Tonight we are starting a new series and obviously Exodus chapter 20 is most famous for the Ten
Commandments that was read there by Brother Jason.
And so the new series is a series that I did down at Blessed Our Baptist Church and it's
a series on the Ten Commandments.
So tonight we'll be doing part one.
We'll be looking at the First Commandment.
We'll have a look at that in a moment.
But one thing that I really love about the Bible and one thing that I want to do on a
regular basis is, you know, sometimes in the Bible there are passages that just label a
whole bunch of sins.
And I love, you know, I just love doing a whole series on sin and making sure that we
understand what is being communicated by the Lord God because, yeah, it's great that we're
saved.
It's great that we're in the house of God.
But really we ought to be living a life that's more holy as the time goes on, that we reflect
Jesus Christ a little more and we really need sermons about sin, okay.
You know, people shy away from preaching about hell.
Hey, we're comfortable preaching about hell.
They're comfortable saying that if someone dies without Christ, they're going to suffer
in eternal torments forever.
But you know, there are other churches that just, they're not comfortable about naming
sin.
They won't preach boldly about sin.
And so it's important that we from time to time go and we look at these passages where
we contain commandments of God or if we're doing something contrary, it's obviously a
sin against the Lord and go through that list.
The last list that we went through was basically the first year that we started as a church.
That was on the sins that will get you kicked out of church coming from First Corinthians
chapter five.
And so as I said, every few years I just want to take one of these passages that covers
a whole bunch of sins and go through it and do a series.
Now let's have a look at Exodus chapter 20 in verse number three.
Exodus chapter 20 in verse number three.
This is the first commandment.
It says, thou shalt have no other gods before me.
No other gods before me.
The title for the sermon tonight, brethren, is no other gods.
No other gods.
Now you say, well, Pastor Kevin, this one's an easy one.
You know, we're not going to turn to Islam.
You know, we're not going to start worshiping the God of the Muslims, right?
We're not going to, you know, turn toward Hinduism and Buddhism, you know.
I mean, I guess I'd be really concerned if someone that we counted a brother in the Lord
would turn their hearts towards such things.
It almost, you know, show that this person is not even saved, truly.
If it's so easy to turn against the Lord, go to the Bible and turn toward these false
gods.
You say, you know, we're not like the Old Testament saints or the Old Testament Israelites,
Pastor Kevin, that, you know, would turn their hearts toward Moloch and Baal and maybe
the worshiping the Queen of Heaven.
That's not likely going to happen for us or, you know, it's very unlikely, Pastor Kevin,
you know, God said in that chapter not to make gods of silver and gods of gold.
You know, we're not going to start, you know, one Sunday afternoon just to decide to put
our gold together and create a golden calf and bow ourselves to that.
You know, the likelihood of that's not going to happen, so, you know, we're safe in this
regard you might think.
Now, keep your finger there and please go to 2 Corinthians chapter 11.
Please go to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and actually you don't need to keep your finger
there.
But anyway, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse number 4.
Okay, 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse number 4.
Now, I did read this passage on Sunday morning, but I want to take a different thought here.
2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse number 4.
So we may not, obviously, you know, I'd be very surprised if we just turn our hearts
and worship some false god like that, but there is a different danger within the New
Testament system and there is a different danger within, you know, there are so many
churches, aren't there?
There are so many churches that claim the name of Jesus.
So many churches that we might think, hey, maybe these are our brothers in the Lord.
But do they worship the same God that we worship?
Because the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 11, 4, for if he that cometh preacheth another
Jesus.
You see, the biggest danger we have, it's not that we're necessarily going to turn and
worship some false god with some other name, but maybe, you know, someone might come in,
we might be confused, we might be tossed to and fro and start to worship another Jesus.
And Brethren, if it's another Jesus, it's another God, all right?
It says here, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, hey, the Holy
Spirit is God.
You know, there are many people that walk around, that go into church and say, well,
the Holy Spirit has given me a word of prophecy.
Brethren, it's another spirit.
If they're not teaching from God's word, okay, it's another spirit.
And if it's another spirit, it's not the Lord God that we worship.
It says, which ye have not received or another gospel.
Brethren, if the God has been preached in some other church, you know, speaks of some
other gospel, a salvation message, which is not faith alone or Christ alone, it's another
God that delivers another gospel.
It says, which we have not accepted, ye might well bear with them.
As I said, the title of the sermon is No Other Gods.
Hey, no other Jesuses, no other gospels, all right?
No other spirits that we are to accept or receive in this church.
We need to be careful because many gods masquerade under the name of Jesus.
Many false or wicked spirits masquerade, calling itself the Holy Spirit.
We need to be careful that we worship the true God of the Bible.
No other gods before the God of the Bible.
Now can you please turn to Acts 4, turn to Acts 4, verse 10.
So we want to make sure we're worshiping the right God, all right?
The God of the Bible, the God of Adam, the God of Abraham, all right, the God of King
David, the God of the apostles, the God of the New Testament saints.
And while you're turning to Acts 4, let me read to you from Hosea 13, verse 4.
