I have no, what you call it today, but I will try as much as possible to speak so clearly, so that we can all understand what I'm about to talk about. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this wonderful evening, that you will bring us together to learn at your feet. I just ask that you will guide my words, and that your children will look beyond the speaker to hear in a way that their lives will be impacted.
I speak Lord, not because of some example, but Lord because I want to listen to you as well. I pray that you will feed your shit tonight in Jesus' name. What I have prepared to speak about this evening, it's a subject that we are all familiar with. The title of my message tonight is, Have No Order God.
The occasion of this subject is the first, the Ten Commandment, when God tells the people of Israel that you should have no order God beside me. For several weeks before I was asked to speak, I've been contemplating pondering about how crucial, how important is this commandment to God. And I was thinking in an household, if we are going to set a rule or some rules for ourselves, you have to start from the one that is most important. Perhaps in my house, if I'm going to set my family, let's sit down and just come up with some rules, or even at Regent's Club, we have some rules.
And the first rule is to respect the house of God. It's so important to respect God. So in my mind, I'm thinking, if God says, I have no order God, he must be very paramount. He must be very crucial.
Why will he want that? He wants us not to have any other image of any unbiblical depiction of misrepresentation of himself. He fully wants us to follow him. And that is why he's saying that.
As I was preparing this message last week, if you listen to CGLU, there is a bug to Bible. I've forgotten the guy that brought us name. And he started the Ten Commandments. And the first one he chose was, I've no order God beside me.
And he was talking about it. I said, oh, you made my life easier. So, but I like the way he handled it. But I will beg to fad off a little bit about the importance of this world.
And what I plan to do is to show you some of the attributes. And they're not just merely attributes of God. There is essence, essence of his passage. And that makes it more important why he's directing us that you should worship me alone.
God is a jealous God. He wants your worship. He wants your love. The first four commandments he's directed to himself, our love for God.
And it's no wonder that the first one that God would give is that do not look for any other God beside me. Worship me fully with all that you've got. The occasion of this was, we are familiar with the story of the people of Israel. That God singlearily brought them out from the land of Egypt.
And true Moses, the God is commandment. And the first one is, you should love me. I'm going to share with you tonight things that are likely going to take our highest away from God. People just don't fear off and worship what I got.
There are some steps that are perhaps they are not really taking regards of that will completely make the misstep and take them away from the part of God. We're going to look into that. And I have prepared two Bible characters. There are so many of them.
I prepare to talk about Daniel as an example and Caleb. But because of time I will not talk about Daniel. I believe Brother David Macdonald has done so well with Daniel. But I will talk about David, about Caleb.
Because Caleb, God David testimony about Caleb. And I love him so much that I oftentimes go back to Caleb to study him. Not so many people in the Bible that God will say, this is a guy who has followed me fully. And we will get there.
But why is it so important that God will say, do not have any other God before me? It is a prohibition. When I look into the concordance, I had the law. It's the law we are prohibited.
And again, God wants you to love him exclusively. He wants us to follow him fully. And it is possible if we follow the step of Caleb. The first attribute of God that I prepared this evening, is that our God is unique and is without driver.
God is unique and is without driver. Who he is like God that we can compare him to. If you will turn your Bible to the Book of Exodus, chapter 9, verse 14. Exodus, chapter 9, verse 14 says, I will read him from New King James Bible.
He said, for at this time, I will send all my plagues to your very heart, speaking to Pharaoh. And on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like me in all the hurts. That God is telling us that there is none like him. God is a being that is above all others.
Thankfully, this morning, I was listening to Brother John. And he gave a scripture which is in John, which is in John chapter 3, verse chapter 1. And he says, he who comes from above is above all. He who is of the hurt is ugly and speak of the hurt.
He who comes from heaven is above all. God is above all. That is just one of his attributes. He has no driver and is very unique.
He's a unique God. Efficient, chapter 1, verse 21 says, far above all principality, and power and mind and dominion. And every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. God is above all.
He has no driver and is unique. And that is why he's asking you to follow him fully. He said, I'm jealous God. And in the book of Ezekiel, he says, I can visit the iniquities of one generation to the fourth generation.
I can cast you out. I can make your head short. And God is saying this with all trepidation, without fear. He want us to love him and at the same time fear him.
