Ten

The Ten Commandments...do you know them? Do you keep them?

1. No other Gods, only me.

2. Don't make for yourself an idol of anything on heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; don't put those things above your worship of God.

3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God; that's in curses or silliness.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; work six days and do everything you need to do but on the seventh day – do not work and set it apart as a holy day.

5. Honor your father and mother; so that you will live a long life.

6. No murder.

7. No adultery.

8. No stealing.

9. No lying.

10. No lusting after; or envying your neighbors possessions.

God gave these commandments to those that He saved from slavery in Egypt. He spoke in Deuteronomy 4:1, 2 Hear now O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it; but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.

He was speaking to His faithful ones then but we know that His word is timeless and He speaks this now to us today. We are promised this land in Heaven but we have to do now what the Israelites were called to do then.  Follow His commands.

But a person cannot follow directions if they don't have them around or see them. Therein lays the problem. You just cannot see them like you used to.

Do you know them?

Could you recite them?

About 5 years ago there was a big commotion in the media about a Chief Justice named Roy Moore from Alabama who had placed a two ton monument of a bible in the courthouse that He ruled in. Carved into it were the Ten Commandments; but within 3 months of it being there; there were suits being filed to remove it on the grounds that it "sends a message to all who enter the State Judicial Building that the government encourages and endorses the practice of religion in general and Judeo-Christianity in particular." After a year at trial it was decided that the monument violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and was thus unconstitutional: and Judge Moore who had placed it there was told to remove it. Judge Moore appealed the decision and it was in court for about a year. The final decision was that the earlier judgment would stand and Judge Moore would be forced to remove the statue by August 20, 2003. Judge Moore defiantly announced his intention to disobey the judge's order to have the monument removed on August 14^th. Finally, within a few days of when the monument was to have been removed Judge Moore was also charged with an ethics violation and soon was immediately removed from his duties.

We don't see the 10 Commandments very much anymore.

They used to be in schools; but not anymore.

They used to be in public buildings; but not anymore.

Not only the Commandments but also prayer is banned just about everywhere you go publicly anymore.

There's a quote that I heard but don't know who to give credit to…that says, "we have removed prayer and the ten commandments from our schools and told the children they came from apes and then we're surprised when they act like apes."

Why should we care; why should people like Judge Moore be willing to lose his position on the bench to have them on display?

Because God put them in place for us to live by; His commands are absolute; which means that they are free from imperfection; they are complete and perfect. Sadly absolutes are just not tolerated anymore…everything is in the gray area. No one wants us to think in the black and white.

But God Himself thinks in the black and white. We are to live by His absolute truths; His laws and His commands. It is simply a prideful society that refuses to follow the rules that were set up by the God that gave them life so that they can be ruled instead by the court of opinion. Opinions are nothing but a belief or conclusion held with confidence but not actually substantiated by positive knowledge or proof.Have you ever entertained the thought that your opinions might be flawed; that there might be a better plan on which to live? God gave the Ten Commandments as the basic law to govern all people. Why did He do that?

Believe it or not – it was for our own good.

The 10 Commandments were written down by God Himself on two stone tablets and given to Moses and the Israelites. God's Word tells us that Moses brought them down to the people who were told to wait upon the God that delivered them but while Moses was up on the mountain for those 40 days and 40 nights getting those commands the people quickly began to demand false gods to bow down and worship to; with the help of Moses' brother Aaron.

God being God seen all this and told Moses when those days and nights were over that Moses needed to get down to the people immediately because they had already turned from what He commanded them.

When Moses saw with his own eyes the way that the people were so soon honoring those false idols – he angrily threw down the tablets and broke them in pieces. And he tells them in Deuteronomy 9:18-20 that he Moses had interceded for them because God had intended to destroy them for their disobedience.

Moses does for them what Jesus later does for all of us in the New Testament… he falls prostrate - which is to cast (oneself) face down on the ground in humility, submission, or adoration and he eats no food and drinks no water because of the sins of the people and prays to God that He would not destroy them or Aaron his brother.

