Exodus Part 2
God Gives the Ten Commandments
And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Exodus 20:1-17 NIV
Memory Verse: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:23-24 NIV
Main Takeaway: God’s standard is perfection! We are not. Therefore, we need a Savior.
Introduction:
I like sports. College football and college basketball are my favorite sports to watch. As I watch them, I am amazed at how good these athletes truly are. It’s really fascinating to see them sky through the air to dunk a basketball or make a diving one-handed catch on the football field. But have you ever thought about how the game would look if there were no rules to follow? It would be chaos, wouldn’t it? So much so, that the games would be unwatchable, and not to mention that the safety of the players would be compromised. Thankfully, there are rules to follow. These rules are in place to help the game flow smoothly, to keep it organized, to keep the games fair, and to keep the athletes safe. We might complain about the rules sometimes, especially when we think our team got a bad call made against them, but nonetheless we all appreciate having the rules in place to allow us to enjoy the games we love.
As parents, we have rules set in place in our households as well. They are in place for very similar reasons. They are there to keep our kids safe, to keep our homes organized, and to help shape our kids into becoming the adults we want them to be. Of course, our kids complain about them, but they are there for a reason. As parents, our job is to set the rules. Our kids don’t get that job. Could you imagine that? We set them because we believe we know what is best for our children. They are not there to make our kids’ lives difficult (although they may disagree). They are there because we want the absolute best for them, and these rules provide the guard rails to keep them on the right path.
In the book of Exodus, God lays out His first set of rules for His people. These rules are known as the Ten Commandments and lay the foundation for what the Israelites call the Law. He gave His people the Law for very similar reasons we give our kids rules for our household. With this devotion we are going to explore these commandments, and also look forward to Jesus to see what He has to say about them as well.
Background and Context:
At this point in the story of the Israelites, God’s chosen people are finally out from under the thumb of the nation of Egypt. They are a free nation, and God is ready to lead them into the land that He promised to Abraham many years earlier. Before He leads them in, He needs to give them some instructions. He needs to give them the standard of how to live, and this is when He gives the Israelites the Ten Commandments.
Moses is the leader of the people, and so God calls him up to the top of Mount Sinai to give him these commandments. This list of ten rules was given to Moses on stone tablets that God Himself transcribed. Exodus 20:1-17 records these Ten Commandments, and that passage is referenced above. These are not mere suggestions for the people to follow. These are commands, and these are the standards by which the Israelites are to live. God’s standard for His people is perfection. There was no wiggle room here for His people.
Why is God’s standard so high? God is perfect. God is holy. God is good, and He set this nation of people apart to be His representatives to the other nations around them. He needed them to be different from everyone else, so when the surrounding nations looked upon them, they would know that the One True God was with them. If there was no standard, and the nation of Israel just lived like everyone else, they would not represent God well to the nations around them. God needed them to fulfill the role of representing His holiness, character, and goodness to the world around them. God didn’t demand this so that Israel could boast about how good they were. He needed them to be good representatives to the world to try and bring more and more people to Him. That’s why the standard was perfection. However, no one is perfect, and God knew the Israelites would fail over and over again much like us today. God had a plan for this. We will talk more about this next week, but in this plan, God made a way for the nation of Israel to make things right with Him if they broke a commandment. This would be a temporary fix that would point to something greater.
Application:
In the New Testament, Jesus also stood on a mountain and gave what many call the greatest sermon every spoken. This has come to be known as the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5-7 records this sermon, and it is filled with parallels to the Ten Commandments. Jesus uses this sermon to reveal the original commandments in a new light. He would give direction and insight on how to follow these commands throughout His discussion. He did not hit all ten commandments in this sermon but throughout His entire ministry, He hit them all and would show everyone how to follow them.
