Introduction to the Ten Commandments
By Jim Murriner
Exodus 20:1-17
"And God spake all these words, saying."
"I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:"
"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me:"
"And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."
"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."
"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."
"Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:"
"But in the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:"
"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."
"Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."
"Thou shalt not kill."
"Thou shalt not commit adultery."
"Thou shalt not steal."
"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s"
The ten commandments are extremely important, and while there is no salvation found in the keeping of them, they have in no way been done away with.
They are awesome in that each of the ten connect with every other of the ten in such a way that when we break one of them we also break all the rest of them.
All of God's word is important, but here we have a direct account of the words which God spoke.
Exodus 20:1 "And God spake all these words, saying," Ps.138:2 tells us that God holds His word high above His great name.
"I will worship toward the holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name."
What we have here in Exodus 20 like all of God's word is not merely a document of ten points compiled by the mind of some man, not even by some council of scholarly men, but by the mouth of God. This is the very word of God.
We must look at these commandments keeping in mind at all times that Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us that God's thoughts are higher and different than the thoughts of man.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord."
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
God is always right in what He does, and in what He says, so these things contained in these ten commandments, these ten words of God, are right, and you and I as mere creatures of God, have no right at all to argue with what God tells us here."
Isaiah 40:13 -15 gives us a glimpse of the greatness and knowledge of God.
"Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him?"
"With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgement, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?"
"Behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold he taketh up the isles as a very little thing."
You and I as mere creatures of God, have no right at all to argue with what God tells us here.
Romans 9:20 reminds us that we are not to argue with God.
"Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?"
All of mans standards of what is right and what is wrong must be determined by these ten words of God.
Living in the New Testament age and looking at the law, the ten commandments, the only thing that could be found wrong with the law is the inability of man to keep it, therefore Hebrews 8:7-8 finds fault with man. The law, the ten commandments , the ten words are good and right.
Hebrews 8:7-8 "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second."
"For finding fault with them, he saith Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:"
These ten commandments show us how bad, how depraved and in need of a saviour that we really are.
Galatians 3:21-24 tells us that the law, or the ten commandments, these ten words of God, point us to Christ, that we after seeing ourselves as lawbreakers, and as sinners, we might go to Christ by faith for salvation.
"Is the law then against the promises of God: God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law."
"But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."
"But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed."
"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith."
After having read this if you are a child of God I hope that God will be gracious unto you and cause you to see God as He is, far greater than most men present Him to be.
If you are not a child of God may God cause you to see your lost condition and give you repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your saviour
