The Ten Commandments

Intro: Last week we talked about the climatic point of intimacy with God was when Israel was saved from their enemy by a walk of faith through the Red Sea. Then they responded with an outburst of intimate praise to God their Savior.

Tonight I want us to talk about continuing in that intimacy with God as Israel was given God’s commands of how to do that, the Ten Commandments. The commandments are a summary of God’s covenant with Israel and how they were to maintain that covenant relationship with Him.

There are two specific purposes for the Ten Commandments that I want to share with you and try to bring out in our study.

1. The Commandments were given by God to show man his inability to be righteous on his own. He needed to be in an intimate relationship with God to be righteous. These laws are meant to point all men to the Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Galatians 3:24–25 NKJV

24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV

21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

2. The Commandments show man the nature of God and what a righteous relationship with God looks like, and how that relationship is to be extended to others.

Matthew 22:37–40 (NKJV)

37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

John 13:34–35 (NKJV)

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 14:15 (NKJV)

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

I believe that the Ten Commandments are as relevant to our lives today as they were to Israel the day when God gave them. They are not to be seen as a list of do’s and don’ts, but as a guide to that intimacy with God through Christ His righteousness. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.

Matthew 5:17–19 (NKJV)

17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Romans 3:31 NKJV

31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

The Ten Commandments are still a grace guide to continual intimacy with the Lord.

Text; Exodus 20:1-17

Exodus 20:1–17 NKJV

1 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 bondage. 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—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; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. 8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. 12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 13 “You shall not murder. 14 “You shall not commit adultery. 15 “You shall not steal. 16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

As we look at these Commandments, we need to realize that there is both a negative and positive aspect in each of them.

1. Put God First; 1-3

God is the God of their salvation so it is reasonable to expect that He should be first priority in their lives.

Israel has just come out of 400 years of slavery in a land that worshiped many gods that were defeated and destroyed by Jehovah God. They are heading into a land that worships many gods. But they have the promise of Jehovah God to remove those from the land before them.

Why would they not give their full allegiance to God? Past and Future

False gods are those things we promote above God, or which we consider to be more important than God.

Group Discussion; What are some gods that compete most for your loyalty to Christ? Recreation. pleasure, clothing, job, money, success, self, children, family.

The pursuit of these things above our loyalty to God becomes an idol of our worship. Christ himself said;

Matthew 6:24 (NKJV)

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

God will not accept a divided heart. He must have absolute control of your soul. There is no room in your heart for two thrones. God is not a co-pilot. He is either your pilot or you’re not on his flight!

Turn to 1 Kings 18:21 [this is where many so called “christians” are today, wavering]. But Elijah made a public stand with God in a showdown with the false god Baal. Elijah was a man with the odds against him, according to the world, but he was in the majority because he was sold out to God. His uncompromising faith in God turned the hearts of many, back to God.

That’s the kind of faith, loyalty and devotion God requires of us!

The negative aspect; Do not consider anything in your life to be more important than God.

The positive aspect; Make God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only God in your life. He is the Person you want to worship and to whom you want to dedicate your life.

There is no satisfaction for the soul except in the God of the Bible. For He is the one who delivers us from our house of bondage.