I. The Ten Commandments; Sunday, August 8, 2010 (Sunnyslope)

I. The Ten Commandments; Sunday, August 8, 2010 (Sunnyslope) Psalm 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. A. Good morning, church! B. On November 17, 1980, the Supreme Court struck down a Kentucky law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms 1. The high court noted the following reason for their decision: a) The Ten Commandments were plainly religious and may induce children to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and to obey the commandments. 2. My point here is not to get into a political discussion about the posting of the Commandments in schools or in public buildings a) but rather to point out that even the national body that ultimately decided to revoke the posting of the Commandments recognized their power b) Simply having the Ten Commandments posted may cause people to read them (1) May cause people to think about them (2) May cause people to respect them (3) And may cause people even to obey them 3. The Ten Commandments have substantial power a) They are the cornerstone of the Old Testament law 1 of 16

b) And without going into the history or proofs thereof, the Ten Commandments were the source and inspiration of the original laws of England, which America adopted C. As a random bit of historical trivia: there was once a Bible published that had a small typographical error in the Ten Commandments 1. In 1631, Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, the royal printers in London set out to reprint the King James Bible 2. But there was a bit of a mistake 3. In the Ten Commandments, the word not in the sentence Thou shalt not commit adultery was omitted 4. This blunder was spread in a number of copies 5. As a result, about a year later, the publishers of the Wicked Bible were fined what we would consider about $70,000 and were deprived of their printer's license D. And in one final point before we get into the main discussion: 1. A business man who was well known in his time for his ruthless behavior once told writer Mark Twain the following: a) Before I die, I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. b) I will climb Mount Sinai and read the Tem Commandments aloud at the top. 2. Mark Twain replied, I have a better idea. 3. You should stay in Boston and keep them. E. Today, we re going to walk through the Ten Commandments 2 of 16

1. With many messages, it s easy for us to see the error in the ways of our brothers and sisters a) but difficult (sometimes very difficult) to see the error in our own ways 2. This is especially so when it comes to the Ten Commandments a) It s easy to agree with every one of them b) Easy to say, Yes, we should do that; and I see examples of others who fail at that; I see examples of society failing at that one c) But it s difficult to say with honesty and humility, I struggle with that commandment 3. Today, as we walk through the commandments, don t concern yourself about society s fall a) Honestly, earnestly contemplate each commandment as you reflect on yourself b) Ask yourself, How well do I follow this commandment? c) Do I obey most of the time? Could I improve? II. Let s start by defining the Ten Commandments A. The Ten Commandments, or sometimes called the Decalogue, is: 1. A list of religious and moral imperatives that were spoken by God to the people of Israel from Mount Sinai 2. and later authored by God and given to Moses in the form of two stone tablets 3. They are recognized as a moral foundation in Judaism and Christianity, and their substance also figures in Islam. 3 of 16

B. They exist twice in the Bible 1. They first appear in Exodus 20:2 17 2. And then later in Deuteronomy 5:6 21 3. And the two passages are remarkably similar 4. For most of the commandments, the two passages are exactly the same C. The passages in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 are traditionally divided into fourteen or fifteen verses 1. And each are identified in the biblical text as containing ten elements 2. These passages: a) Declare the Lord, who brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, to be their God b) Prohibit worship of other gods before the Lord, and the making or worshiping idols c) Threaten punishment for those who reject the Lord and promise love for those who love him d) Forbid misuse of the Lord's name e) Mandate observance of the Sabbath and honoring one's parents f) And finally prohibit murder, adultery, theft, false testimony, and coveting of one's neighbor's blessings D. The commandments can be divided into two groups: 1. First, commandments 1 through 4, which deal with our relationship with God 2. And second, commandments 5 through 10, which deal with our relationship with people 4 of 16

3. It s interesting then that when Christ was asked about the most important law, he responded by summarizing the these two groups of the Ten Commandments a) First Matthew 22:37b Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. b) which Christ was quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. c) And second Matthew 22:38b Love your neighbor as yourself. d) which Christ was quoting from Leviticus 19:18 Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. III. So let s get into the commandments themselves; but I m going to do this in an unusual way; I m going to walk through them backward, starting with the laws that govern how we relate to each other, then on to the laws that govern how we relate to God A. The first commandment then (or rather, the last commandment) comes from Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:21 1. The two verses are nearly but not quite identical a) The instruction is to not covet anything belonging to someone else, and then a list of examples is given 5 of 16

