The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments

Exodus 20

You can tell how popular a passage of Scripture is by whether it has been set to music. Ask yourself: has anybody written a song based on that scripture?

We sing the 23rd Psalm. We sing the Lord’s Prayer. We sing parts of the book of Revelation. We even have the Crucifixion set to music. But I don’t know of anyone who sings the Ten Commandments: Thou Shalt not steal. Thou Shall kill, Thou shall not lie, Thou shalt not commit adultery. It is not going to become a hit. It’s too negative.

Of course, the 10 Commandments are not totally negative. Two of the ten are positive – the fourth and fifth commandments are positive: Remember the Sabbath Day and Honour your father and mother. But the rest of negative.

We all know that these came from the hand of God. Moses didn’t make these up. God wrote these 10 commandments on a stone tablet. The first four have to do with our relationship with God; the last six have to do with our relationship with other people.

Before we look at the details I must ask a very basic question: Why did God give us the Ten Commandments?

First of all, let me address the elephant in the room: God did not give the Ten Commandments because He expected we would keep them. He knew who He was dealing with! Occasionally, I run into a person who thinks they keep the Ten Commandments. I was talking to this guy on the street who knew I was a minister. Right away he proceeded to defend why he never went to Church.

I don’t know why people feel they must do that around me. I don’t feel compelled to talk about why I don’t go to a hospital every time I’m around a doctor. His main defense was that he kept the Ten Commandments. I keep the Ten Commandments as best as I as I can, and I figure that’s good enough. I don’t need Church because I keep the Ten Commandments.

It was one of those times when I heard a little voice inside me saying… ‘Alvan, Shut-up’. Don’t even get started on this one. What I felt like saying was, ‘Well, you’re doing a lot better than I am. I’ve broken most of them. If keeping the Ten Commandments is the way to get to heaven I’m doomed.’

All our attempts to keep the Ten Commandments only engenders pride. We are not saved by trying to keep the Law. The Law cannot save.

· Galatians 3:11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because “The righteous will live by faith.”

· Romans 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

God gave the Ten Commandments to show us His love. To protect us and warn us. To give us the best life possible. To do us good.

Josh McDowell tells of a young man named Greg. Greg lived down the block from a family who had swimming pool in their back yard. A high wooden fence enclosed the pool. One dark evening when Greg knew his neighbors were away, he and his girlfriend snuck behind the house, scaled the fence, and entered the pool area to go for a swim. Greg threw off his shoes, climbed the ladder and, while his girlfriend was still taking her shoes and socks off, Greg leaped off the end of the diving board. He heard his girlfriend scream just before he lost consciousness.

You see, the pool held only a few feet of water. In the dark Greg apparently didn't notice this. His dive ended with a shallow splat of water and a sickening crunch of bones. Greg's late-night dive paralyzed him from the neck down for the rest of his life. Greg ignored the fence that his neighbors had erected around the pool. He probably assumed it was there only to keep him and his girlfriend from having fun. It was meant for his protection. His disregard of that boundary cost him dearly. Similarly, God's laws are given to protect us. When we ignore His moral boundaries, the cost can be just as devastating.

God gave us the Ten Commandments because He loves us.

He also gave us the Ten Commandments, to show us His Glory, His Holiness. See Deuteronomy 5. This is the only other place in the Bible that the Ten Commandments are listed in full. What does it say: ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire.

Why did God give the Ten Commandments?

1. Not because He thought we would keep them.