Three months after crossing the Red Sea, the Hebrew children reach Mt. Sinai. This is the setting designed to focus on the majesty and holiness of God – the people receive their confirmation as God’s chosen nation. The people declare their willingness to abide by the commands they are about to receive…they follow instructions to spend two days preparing themselves to hear God’s voice. On the 3rd day, accompanied by an awesome display of God’s power, Moses received the 10 Commandments…the broad moral principles on which the nation’s conduct was based. FOUR commands Godward; SIX commands manward!
You are suspended by a chain over a deep abyss, fearing for your life, when a companion offers this comforting remark. “Don’t worry; all but one of the links will hold your weight.”
You are in a furniture store looking for a mirror to adorn your living when you come across a display that reads: Nearly Perfect Mirrors for Sale…only one crack in each!
These two stories illustrate the folly of trying to be saved by keeping the law.
Only one broken link in an otherwise perfect chain plunges you to your death. Only one crack ruins your entire mirror. “And the person who keeps every law of God, but makes one little slip, is just as guilty as the person who has broken every law there is.” James 2:10
In order to be saved by keeping the law—“doing the best you can”—you would have to keep it absolutely in every point through your lifetime. And no one but Jesus could ever do that! Gal. 3:24 the purpose of the law was not to SAVE you, but to SHOW you what sin is, and to POINT you to the Lamb of God Who alone can take it away. John 1:29
Jesus waits for you to admit you cannot save yourself and to turn to Him as the Answer. If you haven’t…do it today!
The 10 Commandments are given in triplicate. 1. Orally, by God 10:1-17 2. On tablets 24:12-18 3. On duplicate tablets prepared by Moses to replace the set he broke Ch.34
In additional to the 10 Commandments, Moses receives a body of civil and ceremonial laws designed to regulate all aspects of Israel’s national life. The CIVIL LAWS show God’s concern for the administration of justice, property rights, caring for the poor, punishing criminals and maintaining purity in interpersonal relationships. The CEREMONIAL LAWS deal with the tabernacle—Israel’s traveling “church in the wilderness” – and the priests, sacrifices, offerings, and annual feasts involved with it. After a stern reminder of the importance of obedience, God calls Moses back up the mountain for 40 days or instruction. Chapter 19 – 24 covers:
Laws for Relationships
Laws for Responsibilities
Laws for Spiritual Life
Ratification of the Law
No one is justified (declared righteous) by keeping the law. That is clear from passages such as Ga. 2:16. What then should be your attitude toward this block of Scripture? Recognize that portions of the O.T. law are repeated in the N.T. . . 9 of the 10 commandments are specifically reiterated, declaring the kind of conduct that glorifies God today.
Remember that love is the fulfillment of the law Matt. 22:37-40. If you truly love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. You will find yourself keeping the 10 C. not because you have to, but because you WANT to. “When the law of God is written on our hearts, our duty will be our delight.”
PURPOSE OF THE LAW: “The law of God discovers the disease, the Gospel gives the remedy.”
Learn what the law has to teach you about the character of God. God is concerned about the daily details of our life—even things as mundane as the death of an animal or the loss of a tooth. 21:17-28. He desires justice in business transactions, punishment for the guilty and protection for the innocent. Are those YOUR concerns as well? If not, will you make them YOURS today?
CONDITIONAL upon obedience: 19:5 Now therefore if you will obey My voice in truth and keep My covenant then you shall be My own peculiar possession and treasure…
RESPONSE: v. 8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do. Oh, that we might choose that attitude continuously!
THE 10 Commandments…clear, reasonable, and appropriate expectations for people in relating rightly to Him and to one another. There are 2 extreme views of the 10 C. – some view them as so legalistically they leave little or no room for the Lord’s forgiveness and restoration of any who breaks a rule. Others consider the C. obsolete in light of the N. T.
The Lord wants His people to relate rightly to Him and others, and He reveals His expectations for how they can do so. God made a covenant with the people of Israel.
Ch.20: 1. You shall have no other gods before or besides Me.
2. You shall not make yourself any graven image to worship it….
Some of the O.T. kings did not care what happened after their lifetime…they killed their own children, burned them, etc. Grandmother queen killed all her grandchildren. But to those who truly care about the heritage they leave this is a GREAT promise – “punishing the children for the fathers’ sin, to the third and 4th generation BUT showing faithful love to a 1,000 generations of those who love Me and keep My commands. The Lord’s preference is to show mercy rather than for people to experience His judgment.
3. You shall not use or repeat the name of the Lord your God in vain that is lightly or frivolously in false affirmations or profanely…
Prohibits using the Lord’s name lightly or falsely: expressions of surprise or concern, excitement or fear! Casually use! It also includes professing a right relationship with Christ by calling oneself a Christian, but deliberately making choices contrary to His revealed will. The Lord instructed His people to show respect for Him by refraining from misusing His name and by keeping holy the Sabbath. We give evidence of having a right relationship with the Lord when we always treat Him respectfully and acknowledge Him in all of our lives.
4. Earnestly remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy – withdrawn from common employment and dedicated to God…
Difference in Sabbath and the Lord’s Day…
5. Regard (treat with honor, due obedience and courtesy) your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land the Lord your…
The verb honor means to give the proper respect, attention, and obedience to persons in positions of responsibility and authority. The C. directs children to give parents the respect due their role in life. This continues to govern the parent child relationship even after the child becomes an adult. A person learns to respect the Lord by first learning respect for one’s parents.
6. You shall not commit murder
7. You shall not commit adultery
Jesus interpreted: He penetrated the outward action and exposed the attitude that produced the unfaithfulness. A healthy, God-given attraction for one’s spouse is great. Contemplation of any other person as the object of one’s physical appetite is wrong. The husband – wife relationship is an analogy of the relationship between Christ and the church in Eph. 5
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not witness falsely against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbors, house….or anything that is your neighbors. Luke 12:15
Covet here refers to the specific act of desiring that which does not belong to you. Sometimes referred to as the blanket commandment because breaking it often leads to violations of the preceding commandments.
DID THE PEOPLE ACTUALLY HEAR God’s voice? 19:9 “Lo, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you… 20:1 Then God spoke all these words: 18: Now all the people perceived the thundering and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the smoking mountain….trembled with fear…said to Moses…You speak to us and we will listen but let not God speak to us, lest we die. 20:22 “I have talked with you from heaven.”
We most likely will never HEAR audibly the voice of God in this earth walk. Yet, we hear His voice through His Word, the still small quiet voice inside ourselves and through others. Are we listening and when we HEAR or we responding with the attitude, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears” or like the Israelis in 19:8 …an attitude that leads us straight-a-way to OBEDIENCE! Knowing that we should not even attempt to act in our own strength (PRIDE) but with full acknowledgement and total dependence upon Him in us to do it through us (humility) that “Without Him, we can do NOTHING! But “with Him we can do anything!!!!
Think about this: America? 23: 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.” HAVE WE AMERICANS BEGUN TO ENTERTAIN THEIR GODS?
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