It says, yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God
but me.
Then it says these words, for there is no saviour beside me.
So what's God saying?
He is a saviour.
There is no other saviour besides him.
Now brethren, here's how we know if we've got the right God.
If your God is your saviour, all right?
If your God is your saviour.
Now here's the thing.
There are many that fall under the umbrella of Christendom.
They claim that Jesus is a saviour, but really, they think they have to save themselves.
Well, but you still got to get baptised, but you still have to keep the commandments.
Listen, if a church is saying you participate in salvation, or you've got to save yourself,
or Christ has done some of it, and you've got to do the rest of it, brethren, it is
another God.
It's another gospel.
It's another God.
No, our God is the saviour.
He saves us.
If he's the saviour, he does the saving, and we just receive it.
You know, if I'm drowning in the ocean, and a lifesaver or lifeguard comes and rescues
me, who's the saviour in that regard?
He would be the saviour.
He would be the one that gets me from the water and brings me to the dry land and saves
my life.
I can't turn around if I'm drowning and say, well, I'm the saviour.
I saved myself.
No, no, no, no.
You know what?
As soon as you have a church that says that salvation is, yes, they might mix God to some
extent or Jesus to some extent, but you still have to do X, Y, and Z to be saved.
They've got another God.
I don't care if they call themselves a church of Jesus Christ, or if they preach and say
Holy Spirit, and they say the Father, and they say Jesus Christ, it's still another
God, because our God does the saving.
One hundred percent, you cannot save yourself.
You're there in Acts 4, look at Acts 4, verse 10, Acts 4, verse 10.
Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand
here before you whole.
This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which has become the head
of the corner, and those next words, neither is there salvation in any other.
Interesting.
There's no salvation in any other.
Salvation is only in Jesus Christ.
So how is that compatible with Hosea, where it's said, for there is no saviour beside
me?
Well, that proves that Jesus is God, all right?
And then it keeps going there, it says, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved.
So Jesus Christ is God, all right?
You know, we had someone in our church, attending our church for maybe a month or two, don't
recall right now, you know, they're no longer in our church, and the last conversations
that I had with this individual was that Jesus is not God.
He said, no, Jesus is just a man, Jesus is not God.
Well, then he's not the saviour, because God said that he is the saviour, that person
has another God, all right?
God says, have no other gods before me.
Brethren, if you don't have a God that does the saving, or Jesus Christ is not the God,
if someone says, well, he's just a man, or they say, well, he's a lesser God, you know,
no, no, no, that's another God, okay?
Jesus Christ is God Almighty.
And again, for there is none of the name, and the heaven given among men whereby we
must be saved, none of the name.
So if someone comes around, well, it's actually Yeshua, or Yeshua, it's another God, no other
gods before me.
You don't understand Pastor Kevin, that's just a translation into the Hebrew or something.
No, no, no, we're Bible-believing Christians.
If the name Yeshua is not given to Jesus in the New Testament, it's not Christ, it's
another God.
You know, these so-called Christians, won't you call upon another name which is not found
in the Bible?
You know, if you turn around and say, well, Yeshua is his real name, well, don't tell
me you're a Bible-believer, because you won't find that in the Greek New Testament, and
you're not going to find that in your English King James Bible.
His name is Jesus.
They come with some other name, fancy name, brethren, that's another God, all right?
So you can understand where I'm coming from now.
You know, it's like the likelihood of you being tempted to some completely false religion
is pretty much impossible, right?
But hey, maybe getting fooled into believing in another Jesus, that does happen.
That can happen.
People creep into churches, and it just sounds the same.
They'll say the same lingo, but when you start to investigate, you'll find they have
another God, even though they might fall under the Christian umbrella, so-called, okay?
Please turn to, where can I get to turn to?
Please turn to John 14.
Please turn to John 14 in your Bibles, John 14.
So the true God is the God that offers salvation in the name of Jesus Christ.
And while you're turning to John 14, I'm going to read to you from Romans 10.12.
It says, for there is no difference, now I really want you to understand this, okay?
When was the name of Jesus Christ revealed?
It was revealed when the angel came and told Joseph what to call him.
It's the first time the name is revealed.
Hey, basically once Christ was born, and come the New Testament period of time, we know
the name of Jesus.
He was not known in the Old Testament.
Nevertheless, the Bible says, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
You see, even if the Jews of the Old Testament, they did not know the name of Jesus, they
still called upon the same Lord, okay?
There isn't some God of the Old Testament, and then God, it's a new God of the New Testament,
okay?
It's not like, well, Jesus disappeared in the Old Testament, he appears in the New Testament.
It's the same Lord that is called upon for salvation.
We know it's the name of Christ.
We've been revealed.
Hey, thank God.
We've got the full revelation.
We got the entire Bible, 66 books of the Bible, to reveal to us very clearly that our Savior's
name is Jesus Christ.
So how did the Old Testament get saved?
They called upon the name of the Lord as well.
Okay, they just didn't know the name of Jesus, all right?
You're there in John 14, have a look at this.
John 14 and verse number 6.
