AN OUTSIDERS QUERY ABOUT THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Exodus 19:1-20:2
Bob Bonner
October 15, 2000

How many of you remember an old TV program called The Twilight Zone? If you weren’t alive in the 1960s, you can still view some of its programs on the sci-fi channels of your cable television. I only know that because of channel surfing, not because I’m a sci-fi buff.  If you are not familiar with it, the program was a weekly black and white that featured make believe stories of the macabre. These bizarre and in some cases bone chilling tales were written about subjects that were just outside the bounds of reality. You hoped these events could not happen, and oftentimes, because you weren’t quite sure if they could, you would be kept up at night wondering, “What would I do if that happened to me?” 

For just a moment, I want you to venture with me into a make-believe Twilight Zone-kind of episode. The story you are about to hear is not a bone chilling one, but is admittedly a little bizarre and, not to worry, one that is impossible to happen, I hope!

Imagine that you are minding your own business, walking down Sixth Street in the middle of the day.  You turn the corner to walk down one of the side streets.  You are alone, but because it is the middle of the day, you are not at all afraid. That is, until he, or should I say, it steps out of an entrance to a service doorway. At first you think that this person is seriously physically deformed. He is grotesque. He has some human-like features--things that look like two legs, but they are so thin. Its arms are short and stubby. Its skin is not quite tan; it’s more of an anemic yellow color and is covered with wart-like bumps. His only redeeming feature is that he is bald. However, his misshapen head has two eyes, but they are not quite evenly centered on the face. You see people like this all the time in your local churches. They’re your youth pastors.

When you stop, you notice that there is no one else on the street with you. There is no sound of traffic. Suddenly, you realize that everything around you has come to a quiet and sudden stop. You are a little afraid, but also curious. This thing has not threatened you. It speaks, “Excuse me. I’m wondering if you could answer a question for me.” 

He sounds polite enough, so you answer, trying not to look scared, “Sure.” He hands you a piece of paper and asks you to tell him what it means. You read it and immediately notice that it has Exodus 20:1-17 written on it, the complete Ten Commandments. You tell him, “Why, these are the Ten Commandments.” 

With a look of puzzlement, he asks, “What are those?” 

Being suspicious and becoming bolder by the second, you respond with a question, “Are you from around here?” 

He says, “No, I am from Starx.” 

Now it’s your turn to be confused.  “What’s Starx?” 

“Starx is a planet several galaxies away. I’m on an exploratory mission of other planets and their life forms.  I’ve been here a few weeks. I found this on the wall of one of those places where some of your little people sleep. I read them and wondered who wrote them.”

“Well,” you say. “They come from God and were first written down by Moses, thousands of years ago.”

With a puzzled tone of voice, the visitor asks, “Did God expect people to know these commandments?”

“Sure He did,” you answer.

“Well, from what I can see, either people on this planet don’t know them, or they don’t follow them.”

“Yes, I can see why you might say that.”

“So then, why did God give you these commandments?” 

Now, to bring you back to virtual reality, how would you have responded to the alien’s question? Today, most people you work with, play with, attend school with, and possibly attend church with don’t know why God gave the Ten Commandments. They too, like the alien, would deduce that they serve really no important purpose for us today. Your children or grandchildren are not aliens from another planet, although they may look like or act like it sometimes. One day they may ask you this same question. How would you answer it? Could you answer it correctly?

This morning, I want to show you six different reasons why God gave us the Ten Commandments. I do not give them to you in any special order of importance. Last week, we looked at the first two reasons, so allow me to quickly review them for those of you who could not be here.

