these words above his desk. 141 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:40,340 God first, family second, shoes third. 142 00:12:40,340 --> 00:12:48,760 Because he was constantly reminded of the fact that he was absolutely utterly dependent 143 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:54,160 on Almighty God for every blessing. 144 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:56,880 That's putting it right down the line. 145 00:12:56,880 --> 00:13:05,680 That first command, thou shalt have no other gods before me. 146 00:13:05,680 --> 00:13:08,920 Now we come to that second command. 147 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:13,400 And the second command is by no means a repetition of the first. 148 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:21,680 It forbids a practice which becomes possible only when the one God is believed in and worshiped. 149 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:27,840 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor the likeness of any form that is in heaven 150 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:32,720 above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. 151 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:37,800 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them nor serve them. 152 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:43,920 For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers above 153 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:52,600 the children upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing 154 00:13:52,600 --> 00:14:02,120 mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. 155 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:06,000 That's the second command. 156 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:12,240 The first forbids us to have any other gods beside the one who makes himself known by 157 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:20,240 name, the great Jehovah God, the Lord thy God. 158 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:26,440 The second, taking it for granted that there is no God but the one true God, forbids the 159 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:35,520 creation of anything which is supposed to be a representative of him. 160 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:41,480 To assist man in worship. 161 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:50,440 Now you and I are going to have a very good heart to heart talk about this because there 162 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:58,520 is so much involved and it must be most important or God never would have put it down as the 163 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:05,640 second of the rules for living, the second of the great commandments. 164 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:14,760 Let it be considered why man makes an image or a picture to help him in his worship. 165 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:18,240 The answer may be briefly stated. 166 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:29,560 The spiritual sense in man, that which realizes God is dead. 167 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:34,080 No man who knows God, no man who is living in daily communion with him needs a picture 168 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,080 to help him to pray. 169 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:41,760 No person who's had a real experience and knows God as a heavenly father, no person 170 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:46,880 who's had that wonderful experience of being born again, having become acquainted with 171 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:54,840 Jesus Christ the son of a living God, needs to have an assist or a prop or a crutch or 172 00:15:54,840 --> 00:16:01,480 something that will help him to make God more real to him. 173 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:08,640 By the new birth in the spirit, they have had the spiritual consciousness restored so 174 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:19,000 that they know God and they are able to commune directly with him. 175 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:22,000 Look at something. 176 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,600 Look at the matter from another point of view. 177 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:31,520 In the instant that a man sets up a representation of any description to help him to realize 178 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:39,440 God, he denies that which is essential in God. 179 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:45,680 Suppose that there is an image, a picture or some system of worship concerning which 180 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:52,160 he says, now this is intended as an aid to my worship of the one God. 181 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:54,520 What has he done? 182 00:16:54,520 --> 00:17:02,560 The image, the picture or the system of worship is limited. 183 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:09,880 The essential fact of God is that he is limitless. 184 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:16,560 God is absolutely limitless. 185 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:24,280 There is no limit to his power. 186 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:29,240 That is the essential fact of God. 187 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:32,240 That he is eternal. 188 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:35,160 That he is self-existent. 189 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:41,920 There being no end to his being and no limit to his power. 190 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:47,040 Limitlessness lies at the heart and center of the thought of God and the very moment 191 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:54,120 a man makes an image, he denies the essence of God. 192 00:17:54,120 --> 00:18:04,360 He brings God down to his standards instead of bringing himself up to the standards of 193 00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:06,800 God. 194 00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:12,440 For that reason, God forbade that there should be the making of any image. 195 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:20,000 For not only is the image false, it is misleading. 196 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:26,160 If the image of God that man has and that he has made, that which he puts in the place 197 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:34,240 of God, that he may understand God better, if that is false and if it is limited, what 198 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:38,840 is the effect produced by worship upon character? 199 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:43,800 As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. 200 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:55,240 The thought of God produced by a false representation of God will produce character that is false. 201 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:57,920 Here we have the word of God. 202 00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:11,280 In effect, God says, thou shalt not attempt to liken me to end, because every effort of 203 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:26,440 that kind must result in failure and must react upon man to his abiding injury. 204 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:39,720 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven 205 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:47,160 above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. 206 00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:52,400 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them. 207 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:58,120 When you kneel to pray, don't bow down before an image. 208 00:19:58,120 --> 00:20:05,160 You bow down before Almighty God. 209 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:14,840 The person of God seated upon his throne in heaven, a person with a definite personality, 210 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:25,120 by facing him and when you bow down, when you bend the knee, you bow to him, the one 211 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:28,840 and only God. 212 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:32,800 Never use a substitute. 213 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:37,600 Father, make this real to hearts for Jesus' sake. 214 00:20:37,600 --> 00:21:03,440 Amen.