Today, We Begin A Series On The Ten Commandments.
Modern Society Mocks The Truth And Exalts The Lie.
We Live In A Time When Right Is Classified As Wrong And Wrong As Right. Many People Believe That There Are No "Moral Absolutes." This Is Reflected In Statements Like:"What’s Right For You May Not Be Right For Me.";"If It Feels Good Do It.";"Anything Goes.";"Nothing Is Right Or Wrong, There Are Just Different Opinions?"
Our Nation Was Founded On Biblical Principles .Today, That Foundation Is Crumbling Beneath Our Feet!
James Madison, The 4th President Of The United States Said "We Stake The Future Of This Country On Our Ability To Govern Ourselves Under The Principles Of The Ten Commandments."
Let’s Look At The Background Of The Ten Commandments And Why They Were Given.
"Why Did God Send The Israelites To Egypt For 400 Years (Genesis 15:13)?"
Genesis 15:13 (NIV)13 Then The LORD Said To Him, “Know For Certain That For Four Hundred Years Your Descendants Will Be Strangers In A Country Not Their Own And That They Will Be Enslaved And Mistreated There.
The Israelites Entered Egypt Under The Best-Possible Of Circumstances. They Were Delivered From A Great Drought, In Their Own Homeland, Into The Well-Watered Nile Delta Region, Known As "Goshen," One Of Their Own Was The Actual Ruler Of The Country (See Joseph, Prime Minister Of Egypt) And The Israelites Were Blessed To Be Living In Egypt.
Exodus 1:6-10 (NIV)
6 Now Joseph And All His Brothers And All That Generation Died, 7 But The Israelites Were Exceedingly Fruitful; They Multiplied Greatly, Increased In Numbers And Became So Numerous That The Land Was Filled With Them.
8 Then A New King, To Whom Joseph Meant Nothing, Came To Power In Egypt. 9 “Look,” He Said To His People, “The Israelites Have Become Far Too Numerous For Us. 10 Come, We Must Deal Shrewdly With Them Or They Will Become Even More Numerous And, If War Breaks Out, Will Join Our Enemies, Fight Against Us And Leave The Country.”
Remember The Is Had Been In Slavery For The Past 400 Years- - Think Back 400 Years Of Your Own Family History-What Do You Know About It? Now You May Know Back To 100 Years, But 400 Years Is A Long Time!Shortly After Their Exodus From Egypt God Gave Israel The Ten Commandments. Keeping The Ten Commandments Meant More Than Just Obeying The Law. Keeping The Commandments Was Synonymous With Keeping The Covenant With God.
So Now Lets Forget About All The Movies Of The 10 Commandments We Have Seen And Look At Scripture To Interpret Scripture.
The Majority Of Christians Think Of The Ten Commandments As Being Inscribed On Tablets Of Grey Stone.
But THE TALMUD & MISHNAH- Teach That The Tablets Of The Law Were Made Of Sapphire. The Talmud And Mishnah Are Far From Being Authoritative ……….. BUT, That Does Not Mean That Everything Taught In Rabbinical Jewish Tradition Is Inaccurate. Ancient Tradition Is Especially Useful In Understanding What The Jewish People Held To On Scores Of Topics.
The Word “Talmud” Is A Hebrew Word Meaning “Learning, Instruction.” The Mishnah Or Mishna Is The First Major Written Collection Of The Jewish Oral Traditions Known As The "Oral Torah". Talmud (Literally, “Study”) Is The Generic Term For The Documents That Comment And Expand Upon The Mishnah (“Repeating”), The First Work Of Rabbinic Literature.
The Talmud Is A Central Text Of Mainstream Judaism And Consists Primarily Of Discussions And Commentary On Jewish History, Law (Especially Its Practical Application To Life), Customs And Culture. The Mishnah Or Mishna Is The First Major Written Collection Of The Jewish Oral Traditions Known As The "Oral Torah". It Is Also The First Major Work Of Rabbinic Literature. Scripture Itself Corroborates Much Of What The Tradition Has To Say Regarding The Sapphire Ten Commandments.
Exodus 24:9-12 (NKJV)
9 Then Moses Went Up, Also Aaron, Nadab, And Abihu, And Seventy Of The Elders Of Israel, 10 And They Saw The God Of Israel. And There Was Under His Feet As It Were A Paved Work Of Sapphire Stone, And It Was Like The Very[A] Heavens In Its Clarity. …12 Then The LORD Said To Moses, “Come Up To Me On The Mountain And Be There; And I Will Give You Tablets Of Stone, And The Law And Commandments Which I Have Written, That You May Teach Them.”