And he's saying that I am jealous God because I'm jealous of your worship. I need it. I'm jealous of your love. And rightly so, God is jealous because if you choose any other God, it is at your own expense.
The Bible tells us that there is no salvation in any other person, only God. So if you choose any other thing, it is at the expense of your life. And he wouldn't want you to do that. And that is why he's saying I'm jealous.
Worship me fully. Love me fully. And that is what we will see in the life of Caleb. The history and scriptures is beset with people who have challenged God about his uniqueness and his greatness.
King Pharaoh, challenge God. And we know how it all ended. When Moses will tell him, this is the plague that I'm going to bring again. He will call Pharaoh will call all of his order of addiction to come and replicate what Moses has done.
And we all know how it ended. Satan challenged the greatness of God. When he told Adam and Eve chapter three in Genesis, when he said, as God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. He's challenging God.
What we just saying, our God is great. He has no rifle. And he says, you need God. Point number two is that our God is a God of great glory.
Exodus chapter 20, verse five, if you are still there, is the God is telling us, I say, you shall not bow down to them, not serve them. For hide the Lord your God, and be jealous God. Visiting the iniquities of fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation of those who eats me. And I think by that age, God is saying, for those who reject me.
Isaiah chapter 42, where said, I am the Lord. That is my name and my glory. I will not give to another, not my place to carve images. He said, my child, 46, verse nine says, remember the former kings of old, for I am God, and there's no order.
I am God, and there is none like me. I am who I am. All these talks about God's greatness. He is our shield.
We find out in Genesis chapter 15, God is God Almighty and is our peace. He's our provider. He gives us satisfaction. And that order speaks of his greatness and glory.
Leviticus chapter 11, verse 45 says, for I am the Lord who brings you hope out of the land of Egypt. To be your God, you shall therefore be holy for I am holy. God is a God of great glory. He is a unique God, and he has no rival.
The taught attributes of God is that God is glorious in holiness. I have prepared some visions of certain prophets in the Bible. Perhaps you might need to read this for the sake of time on your own. And this is a prophet who was speaking of God's holiness in their vision.
It was revealed to them. Isaiah chapter 6, if you read from verse 1 to 3, he talks about the great nature, the glory and the holiness of God. Ezekiel chapter 1, reading from 26 to 28. Daniel chapter 7, 9 to 14.
And Revelation chapter 4, verse 2 and 8 to 11. All of them are talking about the holiness of God. I would like if you read it at your own time. And in Revelation, we all knew when this was revealed to John.
And chapter of verse 2 says, immediately I was in this period. And behold, the throne sat in heaven. And one sat on the throne. From verses, they said, the four living creatures, each of its six wings were full of eyes around and within.
And they do not rest day or night. Seeing only, only, only Lord God Almighty. Who was and is and he is to come. That points to the greatness of God.
The fourth attribute is that our God is the God who does wonder. God is unique. God is great. And God is holy.
The fourth one is that it's the God who does wonder. And here I put down the creation on its own. We just sang how great that word. If you think about God and how great it, just step out and just look around you and see all of his creation.
And you will see how great God is. And especially the redemption miracle of Jesus Christ. The virgin bird. How can that be?
That God will come. Step out from heaven into this darkness in order to save people like us, sinners. It's a miracle. It's a wonder that the virgin one will conceive.
God is the God of wonders. Then the cross. The cross is another wonder. If you would like to turn your Bible to the Book of Hebrew, Hebrew, chapter 10, reading from verse 11.
And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifice, which can never take away since. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down at the right hand of God. From that time, waiting till his enemies are made his first two. For by one offering, he has perfected forever those who have been sanctified.
That's what the Lord did. And in verse 17, then he heard, yes, sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of this, there is no longer an offering for sin. It's a wonder that God himself will die for us.
In our place, God is a God of wonder. It's resurrection. It's wonderful as well. I have never seen or heard.
Someone helps. Who has risen from death? That's a wonder. He makes us to want to believe God that only him deserve our worship.
I remember back when I was still in Nigeria. One thing that actually led me to Christ was that he's saying where I come from, that if a person would take care of you and if a person promised to look after you and to take care of you, the first thing you want to know about that person is how well as he's taking care of himself. So when Christ promised that I was from the Christ that's giving me life and that he has resurrected. And because he has resurrected, I will leave eternally.
