Exodus | Chapter 20 – Scripture Supply

Exodus 20:1-11 – “Laws of Love”

Outline:

Intro.
Vs. 1-3 Who you are to love
Vs. 4-6 How you are to love
Vs. 7 The conversation of love
Vs. 8-11 A day set-aside for love

Intro.

You will remember last week that we saw Israel preparing to hear from the Lord. Again, if you think of this as a wedding ceremony, we have gone through the first part of the ceremony where people are sat down, and music has played. The groom has been waiting for us (the bride), and we have finally arrived where he is. Having done many weddings over the years, the next part is where you welcome the people & let the bride & groom know that what you are about to say is very important. All of that has taken place; now comes the call to commitment & the vows. You know the part, “Will you promise to love, honor & cherish until death do you part?” God says His part in verse 2 & asks us to respond in verses 3-11. Then in verses 12-17, we demonstrate that we love God by the way we love each other.

For a moment, let us look at all of these “Ten Commandments”:

The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, literally means the “ten words.” These “ten words” form an introductory summary of all the law, which Moses will cover in the rest of Exodus & Leviticus, and Jesus will sum up in two:

Matt. 22:37-40: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Several things jump out right away:

They are a treaty: Archeologists have found that these “ten words” follow a style of writing that was consistent with a treaty that a king would make with his subjects. So? To Israel, this would have looked like what a great king would do in making a treaty with them. First, he would state his identity (verse 2), outlining what he has done, promising to protect them in the future. Next, he would demand absolute loyalty (verses 3-5). Then there would be a list of obligations (verses 6-11).
They are personal: The word “you,” which appears 15 times, is singular, not plural. The mood of the word is exhortational. In other words, each person is urged to enter into this covenant personally. You could well put your own name instead of “you”! “Dale, shall have no other gods before Me!”
They are not new: You can find these same ten words (four of which relate to how we worship & six on how we relate to our fellow man) implied in some form in the book of Genesis. For instance, in Genesis 35:2, Jacob tells his household to “Put away the foreign gods that are among you.” In other words, these words were written on hearts before they were placed on stone! Furthermore, we find them written in other cultures as well, except without belief in the true God. It seems that these were, if you will, a code of ethics in many cultures to regulate social relationships. The difference with these “ten words” is twofold:
1. Everything stems from what God has done for them (Vs. 2).
2. Everything socially is based upon Israel’s relationship with God. Or how we relate to others depends upon how we relate to God. If we love God & obey Him, then we will also love our neighbors.
They are God’s standard for Israel’s culture: A nation is judged by its culture; clearly, God was giving Israel a national character that would reflect His nature. A nature that was, at its very core, “Holy,” what we would today call moral. So then, the law or “ten words” was to establish a new culture by which a world would be reached. Someone has well said that these “ten words” outline Israel’s “WORSHIP, WORK, & WALK.” If applied as a nation, they would be a light to the Gentiles.

II.) Vs. 1-3 Who you are to love

Vs. 1: I want you to read this verse with me, “And God spoke all these words.” Did you get that? These are not the “ten suggestions, or the ten opinions,” they are God’s words—His commandments. Now, with that said, the first four deal directly with WHO & HOW we are to worship. The first & most important law is to love God, as Jesus would put it, “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” If you were to ask most Christians what our highest priority is, most would be able to come back with the right answer, but few would be able to tell you just how to do so. How is our love towards God to be expressed? Yet before God instructs us on how to love Him, He reminds us of who initiated the love.

Vs. 2: The words “I am the Lord your God” are repeated five times in this section. So? Well, in verse 2 and then repeated five times, God wants Israel to know that what He wants them to do is always based upon:

Who He is.
What He has done for them.

God sets Himself apart from every other so-called god, and they can be assured of that by the way He has acted on their behalf. God alone can alter the course of history; He alone controls history. Furthermore, God did so because of His love for them. Is that not wonderful to realize? God has singled you out to be the object of His love! Before He ever makes one commandment, He reaffirms His love for them. Do you get it? They are just asked to respond to His love by loving Him alone. Why? Because He has loved you alone.

Vs. 3: Now we come to the first “law of love,” which begins to answer the above question of “How is our love towards God to be expressed?”