And the only reason I wanted to read this part to you is just to remind you, when Christ
was walking the earth, he was operating under the Old Testament, okay?
The New Testament did not come into effect until his death.
The death of the test data is when the New Testament began, all right?
The New Testament in his blood, okay?
His blood was what brought forth that New Testament.
So as Christ is saying these words in John 14, it's under the Old Testament, right?
John 14 verse 6, Jesus saith unto them, sorry, unto him, I am the way, the truth and the
life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Notice that, even in the Old Testament.
The only way you could be saved and come to the Father is by Jesus Christ, okay?
So if someone turns around and says to you, well, no, the Old Testament saints, they got
saved by keeping the law of Moses, another gospel.
Now look, I want to be careful with what I say, okay?
Because I understand, to understand like some of these, to grasp some of these things in
the Bible takes time.
And I also understand people go to churches and they hear bad preaching, they get confused,
they get cobwebs.
And you know what, if you start to believe something quite wrong, even though it could
look minor to begin with, as time goes on, it creates chasms, okay?
I want to differentiate the person that's just confused because they're in a bad church,
you know, someone that is truly saved and just confused versus those that are just openly
preaching false things.
You know, those that are just openly preaching another gospel, you know, and they're not
saved.
They don't even understand the gospel to begin with.
To me, if you understand the gospel, that man cannot save themselves, we needed a savior,
God is a savior.
Where is he?
In Hosea.
There is no savior beside him.
And they still say, well, no, it's by works in the Old Testament.
And some preach and they're just boldly preaching that, you know, they dig their heels in.
To me, that's just a false prophet.
You know, you're a minister of Satan, deceiving the simple, okay?
But again, please, you know, just because someone might say something a little bit weird,
don't throw them under that in that same basket, okay?
Be patient with people.
And you know, if you get that chance, explain to them, hey, the Bible is very clear.
Even Christ was very clear.
Under the Old Testament times, access to the Father was through the Son, okay?
This is why it's so important that we have the right Son.
This is why it's so important that we have the Son, okay?
Jesus Christ.
Jesus is not the Father.
Jesus is not the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is the Son.
You've got to get Jesus right to get to the Father.
You know, no other gods before him.
I'll get to that in a moment.
Can you please go to John chapter five, since you're in John already.
John chapter five, verse forty-five.
John chapter five and verse number forty-five.
Say, pastors still don't get it.
They didn't know the name of Jesus in the Old Testament.
Moses did not know the name of Jesus.
You know, Samuel did not know the name of Jesus.
Solomon did not know the name of Jesus.
So how, like, I don't get it, Pastor Kevin.
Well, have a look at this.
I love this passage of scripture.
John chapter five, verse forty-five.
Because you can't debate the words of Christ.
Like, sometimes, you know, when people speak in the Bible,
you know, you've got to come to realise, okay,
is what this person is saying is true or is it false?
Like, if it's a man that speaks.
You don't always know if what they're saying is 100% true.
But what Christ says is always 100% true, okay?
So John five, forty-five.
These are the words of Christ again.
Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father.
There is one that accused of you,
even Moses, in whom you trust.
Verse number forty-six.
For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me.
Why?
For he wrote of me.
Say, well, they didn't know Jesus in the Old Testament.
Moses wrote of Jesus.
That's what Jesus says.
And look at verse number forty-seven.
But if ye believed not his writings,
how shall ye believe my words?
The writings of Moses are the words of Jesus.
It's the same God that moved Moses to pen those words.
It's the same God that is speaking
to these unbelieving Jews.
What does Jesus say?
J, he says, well, if ye believed Moses,
ye would have believed on me.
He wrote of me.
Yeah, because salvation has always been in Christ.
It's always been by Christ, okay?
Yeah, again, they didn't know the name.
Granted, they did not know the name of Jesus Christ.
But I just want to show you
that salvation has always been in Christ, okay?
And, you know, I'll quickly read to you
from Joel chapter two, you don't need to turn there.
Joel chapter two, verse 32.
Okay, this is an Old Testament prophet.
And I want you to think of these words.
Because as I read these words,
you're going to think this is from the New Testament.
In Joel chapter two, verse 32, it says,
and it shall come to pass,
that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be, in the New Testament,
shall be saved, in the book of Joel, delivered.
In fact, that passage that is so familiar to us
from the book of Romans has come out of Joel chapter two.
Paul is quoting Joel, and Joel says,
that whoso shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be delivered.
So notice that, even Joel says,
no, you've got to call on the Lord to be saved,
to be delivered.
Delivered is another way of saying saved.
Keeps going there, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
shall be deliverance, as the Lord have said,
and in the remnant, whom the Lord shall call.
Now, in that passage, Joel chapter two studies,
don't forget, this is obviously written in Hebrew.
So when he says, and it shall come to pass,
that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord,
in your Bibles, that'll be all capitalized,
capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D,
in your King James Bible.
But if you went back to the Hebrew,
what would that word say?
Does anybody know?
Jehovah.
Okay, so if you were reading the Hebrew scriptures
and you were a Jew,
it would read that whosoever shall call
on the name of Jehovah shall be delivered.