b) Between the two verses, the examples are listed in a different order; but the lists are the same Exodus 20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. 2. We are herein forbidden to desire and plan how we may obtain that which God has given to another a) Now, some here mistake covet to mean when I see someone else being successful and I desire to likewise be successful (1) Or I see someone who has planted and raised a beautiful garden, and I then strive to do the same in my own yard (2) Or I see someone with a committed relationship with his wife and family and with God, and I desire that same relationship myself b) These are not coveting c) Coveting is when we desire or plan how might be able to take from someone else that person s blessings (1) So for example, it would be coveting if I saw someone being successful and I wanted to that that specific success away from that person for myself (2) If I saw a beautiful garden and wanted to somehow steal that very garden, rip it up, and plant it in my own yard 3. We live in a world and universe of richness in resources 6 of 16

a) God has given us a world full of opportunities and means b) And God blesses us, and He desires to bless us c) If we have faith in God, if we trust God, if we love God, we will recognize that there s just no reason at all to covet d) We certainly should desire to have a strong relationship with God e) We certainly should desire to be successful in enterprise f) And we can certainly have and do these things by using the gifts and blessings God has given us 4. But when we look at what someone else has and not wonder how I can create something similar for myself but rather ask how can I obtain what that person has for myself a) We no longer are trusting God b) And we are no longer loving our neighbor 5. Now notice I said here obtain, not steal or take a) Don t think you re avoiding coveting when you say, Well, I want the thing that person has, but I m not going to steal it; I m going to ask that person to give it to me b) That s still coveting c) The point here is that coveting is about desiring for yourself the specific fruits of a blessing from God to someone else rather than believing God can and does want to bless you in ways specifically best for you B. The second (to last) commandment tell us not to lie against those around us, providing false testimony 7 of 16

Deuteronomy 5:20 You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 1. We re commanded not to bear false witness in a court of law or other proceeding 2. Why is this such a big deal? 3. It s two fold: a) First, in a general sense: words matter; and what you say and how you say it is ultimately translated into the nature of your being and how you re perceived by others James 3:6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. (1) We must strive to tame our tongues, speak only the truth, and speak only as God directs b) But second, in a specific sense: testimony was in Biblical times was typically the only evidence available to convict (1) They didn t have CSI Sinai (a) (b) (c) No DNA tests No photographs No forensic scientists (2) A person was convicted most often purely by the testimony of another (3) And even today, even in our own courts of law, testimony of witnesses is significant in its importance 8 of 16

4. Remember when I said we should try to look not at society or someone else we know when we re evaluating a commandment, but instead look at ourselves? a) It s easy to think this commandment only pertains to courts of law b) But it pertains to every time we give testimony, which is just a fancy way of saying when we say stuff about other people 5. Here is something to consider then: 6. Should we consider gossip to be false testimony? 7. I think we should 8. What is gossip, church? 9. Gossip is when someone tells us something, we believe it on its face, and we then tell someone else a) Is it possible we then would be spreading false testimony? b) Yes; in fact, it s likely we are 10. And so how many of us can rightfully say we don t repeat to others what we hear from someone? a) It doesn t matter if we think it s true b) We re still spreading gossip C. The eight commandment is very simple, short, and sharp Exodus 20:15 You shall not steal. 1. There is no additional explanation or details needed 2. Simply never steal; ever 9 of 16

3. Never take anything that does not belong to you D. Next, the seventh commandment: Exodus 20:14 You shall not commit adultery. 1. Again, same level of bluntness and simplicity 2. But we need to define adultery; what is adultery? 3. The Talmud defines adultery as sexual relations between two people when either one of the two are married to a third 4. And this is of course the Biblical, Divine definition of marriage; not man s 5. If a married couple is simply separated but not divorced, adultery can apply E. The sixth commandment is one of the most often misquoted Exodus 20:13 You shall not murder. 1. Note the word murder ; it doesn t say kill 2. Why is that such an important distinction? a) It s a subtle but profound distinction b) To kill is simply to end the life of something c) To murder is to do so with malice of intent and to do it apart from the will of God 3. If the commandment was not to kill, the Israelites (and countless other nations) could not raise armies to protect and defend themselves 10 of 16

4. God in several instances in Scripture in fact calls upon Israel to enter into wars 5. Yet murder is condemned 6. So we can see that although the end result is the same (someone no longer lives), the motivation and cause for the act differentiates it between just and unjust F. The fifth commandment is the last (last reading backwards) of the second group dealing with our relationships with other people Deuteronomy 5:16 Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you. 1. Just like the previous verse in which there was an important distinction between kill and murder, here we need to make a distinction between honor and obey 2. The fifth commandment orders us to honor our parents, but it does not order is to obey 3. So what does honor mean, then? a) How about we define it by the inverse? b) Do not cause dishonor to fall on your father and your mother 4. How can we dishonor our parents? a) I think we can dishonor them if we lie about them b) If we lie to them c) If we live our lives in a way that is dishonorable ourselves 5. Some people feel they are honoring their parents when they are nice to their parents, despite living lives contrary to Scripture 11 of 16

