transgression of this commandment.

3. Double service. [Matt. 6:24+] God forbids us to have other gods
before or besides Him, He demands our whole heart.

II. WHAT IS COMMANDED.

We should give God the highest place in our hearts, and "fear, love and
trust in. Him above all things." [Matt. 4:10+]

1. WE SHOULD FEAR GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS. We should be more afraid of His
anger than of anything else in the whole world. [Gen. 39:9+, Ps. 33:8,
9.] Rather than disobey Him, we should be willing to suffer ridicule,
persecution, loss of money, property, position, or friends, and even
death itself. [Matt. 10:28+, Acts 5:29]

_Why_. We should fear God above all things, 1. Because He is omniscient,
and we cannot hide anything from Him, not even our thoughts. [Ps. 139:1,
2+] 2. Because He is holy, and hates everything that is evil. [Lev.
19:2] 3. Because He is just, and will punish every sin. [Ps. 5:4]

_How_. As Christians, our fear of God should be a child-like and not a
slavish fear. Child-like fear is fear mingled with love. We should
refrain from evil not simply from fear of punishment, but from fear of
offending the God whom we love. [Rom. 8:15+] "Slavish fear Is afraid God
will come; child-like fear is afraid He will go away."

2. WE SHOULD LOVE GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS, "with all our heart, and with
all our mind and with all our soul." [Matt. 22:37] Our first aim and our
highest delight should always be to do God's will. [I John 5:3+] We