Hey, but it's the same Lord above all.
It's the same, look, whether you're a Jew,
whether you're a Gentile, it's the same Lord that saves.
So yeah, they did not call on Jesus to be saved,
but they called on Jesus and called him Jehovah.
Because Jehovah is one of the names of Christ.
Granted, it's also a name of the Father.
The Father has a name of Jehovah, so does Jesus Christ.
I can prove that some other time.
But the name of Jesus only belongs to the Son.
Okay, I've preached a whole sermon on this before.
But you know, the name of Christ,
the name of Jesus is given to the Son.
It's never referred to as the Father's name.
It's never referred to as the Holy Spirit's name.
In fact, the name of Jesus is used to differentiate
between the Son and either the Holy Spirit or the Father,
depending on the context.
I mean, if Jesus was the Father's name,
then you couldn't use the name of Jesus to differentiate
between the two persons there, okay?
But I want to show you that even in Joseph Knopf,
to be saved, to be delivered,
you have to call upon the name of the Lord.
And that Lord, of course, name is Jehovah.
So when we, you know, in the New Testament,
as we lead someone in prayer to call upon the Lord,
we'll say, dear Jesus, or Jesus, please save me,
something along the lines, we'll say the name of Jesus.
We're putting our trust and faith on Jesus.
They did exactly the same thing.
They just said Jehovah, please save me Jehovah.
Give me everlasting life, Jehovah.
They called upon them the Lord.
The same Lord that saves.
There is no savior beside God, all right?
Can you please turn to Exodus chapter six?
Exodus chapter six.
I think this is just a really important point to lock down.
I think if you get a good grasp of this,
then you'll never be misled.
You'll never get to a point where,
I don't know, how do they get saved?
I mean, God asked them to do sacrifices.
God asked them to keep the Sabbath.
So I guess they got saved by doing these things.
Like Christians that don't spend time reading their Bibles
and studying it and really trying to grasp it,
they end up on these strange ideas.
But the Bible's very consistent.
I mean, there's a reason why Paul,
as he writes to Romans, is quoting Joel,
because salvation's the same way,
Old Testament, New Testament,
because the Bible's actually straightforward.
It's not contradictive.
Salvation, we say salvation is simple.
It's always been simple.
God's always been the Savior,
and we just have to accept his salvation.
Exodus chapter six, verse number two.
The Bible reads,
And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him,
I am the Lord.
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob,
by the name of God Almighty,
but by my name Jehovah, was I not known to them.
So when we read verse number two,
and God spake unto Moses, and said unto him,
I am the Lord, again, if you're reading the Hebrew,
it says, I am Jehovah, all right?
But he says, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
did not know him as Jehovah.
They knew him as God Almighty.
That was the name that they knew him as, God Almighty.
So it's kind of the same thing.
We say, well, the Old Testament saints,
when you think about Moses,
like from the Old Covenant forward,
they did not know the name of Jesus.
We know it, that doesn't seem right.
Well, hey, even before the Old Covenant,
those that existed before Moses,
they did not even know the name of Jehovah.
They knew the name God Almighty,
by the name of God Almighty, they knew him as, okay?
So did they get saved by calling upon them,
oh Lord, of course.
They just said, God Almighty, or Almighty God, save me.
They placed their faith on God Almighty, okay?
And then come the time of Moses,
when he wrote the first five books of the Bible,
God revealed his name as Jehovah, the Lord.
Come the New Testament,
we know the name of the Lord is Jesus Christ, okay?
But hey, it's the same God that saves.
You know, God Almighty, Jehovah, Jesus, it's the same God.
Okay, it's not some lesser God, or some other type of God,
or something like that.
No, no other gods before the Lord God, okay?
It's the same God overall.
Can you please turn to Genesis 17?
Genesis 17, verse one.
And what I like about Genesis 17, verse one,
it just proves that Abraham did not know God as Jehovah.
Look at Genesis 17, verse one.
It says, and when Abram was 90 years old and nine,
the Lord, now I'll stop there for a moment,
the Lord, that's Jehovah.
So hold on, he did not know the name Jehovah.
Well, you're right.
The Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him,
I am Almighty God.
Notice how God speaks to Abram, how he reveals himself?
It's Almighty God, or God Almighty, right?
Walk before me and be thou perfect.
They say, Pastor Kevin says, the Lord, that's Jehovah.
Yeah, but who wrote the book of Genesis?
Moses, okay?
Moses knew him as the Lord, as Jehovah.
So as Moses writes this, yeah, he writes the Lord,
but when God communicates to Abram,
or vice, or Abraham to the Lord,
he's referred to as God Almighty,
because that's the name that they knew him as, okay?
Did they get saved by calling upon them the Lord?
Of course they did, unto God Almighty.
And come Moses, Jehovah.
Come the New Testament, Jesus.
But it's the same God overall, okay?
Now, I'll show you another passage if you can.
Can you please turn to Isaiah 52?
Turn to Isaiah 52 and verse number seven.
Isaiah 52, verse number seven.