EXCLUSIVELY: The relationship that we have with God is to be expressed in a manner that excludes us from worshiping any other thing. There are very few people who don’t want anything to do with God. Most of them don’t want to reject God altogether; instead, they just want to add Him to the other things they already worship. So, what’s the big deal about worshiping other things along with God? Well, think of this in terms of a marriage relationship. Suppose your spouse came up to you & said, “Honey, you know that I love you, but I want to love others as well, is that ok with you?” “I mean, I will love you more than them, but I still want to love them as well.” Now God wants an exclusive relationship with you, & no small love towards something else is satisfactory. Is this because God is just insecure? No, it is for our benefit that the relationship remains exclusive. Look at how He words this, “You shall have no other gods (not god) before Me.” Do you see that? God forbids the worship not of another god but other gods. So? God knows that we cannot find a single replacement for Him; instead, we will substitute many things for what we really need: Him. Folks, the truth of the matter is that nothing else we worship will ever fully meet our needs. Furthermore, if we try to worship other things along with God, we will soon find ourselves not trusting the true God in some areas, thus we will be insecure. Pastor, I’m confused. Let me put it this way: the exclusive relationship is for our benefit, not His!
Now the word “gods” is really a name we use to refer to a title. A person’s gods are the master passions that govern their life. They are that which a man worships & serves. Most of the time, they are worshiped for the benefits they produce. In other words, they are worshiped as a means to an end. The point being, they are worshiped for what they can do for me rather than who they are.
Notice the words, “before Me,” it literally means “to my face or in opposition to Me.” The word “before” is even translated “hostility towards.” God says here that to have other gods & to just add Him to those is an act of war against Him.

III.) Vs. 4-6 How you are to love

Vs. 4: Now we come to the second way we are to express our love towards God.

SINGULARLY: God not only wants us to love Him exclusively but singularly, based upon His nature. Idols are used as a substitute for God, and their worship was & is tied closely with images, especially those that are idealized.
This commandment does not forbid making an image of something for artistic purposes; it forbids the making of an image as an aid to worship. Folks, there is no physical representation that we can make in nature that can fully represent the true & living God. Why? Because He is Spirit & must be worshiped in Spirit & in truth. The problem is that while a person may start out making an image that represents the Lord, soon they will worship it instead of the Lord! Soon the idol begins to be a “rabbit’s foot.” We see this in the bronze serpent on the pole that Moses made, as well as the ark of the covenant as the Israelites began to worship both.
The Catholic Church has left this commandment out so that they can continue their image worship, but so they can continue to have ten, they divided the tenth into two. Now the rest of us evangelicals probably don’t have any carved images sitting around that we worship, or do we? Remember, this is a prohibition against making an object the source of worship. It is interesting to go back into ancient cultures & see the little idols they made & what they represented in their lives. Even Israel fell victim to worshiping these little idols. There was Molech, and he was the idol of pleasure, then there was the idol of the mind or intellect, and he was called Baal. There was the idol of power, and he was called Mammon. You know what, we have not changed much, have we? A lot of folks have carved out idols in their lives of pleasure, intellect & power. They are found in the hobbies, things, people, jobs, & clubs we wrap ourselves up in. Folks, nothing man-made can ever do justice to Who God is. The created is always inferior to the creator; no image can ever fully represent or reveal God to man. Why? Because we are told in Hebrews 1:1-3:

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Vs. 5-6: Here we are told why they are not to make idols: because He is a jealous God. But what does that mean? Well, it does not mean envious of other gods because He knows that they are figments of people’s imaginations. No, God’s jealousy is love in action. He refuses to share the human heart with anything or anyone. He wants you all to Himself. Let me put it this way, “God is jealous for us, not of us!” Here as well, we are told that if we turn away from God, then there is a good chance that the next generations will turn away from Him as well. Yet if we continue to honor Him, then there is a good chance that the next generations will as well.

IV.) Vs. 7 The conversation of love

Vs. 7: Now we come to the third law of love. So far, we have seen that God’s laws of love dealt with not wanting to share us. This law deals with our verbal worship.

WHOLEHEARTEDLY: To understand this law of love, we need to understand two things:

The name of the Lord: His name includes His nature, His very person, all that makes God Who He is. If you will, His reputation. When you put another person down, you are not criticizing the name on their birth certificate; you are saying that they cannot be trusted.
Vain: This word means empty purposes. We can do this when we use His name in a profane way. But we can also do this when we use His name to confirm something that is not true, “I swear to God.” Or to fill in gaps in our speech, such as when we are surprised, “Oh my God!” Or when we use His name & don’t really mean it from the heart.

The bottom line here is not to speak using God’s name in any way that does injustice to His character or nature. I hear folks all the time saying, “Well, God led me here to do this or that,” and the only reason they do so is to give credence to what they wanted all along. Let me share with you on a practical level how this works out. When my wife says to me with a full heart, “Honey, I love you!” And then I turn around without even thinking about it & say, “I love you too,” I’m taking her name in vain. Simply put, God wants us to think about Him when we use His name.

