The Ten Commandments
As New Testament believers, we are to
devote ourselves to keeping God's commandments
and teaching them to our children.
Here now is Dr. Gene Getz:
Here's the review that Moses gave to
the children of Israel there as they are
perched, as it were, two-million-plus people
there on the edge of the promised land,
ready to cross the Jordan into Canaan.
And so Moses very succinctly reviews
what God revealed 40 years earlier.
Number 1: Do not have other gods beside[s] Me.
That was a tremendous challenge
because they're going to go into a land
where there are many false gods.
And of course, they came out of Egypt
where there are many false gods.
And so this was a real challenge
for the children of Israel.
Number 2: Do not make an idol for yourself
in the shape of anything in the heavens above
or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.
And you'll remember what happened?
Even while they were receiving the
Ten Commandments. They built that
golden calf--that image violating the will of God,
right there at Mount Sinai.
And so God, through Moses,
is reviewing that very, very important commandment.
Number 3: Do not misuse the name of
the LORD your God.
Number 4: Be careful to dedicate the Sabbath day.
Number 5: Honor your father and your mother.
Number 6: Do not murder.
Number 7: Do not commit adultery.
Number 8: Do not steal.
Number 9: Do not give dishonest
testimony against your neighbor.
And then number 10: Do not desire your
neighbor's wife or covet your neighbor's house.
Ten Commandments that have
impacted, really, the whole world.
And have come down to us over the centuries.
And particularly in the western culture,
have really been the foundation of our whole society.
And so, we have here the review of the law.
Now all of these really, in essence,
are repeated in the New Testament, except one.
And that's the Sabbath law.
And for example, in Romans chapter 14,
verse 5, we read:
One person considers one day to be
above another day.
Someone else considers every day to be the same.
Each one must be fully convinced in his own mind.
And what we have coming into the
New Testament is not a repeat of the Sabbath law,
which was a very strict law that God
gave in the Old Testament.
What we have is: every day is holy to the Lord.
And that's a very important concept
in relationship to how we live our lives today.
Now in a moment, we'll say just a little bit
about the very inherent meaning,
I think, in that day of rest.
But in essence, that is not repeated as a commandment,
like all of the other Commandments are
repeated in the New Testament.
In the New Testament, Jesus brought a
whole new concept that was the
foundation of the law.
And that fulfills all of the law.
And we read about that in Romans.
Paul reviews this in Romans
chapter 13, verses 8 through 10, when he said:
Do not owe anyone anything, except to
love one another. ...
Love one another--the foundation of the law.
...for the one who loves another
has fulfilled the law. ...
That is all of the commandments.
Love is the basis, the fulfillment of
all of those commandments.
And so Paul reviews just to help us understand
what he's talking about. He says:
...The commandments:
You shall not commit adultery,
you shall not murder, you shall not steal,
you shall not covet, and if there is
any other commandment...
Which, of course, we have just reviewed
from the book of Deuteronomy.
So he just summarizes.
...if there is any other commandment,
all are summed up by this:
...You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Love does no wrong to a neighbor.
Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.
And it's interesting that if you go to
Paul's letter to the Ephesians,
for example, you come to chapter 5,
verses 1 and 2, where Paul wrote. He said:
Therefore, the imitators of God,
as dearly loved children. ...
Those that God has loved.
And of course we read:
for God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes on Him should have eternal life.
We are those who are loved by God.
In fact, He's loved the whole world.
But those who are in Christ are His children.
Loved children, dearly loved children.
And then he says, to those of us who are
dearly loved children.
...[And] walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us
and gave Himself for us, the sacrificial
and fragrant offering to God.
And it's interesting that if you go into
the passage of Scripture, there, that
relates to this very important Principle.
There are a number of statements that
review the law. Here's the Principle.
Ephesians Principle 11, which is entitled
Walking in Love. And the Principle reads:
Because of Christ's supreme act of love for us,
we are to walk in love in all of
our relationships with one another.
And that is really summarized right
there in context in this letter that
Paul wrote to the Ephesians.
And let me just summarize that for you.
And as I summarize this, think in terms
of the Ten Commandments.
Because you basically have a repeat of
all of those Commandments right here
in the New Testament.
But now in the context of Christ's love.
Here is a review:
They were to stop lying and to always be truthful.
Well, that's one of the commandments.
Number 2: As believers, they were
not to sin when they experienced anger.
And obviously, anger was the basis of murder.
And we know that Paul says here:
In our anger, we must never sin.
Anger is a normal, natural emotion.
But we must never allow it to lead us into sin.
Number 3: They were to stop stealing.
Well, what does the Ten Commandments say?
Thou shalt not steal. They were to stop stealing.
By contrast, they were to make a living
and help others who were in need--
rather than stealing.
And Paul elaborates on that.
Number 4: They were to use words to
build one another up, not to destroy one another.
Ephesians chapter 4, verse 29, and
certainly that is captured in the Ten Commandments.