Last time we saw that God was very sensitive to the emotional state of the Hebrews after they had come through their ordeal of escaping from Egypt and the Pharaoh’s army.  Hence, before God presented them with the Ten Commandments, with the accompanying physical signs of fire, thunder, smoke, and earthquake, God gave Moses a message to deliver to the people. He did not want them to be frightened away by the signs of thunder, earthquakes, fire, and smoke. He didn’t want them to think He had delivered them only to destroy them or brow beat them with a bunch of rules. God wanted them to know that He was to be respected, but at the same time, He was the same God Who out of love had rescued them from the oppression of four hundred years of slavery in Egypt and called them to be His people. It was out of His love for them that He provided protection, food, and water for them when they had none. According to Hosea 9:10, God tells us that they were a delight; they were like a refreshing delicacy to Him. 

Furthermore, if they agreed to be His people, then He would be their God who would protect and provide for them forever. In return, they must agree to obey His statutes which He, three days later, set before them in the form of the Ten Commandments. Even before they ever heard of those conditions, they responded enthusiastically and positively, “All that the Lord has spoken, we will do!” So, first off, we said last time that the Ten Commandments were personally given to the Israelites, as well as to us, as a demonstration of His love for us.

Secondly, we stressed a more personal side of why God gave His Ten Commandments to every individual. He gave them to you and me so that we might know how to get the most out of life. Last time, we mentioned that our culture is sailing along toward jagged rocks headed for certain destruction because it is without a moral compass, and today we are desperately in need of one. Moral relativism teaches that there are no absolutes, right or wrong, good or evil. Therefore, we should all be tolerant of each other’s views. That way of thinking has been on the throne too long. If we expect to survive as a nation, we need some clear-cut directions as to how to survive in this world. God says, in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans that I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” These Ten Commandments are part of His plan for you and me to get the most out of life in the midst of this world’s storms. He has not only given us this moral compass, but He has also shown Himself to be our safe harbor in the midst of a world of confusion and pain.

David testified to the goodness of God’s Law in his song, Psalm 19.  He wrote:

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the

Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the

Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are

radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure,

enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and

altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much

pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. 

By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great

reward.

God has not given us His Law to be a cosmic kill joy; He has given us His law so that every believer might get the most out of life.

A third reason behind God’s law is that God wants us to see His holy nature. By simply reading through these commandments, we get a feel, a sense for the unique character of God. For example, In Exodus 20:4-6, we see several statements about Who God is. We read:

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. 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, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me

and keep My commandments. 

Among other things, we see in these verses that God is a jealous God (in the good sense of that word), like a husband and wife in love with one another and rightfully protective of their marriage. He is one who delights in showing His lovingkindness. He is a transcendent God, above and beyond all of His creation. As you read through Exodus 20:1-17, you see that God is the creator, the powerful deliverer, and the provider. Different from the Baal gods and other fertility gods of Canaan and Egypt, God is not promiscuous, but moral. He keeps His word and is neither fickle nor unstable like the legends of the gods of their day. He is not one to lie.  He is the gauge against which all character and integrity is measured. In a nutshell, there is no other being like Him. He is righteous and holy and set apart from all creation.  Because of this, He alone is worthy of our worship, and hence, as a part of this worship, these commands are to be obeyed.

A fourth reason for God’s giving us the Law is explained by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the churches in Galatia and in his letter to the church at Rome. We spent most of the past year studying Paul’s letter to the Galatian Christians, so I don’t want to cover it all again right here. If you are interested in more details on the specifics of which I am just going to summarize, you can order the tapes from November 28 and December 12, 1999. For now, allow me to simply summarize Paul’s points about why God gave us his law. 

According to Romans 5 and Galatians 3, God gave us the Law so that by it we would clearly understand what He expects from our lives. He did not want us to be ignorant of our sin. 

The term “transgression,” as it is used in the New Testament in both of these passages, is a word that is different from the one used for “sin.” You can sin but not be aware of it. You can be driving down portions of “M” Street at 35 mph and not know that you are breaking the speed limit, because on certain parts of “M” Street are you allowed to drive that fast. In that case, you would be ignorantly sinning against the vehicle law. But as soon as you pass a clearly marked sign that reads 25 mph, and you continue to drive 35 mph, you are not just sinning, you are transgressing. In other words, a transgression is a knowingly deliberate violation of the Law.

