Arkansas State press. [volume] (Little Rock, Ark.) 1941-1959, 1946-07-12

| serve two masters; for either he will
| hate the one, and love the other, or else
he viii hold to the one and despise the
other, VI cannot serve God and nam
mon.-Matthew ga.
The first three commandments
| bring man into the presence of
| God where he is taught how to
worship God in spirit and in truth
THE first commandment (Exod.
20;3) bids us worship God exelu-
sively; the second wv. 40 bids US
worship him spiritually. The first
commandment forbds US to wor-
ship false gods; the second forbids
us to worship the true God under
false forms (Farrar).
/ We shall lose much of the value
of our lesson II we confine the APP
| plication of it to Israel. We miss
the point if we think only of the
| gods of wood and stone which the
heather worship and fail to apply
the truth to any and all idol wor-
ship of our day.
The loyalty to God of which our
| lesson text teaches may be sum
married. in four words. 1t is 10y
atty of
1. Purpose (Exod 20:3).
Jehovah means, II will be what
will be-" or Il am that I am. -
| tExod 3:l4. His very name de-
clares God to be the self-existent.
eternal one. How infinitely gracious
then is the use of the word thy
in Exodus 1927 He-the great
ANS my God. a personal God.
1t must be Our constant purpose to
worship him only
There are many things concern
ing which we do not speak dogmat-
ically There are even Christian
doctrines about which spiritual and
| earnest men may honestly differ,
but regarding God we say with alb
Solute assurance and complete ex-
cluSiveness-there is but one true
God II he is what he claims to be,
if God is not to be declared to be
a liar, then it is beyond the realm
of possibility that there could be
any other God
Hear it. men and women of Amer
lea who in an enlightened land and
age bow down in heathenish Wor-
ship before the god Of gold, the
! god Of self. the god Of wine. the
god of success, the god Of fame,
the goddess Of pleasure, the god
of RIGHTEOUSNESS The one true
god says. Il am Jehovah Thou
shalt have no other gods before
me-"
II. Performance (Exod 20:4-6D
What is in the heart must show
in the life. The second command.
ment calls for the undivided devo.
ton and worship Of man. II
expressly forbids idolatry in any
form The Injunction is twofold %
Men are forbidden to make any
material likeness which to them
represents a being to be worshiped
II matters not whether II be an
image OF what men believe God to
be like. or the image Of an angelic
being. heavenly body. In fact.
anything that is In the heaven
above" or on the earth. such as a
man or animal; or under the wa
ter, such as FISH t2 II such OBJ
jects have been made either by our
elves or others we may not bow
town to them, nor render any serv-
CO to them Let us all examine our
eligious ceremonies and practices
n the light OF Gods commandment.
Observe that obedience 10 this
command brings rich blessing to
thousands" " g. whereas dis.
obedience is curse rot only to the
man who disobcys. but also to his
descendants.
III Promise tJosh. "a 10. 22.2D
Before the aged leader Of Israel
came 10 the close u his life he
called leaders Of the people. whom
he had led in the taking OF the
Promised Land, and urged them TO
continue in the way of faith and 10y.
atty TO God,
They promised rather readily, but
he made clear to them that God
was not interested In lip service
They we're to prove their promise
by putting away all strange gods.
| This they agreed to do. Wherein
they failed. they suffered defeat.
and wherein they kept their prom.
Use. God blessed them. We may
learn from their experience.
| ". Practice Luke IA 25-27).
It is not always necessary TO
choose between our natural aiIec.
tions for those near to us and our
loyalty to Christ, but II the time
comes for that decision, Christ must
come first without question and
without hesitation (cf Matt 1913
The word hate ~ 26) does not
carry with IL any thought Of malice
or personal dislike We know from
other scriptures that we are to hon.
or our father and our mother
tExod. 20;l2). The one who fails
his own Is declared to be worse than
an infidel Il Tim. 5:8).
The point Is that no personal 10y.
atty or responsibility is to stand In
the way OF Our devotion to Christ
Our own lives must be counted as
a glad sacrifice TO him as We take
IN our cross-jn the crtIcifxion ~