V.) Vs. 8-11 A day set-aside for love

Vs. 8: Now we come to a day that God wants us to set aside for the specific purpose of remembering His love. If you look up the word Sabbath or Sabbaths, you will find it mentioned some 172 times in the Bible. To understand this law of love, we need to look at two verses that preceded this dealing with the Sabbath:

Gen. 2:1-3: Here you will find that God finished His creative work, rested & blessed it because He rested. The important thing to notice here is that no commandment is made in that passage.
Ex. 16:22-30: Here we see God granting a seven-day week instead of the Egyptian 10-day workweek. Plus, God was giving them a day off to enjoy Him!
Then we come to this passage & the fourth law of love, which is told to us right in the first sentence:

Remembering to Love: God clearly wanted Israel to remember the “wedding” day, if you will. God wanted them to always realize how much He loved them & how they promised to be faithful. This day was to be especially set apart for worship.

Vs. 9-10: So every week, they were to have an anniversary of their mutual love. There was to be a nationwide shutdown so that they could celebrate their love. They were to plan ahead so that they would have their work done.

Vs. 11: They are reminded that the Lord made the heavens, the earth & all that is within them. Israel ought not worship the creation, but rather the Creator. Instead, they were to imitate Him in the act of creating. Israel was not to worship idols, but they were to worship by being idle. It is wrong for us to worship God by making cheap imitations, but we are to worship Him by imitating Him.

Now in the New Testament, we are told that we are not under the obligation to observe the Sabbath because Jesus has fulfilled the purpose of the Sabbath. The rest we enter into today is to be experienced not just once a week but every day. So, why do we worship the Lord on Sunday instead of Saturday? Well, first, it is the day Jesus rose from the dead. Second, the early church met on this day to worship instead of Saturday. Paul says in Col. 2:16-17:

“So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”

I personally think that we believers ought to make every day our anniversary day with the Lord.

Exodus 20:12-15 – “A Set Apart Life a”

Outline:

Intro.
Vs. 12 A sanctified home
Vs. 13 The sanctity of life
Vs. 14 The sanctity of love
Vs. 15 Sanctified property

Intro.

Last week we began our study through the “ten words” better known as the Ten Commandments. I must confess that for a very long time I have wanted to do an in-depth study of this passage. I’ve wanted to know how these words revealed the heart of God towards man & how they related to my own life. I came away from the first week thoroughly convicted and have come away this week equally so. Now, I know that according to Jesus’ own words He says, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” Furthermore, we are told that we “become dead to the law through the body of Christ.” So then, we understand that “a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” So, why bother to study & apply something that we are clearly dead to because of our new faith in the finished work of Christ? Folks, what we are dead to is these “ten words” as the basis of our right standing before God. However, these “ten words” still act as our “tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Now, I know that Paul goes on to say, “after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” Yet, I find that the law still brings me to trust in Jesus to love & live as He has called me to.

Again, these ten words, which sum up all the law, are divided into two groups:

Vs. 2-11: Four commandments that deal with what Jesus called the first commandment: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Vs. 12-17: Six commandments that deal with how that love for God will be seen in the world: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now, we are going to spend the entire message on this brief section. In so doing, we are going to look at how Israel saw these laws, how the church understood them, and lastly how we ought to apply them today.

II.) Vs. 12 A sanctified home

Vs. 12: Allow me to give some simple observations concerning these 23 words that make up the 5th commandment, which is repeated in Deut. 5:16 & Eph. 6:1-3.

It is a commandment obligating children regardless of age to honor their parents. In fact, it would appear that most likely the majority of those hearing these words were adults, thus honoring your parents does not stop once you become an adult.
There is no specific action mentioned that is said to indicate honor. Simply put, we are not told to do anything in particular; thus, we are to assume that we always need to ask ourselves, “How is what I’m doing or not doing going to honor my parents?”
This is our first commandment that obligates us to mankind & with the first people we meet—our parents. It also comes with a promise that is twofold:
- Long days: If you will, long life.
- Living in the land of promise: A blessed life.

Summarizing this, I would say that God is giving Israel a key to a healthy society—a set-apart home! The foundation of any society is to be seen in the family. If the family unit is destroyed, all of society will fall. Now, the word “Honor” means to give weight to or to fix a value towards. So what this commandment is saying is that if you love God, then you will love your parents. Oh, they may be flaky, old-fashioned, or even unbelievers, but you are to value them for the good of society.

How Israel understood the 5th commandment:

Deut 4:8-9: “What great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day? Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren.”

Obedience to the 5th commandment played a special role in every other commandment. The laws of God were to be passed down from parents to children, so then if the children were to learn to love & live as God wanted, they were going to have to do so from first learning from their parents. If they honored their parents, they would obey the Word of God. In other words, society would break apart if children did not honor their parents because it was through them that they would be instructed on how to live.

Now think a moment about this with regards to our society, and you can see why America has so declined as a society. Generation after generation has departed from the values of their parents, thus leaving us a society that continues to push the envelope further towards anarchy. Honoring their parents was fundamental for the passing on of Israel’s faith from one generation to another. They were taught how to love God & their fellow man, which, of course, set them apart from other nations.