I believe them because you cannot give what you do not have. So in my culture, they will ask you that whoever promised you a good thing, you want to know how good is God himself, Christ has started. He resurrected. It's a wonderful God.
And those are the attributes and the essence of God. But what are the things that makes us not to walk, not to want to follow him fully? After knowing that our God is a wonder for God, and that our God is unique, our God is great, we still live in this world and we are not fully committed to him. And I want to present to you the life of Caleb so that we can learn.
The Bible is full of people, both negative and positive people that we can learn from. But Caleb is a good example. And I want you to pay attention to how we deal with it. It's a story.
An historical account of the Bible that you are all familiar with. But I think we can learn one or two things from the life of Caleb. If you will turn your Bible to the book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 14, verse 24. This morning we heard about a testimony that God gave his son, Jesus Christ, during the baptism.
When Christ was being baptized, the voice from there was saying, this is my beloved son, in whom I'm well-pitched. It's a testimony. There are so many other characters that God testified directly, and Caleb is one of them. And this is what God has to say of Caleb.
He said, but my servants, Caleb, because he had another spirit within, he had followed me fully. But I don't like him. We want you to pay attention to adverbs in the Bible. Fully, holy, persistently, consistently, indivisible, exclusively Caleb has followed God fully.
And that is God, ready in his testimony to Caleb, not man. Just like he said of his son, that this is my beloved son, in whom I am well-pitched. For him will I bring into the land where until he went. That's the land of Caleb, where he went to spy out.
And he see, shy, possessive. Because God has testified goodness about him, he has some rewards to it. But what is it that makes Caleb to follow God fully? And what is it that can prevent us from not following God fully?
We will see. The first thing I put down here is corruption. You remember, after the people of Israel marched out of Egypt and it dwelt in the wilderness. And the first thing they said when Moses was nowhere to be found, they went to here and said, what?
Make us another God. Since we can find we don't know what happens to Moses. We want another God who will lead us from now on. And I think I was reflecting.
I said, what will make them the people of Israel, who has dwelt in the land called Goshen and Egypt? They shoot their foreign to all these idols. But now they want their idol, a craving image. Even when the Lord has brought them the commandment, the prohibition that do not follow any other God beside me.
Now they are asking Iran, make us a God, an idol. They have been corrupted. If you were talking about between the book of Psalms, chapter 14, verse 3, Psalms 14, verse 3 says, they have all torn aside. They have to get up, become corrupt.
There is none who does good. No, not one. Corruption, that's what corruption would do in our life. We live in the world and the culture that is so corrupt.
We can be compromised. It's contagious. There are so many Christians who have raised up in the Biblical home, Christian homes. They have understood creation even before they went to the Ayah institutions.
And they have turned to become evolutionists. They have turned to become a postmodernist of what you call them. They have started learning from the curriculums of the world. And this is what corruption can do to the people.
The book of Ezekiel, chapter 20, verse 20, verse 9. And I read what I object for my namesake that it should not be profaned before the Gentile among whom they were. Pay attention to the world among whom they were. In whose sites I have made myself known to them to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
But I was a group example in Caleb. Caleb was part of the people who are much out from the land of Egypt. He was not corrupted. He followed God fully.
He wasn't listening to these accounts. There's a conscience was that Moses was nowhere. That was just a conscience. We have reason to believe that there are so many things that are so many reasons that my make-ups who want to turn away from God.
And that is what we have to be careful. Corruption. God doesn't want us to focus on him. You remember when Jesus Christ has been to follow him.
He started to write. He has his eyes set on Jesus Christ. And he was working on the world. But the moment he took his eyes off Jesus, he started thinking, we should not be corrupting this world.
The world is hell-bent. But God has brought us to be light and salt of the world. And that we should not be corrupted or compromised or influenced in any other way. One other reason that can take our eyes off from God and make us not to follow God fully is when we lose our assurance of faith in God.
Losing our assurance of faith in God can take our eyes away from God. When I was born in Sanam, he made the Bible, a book I referenced, I really stopped with me and I want you to come to it. Hebrew chapter 9, verse 19. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 19.
And I read, therefore breading, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated us, through the veil that is his body, and having an eye priest over the house of God. And this is it, verse 22. Let us draw near with the true art in full assurance of our faith. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promise is faithful.