He tells the people then and I tell you today that HELLO PEOPLE – YOU BETTER START TO FEAR THE GOD WHO CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH BECAUSE HE BROUGHT YOU INTO THIS WORLD AND HE CAN TAKE YOU OUT!!!!

These commands are a standard on which we are to live. They have just been removed from our sight and then forgotten by many.

But they are not unlike the rules in which society functions still today:

We are all expected to get a social security number.

We are to follow the speed limits.

We are expected to pay taxes.

If we do not do these things – we will be singled out and punished.

If we do not do the things that God commands of us – We also will be singled out and punished. But sadly for a lot of people they don't fear God enough to care; because God doesn't single us out and punish us in the way or in the time that it happens with society. We think because we don't get knocked down by God right when we sin that we've outwitted, outlasted or outplayed Him. God is god and He won't be mocked; by little punks with nothing; or by the rich and famous that have it all. So, God gave us the commands for us to have a standard in which to live. He also gave us the commandments so that we can live a life of victory.

When we do the things that He commanded us to do – when we honor our mother and father, when we don't hate, when we don't steal or lie or covet or curse or put anything else in God's place we walk in freedom of His punishment and our own guilt. Just like this boy at the beginning of the video shows…the law and our failure to keep it show us how far away we are from God, it shows us that we need something more to get us back in right thinking and just like Moses was chosen to be the Israelites mediator in those days to speak to God on their behalf; we still now need that mediator Jesus to intercede on our behalf.

It's jaunting to come face to face with the living God and see our failures and flaws in His mirror… it's a lot less forgiving than the mirror of society and your friends and family hold up.  

Could you do me a favor?

Could you possibly entertain the thought that you might not be as great as you think you are. Could you possibly see that we stand in wait of a God who will ultimately stand and judge us when we die?

Just like Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron say in the Way of the Master…if we take a look at the absolutes that God put into place and judge ourselves in the way that God actually judges us; how will we ever make it?

Yes, we do have a God who will punish us.

No, we do not have a God who desires to punish us.

It is the ultimate parental relationship…just like our mothers and fathers on earth – it is for our own good that we receive punishment. I can tell you as a mom – I have NEVER enjoyed having to punish my kids…. But I also know that if I don't ultimately they will have way more problems in the future.

In Deuteronomy 5:29 Our God says the very same thing…Oh that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always so that it might go well with them and their children forever.

He is our Heavenly Father.

God longs to have things go well for man and his family.

This though is a result of obedience to God. There are 20 references in the bible to the commandments and there are 178 in regards to commands.

We are to obey and when we do - things will go far better for us.

Romans 8:28 All things work for good to those who love and obey God.

When we obey God He gives us a full and victorious life; we have the confidence and the assurance to be who we are called to be. We know our God will see us through all troubles and trials and even death itself.

Obedience is better than sacrifice I say to you again and again.

Sadly, that is really hard for some people. They instead look for a loophole; they want to know which is instead the most important commandment so that they can just do that one thing and make it in by the skin of their teeth when that's not how God works. The rich young ruler asked Jesus in Matthew 19:16 and then the teacher of religious law asked Jesus the same question in Mark 12:28. So I think the answer to the question which one is more important is really – Which one is more important to you; which one would trip you up?

Jesus basically says that we need to love the Lord our god with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength and then we need to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. The interesting thing about that is that His statement didn't throw out the commandments – it just tied them up in a compact package.

Because we will do the first 4 commandments when we love God in the way in which He wants us to love Him and we will do the next 6 commandments when we love others as we love ourselves. So, like I said we don't see the commandments written down in public places like we might of in the past but that's definitely not how God wants us to live… He wants you to know them and He wants you to think about it when you don't live them.

Deuteronomy 6; 6-9 Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, The Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you get up again. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Have you lied?

Have you stolen?

Have you treated your parents badly; to their face and behind their backs?

This is a reminder to you then of the call in which we as Christ followers should live; know them and live them.