How the church understood the 5th commandment:

Jesus had much to say on this commandment in Mark 7:1-13 & Matt. 15:1-9, most of which dealt with how the Pharisees had departed from the intent of the 5th commandment. The Pharisees were teaching that adult children did not need to care for their aging parents if they dedicated their possessions to God. Jesus clearly taught that when you honored your parents, you were honoring God as well as the truth that if you honored God, you were honoring your parents, and these two truths were in complete harmony with each other!

The early church understood that this was an important commandment to the furtherance of the gospel as well. Paul spoke of how, because of sin in the human race, children would be “disobedient to their parents,” & that all of this was because they were lovers of themselves. Part of our fallen human nature “rejects authority” of any kind, thus Paul’s words in Ephesians that we are to “obey our parents in the Lord.” To not live this way was to deny the faith that one says they possess, & they were seen as worse than an unbeliever. Again, Christianity would be passed on from generation to generation as parents shared Jesus with their children & children obeyed their parents in the Lord.

How the 5th commandment relates to me:

No higher calling: The fact that this is the first commandment that affects all of society indicates the truth that there is no more important job other than being parents. For years now, society has looked down their noses at parents who train up children in the way they should go. I can’t help but wonder if one reason for the lack of honoring parents is because they are nonexistent. May I just add the obvious here as well? Parenting does not stop at a certain age! It just goes through a new stage. I have said this often lately as my two children grow up, “I’m not raising children; I’m raising adults!” As these two go out from under my roof, I will still be there to guide by example & encouragement. Some of you, like myself, may not have a father or perhaps a mother, but there are those right here in the body of Christ who are more than able to guide you now. I cannot thank the Lord enough for my spiritual parents out there who I continue to learn from.
No greater gift: There is no greater gift we can give society than to value & honor the home. The best way to do this is to place Jesus first in your life. With that said, just as parenting does not end, neither does valuing our parents. All too often, adult children do not make their parents a priority in their lives. May I just say, what goes around comes around. If you have ignored your parents, your children will have learned to do the same. Someone has said, “The elderly are the only outcast group that everybody expects to join because nobody wants the alternative.” So, how we treat them today will determine how we will be treated tomorrow.

III.) Vs. 13 The sanctity of life

Vs. 13: Notice here that the word is “murder” and not kill. In Hebrew, like in English, these are two different words. The commandment is against murder & not killing. Murder is the taking of a life without legal justification (execution after due process) or moral justification (killing in defense). Thus, this is not a prohibition against capital punishment, nor is it a prohibition against joining the military or police force.

How Israel understood the 6th commandment:

The Hebrew word for murder always stressed premeditation & deliberate action. It applied to accomplices as well as the actual person who did the killing. Interestingly, Moses is familiar with murder as he premeditatedly killed an Egyptian (Exodus 2:12). As we look at the rest of the Old Testament, we get a clear picture of what constituted murder:

Only premeditated murder was punishable by death. If someone lay in wait for another versus a fight that takes a life, the distinction is made between 1st degree & 2nd degree by what lay in the person’s heart.
Negligent homicide, where a person knows of a danger & willfully avoids doing what is necessary to prevent it, was also punishable by death.

In all of this, God is telling Israel that all life is precious to Him. In fact, there were cities that were provided for those who stood trial & found that they had unintentionally taken the life of another. All life is a gift from God, & protecting life became the responsibility of every member of society.

How the church understood the 6th commandment:

Jesus put this commandment much clearer by dealing with the attitude of the heart that would lead to murder. Anger that is harbored against another can lead to murder, & even viewing another person as inferior, worthless, or a liability can lead to murder. Jesus went on to say that unresolved conflict & relationships that have not been reconciled can lead to murder. James gives us a bird’s-eye view of the attitude of the heart that can lead to murder when he says, “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war.”

How the 6th commandment relates to me:

Obviously, we have no right to take a life in any way that constitutes murder. Any life that God has intended to live should be allowed the right to live, this would, of course, include abortion, euthanasia, suicide, as well as homicide. Now, because of today’s medical advancements, we are having to face decisions that never before has society had to deal with. Machines are now employed to artificially sustain life that would not be possible without them for prolonged amounts of time. I have been asked several times by people, as well as having to deal with this issue myself, as to my opinion on “pulling the plug.” I believe that these must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but one thing can help your family out greatly in case of these events, and that is putting down in writing your wishes!

The prohibition against murder is more than just the sacredness of life & not killing—it obligates us to seek to save life! If we see someone dying of starvation, then we are obligated to seek to save that life. Clearly, we need to be proactive towards life, which means that we are reaching out to those in need. Furthermore, God’s position on life would give us the urgency to share His love & hope with a world that, without it, shall all die. If you will, we are told to “lay down our lives” so that others may live. If you understand this, then you are surrendering your life so that others may know life! Folks, the question for us today is not, “Have I killed anyone?” Rather, it is, “Have I died to myself so that others may live?”