I have siblings in Nigeria and every so often, we will participate in WhatsApp, communicating and all that. I do that very frequently, so inexpensive, compared to phone calls, and I really enjoy it. And I always talk to them about God. They will mention their programs or whatever their circumstances say, and I will respond.
But I noticed that a lot of them are doing, they are just fairly away from God because they have lost their assurance of their faith. They do no longer believe in God's sovereignty. They go to pastors and reference and people open the mundane to pray for them. When Jesus is there, that he says, direct all your needs to me.
They travel hundreds of kilometers to see a special pastor. Who will be able to minister to them in a way that their problems should disappear? And I keep referring them back to the Bible. So one thing I noticed about God, when you begin to lose your focus, you are sure of your faith.
The Bible says without wavering, fully, that's what it means to kill him. It's not partial, exclusively, and consistently, he was following God. So that's one of the things that can distract us. And that will lead us and our eyes away from God.
The third point is, when we neglect or we forget God and His promise, the Bible is full with God promises in our life. And we can claim them. And I do that often because the Bible is practical. You know my circumstances, I look at what God has done, is our God is able.
If He's done it for someone, why not me? I always claim it. But when we neglect God's promise or we forget it, we have the tendency to take our eyes away from Him. And this is where Caleb even actually came to promise.
Like you all know, the historical account, when Moses got a 12 spies, and he sent them to the land of Canaan. And the message is, just go and spy and scope out, scope it out. I just want you to know what we are going to get into. And these 12 people, they went, I wouldn't know the name of that 10, but you know that Joshua and Caleb, why they wonder what on the right side of God.
And they came back with reproach. I just want to use this illustration to depict your circumstances and my circumstances, and see the circumstances that the Israelites were in. And when they scoped the land of Canaan, 12 of them came back, and you will notice that it agreed on certain facts. And the fact is still in our life, we know certain things in our life that are factual.
And these 12 people also agreed on 12th, and I will point your attention to it. After 40 days when the spies have completed their task, and brought back the report, it is remarkable that all the 12 agreed on several facts. One, the whole agreed that the land of Canaan was good, flowing with milk and onion. They broke back a huge cluster of grapes from escrow.
Number two, they agreed that the inhabitants of the land were for the most part, war-like people. Number three, all of them agreed that they were giants in the land. Big men, eight to nine fik tow, the Bible called them the children of honor. Another agreement is that the whole agreed that the city who were warned about, they were great strongholds.
Then again, they agreed that it would be very complicated and difficult to fight against this enemy. They all told the true story as far as the facts were concerned. They all agreed, but they disagreed, and I wanted to listen to their disagreement. However, when it came to the consequence of those facts, when it came to the conclusion the bottom line was shall we do.
They disagreed. The major report, the 10th presented a very negative report. They said there was no use for us to try to overcome this enemy. They were too strong and too large, it is impossible.
Again, they said we be not able to stand up to these people for they are stronger than us. And so they brought an evil report to the land. And they told all these to the people of Israel. Saying the land through which we have gone to search it is the land that eateth of the inhabitants of the earth, and all the people that we saw in it are men of great statue.
And the conclusion is like what? We are in our own sight as grasshoppers, and we were in their sight like grasshoppers. Can you imagine at the time if the report is being read to two million Easter-like time? This is a constant situation, the bleak and gloomy situation that they just give to them the account of what they found.
And the people were so hopeless. They lost faith in God, and they believed they couldn't do it. Fear and unbelief took all of them. But Caleb stood out and told them he said, we should not forget God and his promises.
For God has already told them, he said, go into the land and possess the land which our God has given to you to possess. That is found in the book of Joseph 1 verse 11. God has already made a promise that this land, I'm going to give it to you and your descendant. But you forget or neglect God's promise.
And Caleb stood out and said, no, our God is evil. But I want you to know that we are all prone to look at our circumstances rather than our God. Is it the business trouble, family trouble, separation, looking for jobs? What is your giant?
God wants you to know that our God is evil. Our God is a God of possibility. Nothing impossible for God to do. Don't look at your circumstances.
Look onto Jesus who is the heart of and finisher of our faith. So we are encouraged by this. God is asking you not to be overwhelmed by the people and the problems that you are surrounded by. Just look onto Jesus.
