March 5, 2006

Cawson St. Church of Christ

Hopewell, Virginia

Mural Worthey

 

Great Texts from Exodus--#4

 

Introduction: “The Ten Commandments”, part 2

 

“There is no more succinct statement of human moral responsibility anywhere than in these ten rules for right living.”  (Rubel Shelly, Living By the Rules, 13.)  However, some exalt the Ten Commandments too highly (i.e., just follow these and you will be saved); others ignore and regularly break them.  One talk show host, Dick Clark, asked a celebrity panel, “If you could abolish one of the Ten Commandments, which one would you choose?”  No human being has the power to do away with anything that God has commanded.

 

The Ten Commandments are called ten words at least twice in the text.  (Deut. 4:13; 10:4.)  The ten words were written on two tables of clay, front and back.  (Exodus 32:15.)  The giving of the Ten Commandments occurs in the middle of the record of Exodus, chapter 20.  Genesis and the first half of Exodus serve as the introduction to the giving of the Law, or Torah.  These Ten Commandments are 3500 years old and yet they are still well-known around the world.  They have had a tremendous impact on societies over those years.

 

It is interesting to note that eight of the Ten Commandments are negative, containing “thou shalt not” and only two are positive.  We should note that this is the nature of laws.  Nine of the commands are for adults and one is for children.  The first four are duties toward God and the last six are duties toward man.  One translation in 1631 left out the not in the seventh commandment, Thou shalt not commit adultery.  The printer was fined 300 pounds by Archbishop Laud.  (See Metzer, The Bible in Translation, 78.)

 

Legal Fight Over Ten Cs   

 

There is an ongoing battle over the public display of the Ten Command-ments in the USA.  Roy Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court lost his seat on the court because he displayed the Ten Cs in the court house.  In 2003, he became known as the “Ten Commandments’ Judge.”  Yet a public display of the Ten Commandments remains in thousands of buildings around the country.   I think that the least we can say about the legal battle over the display of the Ten Commandments is that our country is going further away from simple morality and godliness.  The wise man wrote years ago:

 

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”  (Prov. 14:34.)

 

We should not be so much interested in keeping monuments with the Ten Commandments written on them in public places, as we are in keeping them spiritually.  This is far more important than having a 5000-pound monument in a court house!  Even though we are not under the Law of Moses, of which the Ten Cs are a part, we ought not to sin against God or man!!  It is still wrong to make images of God and bow down to them.  It is still wrong to steal, bear false witness, commit adultery, to murder, etc.  It is amazing that we will fervently protest the removal of plaques from court houses and schools, but then turn around and violate the very commandments written on those monuments!

 

Honor thy Father and Mother

 

The 5^th commandment is “Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”  (Exodus 20:12, Deut. 5:16.)  Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  Honor thy father and mother, (which is the first commandment with promise), that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth.”  (Eph. 6:1-2.)

 

The promise referred to in this command was made to the children of the Israelites.  If they honored their parents, they would live long in the Promise Land.  If they dishonored them, they would be driven from the land into captivity.  Children today have a blessing promised to them if they honor, or listen to, their parents.  If they do not, there will invariably be a curse upon them.  You will be hurt in some way, if you dishonor your parents.  You will not be driven off the Promised Land, but you will be led into some of the many captivities that sin and Satan have devised for you.

 

Do you despise your parents who feed, clothe and protect you?  Do you despise the godly instruction about how you should live?  There is nothing more sinful than for young people to grow up and live an ungodly life, contrary to everything their parents stand for and taught their children.  Christian parents live with unbelievable heartache and pain due to the dishonor brought upon them by their children.  The father of the prodigal son was shamed by the conduct of the younger son.  In the East, the father was dishonored in the eyes of society because of his son.

 

More and more children of Christian parents are leaving the church when they leave home.  They are choosing a life of immorality and unbelief.

Today, parents are often dishonored by their children.  Paul wrote, “But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.”  (1 Tim. 5:8.) Children should first learn to show piety at home so that the church should not be charged with the responsibility of caring for their parents.  (1 Tim. 5:16.)

 

Sexual Purity

 

Sexual purity is referred to twice in the Ten Commandments.  Thou shalt not commit adultery and thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife or manservant or maidservant.  (7^th and 10^th commandment)  The New Testament likewise says much about sexual purity.