Isaiah 52 and verse number seven.
And I'm going to read to you from Romans 10, 14,
just familiar passages.
Romans 10, 14 says, how then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach except they be sent
as it is written, as it is written where?
Well, that's why I told you to turn to Isaiah, okay?
As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them
that preach of this, the gospel of peace
and bring glad tidings of good things.
People say, well, that's how we get saved
in the New Testament, the gospel of peace.
We can't bring glad tidings of what God has done, salvation.
But then they'll say, but the Old Testament was different.
Hey, what did Paul say?
As it is written.
Again, where was that written?
In the book of Isaiah, chapter 52, verse number seven,
Isaiah 52, seven says, how beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
look, and publisheth peace.
Hey, good tidings is the gospel.
And what are they published in peace?
It's the gospel of peace.
And bringeth good tidings of good and publish of salvation
that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth.
You notice that?
The gospel that saves us in the New Testament
is being quoted from Isaiah.
He preached the same gospel that we believe in.
He preached that God is a savior, that it's not by works.
He said it's by calling upon the name of the Lord,
placing your faith in the Lord God of the Bible.
Of course, Isaiah still knew him as Jehovah
at that point in time.
Okay, I'm making a point of this.
So you can have the confidence and assurance
that the Bible is consistent, Old and New Testament,
salvation has always been the same,
because God is the savior.
If someone says, no, no, no, no, no,
they had to do X, Y, and Z, not only is it another gospel,
but now they're speaking about another God
that's not the savior,
because then man has to save themselves
if they're trying to keep the law to be saved.
Again, differentiate between those that are just confused
versus the ministers of Satan
that are preaching false things, okay?
Now, you're there in Isaiah, you're still there in Isaiah,
so please turn to Isaiah 41 for me.
Please turn to Isaiah 41, verse number four.
And yes, it is a bit of a Bible study tonight,
hope you don't mind.
Isaiah 41 and verse number four.
Jesus is not a New Testament variation of God or something.
Okay, the New Testament, Jesus is not some
just more humble God.
You know, God's just changed his mind,
he was a bit rough in the Old Testament,
you know, raining fire and brimstone on the sodomites,
you know, and Jesus has come along,
he's got a totally different attitude.
It's the same God, it's the same God.
Isaiah 41, verse four, look at that.
Who have wrought and done it,
calling the generations from the beginning,
I the Lord, the first and with the last, I am he.
Please turn to Isaiah 44, verse six.
Isaiah 44, verse number six.
The Bible reads, Isaiah 44, six.
Thus saith the Lord, the king of Israel
and his redeemer, the Lord of hosts,
I am the first and I am the last
and beside me there is no God.
Okay, our God is the first and the last.
Old Testament God, right, Isaiah.
Go to Isaiah 48, Isaiah 48, verse 12.
Isaiah 48 and verse number 12.
Isaiah 48, 12, the Bible reads,
Harken unto me, O Jacob and Israel,
my God, I am he, I am the first, I also am the last.
Mine hand have also laid the foundation of the earth
and my right hand have spanned the heavens.
When I call unto them, they stand up together.
So this God, which is the first and the last
is the creator of the earth.
He's the creator of all creation.
And of course, the Bible teaches us in the New Testament
that Jesus Christ is the creator,
that all things were made through him.
And I'll just quickly read to you a very familiar passage.
You guys know it, Revelation 22, 12, the words of Jesus.
He says, and behold, I come quickly
and my reward is with me to give every man
according to his work, as his work shall be.
I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end,
the first and the last.
Who's the first and the last?
According to Isaiah, the Lord God.
There is none besides him.
And Jesus Christ says, I am the first and the last.
The same God hasn't changed, hasn't changed.
Okay, so again, those that diminish Christ
say it was not really God, like the Jehovah Witnesses.
They'll say, well, he's a mighty God,
but not the almighty God.
Well, they've got another God.
I don't care if they call themselves Christians.
Okay, they've got another God.
And the first commandment,
they've already broken commandment number one.
No other gods.
And look, and that God, our God is a savior, okay?
He does the saving, okay?
If you did your own saving,
then you can't say that God is a savior.
And then you've got, as I said to you, it's another God.
In fact, if you think you can save yourself,
you're basically saying you are God.
I can save myself.
I can get myself to heaven.
Hey, I can reach the standard of perfection.
Hey, I can reach godhood.
Because really, going to heaven, the level is perfection.
If you think you can get to heaven
based on your own good works,
based on you turning from your sins,
repenting from your sins,
you're basically saying I can achieve perfection.
I can achieve the level of God to get to heaven.
No, brethren, we go to heaven because of Jesus.
And only Jesus, he gets us there, right?
He's the one that gives us his righteousness.
So we call upon the Lord for salvation.
The gospel has not changed.
They just knew him by a different name.
That's all, okay?
Hey, and we understand the fullness
of what Christ has done for us.
We understand his death on the cross,
his burial, his resurrection.
We understand that.
They had a more veiled understanding, okay?
They had all the object lessons.
They had the sacrifices.