Moses And The Rest Of Israel’s Leadership Were Given The Profound Privilege Of Seeing God. Under God’s Feet Was Something That Appeared To Be Sapphire. It Is MOST LIKELY From This Pavement That God Carved Out The Tablets Upon Which He Wrote The Law As Recorded In Exodus 24:12:
The LORD Said To Moses, “Come Up To Me On The Mountain And Wait There, That I May Give You The Tablets Of Stone, With The Law And The Commandment, Which I Have Written For Their Instruction.”
The Stone From Which The Tablets Were Fashioned Almost Certainly Refers To That Which Appeared To Be Sapphire Only Two Verses Earlier. The Sapphire Is The Only Type Of Stone Mentioned In The Context. It Would Be A Leap To Conclude That The Tablets Were Made From Any Type Of Stone Other Than That Which Was Recorded.
Unfortunately, Many Do Not Even Consider The Sapphire Tablets An Option Because They Have Been Unconsciously Influenced By Western Images Of The Ten Commandments. No Doubt That The Charleton Heston Film Alone Has Cemented Certain Imagery Into The Culture (A Fine Movie In Any Respect).
The Color Blue Is Important To Both Observant Jews And Secular Israel. The Color Was Intended To Remind The Israelites To Observe God’s Law.
Numbers 15:37-39 (NKJV)37 Again The LORD Spoke To Moses, Saying, 38 “Speak To The Children Of Israel: Tell Them To Make Tassels On The Corners Of Their Garments Throughout Their Generations, And To Put A Blue Thread In The Tassels Of The Corners. 39 And You Shall Have The Tassel, That You May Look Upon It And Remember All The Commandments Of The LORD And Do Them, …………..
Obviously, God Placed A High Value On The 10 Commandments
In Deuteronomy, The 2nd Giving Of The Law, Moses Reviews Them With Israel. Deut 5:1-22
Deuteronomy 5:1-22 (NKJV)
5 And Moses Called All Israel, And Said To Them: “Hear, O Israel, The Statutes And Judgments Which I Speak In Your Hearing Today, That You May Learn Them And Be Careful To Observe Them. 2 The LORD Our God Made A Covenant With Us In Horeb.
Mount Horeb, Is The Mountain At Which The Book Of Deuteronomy In The Hebrew Bible States That The Ten Commandments Were Given To Moses By God.
It Is Described In Two Places (Book Of Exodus Exodus 3:1, Books Of Kings 1 Kings 19:8) The "Mountain Of God". The Mountain Is Also Called The Mountain Of YHWH.
Exodus 3:1-2 (NIV)Moses And The Burning Bush
3 Now Moses Was Tending The Flock Of Jethro His Father-In-Law, The Priest Of Midian, And He Led The Flock To The Far Side Of The Wilderness And Came To Horeb, The Mountain Of God. 2 There The Angel Of The LORD Appeared To Him In Flames Of Fire From Within A Bush. 3 The LORD Did Not Make This Covenant With Our Fathers, But With Us, Those Who Are Here Today, All Of Us Who Are Alive. 4 The LORD Talked With You Face To Face On The Mountain From The Midst Of The Fire. 5 I Stood Between The LORD And You At That Time, To Declare To You The Word Of The LORD; For You Were Afraid Because Of The Fire, And You Did Not Go Up The Mountain. He Said:22 “These Words The LORD Spoke To All Your Assembly, In The Mountain From The Midst Of The Fire, The Cloud, And The Thick Darkness, With A Loud Voice; And He Added No More. And He Wrote Them On Two Tablets Of Stone And Gave Them To Me.
The Amazing Thing Here To Realize: GOD SPOKE!
We Often Speak Of The Bible Being God's Word.
Prophets Often Began, "Hear The Word Of The Lord....."
Israel Was Honored To Hear Him!
As We Study The 10 Commandments, We Are Studying God's Law.
1. We Need To Hear It.
2. We Need To Remember It.
3. We Need To Obey It.
4. We Need To Teach It.
So Lets Get To The 1st Commandment-
Exodus 20 And God Spoke All These Words, God Began The 10 Commandments This Way Saying:
2 “I Am The LORD Your God, Who Brought You Out Of The Land Of Egypt, Out Of The House Of [A]Bondage.
3 “You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me.
