Sermon Tone Analysis

*Ten Commandments*

Exodus 20:1-11

!! Introduction: This will be a two part message on the Ten Commandments.

Jesus taught In Matthew 22:37-40, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

“This is the great and foremost commandment.

“The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

"On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Today we will cover the the first four commandments (verses 1-11) which deal with loving the Lord your God and the other six commandments (verses 12-17) which deal loving your neighbor we will cover next week, Lord willing.

\\ Let me give you some observations about these commandments to get us started this morning.

\\ Exodus 20:1-2 \\ 1* **Then 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.*

* These commandments were given to the Israelites at Mount Sinai shortly after leaving Egypt.

God Himself spoke these commandments to the Israelites audibly (Deuteronomy 5:4 “The Lord spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire).

They heard the voice of their God like thunder as they gathered at the foot of the mountain.

* God also wrote these commandments with His own finger on tablets of stone.

Ex. 24:12; Ex. 31:18 The first one Moses destroyed after seeing the Israelites sin by making th golden calf.

Ex. 32:19

* These commandments are a summery of God's commands that are expanded and explained in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

* Only three of the 10 commandments are positively stated but it makes no difference whether the law is stated negatively or positively, for the moral law is always double sided.

When an evil is forbidden in one of the commandments, its opposite good must be understood as being encouraged.

* Rulers of the Near East were not trying to express universal wisdom through their laws.

They were trying to maintain their personal political and economic power and their image as lawgivers.

If a previous king had already done this they just borrowed the ideas for their own legal system.

A king was supposed to hand down laws that were clear, just, and true, no matter where he got them.

In contrast, the Bible teaches that God’s people received their laws from God Himself, not from their neighbors.

Even laws whose content corresponded to those of other Near Eastern codes are presented as God-given.

The Bible says to obey its laws because they are God’s commands.

* Most law systems of the Near East consisted of case laws; they laid out the age-old traditional decisions in various legal cases.

They were cold, hard, and capricious.

But the laws of the Bible point back to a personal lawgiver: God.

The Bible says that God gave His Law with a purpose of love.

Though the laws of the Bible are firm, they point to a God who cares about human beings personally and therefore directs how they should live so as to please Him and enjoy His favor.

* The Jews have always numbered the commandments as 1.

No other Gods.

2. No Idols.

3.

Not taking the Lord's name in vain.

4. Keep the Sabbath. 5. Honor Father and Mother.

6.

No Murder.

7. No Adultery.

8.

No Stealing.

9.

No False Witness.

10.

No Coveting Neighbor's Houses, Wives, Servants, Cattle.

Catholic teaching changed the numbering later by combining 1 and 2 and then breaking up #10 into two parts.

They numbered them as 1.

No other Gods or idols.

2.

Not taking the Lord's name in vain.

3. Keep the Sabbath.

4. Honor Father and Mother.

5 No Murder.

6.

No Adultery.

7. No Stealing.

8.

No False Witness.

9.

No Coveting Neighbor's House.

10.

No coveting Neighbor's Wife, Servants, or Cattle.

We will follow the Jewish numbering.

!! *I.

First Commandment \\ *A.

What the Commandment Says

*Exodus 20:3 **“You shall have no other gods before Me.*

Deuteronomy 4:35 (NASB95) \\ 35 “To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him.

B. What the Commandment Means

This is internal worship.

1. Monotheism.

Only one God.

Unlike Egypt and the Cannanites.

2. God's can be made in the heart.

Psalm 44:20-21 (NASB95) \\ 20 If we had forgotten the name of our God Or extended our hands to a strange god, \\ 21 Would not God find this out?

For He knows the secrets of the heart.

2. Interpreted by Jesus.

He is the prophet of Deuteronomy 18:15-19 \\ 15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.

\\ 16 “This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’

\\ 17 “The Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well.

\\ 18 ‘I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

\\ 19 ‘It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.

\\ Jesus is the new Moses for He is the one who gave the Law to Moses in the first place.

\\ \\

C. How to Apply the Commandment

Pride makes a god of self, covetousness makes a god of money, sensuality makes a god of the belly; whatever is esteemed or loved, feared or served, delighted in or depended on, more than God, that (whatever it is) we do in effect makes a god in our hearts.

What gods do you need to rid yourself of?

When sharing the gospel with someone you can point out to them that just not doing bad things doesn't make them right before God.

You can ask them if they have always loved God with all of their heart, mind, soul, and strength?

Have they always put His will and service ahead of their own?

This will help them to see that they stand condemned before Him and need His mercy.

!! *II.

Second Commandment* \\

A. What the Commandment Says

*Exodus 20:4-6*

*4 **“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.**

\\ 5 **“You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,** \\ 6 **but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.*

idol, image, i.e., a shaped or fashioned worship-icon as a god or representing a god

\\ B. What the Commandment Means

This is external worship.

This directly applies to making an image of what the only true God looks like.

The Israelites thought that they were obeying the first commandment when they made the golden calf.

They claimed that the golden calf was Yahweh, but thet was not what God wanted.

God is Spirit and must be worship in Spirit and truth.

He has no physical form that we can depict in a physical way; to try would be to pull God down to our level and limit an infinite being.

\\ C. How to Apply the Commandment

We are not to have figures, images, or any other representations of God that we worship.

Does this mean artistic creativity is frowned upon, no!

We have depictions of Jesus even here in the church building.

In the temple they had depictions of cherubim that surrounded God's throne.