EXODUS 20:2-23 LOVE THE LORD...AND THY NEIGHBOR The Ten Commandments given by God are clearly divided into two parts. Love for God is the foundation to everything in the life of a child of God. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Other things that claim the interests and occupy the time of people become objects of worship. Some very educated people will say, "There is no God," or "No God for me." These people worship themselves and their intellect. Others in ancient times had many gods they considered to have enough power over men that they should be worshipped. Some worshipped the sun because of its inability to be controlled by men. Others worshipped bulls, alligators, serpents - anything that seemed to have power. There were people who worshipped anything that had a "life-source" in it like plants, trees - even immoral practices of people. At the beginning of the Decalogue, God established the fact that there was to be no other god people would look to. "The gods which your fathers served...or the gods of the Amorites" were to be completely forsaken. They were not to make any form of anything that would be an object of worship. "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." To change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man or animals, is not only an insulting attempt to degrade God, but will result in God giving them up to their own uncleanness according to Romans 1.
Objects of worship today may not only be carved or formed pieces of wood, metal or other forms of art, but people make them as objects of veneration. Many focus their attention on other ungodly visual images that take one's attention and claim their focused interest. There are many things depicted on television screens or are available for viewing on a computer that defile the mind and control the soul of those who allow those images an entrance into their being. Not only do they cause people to fantasize about ungodly things, but they are often made in such a way as to disrespect God and sometimes make God into an object of derision in their minds and the minds of those they influence.
God's name carries His personal identity and to use His name frivolously and blasphemously as curse words, indicates one who does not take the Person of God seriously. To dishonor the Name of God is to dishonor the Person of God. Very few people use other names as curse words or words of disrespect. God's name is to be praised. His name is to be held in high esteem as we speak it in reverence when we worship God. The way we use any person's name reveals how we think of that person.
The Sabbath day became a covenant, a token between God and the children of Israel as we read in Exodus 31:17. The fact of the need of a day of rest for all of mankind is part of our nature. The reason for a day to rest is that incessant labor soon leaves a person unable to labor. During the French revolution they changed it to ten days of labor and one of rest, but it was soon changed back to one day in seven. Humans have been created by God with that seven-day cycle as part of our being. The body and soul of a man have to be allowed to synchronize with the spirit of man. The seventh-day rest was given for physical reasons, not to build a religion on. In the New Testament church, the first day of the week was the day God's people were to give their proportionate offerings. It was the day they assembled to break bead together in remembrance of Christ and to publicly show His death until He comes again. It was the day John received the revelation of Jesus Christ in the present and future and was the day of His resurrection. As a day of Resurrection, Remembrance, Responsibility, and Revelation it became a day of Rest and Refreshing of the spirit, soul and body. It also demonstrates the degree of importance we attach to God in our lives.
The law given does not only direct us in ways to express our love to the Lord our God, but as to whether we love our neighbor as ourselves. When I honor my parents, I will speak well of them, I will speak politely to them, I will show them courtesy and respect. I will not do what I know is wrong and I will do what they taught me is right. Parents who put God first in life have a special place in God's sight. It is my responsibility to honor them before God and men.
The command to not kill was not given to a nation but was given, as the other commands, to individuals. One man should not kill another. Nations are given authority to protect human life by taking human life, but this right is not given to individuals. The Lord Jesus clarified this when He equated anger and murder together. An individual's anger does not permit them to take another person's life.
Even though society has taken a different view of sex outside of wedlock, this does not change the law of God. Men may change laws by their governmental decrees to suit a changing society, but God's standards remain the same. The Lord Jesus clearly stated that lust leads one to commit adultery already in the heart. Changing social mores may lead to changing laws. And changing laws may lead to changing social consequences, but God remains the same, and so does the standard of righteousness He established. If adultery is permitted, so then is stealing, and if stealing so is lying. To take what belongs to another is still stealing no matter if it is the poor stealing from the rich or leaders stealing from the rank and file of the population. To lie in a court of law or in one's own home is still bearing false witness. To leave something out that should be said or to insert something into a conversation that is not entirely true is deception. To want to possess what belongs to another person goes beyond admiring what one has, to where it becomes envying and resentment over the fact that others have what I do not have. God knows what I have and He knows what I need. "A man's life does not consist of the abundance of things that he possesses."
Because sin is in the world, God has given the law to awaken us to its consequences. There is no excuse for us to claim we don't know what sin is. It is written in our hearts and it is written in the pages of scripture. My obligation is to love the Lord supremely and to love and value those around me in the same way I love myself.
The laws are not complicated but they are very real. When the temptation is there to dishonor God, or lie and steal From those around me, then I need to stop and remember That God doesn't always settle His accounts in September.
There is pay-day coming for the laws that I break. There are consequences to accept for each decision I make. I will be wise if I stop to take time the law to read - And be wiser still if its teaching and warnings I heed.
I don't really need to read the words to know what is right and wrong. And I don't have to make snap-judgments as I travel along This road of life because in my very being God has placed within A consciousness of Himself and holiness, and what really is sin.
The law plainly articulates what I know is true. It tells the consequences of sin after it is through. As an austere teacher it warns me of what I will face If I don't obey those laws and give them the right place.
But the laws don't make me right, they just teach me the way, To live to please God in the things I do and what I say. Those laws expose my guilt and make me stop to consider That I need a righteousness imparted before I go any farther.
By the law I am made aware of my need of the Savior. It condemns me when it reveals my thoughts and my behavior. When it awakens me to face up to my sin now - The Spirit of God reveals Christ, what He did for my sins, and how.
Those commandments condemn me, leaving me hopelessly lost. The death of Christ for my sins reveals what broken laws cost. In his perfections He could fulfill the claims of the law for me - And by virtue of His sacrifice, I am set eternally free.
"I praise Thee, Father, for exposing the awfulness of sin and then revealing the only way sin can be paid for. It is always a cause for worship from me to consider the Lord Jesus Christ and the legal claims against me He settled once for all when He died on the cross. Please accept my heart-felt thanks. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen."