Ten Words

Intro: Recap: God’s people in Exodus have been delivered in God’s power from slavery and made His people. They have now come to Mt. Sinai, the destination in which God will then command His covenant people to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation. As Chris showed us last week, the parameters of this covenant was to remind them of who God was and how then they were to respond to this covenant, through worship and obedience to Him.

No longer is Israel under Egyptian rule with a multitude of gods, in a culture of sin and death, that which is defined by the path of the serpent, The Enemy. They are put on a new path of life, under Yahweh, the one true God and giver of life and redemption.

The mindset is changing. The definition of life is given new parameters. Just like a new coach coming into a new football team and changing the culture from one little focus and discipline that led to losing, a new coach has come to change the way to show them a better way.

God has come to be with His people, redeem them and make them His own, and that is seen in the Gospel message, done by Christ himself. God in the flesh, who descended from heaven to live the life of obedience we could not live, redeemed us from sin and death through His own sacrifice on the cross, and raised us to new life, a resurrected life now able to live for the glory of God as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a treasured possession.

(1-2)

CTS: Since you have been redeemed by Jesus, love God and love others.

GOSPEL FOUNDATION: (1-2)

First, see that it is God himself that speaks to His people. This will be evident later by the reaction of the people after His commands are given. Sometimes we have been influenced by poor renderings of Hollywood. Moses didn’t declare this part of the law. God did on the foot of mountain.

How did He begin? He began to remind them of their redemption.

Foundation: This prologue is not a command as the Jews saw it. Rather, this was the foundational truth that would then inform them as His people. Because of what God has done, this is then how you should then live. The covenant stipulations here are rooted in created order. These laws that God are going to give are a reflection of who God is and the good life that He has prepared for His people.

The law was given after the Lord had redeemed his people from Egypt, and hence their obedience was a response of love to the grace of God.

Thomas Schreiner

This isn’t something they would do in order to be redeemed, but because they have been redeemed already. This is the Gospel in a nutshell for us. As the church, we are in the same position. The principle of the OT people of God were not saved because of their obedience. Never in the OT was that ever the case. Why? Because no one could be obedient enough. As we see here, these standards of God’s holiness, these laws are expressions of how we were supposed to live, but can’t. Sin is the problem, and these commands reveal our own hearts. We don’t naturally seek to love God because of sin. We don’t love neighbor because of sin.

The 10 Commandments acts like a Constitution for God’s people. Our US Constiution gives us foundational principles and law that inform life and government into our society. It is the basis by which our of our laws are put under scrutiny. These 10 are very much in the same vein. These moral laws are foundational to God’s standard and desire for His own people to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. But these laws could not save the Israelites, just like they can’t save us.

What saved God’s people was faith always in God himself. So, before we even begin with the 10 Commandments, you need to know that obeying these commands will not save you. They will not cause you to enter the kingdom of God. Plastering them in public places like schools and courthouses won’t save people either. That’s not to say that these principles are not something that we should endeavor to live by as a society, but let us not ever think that we can pull ourselves up by our own moral-boot straps and save ourselves. No, the law has a two-fold purpose. To reveal our sin and then, after our transformation as His people, be the way we live in light of our salvation. Paul makes this clear in the book of Galatians, where he spends much of the letter breaking down a theology of works and obedience to the law to save.

Galatians 3:21–26 ESV

21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

But now that we are saved, we are then able to live out the commands of God, which Jesus summarized in this way when the religious leaders asked him what the greatest command was:

Matthew 22:35–40 ESV

35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Because of Christ, we are now able to love God and love others as we were created to do, the good path of life rather than the life of sin and death under Satan. This is what this looks like at a foundational level for God’s people.

I. Love God (3-11)

These first four commands are in commands given according to man’s most important relationship, with God. This is the vertical part of our lives. This is how God’s people are to love God himself, and how He relates to us is vitally important. He has revealed himself, redeemed His people, and now because of this, this is how we are to relate to Him.

1. No other gods

The first command remind God’s people that He alone is God. Some have tried to say that God is saying here that other gods exists, but that He alone is worthy of worship. The Hebrew does come across this way, but remember what they just came out of. A plethora of Egyptian gods that Yahweh showed were inept and could do nothing against him. He’s breaking the Egyptian culture out of them. Later throughout the Scriptures, God communicates that He alone is God, even in the second giving of the Law in Deuteronomy.

