The 10 Commandments(Exodus 20:1, 3-17)
The 10 Commandments| 1 | 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. |
| 2 | 20:4-6 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: 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; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. |
| 3 | 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. |
| 4 | 20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 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: 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. |
| 5 | 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. |
| 6 | 20:13 Thou shalt not kill. |
| 7 | 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. |
| 8 | 20:15 Thou shalt not steal. |
| 9 | 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. |
| 10 | 20:17 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. |
"Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God . . . And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God . . . ." Deuteronomy 11:26-28
"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew 22:37-40
Here Jesus is saying that the Ten Commandments can be
divided into two categories:
Love God &
Love
man.
The first 4
commandments relate to our love for God &
the last 6
commandments relate to our love for humans.
God is in the business of saving life (our life) and this list of commands should be looked at as things that will hurt and eventually kill us if we choose to disregard them.
Commandment #1 tells us that God must be first in our lives. At first glance it seems that God needs to be first to boost His self image or something, but what's in it for God when He is number one in our lives, when we give Him all the glory? Is He really needing the praise, or is it because He is wanting to see the correct attitude in us?
When we give God real glory and praise, when we place Him first, it will stem from a heart full of gratitude and love. God wants us to be truly happy and when we are praising Him it is doing us the most good and we actually become happier and that makes God happier. So God wanting to be first in our lives is actually God wanting the best for us.
Commandment #2 tells us that we should not even make an image that represents Him and then worship it as if we are worshiping Him. Images like these only confuse us and keep us from seeing how great our God really is.
Commandment #3 tells us that by using God's name carelessly we do ourselves great harm. When we choose to verbalize our low regard for Him it degrades us as well.
Commandment #4 reminds us that God gave us a specific special day on which He wants us to spend time away from all of our cares and to remember that He created us.
Commandment #5 tells us that by bring honor on our parents we are bring a great blessing on ourselves as well.
Commandment #6 tells us that killing another human not only hurts them but ends up hurting us as well.
Commandment #7 tells us that being untrustworthy sexually brings great harm to ourselves.
Commandment #8 tells us that taking something that does not belong to us will make us miserable.
Commandment #9 tells us that telling things about another person that is not true not only hurts them, but hurts us as well.
Commandment #10 tells us that if we even want to take something that belongs to someone else it actually hurts us (even if we don't physically follow through).
"The divine requirements call upon us to shun those indulgences that would bring suffering and disappointment, that would close to us the door of happiness and heaven." Steps to Christ, page 46 "The man who attempts to keep the commandments of God from a sense of obligation merely--because he is required to do so--will never enter into the joy of obedience. He does not obey. When the requirements of God are accounted a burden because they cut across human inclination, we may know that the life is not a Christian life. True obedience is the outworking of a principle within. It springs from the love of righteousness, the love of the law of God. The essence of all righteousness is loyalty to our Redeemer. This will lead us to do right because it is right--because right doing is pleasing to God." Christ's Object Lessons, page 97 |
For further study read:
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