18 Now All The People Witnessed The Thunderings, The Lightning Flashes, The Sound Of The Trumpet, And The Mountain Smoking; And When The People Saw It, They Trembled And Stood Afar Off.
I Bring Up What The People Saw And Heard, Because Some People Think God Only Speaks Softly.
The First Commandment Is A Reminder To Focus On The Awesome Power And Majesty Of Our Creator . God’s Power Was On Display When He Thundered These Commandments From Mount Sinai.God’s Power Was On Display When He Thundered These Commandments From Mount Sinai.
Exodus 20:2 NKJV
“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.
"Who Is Your God?"
As We Read ABOUT THE Israelites In The Desert The Bible Shows Them To Be A Very “Selfish” People. In The 1st Commandment, God Declares That He Alone Is God, And They Were To Have No Others Before Him. As We Look Around Today, The Same Problem Exists Today.
The Israelites Had Been Enslaved For 400 Yrs In Egypt. They Were Influenced During Slavery By A Nation Who Had Many False Gods-
Remember The 10 Plagues God Brought About- Each Plague Was Against One Of The Gods The Egyptians Worshipped-
So God Sets It Straight Right Away- 1st Commandment- No Other Gods- No If’s Ands Or Buts.
There Is Only One God! The First Commandment Seems Like An Easy One. I Doubt That Any Of You Is A Secret Worshipper Of Baal Or Zeus. You Don’t Kneel Before A Buddha In Your Garden, Or Have A Shrine To Hindu Gods In Your Bedroom.
How Then Is This Commandment Relevant For Us?
WHAT Is A God?
People WORSHIP Gods, They TRUST Gods To Give Them Benefits,
And They SERVE Gods By Their Actions. Gods Do Not Always Take A Physical Form; they Can Be Anything People WORSHIP, TRUST, Or SERVE.
A Likely Candidate For A False God In Today’s World Is The God Of “More.”
Americans Value More: More Toys In Their Garage, More Rooms In Their Houses, More Money In Their Paychecks, More Exotic Vacations, More Fun On Their Weekends, More Pleasure And Excitement, More Activities For Their Kids—
More……..More……….More………….. Of Everything.
Most Of Us Spend A Good Part Of Our Time And Efforts Working. We Serve The Boss Or The Company, And We Need To Support Ourselves And Our Families. We Are Not Serving Those As Our Gods; In Fact, We Can Serve God Through Our Work, As We Support Ourselves. If We Live For Work And The Rewards It Brings To Us, Or We Are Consumed By Our Pursuit Of Money And Financial Security, God Will Not Be #1 In Our Lives.
Our Focus And Priority Must Be To “Seek First The Kingdom Of God And His Righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).
Jesus Set The Example Of Putting God First. Even After Fasting For 40 Days, He Responded To Satan’s Temptation By Saying,
Matthew 4:4 (NKJV)
…., “It Is Written, ‘Man Shall Not Live By Bread Alone, But By Every Word That Proceeds From The Mouth Of God.’ ”
In Facing Satan’s Temptations, Jesus Also Quoted,
Matthew 4:10 (NKJV)
10 Then Jesus Said To Him, [A]“Away With You, Satan! For It Is Written, ‘You Shall Worship The LORD Your God, And Him Only You Shall Serve.’ ”
He Expounded On This When He Pointed Out That We Can’t Serve God And Serve The God Of Materialism (Matthew 6:24).
Matthew 6:24 (NLT)
24 “No One Can Serve Two Masters. For You Will Hate One And Love The Other; You Will Be Devoted To One And Despise The Other. You Cannot Serve God And Be Enslaved To Money.Mammon In Other Translations
“Mammon” Is An Uncommon Word In English. It Means “Material Wealth Or Possessions Especially As Having A Debasing Influence” (Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary).
We Break This 1st Commandment More Than All The Rest.
How?
We “Think” We Can Fool God.
Consider These Statistics;
“Sacrificing Our Families, Our Kids, And Even Our Culture On The Altar Of Earthly Opportunities.”
What Does It Say To Young Minds When More Time, Money, And Energy Is Spent At Softball, Seminars, Soccer, Football, Vacations, And Other Things Than In God’s House With God’s People? The Bible Amplifies The First Commandment In A Number Of Passages. Here Are A Few:
Exodus 34:13-14 New Life Version (NLV)
13 Instead You Are To Tear Down Their Altars, Break Their Objects Of Worship, And Cut Down Their False Gods. 14 For You Must Not Worship Any Other God. For The Lord, Whose Name Is Jealous, Is A Jealous God.