We are taught in Galatians 3 and in Romans 5 that God gave us the Law so that “transgressions would increase.” In other words, we needed to see for ourselves that we are unquestionably sinners. Without a doubt, no matter how hard we try not to violate the Law, we inevitably do so and deserve the consequences. So the Law was given to show us that we have a deep need. We have a problem with sin and we need someone to rescue us from its power as well as its consequences. 

Galatians 3 also teaches us that not only did the Law cause transgression to increase, it also pointed us to our need for a savior. It prepared us to be ready and willing to entrust our lives to Jesus Christ, who is God’s only provision for rescuing us from the bondage and consequences of our sin.

Hence, another reason that God gave us the Law was to reveal our sin and our need for a savior. As Hebrews 12:18-23 suggests, God used Mt. Sinai, a mountain of darkness, doom, and gloom, and one that God said if the Israelites touched, they would be consumed by His holy fire. God used that mountain to point us to another mountain, a mountain of hope, God’s grace. Should we come in contact with this mountain, Mt. Calvary, we will be consumed by His love. It is these two mountains together, Mt. Sinai and Mt. Calvary, that make the gospel live and come to life for us. Without the knowledge of our inability to please God or to live up to His law, Mt. Sinai, we would never have known our need for a savior, Mt. Calvary.

A fifth reason that God gave us the Ten Commandments is revealed in the early verses of chapters 19 and 20. If you remember from last time, in verses 1-4, God had Moses take a message, a love note if you will, to the Israelites. In that message, God reminded the Israelites that He had heard their cries of oppression and He, the almighty God, the King of the universe, became their Redeemer. He rescued them from the oppression of Egypt and provided and protected them against all odds to the very spot they were in then. At that point, the Redeemer-King offered them a covenant of blessing containing some obligations that they must fulfill. In 19:5, God first expressed this covenant. He said, “Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine.”

They idea behind this covenant is basically this: “Look, I am God, and I saved your lives, therefore you are my people, and I own you. If you want to be provided for, protected, and blessed by Me, then you have only one choice to make--keep My covenant.” At that point, the people had no idea what the covenant or the contract contained. They also knew that whether or not they agreed to the covenant of God, it wouldn’t change the fact that He was still God and in charge. In other words, God was not asking them to accept or believe or trust that He was God. He was God and nothing they did would change that fact. Here He was asking them, “Do you want your lives to be blessed?” Obviously, after all they had just been through, they wanted His blessing. So, unseen, in verse 8, the people agreed to do whatever God said.

It is important that we understand that God did indeed choose Israel to be His people. But the Jewish understanding of “being chosen” probably is not the same as what we understand the term “chosen” to mean. One Jewish scholar tells us that to the Jew, “Chosen does not mean favorite child or a teacher’s pet—to be chosen is not an issue of specialness, it is an issue of accepting serious responsibilities.” [Dr. Laura Schlessinger and Rabbi Stewart Vogel, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, p.xxiii].

It is a setting apart for responsible service.

As a result, the Israelites were basically given the assignment that, by their agreement to a covenant or set of rules yet to be given, they would live their lives in such a unique way, in comparison to the cultures at hand, that the whole world would come to know, love, and obey the one true God, their King.

Again, in 20:1, we read, “Then God spoke all these words saying, ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.’” The point? This is a strong statement of authority saying, “I am in charge.” It is not a request for permission that they allow Him to be their God. He is declaring that He is the almighty God, whether they choose to admit it or not. Henceforth, if they choose to follow the covenant that He is about to given them, they will be blessed.

In essence, what we have here in verse 2 is the preamble to God’s covenant with Israel. It is similar to the preamble to our own constitution, which reads, “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union . . . do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.” God is saying in these verses that He is their Great King who has just rescued this tiny, helpless group of people from the clutches of wicked pharaoh. But this rescue does not leave them to be invaded and tyrannized again sometime in the future. Instead, God Himself assumes the responsibility as their Redeemer-King to provide and protect. Their only responsibility is to follow Him.