 

“Flee fornication.  Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that commits fornication sins against his own body. . . Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God’s.”  (1 Cor. 6:18-20.)

 

“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication; that everyone of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of evil desire even as the Gentiles which know not God.”  (1 Thess. 4:3-4.)

 

“But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh saints.”  (Eph. 5:3.)  Paul said that it ought not to be named among us one time!  Yet, we have it often occurring among us.  Teens and adults are indifferent about their immoral sexual behavior.  Adults are not setting a good example either.  They sometimes act like kids on their first date.  And because they are adults, they feel that they can do whatever they want and it is not wrong!

 

The USA has the highest teen pregnancy rate of all developed countries.  About one million teens become pregnant each year and about one third end in abortion.  Fornication is committed first, then infanticide!  Now about 75% of all births occur to teens outside of marriage.  Teens are becoming sexually active at younger ages.  Further, they have been convinced by teachers at school and our society that there is nothing wrong with it.  Yet the Bible calls it fornication, uncleanness, lust of evil desire, and sin against your own body.

 

Regard Human Life Highly

 

“Thou shalt not kill” means “thou shalt not commit murder” because the Law of Moses itself commanded certain people to be put to death for criminal offenses.  It is not wrong to kill if in regard to capital punishment or war or flagrant disobedience to God (God often put to death those who disobeyed Him).  Three thousand died the day the Law of Moses was given.

 

We should highly regard human life.  Capital punishment for murder and other crimes actually shows a high regard for life.  If a person is not penalized severely for taking human life, then we have a low regard for human life.

 

Abortion is further evidence of our low regard for human life.  About 1.3 million children are aborted each year in America.  Planned Parenthood promotes the right of women to choose what to do with her body and the child within.  It is based upon feminism—an exalting of the woman above the man and a disregard of God’s Word for her role.

 

Murder shows a low regard for human life.  Recently a man killed his infant daughter and wife, then fled to England.  The highest annual number for murders in the US was 24,700 in 1991; it has dropped to about 16,000 this year.

 

Islam has a low regard for human life.  Nothing seems to excite their followers more than talk of a jihad, or holy war.  The Koran speaks of cutting the heads off of those who oppose Islam.  Their cruel acts of beheading hostages reveal their brutality and low regard for fellow human beings.  If we regard the life of one human being lowly, we view all human beings in like manner.

 

Conclusions from the Ten Cs

 

►The Ten Commandments were repeated in Deuteronomy 5 to a new generation of Israelites who were ready to enter into the Promise Land.  Moses gave an extended review of the Ten Cs that he gave at Mount Sinai.  (Deut. 4:44-5:33.)  This repeating of the Law shows how we need to teach God’s will to each generation.  If we fail to do so, chaos and disobedience will result.

 

►Moses added an explanation concerning the Sabbath Day.  In the first account, he said that God had created the world in six days and rested on the seventh.  This is the reason for giving the Sabbath rest.  But in the second account, he said that they should keep the Sabbath Day because they were in bondage in Egypt, but God delivered them with a mighty hand.  This shows how the Sabbath applies especially to the Hebrews and not to any other people.  We have not been in bondage in Egypt.  In addition, the New Testament says that the Sabbath is a shadow of good things to come in the new covenant.  (Col. 2:16-17.) The real thing is the body of Christ.  We should not observe shadows today.  We have a real spiritual rest in Christ.  There remains a rest for the people of God.  If Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day.  (Heb. 4:8-9.)

 

►There is more to Christianity than rules or laws.  We do need rules to live by; the present moral condition of our world shows that clearly.  But we need a Savior; the Law brought the knowledge of sin and pointed out the need for a Savior.  Paul wrote that the law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.  Now that we are in Christ, we no longer need a schoolmaster.  (Gal. 3:24.) The Law brought us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.

 

►What if someone disobeyed God and broke some of these Ten Commandments?  Under the Law alone, there was no forgiveness because the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin.  It took the blood of Jesus on the cross to bring redemption to all who had failed to keep all the commandments.  James explained that if one kept the whole law and failed in one point, he is guilty of all.  (James 2:10.)  We are under the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not the Law of Moses.