Some would argue that because Jesus came to Earth, He brought a new Law with Him and the old Law that includes the Ten Commandments was no longer necessary for Christians. This new law that Jesus brought was the law of grace and was referenced in Romans 6:14: “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” Some interpret this to mean that we do not have to follow the Ten Commandments because we have the grace of God poured out on us, and therefore the Law is unnecessary. I personally don’t believe this is what Paul, the author of Romans, meant when he wrote these words, but I invite you to do your own study and look for yourself. I think Jesus would disagree outright, as well. Jesus says during His sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Here, Jesus directly says that He did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. You see, Jesus is the only one who lived a life without breaking a commandment. He came to show how to live perfectly and fulfill the Law the way it was meant to live. He did what we were powerless to do.
I would also argue that Jesus did way more than just show how to live out the standard of the Ten Commandments. He elevated the standard. Just two quick examples. Commandment six says you shall not murder for you will be brought to judgment. Jesus says in Matthew 5:21-22, to not become angry with someone or you will be brough to judgment. Commandment seven says you shall not commit adultery. Jesus says, in Matthew 5:27-28, if you lust after someone you have committed adultery in your heart. You see, the commandments focus on outward actions. Jesus wants us to focus on our intent and our hearts which is even harder to keep on track.
Here is the bottom line. The Ten Commandments and Jesus provide us with the “rules and guidelines” on how to live. They put up the guard rails for us to stay within them. Again, these are put in place not to make us live boring or unhappy lives. These are put in place because following His ways is what is best for us. However, Jesus came because God knew we could not obey them the way He expected. Remember, God’s standard is perfection. Jesus even says this in Matthew 5:48: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” We can’t live to perfection, but Jesus could. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Our first step in our journey of faith is to recognize that we are powerless to keep the Law. We need help. We need a Savior. We need Jesus. A lot of people quote Romans 3:23 and stop. But when they do, they leave out the best part, and that is found in the next verse. Romans 3:24 says, “and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” We cannot truly recognize Jesus as our Savior until we fully understand that we need one. Read that again if you need to. We have to first come to the realization that we are sinners and are powerless to change our standing with God on our own. When we make that realization and turn to Jesus and make Him the Lord of our life, His righteousness and perfection gets transferred to us. Then, when God looks at us, He sees the perfect, righteous person that He has called us to be. Praise Jesus for that today!
Questions and Further Exploration:
The Ten Commandments provide the standard of perfection that we are called to live. We cannot possibly do this. Talk with your son or daughter about some of the commandments that you may have broken and ask them to do the same. Let them know that this is not meant to make anyone feel guilty, but just to show them that all of us are guilty of breaking some of these. We need help to overcome these. We need Jesus.
Ask you son of daughter how they view the rules that you have set for your home. Do they see them as a burden to their life of fun? Or do they see that they are in place because as their parent, you know what is best for them?
Jesus did bring in the law of grace. How do you view the law of grace? Do you view it as a free pass to do what you want? Or do you view it as more of a safety net that is in place just in case you sin? Ask and discuss this with your son or daughter.
Discuss examples of how following the commands of God can lead others to Christ. We are called to live differently than the rest of the world, so how can that bring others to Jesus?
Other examples of the Ten Commandments in the New Testament
Do not worship any other Gods (Matthew 22:37, 1 Corinthians 8:6)
Do not make idols (1 John 5:21)
Do not misuse the name of the Lord (1 Timothy 6:21)
Remember the Sabbath: There is no direct or indirect command for believers to observe the Sabbath, although Jesus wants us to rest in Him (Matthew 11:29, Hebrews 4:1-11).
Honor your father and mother (Mark 10:18, Ephesians 6:1-2)
Do not murder (Matthew 5:21-22, Romans 13:9, 1 Peter 4:15)
Do not commit adultery (Matthew 5:27-28, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
Do not steal (Mark 10:18, Ephesians 4:28)
Do not give false testimony (Mark 10: 18, Revelation 21:8)
Do not covet (Colossians 3:5)
Summary of all the commandments: Matthew 22:36-40
And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Exodus 20:1-17 NIV
Memory Verse: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:23-24 NIV
Main Takeaway: God’s standard is perfection! We are not. Therefore, we need a Savior.