They had the priests, the cleansiness.
They had many, many symbolic,
they had the manna that fell from heaven.
They had the rock in which they drank water,
you know, water from.
You know, they had many pictures,
the path of a lamb.
They had many pictures of what Christ would ultimately be.
And their faith was upon that God that they called upon
by the name that they knew
that God had revealed to them at that time,
and they were saved.
The same way as us, by faith alone
on what Christ has done.
I'll get you to turn to Matthew.
Yeah, please turn to Matthew 28.
Turn to Matthew 28.
And look, the God that we worship,
and we've preached on this before,
but I want this to be clear.
The God that we worship is one God,
because there is no other God besides him.
One God in three persons, the Trinity.
Okay, one God in three persons.
The Bible says in 1 John 5.7,
for there are three that bear record in heaven,
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one.
Okay, that's what the Bible teaches.
One God, three persons,
the Father, the Word, which is Jesus, and the Holy Ghost.
All right, it's not Jesus is the Father,
or Jesus is the Holy Ghost, like I told you.
One is theology, it's another God.
It's another God.
We have to be careful.
Because listen, brethren,
even the church that sent me and ordained me
have gotten themselves confused with another God.
It can happen.
It can happen to the people
that you least expect it to happen.
So don't think that our commandment number one,
that's a breeze.
We're not gonna have any other gods before me.
Listen, false teaching creeps into churches,
and before you know it,
you're giving worship and praise to some false god.
It just takes a minister of Satan to come in
and sow those seeds of confusion.
Where did I get to turn to?
Sorry, Matthew 28, verse 19.
Familiar passages.
Go ye therefore and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Brethren, name the authority.
That's what it's referring to, okay?
The authority.
There is one power, there is one authority.
There is one God above all,
and this one God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Jesus Christ, this is the teaching of Christ.
I don't know why this is so controversial.
This is the teaching of Jesus Christ.
Look, it's taught by other people, don't get me wrong,
but Christ revealed it very openly,
very clearly, the triune nature of God.
Matthew chapter three, please.
Matthew chapter three, verse 16.
Matthew chapter three, verse number 16.
Matthew 3, 16.
The Bible reads, and Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water,
and lo, the heavens opened up to him.
Now notice the next words.
And he, that's Jesus, and he saw the Spirit of God.
Is Jesus the Spirit of God?
No, he saw the Spirit of God, okay?
Descending like a dove, and lighting upon him.
Look, and lo, a voice from heaven.
Is Jesus causing that voice from heaven?
No, Jesus on the earth getting baptized.
A voice from heaven saying,
this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
And there are some people that want you to believe
that Jesus is saying about himself
that he is his own beloved Son.
No, the Father is not the Son.
The Son is not the Holy Spirit,
and yet we serve and worship one God, okay?
Listen, we have to believe in the Trinity.
I know the word Trinity is not in the Bible.
It just means try free, in it's unity, free in one.
That's what we believe.
These three are one,
and the easiest way to say that is just Trinity.
Listen, we're a Trinitarian church.
We believe in the Trinity.
It's one of our doctrines
on our statement of faith of our church, okay?
Let's never move away from this understanding.
It is so clearly taught.
It's undeniable that God is one yet in three persons.
Now I'm gonna quickly read you another passage,
and I want you to be careful with this passage,
because this passage in Colossians 2, 9 says,
for in him, for in Jesus,
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Okay, it's a powerful verse.
For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily.
You know, I've heard people say,
maybe we shouldn't use the word Trinity,
and I can understand,
because it's not in the Bible, I can tell you,
even though the concept is definitely there, okay?
But let's say, well, maybe we should just use
the word Godhead,
because the Bible does mention the word Godhead
a few times in the Bible, right?
In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
So, you know, the thought there is,
well, maybe we should just refer to the Trinity
as the Godhead.
And look, again, as just in general conversation,
it's not a big deal,
but if we're not careful with our words,
it can lead to bad doctrine, okay?
Because let's say Godhead there met Trinity,
or we're substituting the thought of the Trinity
in that passage.
Then it would read this way.
For in him, for in Jesus,
dwelleth all the fullness of the Trinity bodily.
Now, you can see, when someone starts to think that way,
well, the fullness of the Trinity is bodily in Christ.
Then you can see where one theology comes from.
Well, then Jesus is the Father.
I mean, the fullness of the Father is in Jesus,
so Jesus is the Father.
And the Holy Spirit is in Jesus.
So Jesus is the Holy Spirit, and he's the Son.
But that's not what Godhead means, okay?
You know, for mothers,
you've experienced motherhood, okay?
You've experienced motherhood.
What does that mean?
You've experienced the states of being a mother.
That's what it means, okay?
Fatherhood, it means the states of being a father, okay?
Godhead is basically just an archaic way of saying Godhood.
All right, that's what it means.
Godhead does not mean Trinity.
It means Godhood, the states of being God.
And so what Colossians 2, 9 is really saying,
for in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the state of being God bodily, okay?
Again, it's just reinforcing the fact
that Jesus Christ was 100% God,
the fullness of the Godhead.