a) When we make decisions that are selfish, when we do things that are sinful, when we do things that are contrary to God s will, be bring shame and dishonor to our parents G. The fourth commandment, the first in which we start to transition into commandments that deal primarily with our relationship with God, we are told to not work Exodus 20:8-10 8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping 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. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 1. Now of course much later on, the Pharisees concocted all sorts of specific rules and regulations for what keeping it holy meant a) You could only walk a certain distance, a certain number of paces, or you were working b) You couldn t tie anything that required you to use to hands, because that would be work c) You couldn t cook, because that would be work 2. That s of course legalism and misses the point 3. The point was to have a day of rest a) God in His infinite wisdom understood that we couldn t work every day; we need a break b) Keeping the Sabbath day holy simply means we take one day a week to not conduct enterprise, and on that day, we strive to be especially aware of God and His many blessings to us, to honor God as we keep the day holy 12 of 16

4. Does it matter which day of the week is the Sabbath? a) Some well-meaning Christians insist that the Sabbath is Sunday, and that s the way it is for everybody b) But I don t think which day is all that particularly important c) Originally, the Sabbath was on a Saturday, but early Christians observed the Sabbath on Sunday in remembrance of Christ s resurrection d) Most full-time vocational pastors take Monday as their day of rest because they are working on Sundays 5. The key here is that there is a day of rest, and that day is kept holy a) While every day we should pray and read the Scriptures b) on the Sabbath, we should especially take time to be with God and his Word H. The third commandment is the one about not taking the Lord s name in vein Exodus 20:7 You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. 1. Using the name of God is to call upon God a) And consider that God is more than great, more than awesome, more than the world b) God is c) By that I mean God is existence, everything within it, and He is even beyond existence d) He is the ultimate, the Alpha and the Omega 13 of 16

e) And when we use His name, we are calling out to the being which has no equal and no greater f) When we then call out to God, we should do so with deep humility g) If we call out the name of God without respect to God, in a state of inhumility, we dishonor God 2. Note also that this verse hints at the awesome power in calling out the name of God a) With God, nothing is impossible b) Miracles happen when we call on God c) To misuse the name of God is to flagrantly disregard the power of God 3. And we must ask then, how can we possibly have a strong and meaningful relationship with God if we are disregarding His power and dishonoring His name? I. The second commandment is like the first, and in many ways, it clarifies the first; so I m going to talk about both together Exodus 20:2-4 2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 "You shall have no other gods before me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 1. God admits later in verse that He s a jealous God a) He reminds us that He has more than earned our loyalty b) And it is a dishonoring of God to bow down to any idol and raise it up as something equally important as God 14 of 16

2. In ancient times, this sometimes meant constructing objects like the golden calf and worshiping it instead of God 3. Today, we do the same thing, but we don t necessarily think the objects, ideas, actions, relationships stuff we are constructing are divine; but we worship them in place of God 4. Let s get right down to it, then 5. What are things we put in front of God? a) Ask yourself: what distracts me from prayer and time in God s Word? b) Does television play a role in distracting you from God? (1) Remember, Satan isn t trying to get you to be a Satan worshiper (2) He s not trying to get you to hate God (3) He s not trying to get you to even speak against God (4) He s trying to distract you from spending time with God c) What about something as innocent as sleep? (1) I ve known a lot of people who set themselves on a plan to wake up a bit early so they can read a bit of Scripture each morning and pray before heading to work (2) Often this will be successful for a few days, but then the person will one day think, I m so tired; I ll sleep just a little longer (3) And then the pattern is broken, and soon the person sleeps in as a rule rather than the exception 15 of 16

(4) And then sleep is more important than God 6. Anything that displaces God from His rightful place as our top priority are idols a) Do you have a strong relationship with God? b) Do you pray to God daily? c) Is God your top priority? d) If not, ask yourself what takes up your time, what distracts you, what pushes God out of the way? IV. In conclusion, church, remember the story of the business man who spoke with Mark Twain A. Before I die, I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the Tem Commandments aloud at the top. B. He felt that later in life, before he passed away, he would make a pilgrimage that would somehow redeem him C. But Twain s point was as sharp as it was valid: Do now what God commands; live your life now as God wills D. This week, as you spend time with God in prayer and as you read Scripture, consider each of the Ten Commandments carefully E. In which do you stumble? F. If you say none, you are lying to yourself and to God G. None of us are perfect; we all sin and fall short of the glory of God H. So ask, God, show me where I am deficient; and Lord, give me the strength to grow and obey I. Amen. 16 of 16