Without Christ, we can do nothing. But with Christ, we can do all things through Him that strengthens us. In the nutshell, we had to look onto our living God and say that God is evil. And because of that, Caleb stood out and was able to tell the people of Israel that we can do this.
These are the facts. I agree with you. But what is the consequence of those facts? What is the bottom line?
The bottom line is God is on our side. That is enough. That is the faith. And we are told that he has another spirit.
The indwelling spirit of God was in Caleb. And he wouldn't wiver. He wouldn't turn to any other God, because he believed that his God is evil. And I will conclude tonight.
But I'm not an expert when it comes to the dispensation of law and grace. But there's something so remarkable about Jesus Christ. The Ten Commandments, no one is able to fulfill it. But I don't know what's able to tell us.
We can't know one is righteous, enough to fulfill. Not even one. If you list all the Ten Commandments, I have written them from one to ten. And I can identify with Paul, during the breaking of bread this morning that he said, I am a sinner.
I am a chief of our sinner. And so it is impossible for anyone of us to fulfill that Ten Commandment. But I like the way when Jesus came, the tone was quite different. Jesus did not say you should not.
He was imploring us. Jesus was imploring us. And this is who I am. Don't watch it, but not God, because this is who I am.
I love the way Christ presented himself and his exclusiveness to us. He's not making it like a law. I'm going to read Hebrew verse 12 that says, if you turn it back quickly to the book of Hebrew, verse 18. Hebrew 12, verse 18 says, for you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that bond with fire and to the blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of the trumpet and the voice of the world.
So that those who heard it, this is talking about the time when Moses was talking, when he was dealing with God to bring the Ten Commandment. And the writer of Hebrew is telling us how bad are we having in Jesus Christ. And he's telling us that you have not come to that mountain. And the strength is said, for they could not endure what was commanded.
And if so much as the beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling. That's the situation with the law. He's trembling, scared, scary.
But in Christ, look at verse 20, 22, what you have come to the Mount Zion. And 24 says to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of the Bible. In Christ, we have everything better, much more, which is so profound in the book of Hebrew. Christ is not just ringing the bell of the law, what is imploring us, but the message is still the same.
Follow me fully. And God is imploring you, say, I am the dog. I am the bread of life. I am the resurrection and life.
Look at the simplicity, look at the tone. Look at whom that we have come to. You know, when you are given the law, when you are given the law, you are just banging the table to tell them, do not do not. But see what we have found in Jesus Christ.
He's imploring you and me. He's ready to hold us and to under leaders and guide us to himself. I am a good shepherd. And he's telling you that is the same message.
I'm exclusive. There's no other way. There's no salvation in another person. I am the resurrection.
I am the life, the way. And I found it more pleasing, more comforting. And that is all crisis. So in Christ we found things, it gets better.
The hammer of the law is not just stomping the table. Do not do not, but God is inviting. If you are here tonight and you are not sure if you have believed in that name, Jesus Christ, or you are here and you are still struggling to follow Christ fully, don't give up. Even though the Lord God has testified of Christ, that this is my beloved son.
I was telling Tony today, I said, do not a God have said that of everyone of us? He has testified. If you are a believer, God has told you that is well-pleased with you. Because if God said this about Jesus, and Jesus did this for you, it's an hypothetical sinarism.
I protected you, I covered. God is telling you that this is my son in whom I am well-pleased. This is my sister in whom, and because Christ has done that for you, if God can say that of Jesus, where I included, let us pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for your words that have gone out.
I just pray that better than the way it's been communicated, that your Holy Spirit will walk in our heart to make it more easier for us to follow you fully, so that the Spirit that is in Caleb, Lord, by grace you will give it to us, so that we will have the desire to follow you fully. Thank you Lord for the opportunity to listen to you. I pray that as many of us that have issues and problems Lord, and we just pray that Lord, we will not look into our circumstances, but we will look into you, who is the heart and finish of our faith. We want to believe that you are able, and that you are God of possibility.
Lord, I pray, everyone that is precious here, I pray that you will meet everyone of us at the point of our needs, at the point of our condition and circumstances, that we will lift our eyes and we will be hold you, and that we will be able to follow you fully. As we step our Lord into our home, we play the Lord you will guide and you will protect. Our weak is in your hand, we have the Lord you will meet everyone of us at the point of our needs. Thank you Lord for this time that we have together, and in Jesus' name we have prayed.
Amen.