Exodus 20:1-17, “And God spoke all these
words, saying, (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 a carved image, or any likeness of
anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is
in the water under the earth. (5) You shall not bow down to them or serve them,
for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate
me, (6)
but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my
commandments. (7) "You shall not take the name of the LORD
your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name
in vain. (8) "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it
holy. (9) Six days you shall labour, 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, you, or your son, or your daughter,
your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner
who is within your gates. (11) For in six days the LORD made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (12)
"Honour your father and your mother, 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 neighbour. (17) "You shall not covet your neighbour's
house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or his male servant, or his
female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour's.”
Over the past few weeks we have looked at each of the Ten
Commandments, we have sought to understand the reasons for which God gave them
and why we should still uphold them in our own lives. We have also looked at
how each of these commandments, are commandments of love and life.
God’s desire has always been for us to have and know life at its
highest and most blessed level. It was this level of life that Adam and Eve
enjoyed in the Garden of Eden prior to falling into sin. The joy, freedom,
peace, love and life that Adam and Eve experienced goes beyond all human
comprehension, in fact we shall only know it for ourselves if we believe in
Jesus Christ and spend eternity in His Kingdom.
God’s desire for us did not end when we fell into sin, and the Ten
Commandments reflect this reality. They are all designed to lead us to a greater,
higher and more blessed level of life. They lead us to life and to a society
that loves God first and foremost, that treasures, respects, reveres and
worships God. Where there is honour and respect for one another, where children
love and honour their parents, and where parents love their children by raising
them in the fear and knowledge of God. It leads us to love one another and
respect each other’s lives, seeing life as precious and worth preserving, and it
leads us to uphold and honour marriage, protecting each other’s marriages and
loving our spouses truly. It helps us to respect property and possessions, and
leads us to contentment, gratefulness and trusting in God to meet our needs,
whilst we seek to be generous to the poor. We are lead to love the truth, to
prize it and to speak and act in truth, and finally it warns us against pride,
envy, jealousy, discontentment and grumbling, which seek only to destroy and
leads us and others into misery.
We cannot deny the fact that we all long to know and have such a life
and live in such a place, however, we know that such people and such a place
does not exist on earth. Which brings us to the primary purpose of the Ten
Commandments, and that is to point us to our great need of Jesus Christ. We can
never meet the righteous requirements of God, and thus the Ten Commandments
disqualify all of us. What we need is someone who can make us righteous, who
can demonstrate a perfect obedience and then willingly offer up their own life
as a sacrifice on our behalf. That someone is the Lord Jesus Christ, he has
done this for us! Not only has he made right those who believe in Him, He has
also set before them the real and certain hope that one day we shall live in a
place better than Eden, we shall live with God in His Kingdom, for all eternity
and sin shall not be permitted to enter into that place.
As we now leave the Ten Commandments, let us leave them with a deep
thankfulness towards God for giving us these commandments of love and life, and
lets us give evidence of our thankfulness through our joyful and willing obedience
of them. Furthermore, let us give thanks to God for the salvation that He has
provided for us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, and the wonderful hope
that we have in looking forward to heaven.
Father of love and life, we praise and
thank You for these Your commandments. We further thank and praise You for the
Lord Jesus Christ, who did what we could not do, and has provided a great
salvation for us and an eternal hope. We pray that You will help us to love,
serve and glorify You, by loving and living out these commandments. We thank
You for the confidence that we have in knowing that as we live these
commandments out, we shall know Your blessing and shall be lead to a deeper and
greater love and life. Amen.
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