You know, yes, he emptied himself.
He came down low, a little lower than the angels.
He came, you know, in the likeness of sinful flesh.
Yes, he limited himself.
He was 100% man, but he was always 100% God.
Always, not 50% man and 50% God,
not 90% God and 10% man, 100% God,
the fullness of the Godhead in him bodily,
but also 100% man, okay?
That's another important teaching
that we have in our church.
We serve a Jesus Christ who's 100% God, 100% man.
Please don't let people deviate you away from that,
because before you know it,
they'll be teaching things like,
well, God can't truly die,
so the deity of Christ had left him
when the Father forsook the Son,
and all that was left on the cross
was the man Christ Jesus.
Just a man?
I thought my Savior was a Lord God.
Otherwise, you've got another God.
No, the one that died on the cross in my place was God,
okay, the Son of God manifest in the flesh, okay?
The fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and so again, people, they try to be little,
little, I don't know,
they bring the wisdom of man,
trying to sound intelligence, right?
Well, that's when the deity part of Jesus Christ left him.
It's just the body there,
because we know God.
Listen, what do you know about God?
The only thing you know about God
is what the Bible tells us,
and we know that God purchased us with his own blood.
That broken body,
the blood that was shed on that cross was the blood of God.
That's what saved us.
That's my Savior, okay?
So let's not get turned aside
and come up with little smart ideas and thoughts
that just lead onto further questions and confusion,
and eventually might even lead you
to start believing in another God.
Commandment number one was have no other gods before him.
Can you please turn to Matthew chapter 17,
Matthew chapter 17, verse number one,
Matthew 17 and verse number one.
Do you see how important it is, though,
that we're careful about how we describe God?
You know, even just minor little changes,
maybe God had means Trinity.
Yeah, okay, you know, I know you mean well or whatever.
You know, I know you're just trying to grasp,
you know, the ideas of God,
but we gotta be careful.
Let's just stick to the Bible.
When we start to be a little bit too smart for the Bible,
it creates confusion.
You know, let's not go there.
Let's just trust what the Bible says about the Lord God.
Okay, I don't wanna have another God before us.
I never wanna mistakenly preach some other Jesus to you.
Man, I'd be so disappointed
if our church ever went that way.
But Matthew 17, verse one, this is another great story.
This is about the transfiguration of Jesus Christ.
This was a point where Jesus Christ
just turns on the glory, all right?
Again, reminder, when he came to this earth,
he limited himself to be just like any other man.
This is one time, okay, that he just turned on the glory
and just showed his disciples that he is God Almighty.
Okay, I mean, pretty much the same glory
that you're gonna see him in heaven
is the glory that these men saw
on the mount of transfiguration, okay?
Matthew 17, verse one, it says,
and after six days, Jesus taketh Peter and James
and John his brother, and bringeth them up
into a high mountain apart, it's just a three,
Peter, James, and John saw this, and was transfigured.
The figure of Christ changed, okay, before them.
Look at, and his face did shine as the sun.
That's the kind of change that took place.
Have you ever tried to just stare at the sun for a while?
You can't bear it, okay, it's hard to,
you know, for a period, yeah, you can,
but then you look away, you just got black spots
all over your eyes, right?
It's too much, it's overwhelming for the eyes.
This is what happened to Christ, you know?
The face shining as the sun,
and his raiment was white as the light,
and behold, there appeared unto them
Moses and Elias talking with him.
Notice this?
Look, I can't tell you exactly what's transpired,
but this is basically, somehow this is heaven.
I mean, the glory has just been turned on,
because obviously Moses and Elias, they've died.
They've gone to be in heaven, okay?
This is one time where Christ is an amazing miracle,
and, you know, the separation between heaven and earth
is just blurred, okay, it's just blurred.
And they're just, you know,
Elias and Moses just appears on the scene, okay?
Verse number four.
Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus,
Lord, it is good for us to be here.
If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles,
one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
While he yet spake, behold, I love this part too,
a bright cloud overshadowed them.
Okay, so as the disciples are speaking,
not knowing what they're saying really,
they're just overwhelmed, okay?
They're like, can we just make a place for you guys to stay?
I don't really get it.
Anyway, I guess they're just overwhelmed
with what's happening, right?
And now a bright cloud overshadows them, all right?
Kind of like protecting them in a sense.
And then it says, and behold a voice out of the cloud
which said, this is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him.
Listen, the glory's on.
Heaven's somehow been merged to the earth
just on this one mount.
These three people are able to experience it.
And I just wanna show you that even in glory,
there's a separation between father and son.
Because some people have that thought,
well, maybe when we get to heaven,
there is no separation between father and son.
You know, God just merges back
into his oneness being or something.
And like maybe on the earth,
we're just sort of seeing these free elements or something.
But really when we get to heaven,
it's just like, it just all merges
into one big God or something.
No, that's Hinduism.
Hinduism teaches such things.
There is sort of this one God
who comes and manifests himself into literally thousands,
tens of thousands, unlimited beings.
But really, when you go to
whatever they consider to be heaven,
it's all just the one merging of all these powers will be.
