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Thursday 20 February 2014

The Ten Commandments - Sunday Sermon Review

Our church is studying through the Bible in a year or so. Our pastors are choosing topics to focus on as we go along. This Sunday our pastor spoke on the Ten Commandments. I usually like to take notes as the pastor speaks and then share them with you here. Perhaps you will be blessed as I was.  So we will begin with the verses from our text - Deuteronomy 5: 1-22 Please take time to read the passage, and then I will share my notes that I took as the pastor spoke.



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Deuteronomy 5:1-22And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,(I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you the word of the Lord: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.Thou shalt have none other gods before me.Thou shalt not make 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 waters beneath the earth:Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,10 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.11 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.17 Thou shalt not kill.18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery.19 Neither shalt thou steal.20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.22 These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.

Now I would like to share my notes that I took as Pastor Ben spoke.

The book of Deuteronomy is a farewell speech from Moses. 
The Israelites had come to the Promised Land but due to fear and unbelief, therefore God made them turn back into the wilderness to spend 40 years there.
Now Moses knows that he is about to die and Joshua will lead the people into the Promised Land.
Moses is renewing the Covenant that God made with the people.
For a better understanding of a covenant we can look at marriage. Marriage is a good picture of this - you are pledging your life to one another. It is about loyalty. God is has pledged His loyalty to the people and the people have pledged their loyalty to God.
The core or heart of the covenant is love.


We ask the question - What does it look like to love God?  God uses the Ten Commandments to teach us what this loyal love looks like in action.
The Israelite people prayed Deuteronomy 6:4-5 two times each day. And they still do this today.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

This is the heart of the covenant. The Bible teaches us what this loyal love looks like - this is what the Ten Commandments are. They flesh out what it looks like to love God. 
The Ten Commandments are not about earning salvation.  The people were saved by grace just as we are today. 
It is a covenant - not a contact. 
A contract is a list of things you must do.
The Ten Commandments diagnose our hearts, the depth of our love for God. 


Deuteronomy 5: 12  Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.
God wants us to take one day to set apart for Him, a day of rest. Jesus died and then rose on the first day - therefore we take Sunday as a day of rest today. 
When Jesus died and rose, it was a pivotal point in time, everything changed.
There is a principle of rest. We need to rest. God calls us to make rest a regular part of our lives.

Two Reasons For Keeping the Sabbath
1) Because God created the world in 6 days, and rested the 7th day. We are to take one day a week - stop trying to get ahead, from making that next sale. Remember our life and everything we have is a gift from God. 
Giving God a day a week that we rest is an expression of our trust.
How precious is God to us? - Do we treasure Him? Our giving is an expression of our trust in God.
Put God first, Don't have idols.
2) God is concerned about how we treat one another... He wanted the slaves to have a day of rest. ( verse 15 )
Our relationship with others matter to God.


Our covenant with God includes how we treat others - Love God and Love your neighbor as yourself.
The commandments are about diagnosing our hearts. We need to examine ourselves.
Are we honest people?
Integrity, sexual purity, we will not view other people as sexual objects for our own gratification.

The Old Testament deals with issues of justice, how to treat strangers, protection for women in marriage break ups.
Our covenant will propel us into being engaged in bringing justice to our world.
Our Covenant includes:
1) Loyalty to God - our relationship with God
2) Our character
3) Social Justice

Thought for the week - ”Being deeply loved gives you strength; loving deeply gives you courage.” ( Author unknown ) 

We will now take a break from our Through the Bible in one year series and will focus on Romans and then Lent.


You may also be interested in a post I wrote sometime ago titled  " Overview of the Ten Commandments" Please link to post here - Overview of Ten Commandments

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