In other words, God is saying that He alone is God, there are no others, and you need to rid any semblence of anything coming before me.

2. No idols

The second command is very closesly related to the first. No carved images of anything that you worship. The point here is to remind Israel that those images on the walls of Egypt, the little carved images they saw and maybe even had in their own homes, were to be eradicated. Why? Because worship was attributed to these images. Idols are convenient little things that can be taken wherever and say “this god is here with me.” I can impart divinity to this thing and make it do what I want. That is the root of all idolatry. It’s putting something in place of God and imparting worship and divinity to it.

The major principle here is that God does not operate in this way. He is not found in carved images. Nothing on earth can relate to Him fully. We don’t get to dictate worship in our own ways, but rather, we worship Him in spirit and in truth, as Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4.

3. Don’t misuse God’s name

Love of God is also directly related to how we speak about Him, both in word and in action. God’s name was vitally important to God’s people. So much so that many Jews even to this day will not say His revealed name of Yahweh in fear of breaking this command.

We don’t want to flippantly use the name of the Almighty, reducing Him to a mere curse word or phrase used off of the cuff. But even more important I think than that is claiming His name yet living contrary to His will. Misuse of God’s name by claiming to be a Christian yet living in the flesh and like the world is a tarnish upon His own holiness. We cannot love God if we do not live as though we love Him.

John 14:15 ESV

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

4. Remember the Sabbath day

And then the Sabath day here is in relation to our relationship to God. Sabbath was made for man to remind them that one day is to be dedicated to rest and worship of the Lord. This got taken to the extreme by the Jews over time, as Jesus will point out. But everyone was supposed to stop on the seventh day and rest, even all servants.

The principle remains the same for us today, though now because Christ has fulfilled the Law and its demands through His death and resurrection, we now have shifted to a Lord’s Day mentality of Sunday. The principle of rest still stands. We are in need of a realization that we are not God and that we need to trust God by resting from our labors. We also celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and dedicate Sundays to worship. That may look different for reach person. Maybe you have an office job sitting for eight hours a day and on Sunday, you dedicate to worship of the Lord and refreshment. Maybe that means mowing the law or fixing something in your home as a means of refreshment and focus on the Lord, to use the physicality that you don’t get to use as often. The opposite could be the case. You work physically all week and it may be refreshing for you to worship on Sunday with your church family and rest and relax from your labors from the week.

The principle is this: There should be a day dedicated to corporate worship of the Lord, fulfilled now in the gathering of the church on Sundays to celebrate and worship our Savior in rest and worship.

II. Love Others (12-17)

The next set of commands then shifts from the vertical to the horizontal. Notice though that the vertical informs then how we then love others. If love of God isn’t followed, these won’t be either.

I’m going to break these up in a little different way to show some overriding principles that should govern our love for others in light of who we are in Christ.

Love to our closest others (12, 14)

Family is the fabric of society, particularly God’s kingdom. We see here two commands.

One in relation to honor the authority of parents in our lives. That means obedience to that authority, and as we grow older, honoring them by loving them as they loved us when we were younger. That does also mean though that our love of God informs that love. And that will have to take some clear prayer and decision making to honor your parents later in life. But everything is to fall under the love of God and what He calls us to do.

1 Timothy 5:4 ESV

4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.

The second command mentioned in regards to the family is command seven, to not commit adultery. Here, the focus is on the marriage relationship. Because it is so vital to the foundation of the family, we love the spouse whom we have made a covenant with and do not betray that covenant trust by having sexual relations with anyone outside of that covenant bond.

And before we move on, yes, adultery doesn’t cover all sex outside of marriage. And some will make that argument for allowing it. But the rest of Scripture will remain clear. Sex outside of the bounds of marriage between one man and one woman is sin according to the testimony of the Scriptures. Though adultery is only mentioned here, it is expanded upon throughout the OT and NT. A key to a God-honoring relationship in home, foundational to the fabric of God’s kingdom, is marriage and how it reflects the relationship with Christ and His church. Adultery and sexual sin diminishes that love that was intended to be a picture of the gospel.