No, that's not how it is.
Even when the glory is turned on,
even when you see people that should be in heaven,
but appearing there most in their lives,
you see the father separated from the son.
He says, this is my beloved son.
They could barely see Jesus, right?
But by looking at, as the sun shine upon them,
they could see some elements.
They could see his reign.
They could see the light coming out of him.
But the father, they could not see him.
The father had to send a cloud
to protect them from the father,
or they'd be wiped out.
And yet the voice that came from the father
said that Jesus is his beloved son.
Son, Jesus is not the father.
Okay, this oneness theology, this modalist rubbish,
it's another God.
It's another Jesus, all right?
This is why I had to break fellowship with my old church.
Okay, like, I think you guys know me quite well now.
You've known me for almost five years, all right?
You know I'm not just trying to seek, you know, conflict.
You know, I'm trying to,
I generally try to give people the benefit of the doubt.
You guys know that I try to be a blessing to people
that are just trying to serve the Lord God.
You know, I have no enjoyment
breaking fellowship with people.
It doesn't, you know,
it's not something that I seek after, you know, conflict.
But Brevin, you know,
when someone starts preaching another Jesus,
you've got to separate from that.
You've got to break, it's commandment number one.
No other God's before him.
It's commandment number one.
Man, if we can't get commandment number one right,
how are we gonna get the rest of it right?
Anyway, please go to 1 John.
Please go to 1 John chapter two.
1 John chapter two and verse number 23.
We'll end on this one.
1 John chapter two and verse number 23.
And this is why it's so important.
I'm sorry, bro, I'm not trying to steal your thunder here.
But you know, 1 John chapter two, verse number 23,
it's so important we get this right,
that we have no other gods before us,
that we understand and we worship and praise
the true God of the Bible.
Because 1 John chapter two, verse 23 says,
Whosoever denyeth the Son, the same hath not the Father.
But he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father also.
Brevin, we get Jesus right and we have the Father,
we have access to the Father, we have salvation.
We have a God who is the Saviour.
I mean, if God, again, if God is a Saviour,
it means He's in the business of saving.
You don't save yourself.
There's nothing you can do.
That should automatically say,
as soon as God says, I'm the Saviour,
that should just automatically say,
then obviously there's no works,
there's nothing I can do except to trust the Saviour,
to receive what He has done for me.
That should just automatically come with a package.
But again, there are people that name the name of Jesus.
And they say, no, no, no, no.
He's only opened the door so far.
You've got to keep the commandments.
You've got to turn from your sins to be saved.
Because if you haven't turned from your sins,
you know, then that just shows me you're not saved.
Brevin, that's crazy teaching.
It's crazy teaching, okay?
But then it said, again, at the beginning of that verse,
who shall we deny of the Son?
Who denies the Son?
You know, I've done a lot of door-to-door works,
Brother Michael, you too,
knocking the doors of Muslims back in Sydney.
Yeah, what do they say?
They deny that God has a Son.
They can't accept it.
They just can't, they refuse to accept that.
Well, whosoever deny of the Son,
the same hath not the Father.
But what's funny, they'll often say to me at the door,
no, but we worship the same God.
They say, anyone that believes there is one God,
don't Christians believe in one God?
Yes, we do.
Well, yeah, we believe in one God.
And if you believe in one God, we're brothers.
No, you deny the Son.
You refuse the Son, okay?
In fact, you refuse salvation, once again.
They'll say to you, no, it doesn't seem right
that Jesus Christ will come and die for me
and take my place.
I think everybody's accountable for themselves
and has to save themselves.
Well, then you don't have the God that's the Savior.
Islam has a false God.
That's simple for us to understand.
But who else denies the Son?
Well, the Jews.
Judaism denies the Son.
They hate Jesus Christ.
They don't think Jesus has anything to do
with the writings of Moses,
and yet the Bible's very clear that,
hey, if they had believed Moses,
they would have believed in Christ
because Moses wrote of Christ, okay?
And so, you know, and I hear this sometimes
in independent Baptist churches.
Well, the Jews, it's like they just missed out
on the New Testament.
They still worship the same God that we worship.
You know, when they're just banging their head on that wall,
the wailing wall, and they're not banging their head,
you know, while they're doing this on the wailing wall,
you know, they're really praying to the same God
that we pray to.
They've just missed out on the Son.
No, no, no.
If you deny the Son, the same hath not the Father.
Their God is not our God.
The God of Judaism is not the God
of New Testament Christianity.
The God of New Testament Christianity
is the same God as Old Testament Christianity.
Yes, Christianity, because it all points to Christ.
Okay?
No, the God of Judaism is another God.
I don't care if they call him Father.
He's not my Father.
Okay, they worship a false God.
Okay, so you can see, brethren, we don't get this right.
Hey, we don't get Jesus right.
You're not gonna have access to the Father.
You're not saved.
Okay, and we're commanded not to have
any other gods before him.
All right, brethren, start of a new series,
commandment number one, and I'll be working through this
in the coming weeks.
Okay, let's pray.