IV.) Vs. 14 The sanctity of love

Vs. 14: Amazing as it may sound in today’s society, adultery was punishable by death. As we saw in the situation with the 5th commandment, the family was seen as the foundation of society so that anything that would place that in jeopardy was taken very seriously. So, God again speaks in general terms as to a marriage relationship that is set apart to Him. Clearly, God condemns the act of sex outside of the marriage covenant. Throughout the Bible, God sets certain things aside for specific use—sex & marriage fall into this category.

How Israel understood the 7th commandment:

In the story of Joseph & Potiphar, Joseph clearly understood that marriage was an exclusive relationship in which intimacy was to be shared. Joseph knew that not only was it a sin, but that this sin, like all other sins, was against God. Furthermore, we are told that a person who gets a lady to sleep with them was to pay their dowry. Israel was to distinguish itself from all the other nations by remaining sexually pure. Adultery was seen as worse than sex outside of marriage because of the potential to destroy the home.

How the church understood the 7th commandment:

Jesus explained this commandment in terms of looking upon another lustfully. It is adultery in the heart that is only stopped from the act because of lack of opportunity or lack of courage. So, we are not innocent of this sin just because we have not had the opportunity to sin the way we wanted to. Paul goes on to explain in Ephesians that the Christian marriage was to mirror that of the relationship we have with Jesus. Thus, loving only one, which is seen as being faithful, is related to our relationship with the Lord. Being set apart to God was often repeated as abstaining from sexual immorality. This was, in a non-Christian culture, a radical departure from what the rest of society was practicing. The marriage union, which God established, on the other hand, is seen as “undefiled” & set apart. Folks, sexual purity starts with esteeming that which God has given—marriage—and the one in whom God has given us—our spouse. A person cannot say that they honor God & yet are living together.

How the 7th commandment relates to me:

This commandment ought to make us reevaluate love & marriage. We live in a society that parades itself around with sexuality. It is everywhere you look, selling everything. Today, sex has become a toy to be played with as often as you want, with as many as you can. There is no question as to the devastation this has had upon our society. Our society preaches that sexual pleasure is never to be wasted; thus, virginity is looked upon as something you should want to get rid of as quickly as possible. Even within the church, we see an ever-increasing permissive attitude towards promiscuity. I believe that what God here states is that of a higher value upon intimacy than the world does. When God sets apart sex only for the marriage union, He does so not because He considers it of little worth, but rather because it is so highly prized. In my house, my wife has some fine china that she values. It is displayed in her cabinets, but only used on very special occasions. It is not that she does not care for it, that it is not used every day, rather, it is that she values it so very much that it is only used on special occasions under the greatest of care!

Here’s the rub, our culture is lying to us about how they value sex; if it is so valued, why is it so common to share with anyone? It is the believer that has valued sex to only use it as God has intended in a marriage relationship.

V.) Vs. 15 Sanctified property

Vs. 15: God gives Israel laws to govern that which He has given them. He sees that which we have not as ours but rather we are stewards of it, caretakers if you will. So, since it is not ours, why try to get more? Stealing & theft, at its very core, reveals that the heart’s view of ownership is wrong.

How Israel understood the 8th commandment:

Israel broke down this commandment into several categories of theft: three, which are active, & two, which were passive.

Embezzlement: which is the misuse or misappropriation of that which someone has entrusted to our care.
Theft: which is the act of taking what belongs to another. This usually takes on two forms:
- Robbery: which is taking by force that which does not belong to you.
- Stealing: which is taking by stealth, or fraud, which is taking by deception.
Extortion: which is gaining another person’s property by illicit use of authority. This can be seen in charging excessive prices when one has to have the product.
Negligence that results in a loss: like a lawnmower throwing up a rock that breaks your neighbor’s window.
Failure to return something that was lost to its owner: like something that you found & did not seek to return it.
Failure to give that which belongs to another: like their wages.

Interestingly, according to Hag. 1:2-4, Israel was guilty of stealing by not giving to the Lord.

How the church understood the 8th commandment:

Jesus told the man that came up to Him & asked what he must do to inherit eternal life that, among the other commandments, he must not steal. Paul, in Rom. 2:21, exhorted the church in Rome not to teach one thing & do another using the analogy of stealing. There is not much on this commandment in the New Testament, with the exception of Eph. 4:28, which says, “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” The point is that as one becomes a believer, there ought to be a change in their lives. A thief does not work; rather, he lives off of the work of others, so Paul says that a Christian ought to put off being lazy & go to work.

