10 Commandments: Hey everyone, whether you're about to go to school or practice or church or you're about to go to bed, welcome to Doxology Go, Day 38, Episode 38. My name is Matt Done. I'm a husband of Marie and the dad of Lily and Samuel and Seth and Eden, and I'm a pastor at Calvary Church Santa Ana in Orange County, California. And this is a podcast to encourage you to worship God, Doxology, wherever you go. And our opening question today is this Are there any rules? That are difficult for you to follow? Like for example, maybe your parents have a rule that you can't jump on the couch, even though it makes a perfect trampoline, or maybe your teacher has a rule that you can't talk when someone else is talking, even when you have something really important to say, or maybe you're playing a sport or some of the rules make no sense. I mean, why can't you guard your flag and flag football? Anyways, now imagine if you could make up a rule that everyone in your family had to follow. What would that rule be? Maybe everyone has to eat ice cream for breakfast on Fridays, or maybe your brothers and sisters would always have to clean up the dog poop in the backyard. If you could make up one rule for your family, what would it be? You might want to push pause on this episode and talk about this together. Well today we're going to turn back into the book of Exodus, the second book in the Old Testament, to Exodus chapter twenty. And this is where God gives his people something really important, the Ten Commandments. But first, let's remember where we are at in our Bible story. If you remember, God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Then he sent ten plagues, then he protected his people through the Passover, and he made a path right through the Red Sea. And now the Israelites, are traveling through the wilderness towards the promised land, and they've arrived at a place called Mount Sinai, and God's going to give his people a Ten very important commandments at this place. Now a commandment is more than a suggestion. It's something God tells his people to do or not to do. And here's something important to remember. God had already rescued them from captivity. No, these commandments were to show God's rescued people how to live. So let's look quickly through all ten commandments together. Exodus chapter twenty. Although you can also find these commandments in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy in Deuteronomy Chapter five. But here's commandment number one. Do you know it? It says you shall have no other gods before you. Exodus chapter twenty, verse three. You see, God alone deserves our worship. Nothing should take his place or be more important than him. Commandment number one, you should have no other gods before me. Commandment number two. You shall not make for yourself a carved image to worship. That comes from Exodus chapter twenty, verse four. God doesn't want us to worship idols or pretend to make something that is God that isn't the one true God. So that's commandment number two. Commandment number three comes from Exodus chapter twenty, verse seven, and it says, You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. You see, God's name is holy and And we should always honor God with our words and We should speak about God with love and respect. Commandment number four is this remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. That comes from Exodus chapter twenty, verse eight. God told his people to set apart a special day for rest and for worship. And what a wonderful reminder that we need time to rest and to focus on God. Commandment number five is to honor your father and mother. Exodus chapter 20, verse 12. And guys, this is for all of us. God wants us to respect our moms and our dads, and that includes listening to them and treating them with kindness. Commandment number six is you shall not murder. Exodus chapter 20, verse 13. If you remember even our stories, Moses broke that commandment. But the reason we should not murder is because every human life is precious. Because every human life is As we even read about in our first episode, is made in God's image. So we should value and protect life. Commandment number seven is you shall not commit adultery. Exodus chapter twenty, verse fourteen. God wants husbands and wives to honor marriage, to keep the promises that they made when they gave their lives to each other on their wedding day. He wants them to be faithful to each other. Commandment number eight is you shall not steal. Exodus chapter twenty verse fifteen. Don't take things that don't belong to you, even if it's your brother's candy that he stashes in his secret place. You shall not steal. Commandment number nine, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Exodus chapter twenty, verse sixteen. So we're called to tell the truth, not to lie about other people or try to get someone else in trouble. Commandment number ten, you shall not covet. Exodus chapter 20, verse 17. Now covet's a big word. Covet simply means that you want something that belongs to someone else, and you're not happy until God gives it to you or you take it. And so God warns us not to covet what other people have and what God's given them. And so these are the Ten Commandments. If you notice, the first four commandments teach us about loving God, and the last six teach us about loving people. Do you remember the commandments? Number one, you shall have no other gods before me. Number two, you shall not make yourself a carved image to worship. Number three, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Number four, remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Number five, honor your father and mother. Number six, you shall not murder, number seven, you shall not commit adultery. Number eight, you shall not steal. Number nine, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, and number ten, you shall not covet. Now here's a really important question. Have you ever broken one of God's commandments? Maybe you've never murdered somebody, but have you ever lied? Have you ever disobeyed your parents? Have you ever wanted something that belonged to someone else? I know I certainly have. And the Bible tells us in Romans 3 23, for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. And that means that every one of us has broken God's commands. And that's why we need Jesus. You see, the Ten Commandments shows us what is right and wrong, but they also show us that we can't be perfect on our own. Jesus is the only person who's ever perfectly obeyed God's commandments. He never lied, he never stole, he never sinned, and yet Jesus went to the cross not for what he had done, but for what we had done. And because of Jesus, everyone who trusts in him can be forgiven for breaking these commandments, and we can be brought into God's family. So we don't obey God's commands as Christians to make him love us. No, we obey these commands because he first loved us. It's a response to that. And we trust in Jesus, and out of that, God gives us his Holy Spirit to guide us and to lead us into following him and obeying his commands. And that's the good news of Jesus in the gospel. So here's our doxology go question for today. Why do you think God gave us these Ten Commandments? Want you to really think, and at the end of this episode, I'd love for you to talk about that with those that you're listening this episode with. Why do you think God gave us these specific Ten Commandments? Well, let's pray. God, I just thank you that you loved us, not because we obeyed you, but because you gave your life for us. And God, thank you that out of that our response is to obey you. Thank you for showing us how to love you and to love others. So God help us to follow you and to love you and to obey you. In Jesus' name, Amen. Hey, before you go, remember this. The Bible is one big story with one true hero. That hero is God who created our world and sent Jesus to rescue us. So wherever you're going today, look for ways to walk with Jesus, love others, and live your life as a doxology, an everyday life of worshiping God. Tomorrow we're going to continue hearing about Moses and the Israelites in the desert and a terrible trade that the Israelites made for a golden cow. That's tomorrow on Doxology Go. Until then, keep following Jesus.