Introduction:
I like sports. College football and college basketball are my favorite sports to watch. As I watch them, I am amazed at how good these athletes truly are. It’s really fascinating to see them sky through the air to dunk a basketball or make a diving one-handed catch on the football field. But have you ever thought about how the game would look if there were no rules to follow? It would be chaos, wouldn’t it? So much so, that the games would be unwatchable, and not to mention that the safety of the players would be compromised. Thankfully, there are rules to follow. These rules are in place to help the game flow smoothly, to keep it organized, to keep the games fair, and to keep the athletes safe. We might complain about the rules sometimes, especially when we think our team got a bad call made against them, but nonetheless we all appreciate having the rules in place to allow us to enjoy the games we love.
As parents, we have rules set in place in our households as well. They are in place for very similar reasons. They are there to keep our kids safe, to keep our homes organized, and to help shape our kids into becoming the adults we want them to be. Of course, our kids complain about them, but they are there for a reason. As parents, our job is to set the rules. Our kids don’t get that job. Could you imagine that? We set them because we believe we know what is best for our children. They are not there to make our kids’ lives difficult (although they may disagree). They are there because we want the absolute best for them, and these rules provide the guard rails to keep them on the right path.
In the book of Exodus, God lays out His first set of rules for His people. These rules are known as the Ten Commandments and lay the foundation for what the Israelites call the Law. He gave His people the Law for very similar reasons we give our kids rules for our household. With this devotion we are going to explore these commandments, and also look forward to Jesus to see what He has to say about them as well.
Background and Context:
At this point in the story of the Israelites, God’s chosen people are finally out from under the thumb of the nation of Egypt. They are a free nation, and God is ready to lead them into the land that He promised to Abraham many years earlier. Before He leads them in, He needs to give them some instructions. He needs to give them the standard of how to live, and this is when He gives the Israelites the Ten Commandments.
Moses is the leader of the people, and so God calls him up to the top of Mount Sinai to give him these commandments. This list of ten rules was given to Moses on stone tablets that God Himself transcribed. Exodus 20:1-17 records these Ten Commandments, and that passage is referenced above. These are not mere suggestions for the people to follow. These are commands, and these are the standards by which the Israelites are to live. God’s standard for His people is perfection. There was no wiggle room here for His people.
Why is God’s standard so high? God is perfect. God is holy. God is good, and He set this nation of people apart to be His representatives to the other nations around them. He needed them to be different from everyone else, so when the surrounding nations looked upon them, they would know that the One True God was with them. If there was no standard, and the nation of Israel just lived like everyone else, they would not represent God well to the nations around them. God needed them to fulfill the role of representing His holiness, character, and goodness to the world around them. God didn’t demand this so that Israel could boast about how good they were. He needed them to be good representatives to the world to try and bring more and more people to Him. That’s why the standard was perfection. However, no one is perfect, and God knew the Israelites would fail over and over again much like us today. God had a plan for this. We will talk more about this next week, but in this plan, God made a way for the nation of Israel to make things right with Him if they broke a commandment. This would be a temporary fix that would point to something greater.
Application:
In the New Testament, Jesus also stood on a mountain and gave what many call the greatest sermon every spoken. This has come to be known as the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5-7 records this sermon, and it is filled with parallels to the Ten Commandments. Jesus uses this sermon to reveal the original commandments in a new light. He would give direction and insight on how to follow these commands throughout His discussion. He did not hit all ten commandments in this sermon but throughout His entire ministry, He hit them all and would show everyone how to follow them.