How the 8th commandment relates to me:

Hopefully, there are no Christians who are doing armed robbery, but that does not get us off the hook. Theft is taking something from others without giving something equal in return. The Bible teaches us that we need to give freely with no expectation of receiving anything in return. Simply put, Christianity is the exact opposite of stealing. We often say when we get something at a good deal that we got it “at a steal.” Whenever we purchase something or use something & do not adequately compensate the other party for what we have gained, we are stealing. Allow me to list some of these:

Using the supplies or your time at the company you work for, for personal things.
Using bootlegged software, videos, or music tapes without compensation.
Littering or allowing your pet to mess up another’s yard is robbing them of their time.
Taking advantage of someone who is selling something under price unknowingly.
Price fixing.
Depriving workers of the fruit of their labor. Now from a Biblical perspective, not giving to the church you attend is stealing, for you are benefiting from the fruit of others’ labor.
We steal from God when we withhold what is due Him: praise, our hearts, etc.

Exodus 20:16-26 – “A Set Apart Life b”

Outline:

Intro.
Vs. 16 The sanctity of truth
Vs. 17 Sanctified desires
Vs. 18-21 The failure of fear
Vs. 22-26 A pure & simple heart

I.) Intro.

This past week I sat down to change lights on a trailer, a simple task, I thought. The trailer had already been wired, and all I had to do was match the color-coded wires together, no problem! Two hours later, in my hot garage, the only thing hotter was my temper. What was supposed to be so simple had suddenly become brain surgery for a toddler. I kept repeating, “But all I had to do was splice wires together, this doesn’t make any sense!” I have felt like that often in my 42 years of life on this planet, most often in relationships with other humans. How can something so simple get all messed up so fast? Let’s face it, left to our own, relationships won’t work as they are designed. They will become just like my trailer lights, all hooked up the way they are supposed to, but somehow the bulbs won’t light up!

God has taken 3 million folks out of bondage and brought them into a deserted place to tell them ten words. Ten simple words that, if they apply them in their lives, will turn their bulbs on and light up the world. Jesus took those same ten words and reduced them to two:

Vs. 2-11 = commandments 1-4: Love your God above anything or anyone, or, if you will, make sure you are connected to the right power source.
Vs. 12-17 = commandments 5-10: Love your fellow bulbs (I mean neighbors) as yourself. Or make sure that, having been rightly connected to the power source, you are properly connected to all other bulbs.

Having already gone through eight of these wiring instructions, we have two more to cover, and then we shall look at two more things to check in case your bulb is still not lighting:

Vs. 18-21: Make sure you are properly grounded.
Vs. 22-26: Make sure there is no interference with the power source.

II.) Vs. 16 The sanctity of truth

Vs. 16: One of the biggest differences between mankind and the animals is the gift of speech. Now, since the fall, communication has been corrupted, and falsehood and lying have been problems. So, God here says that if you are in love with Him, then truth and communication will be set apart. Now, specifically, this commandment deals with truth in the context of a trial.

How Israel understood the 9th commandment:

The culture of Israel was vastly different from what we have now, and this could be seen in the courts as well. In our country, we have professionals who carry out our laws, police, and court officials. This was not the case in Israel. There were no police officers, no prisons, and society was not mobile. Those that committed a crime were your neighbors, so it became important to establish the basis of determining who was telling the truth. All violations were considered by the same court—there was no civil court and criminal court, it was all the same. And when a person was found guilty, they either made restitution, paid for their crime with the loss of part of their body, or it cost them their life. So, the 9th commandment deals with those that would commit perjury. The truth is that God’s laws are perfect, but men are not, so there must be a way to establish the truth of a witness so that justice can be rendered. On a broader perspective, this commandment went outside the courtroom to where they lived and included:

Slander: spreading a lie with intent to do harm.
Spreading rumors: repeating a report about a person without careful investigation.
False witness: not saying something when someone utters something untrue about another.

Israel handled this by having the person who saw the crime initiate the process. In fact, they were to cast the first stone in a capital case. Witnesses were put under oath. So, they would do a thorough investigation to make sure the person was guilty because if the witness had lied, they would get the same punishment.

How the church understood the 9th commandment:

Jesus taught that as believers, truth ought to be the very least you can expect so that oaths were really unnecessary—truthfulness is to be our way of life. The apostles taught that those who did not tell the truth would suffer for it. Furthermore, this was applied to those that would teach the Bible, and to say things that would accommodate non-believers was to bear false witness of the truth. So much so, we are encouraged in James to “let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.”

How the 9th commandment relates to me:

The tongue is a powerful tool, and it can be a curse or a blessing. True testimony is essential for the administration of justice and righteousness in our society. So, God requires truthfulness from us at all times and in every situation. We need to speak the truth in love every time we open our mouths, knowing that “every idle word men may speak, they will give an account of it in the day of judgment.” Thus, all these little sins that we all do are something that we need to nip in the bud. Our lives, as well as our words, are a testimony of who God is. And the question we need to ask ourselves is, “Are we seeking to cover someone’s faults with love or share them with others?” When you speak of another, you are speaking about their reputation, so be careful!

