Exodus 20:1 - 17
1 Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. 8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. 12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that 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, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Here in the south, there are a lot churches that "answer back" when the pastor makes a statement from the pulpit..... When the preacher says something, the congregation answers and it feeds the preacher while he or she is preaching.
One Sunday, a preacher was preaching on what it would take for the church to grow.
He said, "If this church is to grow, it must take up it’s bed, and walk."
The congregation said "Let it walk, Preacher, let it walk."
Encouraged, the preacher went on.... "If this church is going to grow, it will have to throw aside all it’s hindrances and run!"
The congregation replied, "Let it run, preacher, let it run!"
Now the preacher was really feeling in tune with the congregation so he spoke stronger. "If this church really wants to become great, it will have to spread it’s wings and fly!"
"Let it fly, Preacher, let it fly!" shouted the congregation.
The Preacher gets louder. "If this church is going to fly, it’s going to cost money, and a lot of it!!!"
The congregation replied. "Let it walk, Preacher, let it walk."
That congregation probably needed to hear a sermon on the Ten Commandments, in particular, the first commandment, Thou shalt have no other gods before me....
God Himself gave us those commandments....
He wrote them out with His own finger for us to use as a guide for our lives....
These commandments are there to show us the importance of obeying God and to show us that failing to obey the commandments of God makes us unworthy, unrighteous and sinful....
I believe every person who professes to be a Follower of Jesus, a Christian, should read these commandments from time to time to really evaluate where they stand with God....
These commandments will reveal our true nature if we look at them sincerely and with an open heart.... And when it does, you may not like what you see....
Take them one at a time and ask yourself, "Have I ever done that?"
1. Have I ever let anything be more important in my life than God?
2. Have I ever thought of money, sports, human relationships so much that you shut God out? (Idols)
3. Have I ever used God’s name irreverently, even in joking? (This doesn’t only mean cursing)
4. Have I ever just thought of the Sabbath day as just another day and didn’t revere it as God told me to?
5. Have I ever said or done anything to cause my mother or father to be dishonored? Has everything I’ve done reflected well on my parents?
6. Have I ever killed anyone? (The Bible says that if you ever hated anyone you are a murderer in God’s eyes)
7. Have I ever looked on someone with lust in your heart? (adultery)
8. Have I ever taken anything that didn’t belong to you? (from someone, work, a store?)
9. Have I ever lied?
10. Have I ever looked at something someone else had and wanted it? (wife, car, house, other possessions)
Repeatedly Jesus used these same commandments to show people their need to repent and ask God for forgiveness.....
Matthew 19:16 - 22
16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" 17 So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." 18 He said to Him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, "’You shall not murder,’ ’You shall not commit adultery,’ ’You shall not steal,’ ’You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ’Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ’You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ " 20 The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?" 21 Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Jesus showed this wealthy young man that, in his heart there was something ahead of God and that was his money....
These precious commandments will point out our shortcomings and will let us know just how far away from God we are when we hold them up to our lives....
John Wesley said that those who didn’t bother to use the law were either "babes in Christ or strangers to regeneration".
Let me warn you, doing this can cause you to break down and cry.... Looking at these commandments and really seeing how your life holds up to them can make you ashamed....
If you are truthful when you ask yourself if you have ever broken any one of these, then you will be able to realize that you are a sinful person who deserves to be punished for failing to follow the commandments of the Most Holy God!
Remember, God sees your heart and if you are purposely ignoring one of these commandments then you need to ask yourself if you are really saved....
There are definite benefits in using God’s Law
Think of the Ten Commandments as a compass. They give us our bearings. So many people who are aimlessly drifting through life would have their lives dramatically transformed if they took the Commandments seriously.
During World War II American planes flew from British air bases to missions over Germany. Finding their way home to base was often difficult because of horrible weather conditions. Churches with tall spires dotted the English landscape.....
Quite often the English weather would be overcast and rainy. On those overcast days the American pilots would descend through a gray sky and look for the churches to guide them home. The churches told the pilots if they were on the right course.
The spiritual weather of our world is horrible.... It’s more than overcast, it’s dismal, but The Ten Commandments are God’s signposts to show us the way home.
Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey what I command" and "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching" (John 14:15, 23). In Psalm 119:47 the psalmist wrote, "I delight in your commands because I love them" ;
And in verse 97 "Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long" ;
And in verse 165 "Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble".
Those who truly love the Lord know that He gave us those commandments because He cares.
When we think of what sin looks like I think very few of us ever think that sin looks like the face we see in the mirror every morning, but that’s exactly what it looks like....
Romans 3:19-20 & 23
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The Ten Commandments could be considered a mirror of our hearts that will give us a true look at ourselves....
We like to measure ourselves through comparisons and we can usually find someone with whom we compare favorably.
Even as children we were prone to say, "But he didn’t do it!" or "But she did it too!"
The Ten Commandments show us that God uses a different standard. And we all fall short. That’s why the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was necessary.
The great preacher and commentator J. Vernon McGee said:
"There must be shedding of blood for sin. You have a mirror in your bathroom, which is a picture of the law, and there is a basin underneath the mirror. You don’t wash yourself with the mirror; it only reveals the dirt. Just so, the law is the mirror that reveals our sin. And beneath that mirror there is a wash basin."
We sing a song called "There is a Fountain".
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood.
Lose all their guilty stains.
The law condemns us.... It shows us how truly wicked we are.... None of us have ever been nor will ever be good enough on our own to earn our way into heaven....
Disobeying even one of God’s commandments is enough to keep us forever separated from God....
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.....
But God still loves us, even in our sin....
Romans 5:12 (NLT) When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.
Without Jesus all we could ever hope for is death, physical death and spiritual death....
But, when Jesus gave Himself for us, He took our sins on Himself and we are now His ambassadors... If we believe and fully give ourselves to Him...
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Folks, we have all seen the face of sin.... I’m looking at a church full of sinful faces.... and you’re looking at a preacher that has a sinful face...
But, by the grace of God Jesus takes away the sin of those who completely, unreservedly and unashamedly come to Him saying, "Lord, forgive me. I’ve looked in the mirror and have seen the face of sin...."
John Stott wrote, "We cannot come to Christ to be justified until we have first been to Moses, to be condemned. But once we have been to Moses, and acknowledged our sin, guilt and condemnation, we must not stay there. We must then let Moses send us to Christ."
Folks, there are millions of people who have heard about the assurance of Christ and believe they have salvation, but if they have never understood the depths of the sin that dwells in their hearts and have never therefore repented of that sin, then one sad day they will be looking for a way into heaven and the door will be closed.
Mark 1:14-15
14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Repentance is a necessary step for salvation. We can’t claim the prize that Jesus offered without it.... In order for us to repent we need to first understand that we are in need of repentance.....
That’s what the law does for you. When you look at God’s law and realize that you have broken most of them the Holy Spirit will convict you and make you want to repent....
If you have never taken that hard look at yourself and have never actually been moved to repent and forsake your sinful nature, then don’t leave here without praying for God to forgive you and ask Jesus to come into your life and then live first for Jesus from now to eternity..... Amen