Some would argue that because Jesus came to Earth, He brought a new Law with Him and the old Law that includes the Ten Commandments was no longer necessary for Christians. This new law that Jesus brought was the law of grace and was referenced in Romans 6:14: “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” Some interpret this to mean that we do not have to follow the Ten Commandments because we have the grace of God poured out on us, and therefore the Law is unnecessary. I personally don’t believe this is what Paul, the author of Romans, meant when he wrote these words, but I invite you to do your own study and look for yourself. I think Jesus would disagree outright, as well. Jesus says during His sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Here, Jesus directly says that He did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. You see, Jesus is the only one who lived a life without breaking a commandment. He came to show how to live perfectly and fulfill the Law the way it was meant to live. He did what we were powerless to do.
I would also argue that Jesus did way more than just show how to live out the standard of the Ten Commandments. He elevated the standard. Just two quick examples. Commandment six says you shall not murder for you will be brought to judgment. Jesus says in Matthew 5:21-22, to not become angry with someone or you will be brough to judgment. Commandment seven says you shall not commit adultery. Jesus says, in Matthew 5:27-28, if you lust after someone you have committed adultery in your heart. You see, the commandments focus on outward actions. Jesus wants us to focus on our intent and our hearts which is even harder to keep on track.
Here is the bottom line. The Ten Commandments and Jesus provide us with the “rules and guidelines” on how to live. They put up the guard rails for us to stay within them. Again, these are put in place not to make us live boring or unhappy lives. These are put in place because following His ways is what is best for us. However, Jesus came because God knew we could not obey them the way He expected. Remember, God’s standard is perfection. Jesus even says this in Matthew 5:48: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” We can’t live to perfection, but Jesus could. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Our first step in our journey of faith is to recognize that we are powerless to keep the Law. We need help. We need a Savior. We need Jesus. A lot of people quote Romans 3:23 and stop. But when they do, they leave out the best part, and that is found in the next verse. Romans 3:24 says, “and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” We cannot truly recognize Jesus as our Savior until we fully understand that we need one. Read that again if you need to. We have to first come to the realization that we are sinners and are powerless to change our standing with God on our own. When we make that realization and turn to Jesus and make Him the Lord of our life, His righteousness and perfection gets transferred to us. Then, when God looks at us, He sees the perfect, righteous person that He has called us to be. Praise Jesus for that today!
Questions and Further Exploration:
The Ten Commandments provide the standard of perfection that we are called to live. We cannot possibly do this. Talk with your son or daughter about some of the commandments that you may have broken and ask them to do the same. Let them know that this is not meant to make anyone feel guilty, but just to show them that all of us are guilty of breaking some of these. We need help to overcome these. We need Jesus.
Ask you son of daughter how they view the rules that you have set for your home. Do they see them as a burden to their life of fun? Or do they see that they are in place because as their parent, you know what is best for them?
Jesus did bring in the law of grace. How do you view the law of grace? Do you view it as a free pass to do what you want? Or do you view it as more of a safety net that is in place just in case you sin? Ask and discuss this with your son or daughter.
Discuss examples of how following the commands of God can lead others to Christ. We are called to live differently than the rest of the world, so how can that bring others to Jesus?
Other examples of the Ten Commandments in the New Testament
Do not worship any other Gods (Matthew 22:37, 1 Corinthians 8:6)
Do not make idols (1 John 5:21)
Do not misuse the name of the Lord (1 Timothy 6:21)
Remember the Sabbath: There is no direct or indirect command for believers to observe the Sabbath, although Jesus wants us to rest in Him (Matthew 11:29, Hebrews 4:1-11).
Honor your father and mother (Mark 10:18, Ephesians 6:1-2)
Do not murder (Matthew 5:21-22, Romans 13:9, 1 Peter 4:15)
Do not commit adultery (Matthew 5:27-28, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
Do not steal (Mark 10:18, Ephesians 4:28)
Do not give false testimony (Mark 10: 18, Revelation 21:8)
Do not covet (Colossians 3:5)
Summary of all the commandments: Matthew 22:36-40