III.) Vs. 17 Sanctified desires

Vs. 17: The word “covet” means to “delight in.” Now, I want you to see something here before we get started—that delighting in something is not evil or sinful in itself. Rather, it is what you are delighting in that causes problems. The problem arises when we “delight in” things that are not ours or not eternally beneficial. Whew, that gets me off the hook! No! Because all that you have is not yours, but rather, it is God’s.

How Israel understood the 10th commandment:

Coveting is unique in that it deals with what a person feels rather than what a person does. You cannot see a person covet, you can only see the results of their coveting. Furthermore, coveting is such a strong desire that the one who covets will do anything, if possible, to get it. I notice in this text, as well as in my own life, that I only covet what others have and what I cannot have. And why can I not have it? Because it is that which belongs to another—his house, wife, job, possession. So, to look at this list, you will find items that are specific, which a neighbor cannot give (his wife) or will not give (house, job, or possessions). Coveting is the desire to gain at another’s expense, and by the very fact that nobody can see another covet, it is concealed. Israel saw this as a sin that often led to outward actions like murder, adultery, stealing, and lying. Here, God tells them to deal with this in the heart before they manifest it outwardly.

How the church understood the 10th commandment:

Jesus said that we are to “not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Did you get that? Jesus understands that, by the way He created us, we are going to “delight in”—that’s the way we are made. We are going to “lay up” for ourselves treasures; the only question is where. Furthermore, Jesus elaborates on why it is not good to lay up treasures here on earth. He says the problem is that the storage containers here on earth are no good. What? Yeah, He says that the earth as a storage container is plagued by bugs that will eat up your treasures, rust that will corrode your treasures, or crooks that will steal them. Paul called coveting the root of sin and said that he would not have known what sin was except for the 10th commandment. Why? Well, because the Jews had reduced the laws to outward things, but the 10th commandment was the attitude of the heart.

How the 10th commandment relates to me:

Now, the truth is that what we “desire most” is what we value most. I mean, think about it—those old, stinky tennis shoes that Willard has on are not something that you are wishing you possessed. Yeah, so? Well then, coveting is a good indication of where your heart is. If we love our neighbor, we will not want what they have; we will instead rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those that weep. Hey folks, did you realize that what you value most will determine what you are willing to give up? In other words, we will always sacrifice the lesser for the greater. So, what is it that we are to value the most? Well, more of the Lord. So, what are you willing to give up to get more of Him?

Here is where we can covet or delight in the Lord and His word. I did a word study on these words “delight in” and came up with some interesting things. Most often, these words occur to tell us what not to delight in and to rebuke Israel because they did not delight in approaching God. Paul said, “For Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Paul was delighting in the things the world regards as liabilities, not assets, because he found that it was in those things that he gained that which was most precious—the Lord.

One last thought here: I have found that the more I am covetous, the less likely I am to give. Why? Well, it’s because I am consumed with getting, and I can’t get if I’m giving. At the same time, the more I delight in the Lord, the more I’m inclined to give because it is in giving that I obtain more of Him. Paul reminded the elders at Ephesus that while he was among them for three years, he labored, not taking anything from them. Then he quotes Jesus and says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” You see, it’s all a matter of what you delight in.

IV.) Vs. 18-21 The failure of fear

Now, from verse 18 through chapter 23, we are in a section commonly called the “Book of the Covenant.” It is Israel’s oldest law book. It contains the specific stipulations or ordinances between Israel and God, which are only summarized in the Ten Commandments. If you will, in this section you have the practical application of the Ten Commandments to specific situations. But before we get to the specifics in these chapters, we get an indication of how Israel responded to just the general “ten words.”

Vs. 18: These guys were blown away by the presence of the Lord. It was an awesome sight, and it terrified them. Folks, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God. He is absolutely 100% pure. And all of this was manifested outwardly in thundering, lightning, and smoke coming from the mountain.

Now, think of this a moment. All of this light show, this pure holy power, and what is it that we see Israel do? Why, they tremble and stand far off. Yeah, what’s your point? Well, the holiness of God, His perfection, and what that reveals about us—our imperfection—does not draw us closer to God, it makes us stand afar off. God wanted these guys to know two things:

He is holy.
They are totally depraved.

And judging by their response here, they got it. I’m not a very intelligent person, but I know who God is, and I know I’m not Him. These guys realized how far short of God’s glory they were. I was watching one of those stunt shows the other day, and these two guys were practicing the jump between a motorcycle and a moving truck. The idea was that they had to time the jump just right so that as the bike jumped off the ramp, he would land on top of the moving truck. Now, they made numerous practice jumps where the motorcycle did not have to land on the truck. Now, he could have been feeling real good about all of his practice jumps that he completed because he only had to compare himself with himself, but the moment came when he had to do it for real—there was a great distance. What’s your point? Well, if I compare myself with others, I may not look too bad, but when I compare myself with perfection, it does not matter if I’m a little closer than you are, I’m still an eternity away.

