Bible Lesson: Ten Commandments

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

The Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20:1-17.

1: And God spake all these words, saying,
2: I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3: Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
4: Thou shalt 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:
5: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to 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;
6: And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.
7: 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.
8: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9: Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10: 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, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
13: Thou shalt not kill.
14: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15: Thou shalt not steal.
16: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.:

These Codes For Conduct for Israel, and the whole world, bring with them the promise of God's blessing.


NUMBER ONE

Exodus 20:3:
Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

We know what this means, loved ones, husbands, wives or children, and grandchildren, money, power, finances,...etc,. are not to be more important than God!

Material worship, would be oh so easy. The love of power and goods, houses or lands whatever it might be, if not checked, can be all consuming.

"No other Gods," it means, nothing that usurps His place! Nothing that consumes us. Nothing should ever take God's rightful worship!

Do people actually "worship" their possessions, money, their land, their power?
When something consumes our lives, leaving less room for God, ...it has become an idol and a false god.

Isaiah 43:10,11 KJV
[10] Ye are My witnesses, saith the LORD, and My servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He: before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me.
[11] I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no Saviour.

Isaiah 44:6 KJV
Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and His redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside Me there is no God.

Isaiah 45:18 KJV
For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

I Timothy 2:5 KJV
For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

I John 5:7 KJV
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.


NUMBER TWO

Exodus 20:4-6
4: Thou shalt 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:
5: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to 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;
6: And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

God's image is too great to be cast in stone!
No earthly man, or object is to be venerated (worshiped)!
No earthly man or object is to stand in the place of God, and be bowed down to (in worship)!

In Revelation 19:10 and Revelation 22:9 John fell at the feet of a mighty angel (Revelation 18:1/Revelation 22:8), after having received a vision of future events, but the angel told John...

Revelation 19:10 "And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethern that have the testimony of Jesus: Worship God: ..."

Ungodly men unwilling to bow to the God of the universe, and Redeemer of Calvary, gladly in Pomp and Circumstance, will bow to a lifeless shrine or another person, in open "self-righteousness."

**************
Interesting note:
One church, cuts verses four, five, and six from the Commandment list, and to make up for the loss of one commandment, they divide the tenth Commandment into two parts (verse 17), namely coveting a neighbors mate, and house/ and coveting all his goods.

And why, would they do this?
They would do it, because their churches are "full," of "graven images."
Full of images, and individuals, who they bow down to.
That is why.

Oh how easy it is to murder the plain word of God for our own hidden agendas! We can do that, but we will answer to God, one day if we do.

Isaiah 42:8 KJV
I am the LORD: that is My name: and My glory will I not give to another (No Holy Vicar-ship), neither My praise to graven images.

I John 5:21 KJV
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.


NUMBER THREE

Exodus 20:7
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.

Men are not to take the name of the Lord in vain, cursing, oaths etc.
God knew from the beginning, that man under sin would come to the place of anger and wrath.
And in that anger, curse God for his problems.

God knows when things upset us!
God knew from the beginning that things would.
And God's message to mankind is ..."Be Above It!" Master the things that want to overwhelm you....or they will master you!

Matthew 12:36,37 KJV
[36] But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
[37] For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

I just happen to be old enough to remember as a kid growing up....that if in a restaurant, someone took the name of the Lord in vain, some dear Christian saint would get up and go over to the gentleman, and kindly point out the fact that there were women and children present, and that taking God's name in vain was not appropriate in public.
And believe it or not, the offender would often say, that he was sorry...loud enough for those around him to hear.

How far, we have come from those days!
We need more Christian people to stand up! What are we afraid of?
When you go to Mc Donald's, a children's fast food restaurant, and hear a bunch of truck drivers cursing using the name of our Saviour, there ought to be some kind of Holy Ire that mounts up to propel us to have a word with gentlemen like that.

If a Christian, could care less how people use the name Jesus, of what reverence, is it to, himself?
Mans enemy hates the name of Jesus, for he is forever defeated by that name.

Matthew 6:9 NLT
Our Father in heaven,may Your Name be kept Holy.

Acts 4:12
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name (No, Saint, no Apostle, no prophet, priest or king, only the name of Jesus Christ) under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

James 5:12 KJV
But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.


NUMBER FOUR

Exodus 20:8
8: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9: Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10: 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, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

In the United States, there was a time and for some time, when all shops and stores were closed on Sundays. Originating from our forefathers, the so called “blue laws,” because they were written on blue parchment. Many shops would hang a sign in the window, "Closed on Sunday, we'd rather see you in church," how far we have gone from those days.

Sabbath keeping, involves setting apart the first day of the week, which should be started by worship to the Lord, no work, a time of rest.
Man the worker, from Adam's days in the garden, has been called to work. And its so easy to always be doing "Our-Thing."
But God wishes for man to rest on the seventh day, because on the seventh day, after making all of creation, He rested.