Some of you may be familiar with the Code of Hammurabi. This code was a typical covenant of the day set up by King Hammurabi of Babylon, and it formed the foundation upon which their society hung together. It was a typical practice in those days for the King to establish the ground rules upon which his kingdom was to run so that there would not be chaos in the land. Similarly, as we come to understand that God had declared Himself to be the personal King over Israel, He was establishing for them, in terms that their culture would understand, the foundational rules that would bring order and blessing to their lives and, more importantly, to the citizens of His kingdom.

With the understanding in mind that God is King and these following Ten Commandments are God’s rules for societal order, I want you to notice one more thing in verse 1. It says that “God spoke all these words.” You will notice that nowhere in these verses do we see the word commandment being used. We see the term “words” in verse 1, which literally translated means “sayings” or “declarations,” not commandments. 

Some might have you believe that God never meant these “ten sayings” to be taken as commandments, but rather as mere suggestions from which you could choose the ones you want to follow and ignore the rest. That is false; for later, in Deuteronomy 4:13, Moses reminded the generation that entered the Promised Land what God had meant by these ten declarations that he had given forty years earlier. He wrote of God that, “He declared to you the covenant which He commanded you to observe, the ten commandments [or declarations]; and He inscribed them on two tablets of stone.”

In other words, God did not give these declarations as mere suggestions. These sayings carried the weight of direct orders or commandments, and God expected Israel to obey them as such. Also notice that he said to Israel that “all” of these commandments were to be obeyed. They were not to pick which ones they wanted to follow and ignore the rest. 

I tell you the following true story to illustrate the importance of keeping all of God’s laws, unless He tells you otherwise.  A rabbi was seated next to an atheist traveling on a long flight. They had opportunity to discuss their beliefs while traveling for several hours. Flying with the rabbi were his children and grandchildren, but due to seating arrangements, they were not placed close together. So several times during the long flight one of the children or grandchildren would come by to check on him, to find out if he was comfortable or would like anything. After this had happened several times, the atheist said, “I can’t help but notice how attentive your children and grandchildren are to you. My children couldn’t care less if I was alive or dead. They are disrespectful and selfish and rude.” To that the Rabbi responded, “I understand. You see, my family treats me this way because we have a heritage that goes back several thousand years to the establishment of God’s holy law to honor your father and mother. As a result, we have a family that has order and love in it. When you refuse to acknowledge God, the author of all creation, and the order He established for families, then life and society fall apart.”

But we today and the Jews living 100 years after they entered the Promised Land demonstrate that human beings don’t like God’s rules. We say they don’t make sense or that they are too strict or binding. We foolishly abandon the ones we don’t like and make up others we do, and it leads to society’s destruction. We think we are so smart and that we know it all; but, in reality, we are foolish when we depart from what God teaches. God warns us about His wisdom and our foolish thoughts in Isaiah 55:8-9. He says to us, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares 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.’” He wants us to know that there are going to be many things God is going to ask us to do that may go completely counter to what our culture dictates. However, God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He knows better what is best for us.

Friends, God wants to bless our lives. He has given us His commandments that would not only set us apart so that we would be a light to a world living in confusion and darkness, but also so that our nation would not be destroyed from without and from within. Without God’s commandments, without His Word, we are without a moral compass. Hence, another reason that God gave us these commandments was to give us a moral compass by which to maintain social order.

Proverbs 14:34 declares, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” If we allow ourselves and thus our nation to ignore God’s Law and to live unrighteously before Him, we will no longer be held in high esteem by the world but will become a disgrace, as we already are to some nations. Our unrighteousness will not exalt this nation, but it will be our downfall or destruction.