Now, these guys knew from the content of the law and the display of God’s glory that they were way short of God’s perfection. What is interesting is to go ahead a few thousand years and see how Israel later on interpreted the law to make it a standard of righteousness. Paul would say of his former self prior to knowing Jesus that he thought of himself as “concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”

Vs. 19: So, they are afraid to come close to God. Furthermore, they don’t want God to even speak to them directly. Instead, they want Moses to be the mediator between God and them. They want a go-between, someone to bridge the gap from God’s perfection to their imperfection. So, Moses became a typology of Jesus, which was fulfilled in Jesus. Paul said to Timothy, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” God’s holiness caused the nation to recognize that they needed someone to bridge the gap, and that’s what the law is supposed to do, as we read in Galatians: “The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ.” The law brings us to the mediator! How sad it is today, though, when you see folks looking for another go-between, like the Catholic Church looking to Mary or one of the saints.

Vs. 20: So, Moses tells them that the law did what it was supposed to do—bring them to fear God because of their sin—but it can’t keep them from sin for very long. In fact, before Moses even gives the specifics of the law in verse 24, he tells them that a sacrifice for sin is going to have to take place. Fear may keep us from sin for a while, but it won’t last long. Now, God had clearly told them not to worship idols, yet in forty days, they make an idol to worship instead of the Lord. Here is what we learn about ourselves through the failure of Israel:

Fear is not a good motivation for holiness. Think of this in your own life—the fear of something can get you to stop for a while, but soon it wears off. There’s a lot of stuff on TV about the harmful effects of smoking, and I’m sure that a lot of people try to stop but soon go back to it. Or overeating—we know that overeating can shorten your life, but how many of us start diets then go off them, “just this once”?
Vs. 21: Obedience out of love is the best motivator. Moses was no better than the rest of Israel, yet he “drew near” to where God was. You see, the difference is that love drew Moses near to God, but fear drew them away. “Perfect love casts out fear,” we are told in 1 John. So, how was it that Moses, who was just as big a sinner as the rest of Israel, could draw near to the Lord? Well, it was grace! Moses knew that he was guilty before God, but he also knew that he was forgiven. If God had wanted to wipe him out, He could have done it a long time ago.

Folks, that is what we want our children to do. We want them to love us so much that they won’t do things that would adversely affect our relationship—the same is true with the Lord.

V.) Vs. 22-26 A pure & simple heart

Vs. 22-23: Now God goes right back to whom they are to worship and how they are to do so. The first four laws dealt with keeping your heart pure in worship toward the Lord. Why is that so important? Well, it is because what we worship and how we worship will eventually affect every other area of our life. When God revealed Himself to them at Sinai, they did not see any form because He knows that they would turn that form, which represented a living God, into a dead idol. So, the first thing we notice about how God would want us to worship Him is simplicity. If you go back and look at the other nations around Israel, you will find a maze of ritual. All these complex religious things that people had to do to appease their dead idols. But not with God—keep it simple, just worship Me, not an idol that you make.

Vs. 24: Another thing we notice here in this verse is that there was no specific location where they were to worship God. “In every place where I record my name…” What’s cool here is that the remembering of His name is tied to His blessing, but notice that it is He who will cause His name to be remembered. How will He do that? By blessing us! Again, notice that the altar of blessing is tied to sacrifice, but not ours—His. Now we know that the purpose of the burnt offering was to atone for our sin, and the purpose of the peace offering (or fellowship offering) was so we could enjoy the presence of the Lord. And in all of this, we see it is the Lord who initiated this. I love this—God has simplified His worship by blessing us so much that we just want to sing His praises, and we can do that anywhere at any time!

Vs. 25-26: Here are two things God says that will hinder our worship of Him:

Vs. 25: Not putting a tool on the stone altar. Don’t glory in what you have done for the Lord. No matter how well-meaning we are, if we hew out an altar, we will soon begin to worship the altar instead of the Lord. Folks, what we do or have done for God ought never to be worshiped! God knows the tendency of our nature is to worship what we do for Him rather than what He has done for us. God wants us to be blown away by Him, not by some building or monument that was supposed to be for His glory. Hey, if it’s for God’s glory, then why are we glorying in what we have done? Just make the altar out of dirt, common ordinary dirt. That’s what God has done by placing His Holy Spirit in us—these earthen vessels.
Vs. 26: Now, this was because they wore robes, and if they went up by steps, they would have to hike up the robes, and they would show their flesh. What does this mean? Well, God does not want to see our flesh in worship.

Let me conclude by saying that anything that draws us away from worshiping God is idolatry. Amazing section of scripture—I pray that we may always keep our worship of Him simple, glorying in what He has done, and never in our own self-effort!