The 10 Commandments: Living Successfully!

The Way of Life=Ten Commandments

Ex. 20:1-4

Intro: You may heard about the ad in a paper for a lost dog. Description: Brown, short hair, with bald spots, right leg broken from an auto accident, left hip hurt from another auth accident, rt. Eye missing from a fight with a cat, left ear bitten off from a fight with a dog . . . answers to the name:

?Lucky?!

One thing this dog definitely is NOT, is lucky.

And one thing the 10 Commandments definitely are NOT, is a way of salvation. Edmund Clowney of Westminster Seminary in Phil. Says the whole idea of the Law as a way of salvation was a PERVERSION, of the Old Testament teaching. The Pharisees were simply wrong, the BIBLE NEVER PRESENTED THE 10 Commandments as a way of salvation; this was a heresy both Jesus and Paul fought.

Think! When were the Israelites delivered from Egypt and How? Ex. 14-15 and by way of the blood of the Lamb.

When were the 10 Com. Given? Ex. 20, hey, that clearly suggests another purpose of these commandments and that is as a Way of Living Better IN THIS WORLD!

As I share with the kids, these are rules for living! Rules are good, imagine sports without rules; football, without boundaries, and ref’s to enforce them, why it would be HOCKEY!

Rules for living is one good way and the first couple of rules I “borrowed” from another preacher here on sermoncentral.

1st through 3rd commandments could be described this way: You can worship wrong gods the right way, and you can worship the right God the wrong way, usually both.

It’s amazing what people will do for false gods. A woman was seen walking to the Yellow River in India in one hand she led a deformed, handi-capped girl and the other a handsome young boy.

A short time later, she came back with only the girl. The visitor asked someone nearby what hap-pened to the boy. Oh she threw him in the river as an offerring to her god. But why the boy, why not the deformed, handicapped girl? Oh, we only offer our gods, our best!

Yeh, but why not throw yourself in! But, ob-viously, after Sept. 11, 2001, we know the utterly irrational sacrifice of people, themselves, bloody pilots, stewardesses, passengers, etc.

And they did throw themselves in, what devotion they give their gods.

We, can’t seem to find time to pray, read our bibles, go to church and Sunday School, witness, that’s just too hard!

In Xiangsi Province in China they still kill Christians. One day, some kids, KIDS, discov-ered a boy was a Christian. They chased him into the town square along with the boy’s sister. The adults did not stop, but cheered the kids as they beat and stoned the boy to death. Then they asked the little girl if she was a Christian too. KNOWING THE FATE, awaiting her, she said, in a strong voice, YES!

And they beat her to death, too. They killed Christians at Columbine, Wedgewood, Padukah, and Mississippi. It’s getting downright dangerous to be a Christian in America, mayby, after Sept. 11, that’ll change.

What devotion to false gods! It’s estimated that 1/4th of Americans, 70 million people are invovled in serious physical fitness. This means between 5 and 20 hours a week spent on diet and exercise!

The chief executive of Allegheny Co., Pittsburgh is a guy named Roddy, around 63 and can do 100 situps, maybe you can too. Reagan at the age of 75 was still bench pressing 150.

But, how many Bible push ups can we do? What about our Bench Pressing Memory Verses? When was the last time you leveled sin, or satan with a roundhouse kick of authority in the Name of Jesus?

The time has come to Worship the Right God, the Right Way, with lots of time, energy, and devotion!

But can