The Ten Commandments

Written in Stone

Theme: Rules to live by

Objectives:

Know: God gave the Israelites ten commands that promoted a good relationship with God and their fellow man.

Think: Be conscious of the fact that the principles drawn from the Ten Commandments can guide every interaction with God and man.

Do: live out the principles of the Ten Commandments out of love for God and those around us.

Scripture: Exodus 20:1-21

Notes and questions:

B1 The purpose of the Ten Commandments

• God is King of a kingdom. These are the summary of God’s rules.
• These reflect God’s character. He does not murder, lie, covet, etc.
• The universe and all the people on earth live best and at peace living these rules.
• The rules affect thoughts, desires, words, and deeds.

B2 Two groups of laws

• Those in humanity’s responsibility towards God.
• Those in humanity’s responsibility towards each other.

B3 Nine of the ten are repeated in the New Testament. The only one not repeated is the Sabbath.

B4 Are rules and laws still needed?

B5 What is the general attitude and actions of humanity? Do we obey or disobey? See Romans 3:10-18

B6 Exodus 20:1, who spoke these words to Israel?

B7 Exodus 20:2,

• Who brought Israel out of slavery?
• How does God identify Himself?

B8 Exodus 20:3-6,

• Why is He the one and only God?
• Why are they not to make an image and worship it? See Isaiah 44:6-20
• Isn’t jealousy wrong? Why, then, does God describe Himself as a jealous God?
• There is a difference between jealousy and envy.
• Envy is wanting something another has, or equal or better than another person.
• Jealousy is wanting what is ours but stolen, etc.
• Why are descendants of evil people punished by God?
• This passage contrasts God’s grace and mercy with punishment.
• Descendants suffer from the actions of their ancestors. An example might be one who gambles all his money away and leaving the children suffering from need. Sometimes the children cannot recover financially. Guilt is not passed down, but the bad choices and consequences thereof often do get passed down. See Jeremiah 31:29-30 and Ezekiel 18:2-32

B9 Exodus 20:7, What does taking God’s name in vain mean? What are some examples?

B10 Exodus 20:8-11

• What kind of work could the Jews do? See Matthew 12:1-15 and John 7:22-23. The Jews accused the Lord Jesus of being evil, but He tells them the true interpretation of Exodus 20
• Could a Jew hire a Gentile to do the work that the Jew could not? See Exodus 20:10
• What does Exodus 20:11 state about creation?

B11 Exodus 20:12, How do we honor our father and mother? Consider this article: https://billygraham.org/decision-magazine/june-2013/honor-your-mother-and-your-father/

B12 Exodus 20:13, What is murder?

• Here the Hebrew word is different than the ordinary word for kill. Some say there are 7 different words in Hebrew for kill. The word here is raw-tsakh' (H7523) and is used for premeditated, planned, killing of people. See Numbers 35:16-21, Judges 20:4, 1 Kings 21:19, Psalm 94:6, and Jeremiah 7:9.
• See also Romans 13:9, Galatians 5:21, and Proverbs 6:16-19.

B13 Exodus 20:14,

• How does the Lord Jesus clarify committing adultery? See Matthew 5:27-28.
• What does adultery do to the family and other relationships?
• Children: http://aboutaffairs.com/2008/12/how-do-affairs-effect-children-part-i/ This is from a not-necessarily Christian author. It points out how adultery messes with a child’s mind. There will be anxiety and other issues.
• Spouse: I can’t vouch for everything at this site, but it does have some good info from a Christian view. http://www.dovechristiancounseling.com/Why-Adultry-is-Wrong.html

B14 Exodus 20:15,

• What is stealing? How many different ways do we steal in work, family, home, and church?
• What does God hate stealing?

B15 Exodus 20:16,

• Why does God hate liars?
• What is the core characteristic of God? Truth!
• Is there a difference between a little white lie and big lies according to God’s standards?
• Is reality a truth? Or, is reality what we choose it is?
• If truth is only relative, does being short changed by the cashier also? Would anyone just accept whatever change is returned?

B16 Exodus 20:17,

• What is coveting? See Joshua 7:21.
• What is the underlying problem with covetousness?
• See Ephesians 5:5. Why is being covetous so dangerous?
• How does covetousness affect the church?
• Sometimes this is called the respectable sin, why?
• What are we to be seeking? See Matthew 6:33.
• How does this sin affect relationships in the home and work?

B17 What is the fear of the Lord? How is this different from what the demons do (James 2:19)?

B18 How is society failing on its treatment of others?

B19 What do we do when we are convicted by God that we have sinned? What is one proof that we have repented? See 2 Chronicles 33:10-20 and Luke 19:1-10.

B20 How do we find contentment? I’m not a big fan of John MacArthur, but this article summarizes it well. http://www.gty.org/resources/Questions/QA149/What-Is-the-Secret-to-Contentment

B21 How does truth help us?

B22 Next week

• Harmful Substitutes
• Theme: The snare of Idolatry
• Scripture: Exodus 32:1-35