Jeremiah 25:6 (NKJV)
6 Do Not Go After Other Gods To Serve Them And Worship Them, And Do Not Provoke Me To Anger With The Works Of Your Hands; And I Will Not Harm You.’
Breaking The First Commandment IS Having Anything In Your Life That You Put Before God. I Like To Refer To It As A “Functional God.” A Functional God Is Anything That You Place On Equal Or Higher Importance Than Your Relationship With Yahweh God.
Examples Of Functional Gods-
Sleep- “I Can’t Come Out To Church On Sunday’s. God Knows I Need My Sleep, And Sunday’s Are My Day To Sleep In. And My Only Day Off.”
Money- “I Can’t Possibly Sacrifice To Support The Work Of The Church Or Give To Missions. God Knows I Have A Huge House Payment, 3 Car Payments, A Top Of The Line Cell Phone With Unlimited Everything, And The Most Expensive Cable Entertainment Package Money Can Buy. After All, God Wants Me To Be A Good Steward And A Good Witness And Pay My Bills.”
What Does It Say When “The Lord’s Day” Becomes The “The Best Day” For Family Outings Which Leave God Out?
What Message Is Conveyed When We Claim To Love Him, But Put Him And His Church In 2nd Place, 3rd Place, Or Worse In
Their Schedule.
Who/What Does Your Schedule Proclaim To Be Your God?
What Evidence Is There About Your God Displayed In Your Life?
Do You Study His Word Often?
Do You Spend Time With Him In Prayer Daily? Weekly?
How Much Does His Word Inform Your Decisions?
Who Is Your GOD?
In Daniel Ch 3 – The 3 Hebrews Were Asked That Question – Who Is That God?
The Pagan Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar Learned About The Power And Uniqueness Of The True God. He Cast Three Followers Of God Into A Superheated Furnace For Not Bowing Down To An Image He Set Up. Then He Saw That They Weren’t Being Burned Up! When They Came Out, Not Even A Hair On Their Heads Was Singed.
Daniel 3:13-18 (NKJV)
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar, In Rage And Fury, Gave The Command To Bring Shadrach, Meshach, And Abed-Nego. So They Brought These Men Before The King. 14 Nebuchadnezzar Spoke, Saying To Them, “Is It True, Shadrach, Meshach, And Abed-Nego, That You Do Not Serve My Gods Or Worship The Gold Image Which I Have Set Up? 15 Now If You Are Ready At The Time You Hear The Sound Of The Horn, Flute, Harp, Lyre, And Psaltery, In Symphony With All Kinds Of Music, And You Fall Down And Worship The Image Which I Have Made, Good! But If You Do Not Worship, You Shall Be Cast Immediately Into The Midst Of A Burning Fiery Furnace. And Who Is The God Who Will Deliver You From My Hands?”16 Shadrach, Meshach, And Abed-Nego Answered And Said To The King, “O Nebuchadnezzar, We Have No Need To Answer You In This Matter. 17 If That Is The Case, Our God Whom We Serve Is Able To Deliver Us From The Burning Fiery Furnace, And He Will Deliver Us From Your Hand, O King. 18 But If Not, Let It Be Known To You, O King, That We Do Not Serve Your Gods, Nor Will We Worship The Gold Image Which You Have Set Up.”…..
The Pagan Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar Learned About The Power And Uniqueness Of The True God. He Cast Three Followers Of God Into A Superheated Furnace For Not Bowing Down To An Image He Set Up. Then He Saw That They Weren’t Being Burned Up! When They Came Out, Not Even A Hair On Their Heads Was Singed.
28 Then Nebuchadnezzar Said, “Praise Be To The God Of Shadrach, Meshach And Abednego, Who Has Sent His Angel And Rescued His Servants! They Trusted In Him And Defied The King’s Command And Were Willing To Give Up Their Lives Rather Than Serve Or Worship Any God Except Their Own God. 29 Therefore I Decree That The People Of Any Nation Or Language Who Say Anything Against The God Of Shadrach, Meshach And Abednego Be Cut Into Pieces And Their Houses Be Turned Into Piles Of Rubble, For No Other God Can Save In This Way.”
This week think about your life and decisions. Are my priorities putting God 1st. Are the choices I’m making reflect “God 1st?” What “false gods “ do I have in my life?
