PASTOR JOHN COWLES
BRIDGE CHURCH
THE PROMISE OF HIS PRESENCE
Devotion – Week 2
Exodus 20:1-5
Exodus 20:1–5 (ESV) – And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.”
Exodus 32:4 (ESV) – And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
Romans 1:22–23 (NLT) – Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
What is Idolatry?
*It’s the misdirection of our devotion and worship*.
Philippians 3:8–9 (ESV) – Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
Exodus 20:5 (ESV) – “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God…”
Exodus 34:14 (ESV) – “For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”
Psalm 20:7 ESV – Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
• We bow to fear
• We bow to culture
• We bow to success
• We bow to comfort
IDOLATRY ROBS US FROM GOD’S PRESENCE!
Jeremiah 2:13 NLT – For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me—the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!
1 Corinthians 10:14 ESV – Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
Matthew 6:33 ESV - “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
HOW DO WE ELIMINATE IDOLATRY FROM OUR LIVES?
Recognizing the seriousness of idolatry.
Exodus 20:5 - “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.”
Idols are often good things that have become ultimate things.
Psalm 139:23-24 NLT – Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
James 4:8 gives us a promise: “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”
• Have you allowed anything to take the place of God in your life?
• Is there anything that you love, serve, and obey more than Him?
• What is keeping you from experiencing the fullness of His presence?