Obey And Be Blessed

Obey and Be Blessed by Steve Keeler

Exodus 20:1-17

After 400 years, the Israelites have finally left Egypt

and the life of slavery behind them and have now been

traveling for 3 months.

They have come to the foot of Mt. Sinai where they

have established their boundaries. They were afraid to

go any further up the mountain with Moses.

And so our story picks up in Exodus 20 verse 1.

Then God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the

LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of

Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no

other gods before Me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness

of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or

in the water under the earth. You shall not worship

them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a

jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the

children, on the third and the fourth generations of

those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to

thousands, to those who love Me and keep My

commandments.

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in

vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who

takes His name in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days

you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh

day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall

not do any work, you or your son or your daughter,

your male or your female servant or your cattle or your

sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the

LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all

that is in them, and rested on the seventh day;

therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and

made it holy.

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may

be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God

gives you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall

not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or

his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything

that belongs to your neighbor."

You know, we have got some silly laws out there on

the books. Did you know

In Chicago, it is illegal to eat in any building that is

currently on fire.

It is illegal in SC to kill anyone while you are attempting

to commit suicide.

They will put you in jail in SD if you fall asleep in a

cheese factory.

In Memphis, women are only allowed to drive cars if a

man is walking in front of the car waving a red flag.

It's really fun to laugh at those laws because they are

outdated and just plain dumb. But, sadly, today some

view the 10 commandments as outdated and many

churches teach it as well.

These teachers will say that God's Law was done away

with when Jesus died on the cross.

Well, I'm here to tell you that the Laws of God are NOT

outdated! They will never be outdated! They can never

go out of style, never be considered old fashioned or

powerless.

Jesus proclaimed this loudly in His sermon on the

mount in Matthew 5:17-18 He said; "Do not think that I

came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not

come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until

heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or

stroke shall pass from the Law until all is

accomplished."

He fulfilled the law, He completed it by meeting the

standards of the law. He obeyed the law and didn't

break one of the commandments!

Jesus didn't come to abolish the law but to fulfill the

law He set the standard of the law by which we are

to live as Christ followers.

We need to have boundaries, lines we set up that we

absolutely will not cross! These are the boundaries that

God Himself has established for us. Limits we're not to

exceed! As long as we live within the boundaries that

God has established, life is good. But when we cross

those boundaries, life becomes harder, more difficult.

So are you living within the boundaries God has

established? I know that people don't like boundaries,

I've had people ask how I can chose to live by God's

laws, you can't do anything, it's so boring! They

couldn't be more wrong.

How can someone believe that living a life that your

creator designed you to live is going to cause you to

miss out? I guarantee, you're not going to be bored