Introduction:

 

I have keys up here, why?

 

Why do I need keys?

 

Do you all lock your doors? Why?

 

God has given all cultures general revelation. God has written on our hearts that certain things are right and certain things are wrong. This is God’s common grace to us. This is really not unlike how even in the animal kingdom they know how to take care of their young, this is because God has written it on their hearts. The Ten commandments are a formalization, writing down, of what is right and wrong. We know that in other ancient cultures they had similar lists of right and wrong such as the Code of Hammurabi. God has given us this common knowledge.

 

The Ten Commandments have been important to us for most of human history.

 

Play clip:

 

Movie clip:

 

Today is ask the Pastor Sunday and we want to talk about the relevance of the Ten Commandments. The question was submitted:

Does the New Testament teach all 10 commandments from the Old Testament? If so, where and how? If not, why not?

 

Today we will talk about the relevance of the Ten Commandments.

My theme sentence:

The Ten Commandments are still relevant: Love God and love people.

 

We just watched the Ten Commandments and so we are not going to read the passage. You can find them first in Exodus chapter 20. But I want is to read Matthew 22:36-40, please turn there with me.

 

Let’s read Matthew 22:36-40:

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

1. The First four commandments relate to our relationship with God.
   1. In the passage we just read we see a person come to Jesus and ask what the greatest of the commandments is.
   2. This person was a lawyer and seems to be testing him.
   3. That is when Jesus gives the answer.
   4. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
   5. That sentence spoken by our Lord sums up the first four commandments:

(1) “Do not worship any other gods besides me” (Ex. 20:3).

(2) “Do not make idols of any kind” (Ex. 20:4).

(3) “Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God” (Ex. 20:7).

(4) “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Ex. 20:8).^[1]

1. We love the Lord our God so we do not have any other gods. Now, that is a sermon on itself which we will save for another day.
2. If we love the Lord, God we are not going to set up idols. That is another sermon we will save for another day.
3. We love God so we are not going to misuse His name. That is another sermon for another day; however, I will say that misusing the Lord’s name happens way more than we realize. We actually do not even know how to properly say the Lord’s name in Hebrew because the Hebrew people thought of His name as so sacred they would not say it out loud.
4. The fourth commandment is regarding the Sabbath Day. This is referenced in the New Testament but never as a commandment as such. It still fits in relation to God because we see at the end of creation the Lord rested. We are called to cease activity.
5. It is never listed as such a command in the New Testament, but we can easily make the case that we need a day of rest. This does not mean laying on the couch. This means a cease from our normal work. I think working on the house can be okay, if it is not your normal work. If your normal job is cleaning houses, you need a break from that. If your normal job is building houses, you need a break from that. If your normal job is teaching, you need a day off. We need rest.
6. In your bulletin, in the sermon notes, we have included a chart with the references to the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament and the references in the New Testament. When you look up those passages you can see that they are all critically important in the New Testament, though as I said the Sabbath is never given the same commandment. Though we do see that Jesus did observe the Sabbath.
7. But I wish to make the case to you that all of the Ten Commandments fall under Jesus’ response to the lawyer which is summed up, Love God and Love people. So, let’s talk about loving people.

1. The last six commandments relate to our relationship with others.
   1. This is summed up in Jesus’ words: And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
   2. Jesus Himself said that all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.
   3. Jesus is saying that the Old Testament law and all of the prophetic writings fall under the commandments to Love God and to Love people.

(5) “Honor your father and mother” (Ex. 20:12).

(6) “Do not murder” (Ex. 20:13).

(7) “Do not commit adultery” (Ex. 20:14).

(8) “Do not steal” (Ex. 20:15).

(9) “Do not testify falsely” (Ex. 20:16).

(10) “Do not covet” (Ex. 20:17).^[2]

Conclusion:

Let’s play a game. It is called crossover, but I don’t know that you all want to cross over so, let’s just play raise your hand:

• Raise your hand if you have been hurt by murder, directly or indirectly.
  • I had a co-worker murdered.
• Raise your hand if you have been hurt by some not honoring their father or mother.
• Raise your hand if you have been hurt by stealing.
• Raise your hand if you have been hurt by lies.
• Raise your hand if you have been hurt by covetousness.
  • Maybe we have hurt ourselves in this way.
• Raise your hand if you have been hurt by a lack of rest.

As I said, these Ten Commandments can easily be ten sermons. But I hope we all realize they are all critically important, still relevant. Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor.

Do you know Christ?

Luke 9:23

 

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

 

Prayer

 

^[1] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ex 20:1–8.

^[2] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ex 20:8–17.