The final reason I want to note as to why God gave us these Ten Commandments has to do with their role for us as Christians. Many Christians mistakenly assume that because the Ten Commandments were written in the Old Testament and not in the New Testament, they are not meant for us. However, all but one of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament. All of them are further explained in the Old Testament and have some additional explanation in the New Testament. 

So, why do we need them today as believers? I believe we have a hint given to us in Exodus 19:6, in God’s love note delivered by Moses to the children of Israel. In that verse, God calls Israel a “Kingdom of priests, a holy nation.” In other words, they are to be a people set apart, servants and ambassadors to declare to the whole world that God is worthy to be worshiped, because He is the King.

When we come to the New Testament, we discover that the church is the priesthood of all believers. In other words, like Israel although different in many ways, we are a people set apart as priests. Each of us has a ministry by which we are to serve and glorify God. Although we still sin, we are identified as His saints. We are set apart to live for Him. We are called His ambassadors to the world. We are to be salt and light to our world. We are told that the moment we are saved we have become a new creation.  But what does a new creation look like? How does a new creation live? What does a saint look like? What does salt do? How do ambassadors function together? 

The Ten Commandments are the foundational description of what it means to live like saints, or those called ones, set apart to live for God.  The Ten Commandments exemplify what a “new creation lifestyle looks like. And believe you me, we need something to show us what it means to live like a new creation. Allow me to illustrate this from my own personal life. Some of you I have already told this to, so forgive me for repeating myself.

When I was in Israel floating on the Sea of Galilee, I was having a hard time believing where I was. I mean, three days before that, I was in the USA. In addition, I was in the spot where I could see that small area that is no bigger than the City limits of Grants Pass that included the Mt. of Beatitudes, Chorazin, Bethseda, and Capernaum. In that small area Jesus spent two thirds of his adult ministry. In that area, he performed most of his miracles, healings, and the casting out of demons. It was here that, after two years of performing these miracles, Jesus cursed those three cities, because they refused to submit their lives to Him.

As I sat there floating on that boat, I couldn’t help but ask the Lord, “Why didn’t they believe you after having lived with you for two years and after they had seen all that you had done?”  I believe that God spoke to me at that point. I believe I literally heard Him say to me, “It was because of their hardness of heart.” Immediately, I quietly asked, “Lord, is my heart that hard?” And there was no answer.

That all took place about 9:00 in the morning. At about 6:00 that evening, I was sitting on the balcony of our hotel relaxing, looking over the Sea of Galilee and reflecting on the events of the day. I also had one of my books on the Ten Commandments that I was reading in preparation for this series. As I was looking at the scene, my question to the Lord from early that morning came to my mind. “Lord, is my heart that hard?” I looked down at my book and began to run through my mind what each really instructs us and how I had lived my day. As I began to review my life through the lens of the commandments, I realized then that during the past twelve hours, I had violated unintentionally more than half of those commandments. And if I really saw myself through the pure eyes of God, maybe I had violated even more. I felt a sense of grief come over my heart. And again, I sensed the Lord speaking to me. “Bob, you asked me if your heart was as hard as those unbelieving Jews. No, Bob, it is not. It is not, because I have brought you to life, and I am changing you. However, your heart still is hard. You see it now, like you haven’t seen it before. Be encouraged, I will finish the job I started in you. I will continue to soften your heart.”

It was then I realized how much I need the Ten Commandments, because they are a guide to help me see what it means to live holy before God and to see what areas of my heart still need changing.

Friends, I would challenge you to take to heart, seriously, these teachings on the Ten Commandments. I encourage you to be present each of the weeks in which we will be looking closely at them and at what they are really saying. We want to see what it means to live like a saint and to see what areas of our lives need to be submitted to the Lord for His changing.

Folks, our King Jesus loves you. He wants the best for you. He wants to change your life. But in order for the King to have His way in your heart, in order for you to receive His blessing and protection, you must seek His face. And these ten declarations will show us when we are not seeking His face, to our own hurt.

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