The Big 10

Good morning Church!

Exodus 20.

Don’t have a bible?

66 books ( 39 OT and 27 NT)

Exodus 2nd book

All 66 books are not a scattered collection of historical documents and stories…

But a roadmap specifically designed by the Lord to get sinful mankind to a place where we can dwell amongst Him

Its incredible, even though these books are separated by hundreds and even a thousand years…

They all point to the same exact thing…

JESUS CHRIST!

As we get back into Exodus…

Exodus written by Moses 1,000 years before Jesus was born…

Is going to lead us like a compass right to Jesus!!!

Stand with me as we read God’s word…(you may be seated)

So as you see today…10 Commandments

How many of us have known these commandments since childhood???

2 questions we are going to answer today…

What are the 10 Commandments?

Why are the 10 Commandments important?

WHAT ARE THE 10 COMMANDMENTS???

We are going to look at these in context…

Chapter 19 God brought Israel to Mt Sinia…

Made a covenant with them…

He sent Moses with a contract to Israel that said…

Exodus 19:5 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

Conditional Covenant (If/then)

The people accepted the contract!

So Now the people of Isreal are standing at the boundary God set for them at the foot of Mt. Sinia…

He has descended on the MT in fire and smoke, thunder and lightning…

And in CH 20 he is going to give them the details of the covenant that they have just sworn to keep…

The 10 commandments of the Lord that they are to abide in…

These 10 together formulate what Jesus called the greatest commandment of God’s Law…

A Pharisee asked Jesus...

Matthew 22:36–40 ““Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 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. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.””

Commandments split into 2 parts:

-Love God

-Love people

First 4: Vertical commands on how to Love and worship God as He deserves to be loved and worshipped…

Last 6: Horizontal commands on how to treat people…How to walk in a Godly manner

VERTICAL COMMANDS:

1. You shall have no other Gods before me…

Speaking at idolatry in the form of other claimed gods...

Put no other gods before me…worship no other gods…

Before this first command notice verse 2 (I AM brought you out of Egypt)

All the plagues in Egypt were attacks on all their “gods”

One thing I have learned about human beings is that we all contain a natural desire to worship…we all worship someone or something…

Thats idolatry defined…placing someone or something in place of the one true God…

In the 1st command- “someone”

Worship of other “gods”

Today: many religions worship other gods…

In the next command- “something”

2. You shall not make yourself a carved image…

Put no object before me…

People in this time would carve statues of wood or precious metal to worship as images of holiness…

Today: Money, food, job, sex, house, politics, popularity,

Tim Keller: ANYTHING CAN BE AN IDOL (book on idolatry- suicide rates go up during financial crashes)

God puts a lot of emphasis (its the first 2 things in the 10, he reminds in v23)…

There are no other gods…no other worthy of our worship…ONLY THE GREAT I AM!

I am a jealous God...

He wants our worship…He is the only one who deserves it!

I AM the LORD…

I AM brought you out of slavery…

I AM destroyed Pharaohs army…

3. You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain…

Vain: worthless or nothingness, emptiness, meaningless

Remember…these people were given the name of the Lord…

Exodus 3:13–14 “Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ””

Today: ANYTHING that decreases the name of the LORD…

OMG, GD…turning the name of the Lord into nothingness…

BUT not just in those ways…

Worship without reverence or care…

4. You shall remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy…

commandment based out of creation…

REMEMBER…AND REST…

Genesis God created in 6 days and rested the 7th…

He calls it a holy day

What I have made holy…keep holy

this day is pointing to a future day

HORIZONTAL COMMANDS:

5. You shall honor your father and mother…

Honor means to respect and value them…

6. You shall not murder…

Matthew 5:21–22 ““You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 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.”

7. You shall not commit adultery…

Matthew 5:27–28 ““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

8. You shall not steal…

9. You shall not bear false witness…

DONT LIE

10. You shall not covet…

Covet: to take pleasure, delight in, to greatly desire

Why are the 10 Commandments important?

-They show the righteousness of God.

-They show the righteousness man needs to be in right standing with God. (fulfill our side of the covenant)

HOW DO WE KNOW RIGHT FROM WRONG IF NO ONE TELLS US WHAT IS RIGH AND WHAT IS WRONG???

God is setting the bar for righteousness…

V. 18-21 People at the foot of the mountain are in fear!!!

Hebrews 12 says that these people begged that no further message from the Lord be spoken to them because they could not live up to the commands given to them.

They have signed a contract that they know they cant uphold…

They knew they would fail…and they did BIG TIME…

In fact the whole OT shows failure over and over again…

Even Moses…failed…

King David…failed...

King Solomon..failed…

Let me ask you church…

How are you doing?

Idols?

Take the Lords name in vain?

Have you always honored your parents?

Anger or hatred in your heart for another

lust?

Steal?

Lie?

Covet?

CHURCH THESE 10 Commandments show us today what it showed the Israelites…

WE CANT FOLLOW THEM PERFECTLY…

THESE 10 COMMANDMENTS ONLY SHOW US HOW SINFUL WE ARE…

Romans 3:20 “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

The giving of the 10 commandments leads us to the knowledge of our sin…

It shows you what is righteous behavior and what isnt…

And very quickly we realize we fall on the wrong side of this bar…

We need help…We need someone to save us from this law of righteousness that we cant follow to perfection…

BUT WAIT!!!!

JESUS!!!!

JESUS came to do what we couldnt do!!!!

Matthew 5:17–18 ““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

HE LIVED OUT THE LAW PERFECTLY!!! (read through the gospel and see for yourself)

So Jesus fulfilled the covenant for us…because we couldnt…

And since we failed…

he paid the penalty we owed as well…

Penalty for sin/unrighteousness is DEATH

JESUS took that…

COMPLETELY FULLFILLING THE LAW OF RIGHTEOUSNESS…

MAKING US RIGHTEOUS SO THAT WE CAN STAND BEFORE A HOLY GOD NOT AS ENEMIES…

BUT AS SONS AND DAUGHTERS…

This is the free gift of the gospel and all you have to do is place your faith in it!!!!

BECAUSE OF JESUS WE DONT HAVE TO STAND AT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN IN FEAR…

BUT WE STAND AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS AND AT THE DOOR OF AN EMPTY TOMB ABD REJOICE BECAUSE THROUGH FAITH IN HIM…

JESUS HAS MADE US RIGHTEOUS ENOUGH!!!

The 4th commandment…Remember the sabbath…

I AM the Lord of the sabbath

Come to me and I will give you rest….

PRAY!!!