Number 5: They were to take off
bitterness, anger, wrath, insult, slander
and all wickedness.
And of course, the Ten Commandments deals
with a number of aspects of wickedness.
And as believers, we're to put off all of those things.
Number 6: They were to
put on kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.
This was taking a very positive approach,
obviously, to how we love our neighbor.
Rather than stealing from our neighbor,
coveting our neighbor.
We are to put on kindness,
compassion and forgiveness.
Number 7: The Ephesians, receiving this letter.
They were not to grieve the Holy Spirit,
who sealed them for the day of redemption.
And here, we have a whole new concept
that brings new meaning to the whole concept
of keeping the Ten Commandments.
Because we have what the children of Israel
did not have. And that is number 1: the new birth.
We'll talk about that in a moment.
But we have the presence and person of
the Holy Spirit dwelling within us,
to empower us, to enable us to be able
to keep these Commandments and to
live for God as God wants us to.
And then finally, there in Ephesians,
they were to avoid all forms of sexual immorality.
And this all leads right up to what we
just looked at with that verse of Scripture.
And that is, we are to:
...walk in love, as [Christ] loved us
and gave Himself for us...
So here we have a summary, in essence,
of the Ten Commandments.
Right here in this passage of Scripture
where Paul tells us to walk in love and
explains what that actually means.
And of course, as Paul said in Romans:
when we love as Christ loved us,
we have fulfilled or we will fulfill the law.
That is the basis of the law--loving God
with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves.
As Jesus said when He was asked:
What is the greatest commandment?
Now that leads us to a question, and that is:
As Christians who under the new covenant...
And when we say the "new covenant" here,
we're contrasting the new covenant
with the old covenant.
The old covenant is really the Old Testament.
That's what the word "testament" means,
the old covenant.
The Old Testament. The law.
As Christians who live under the new covenant,
the word that we use in our Bible is New Testament.
That means new covenant. And the question is:
...how can we keep the
Ten Commandments without being legalistic?
And I think that if we understand the
whole Biblical story, we understand the
coming of Jesus Christ.
We understand what happens when we
are born again.
We begin to understand that in the New Testament.
We are given a whole different
dimension in relationship to keeping the
law of God and that is internal motivation.
Motivation to keep God's Word.
And to be obedient to God's law out of love
and appreciation for God's grace.
Once we understand God's grace.
And once we understand God's love.
And once we understand His mercy.
That gives us an internal motivation
to be able to live out God's law through
the indwelling Holy Spirit.
In fact, in Romans chapter 8, it talks
about the fact that through the Holy Spirit,
God's commandments can be fulfilled in our lives--
enabling us to keep these commandments,
and to serve Jesus Christ.
Not out of a motivation that we're
trying to save ourselves through works.
Or even a motivation to just be obedient.
The motivation comes internally from the Holy Spirit.
And also from an appreciation for
everything that God has done for us in Jesus Christ.
When the Old Testament law was given,
basically, it was external.
Not that God didn't want it to become internal
but God began with this very pagan
group of people, as it were, giving them the law.
And there was more emphasis on the external.
More emphasis on what will happen
if they don't obey. God got their attention.
But one of the major purposes as Paul
tells us in Galatians, in giving the law
at Mount Sinai, was to convince the
children of Israel that they couldn't keep it.
They could not keep the law.
And they needed to understand
that in not being able to keep the law,
they became aware of sin, which in a sense,
became like a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ.
To understand that only in Christ are
we able to live out the commandments.
This internally--what God has given us
through Jesus Christ.
And even in terms of the Sabbath,
there is indeed a Principle here that
we've talked about before that I think is
very, very important in relationship to
that significant aspect of that law,
which relates to rest or recuperation.
And we know that studies have been
done that show that when we take appropriate rest.
That that is something that really
contributes to our health.
In fact, I saw a study lately on a group of people,
who are pretty legalistic in keeping the Sabbath day.
And the facts are, according this report,
is they live longer simply because they
are taking time to recuperate.
And God doesn't lock us in to a set time
for that recuperation.
But it's something that is very, very
important in order to be healthful.
To be able to endure the physical stresses,
the psychological, the emotional stresses of life.
So even there within the
keeping of at least the spirit of that law,
there is certainly healthful benefits that
come to us in relationship to God's law.
And we can do that, obviously, without being legalistic.
We do it because our bodies are the
temple of the Holy Spirit.
We want to take care of our bodies.
And we want to be able to do
everything we can do to keep these bodies,
our minds, our hearts, our physical bodies
in good shape, so that we can serve Jesus Christ.
And so, there is internal motivation in relationship
to even the Sabbath law that God
gave in the Old Testament.
Now we've talked here about freedom in Christ.
Because in Christ, we're free from the law.
We're free from the law, as that
old gospel song says:
Free from the law, oh happy condition.
But in our freedom, we're not to take advantage
of the freedom that we have in Christ.