Love of life and the lives of others (13, 15, 16)

The second area that our love is to be shown to others is the others of our society. We are to love by not taking life in a murderous fashion. All people are made in the image of God, and that makes their lives inherently valuable. We are not to take human life with no respect to it. That doesn’t mean that this speaks against capital punishment or just war actions to protect the lives of others. But this does mean that we do not intentionally kill others for our revenge, malice, pleasure, or because they may cause an inconvenience.

This speaks to us being pro-life, from womb to tomb. We don’t get to dictate who lives or dies because someone makes us mad, does something harmful to us, or is an inconvenience to us. This includes abortion. Life is precious. Second, this goes back to the 5th command, but we don’t take out life because they can’t contribute any more or are a burden to us.

But not only in their value of their lives, but also in life. We don’t steal from one another that which isn’t ours. That chaos within the people of God, distrust and animosity. It also means that we don’t pit classes of people against one another. We are to lean to be content with what we have and trust the Lord for His provision.

We are also not to bear false testimony towards others. That means that what we say is true. Here the command is specifically geared toward a judicial system, but that principle then carries out within the people of God generally. We are truth tellers because we are people of God, who is the God of truth. Lying breeds distrust and is a hindrance to our relationships and a tarnishing of witness to the God whom we serve.

Our hearts toward others (17)

The last command is one that is interesting because it would be nearly impossible to know if someone breaks this command. Coveting. It is an issue of the heart. Coveting is desiring something because your are discontent and are jealous of those that have that thing. It becomes obsessive, but begins in the heart, and that is where sin is rooted. You could say that what is declared as sin in the other commands is because it is rooted in this last command. And really, this closes on the commands as God tells us to watch out hearts. Jesus takes many of these commands and addresses the heart in His Sermon on the Mount.

Murder: Matt 5:21-22

Matthew 5:21–22 ESV

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Adultery: Matt 5:27-28

Matthew 5:27–28 ESV

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

False witness: Matt 5:33-37

Matthew 5:33–37 ESV

33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

The heart is the issue, and yet our hearts our wicked, who can know it? How are these standards then kept in us? We can’t, and only a reorientation of our hearts by faith in Christ can truly cause us to live as God’s people to be a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.

CONCLUSION (18-21)

The tremble of God’s people should also remind us of how serious these commands are. His holiness and His presence should instill a sense of fear and awe among us. Just as a parent, if my kids are near a dangerous area, I would very clearly and firmly tell them the dangers of playing near the busy road full of cars. They need to have a healthy fear of the dangers of a large half-ton trucks barreling down the road at 55 mph. If they get, they will be seriously injured or could die.

The same is involved with God. His law is to reveal our sin and reveal our need for His grace. God’s revealing of these commands was a means of grace, to show the seriousness of sin.

An illustration might be this: Something stuck in your teeth. You have no idea, but someone graciously comes alongside of you and tells that there is something there. You were about to approach the President and you could have had a nasty piece of food stuck there as you greeted him and talked with him. You’d be petrified.

But more than suffering embarrassment, sin is revealed to show us that punishment will occur, death will ensue for those that break God’s standard. Yet God has provided a way to deliver us. The MRI, the Law, shows us our disease. God provides the way to address our sin. Jesus.

And you can’t do enough to try to reverse the sin. To cover it up. To try to make yourself better by being a good person. For going to church. Raising your hand, singing the songs, saying the right things, doing the right things. None of that will save you. Being a good husband or wife won’t save you. Being a good parent won’t save you. Not stealing won’t save you. The bar is too high. Even if we think we’re good enough, we’re not. Jesus makes it clear that even our anger is murder. Our lust is adultery. The heart is the issue, and Jesus has to change your heart. But the burden isn’t on you. It was fulfilled by Christ. He took your heavy burden and took it to the cross. And the results are found in a new covenant.

Jeremiah 31:33 ESV

33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

You’ll be his. This is how we live. Not to burden ourselves, but to then obey to love the one whom has saved us. To love our neighbor as Christ loved us. To reflect the righteous Jesus in our lives, living as His kingdom people for His glory. We take His commands seriously, in gracious awe of the One who gave Himself to us. And we want to obey Him because He has made us able to obey Him. He sanctifies and transforms us to love God and to worship Him as He commands and to love others as we were made to.

I conclude with the words we began with this morning as we began our worship:

Romans 13:8–14 ESV

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.