We are going in a study of the Ten Commandments, one by one. Many men have heard the Ten Commandments or have a background of the commandments but I will only cut sharply across to reveal the truth in each command.
God does not need commands (laws), He is God. These commands are for man and to man. The Ten Commandments are rightly referred to as the ‘God’s commandments’. God is the writer and giver of these commandments as you have learned; there is a big difference between the God’s Commandments and the Mosaic Law.
God’s commandments are not grievous but God’s love to us. But man moves himself/herself away from God’s love. 1John 5:3: For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
Obeying God’s laws (the Ten Commandments) is a key principle in how we will inherit the heavenly kingdom. Jesus taught this, Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:19). So to be great in the kingdom of heaven, you have to obey the laws.
The commandments were fulfilled, Yes! They were destroyed, Yes! But we have to keep and obey them. Jesus is the righteous one; the complete fulfillment of the laws, who keeps fulfilling the laws in us since He lives in us (the born again), and still He is the end of the laws. If you’re born again, Jesus lives inside you (baptized with the Holy Spirit) you are the complete fulfillment of the law so you do not have to worry about the laws. But if you are not born again, you have to fight and struggle to fulfill the law demands.
The Ten Commandments are not a way to;
- Impress God
- To oppress people
- Regress back (return to former)
The Ten Commandments are (Exodus 20);
- I am the LORD your God, you shall have no other gods before me.
- You shall not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.
- You shall not take the name of the LORD you God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
- Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD you God gives you.
- You shall not kill.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.
The Ten Commandments reveal;
- Who God is
- Who we are and
- Where we were (in bondage)
The first four commandments deals with the relationship between man and God, while the rest commands deal with the relationship between man and man.
We are going to study each command in the Ten Commandments separately starting with the first command; I am the LORD your God, you shall have no other gods before me.
Let us ask God to fire us and take us through.