Genesis 2:2,3
"And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made."

The Lord's Day, causes us to stop and think about the Great God, who has made all things, and He is greater than all!

Exodus 34:21 KJV
“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working, even during the seasons of plowing and harvest.

Isaiah 56:2 KJV
Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

Isaiah 58:13,14 NLT
13 “Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day,but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s Holy Day.
Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day,and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.
14 Then the Lord will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”


NUMBER FIVE

Exodus 20:12
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

A person who has no respect for his parents, will certainly have no respect for anyone else.
No respect for his teachers
No respect for his peers
No respect for the law
No respect for government
No respect for God

The Apostle Paul thought this important enough to repeat it.

Ephesians 6:1-3 KJV
[1] Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
[2] Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
[3] That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

Proverbs 23:22 KJV
Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.


NUMBER SIX

Exodus 20:13 KJV
Thou shalt not kill.

All “Life” is a “Gift,” of God!
Abortion is a hideous crime, because it is taking life, away from the hand of God.

Jeremiah 1:5 KJV
“Before I formed thee (God speaking to Jeremiah) in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

Isaiah 49:1 KJV
Listen to me, all you in distant lands! Pay attention, you who are far away! The LORD called me (Isaiah) before my birth; from within the womb He called me by name.

Psalm 139:13-16 NLT
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

Jesus said that Satan, mankind's arch enemy, is a murder.

John 8:44 KJV
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

I John 3:15 KJV (Hatred, in a new light)
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

Revelation 21:8 KJV
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.


NUMBER SEVEN

Exodus 20:14 KJV
Thou shalt not commit adultery.

This blog, does not lend room to the horrors of “Socially Transmitted Diseases.”
(See: World Health Organization)

Syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, venereal disease, AIDS, herpes, etc. etc. etc, just to name a few. The World Health Organization, states, the world is in a STD epidemic!

All because of a lack of MORALITY, Pure and simple!

Fornication: Immorality among the unmarried.
Adultery: Immorality among the married.

In a world that glamorizes, sex in the country, city and world, disease, heartache, broken homes and broken lives are not far away, a story never shown, on the big screen!

Proverbs 6:27,28,32,33 KJV
[27] Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
[28] Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
[32] But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
[33] A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.

An old saying use to be, “Anyone can hammer a nail into a wall, regret doing so and pull the nail out, but the hole will remain!”

Oh how millions of precious young people in the world today are being led astray by Hollywood, and it's glitz and glimmer lies.

Dear young person, if you happen to be reading this, not everyone has gone the way of immorality!
Not everyone has left off following the ways of the Living God!
Not everyone has thrown morality to the wind!
Don't fall for the devil's lies, and wiley ways!

Find Christian young people and pray and band together to serve the Great Almighty God, who will one day judge this godless world!

Matthew 5:27,28 KJV
[27] Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
[28] But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

I Corinthians 6:9 KJV/ 13-20 (NAS)
(9)Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God ? Do not be deceived ; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
13. Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.
14. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.
15. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute ? May it never be!
16. Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, "THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH."
17. But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the
immoral man sins against his own body.
19. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own ?
20. For you have been bought with a price : therefore glorify God in your body.

Galatians 6:
[7] Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
[8] For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
[9] And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Colossians 3:5,6 NLT
5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.

Revelation 21:8 KJV
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.


NUMBER EIGHT

Exodus 20:15 KJV
Thou shalt not steal.

Oh, the wiles of the evil one. Thievery comes in many forms!
The stealing of goods, the stealing of ones character by means of false and malicious gossip, inocense taken of the young by some molester, taking from God, which is rightfully His, such as money (The Tithe), His time, and His work, etc. etc..etc....

I Corinthians 6:10 NASB
Nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Robbery, costs our country and the countries of the world, hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
The Apostle Paul warns, all thieves, everywhere of whatever variety, “Nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. “


NUMBER NINE

Exodus 20:16 KJV
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Proverbs 19:5,9 KJV
[5] A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.
[9] A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.

Isaiah 29:15 KJV
Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

Micah 2:1 KJV
Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

Revelation 21:8 KJV But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Matthew 12:36 KJV But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

NUMBER TEN

Exodus 20:17 KJV
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Covetousness: To want ardently, something that another person has; long for with envy. (New World Dictionary)

Luke 12:15 KJV
And He (Jesus) said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

Colossians 3:5,6 NLT
5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.

Hebrews 13:5 KJV
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Dear friend, have you broken these commandments?
What a wonderful promise in ...

I John 9,10 KJV
[9] If we confess our sins, He (The Lord Jesus Christ) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
[10] If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.