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Firm Foundations

Creation to Christ

Lesson 25 - God Gave the Ten Commandments

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REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. What did God promise Moses when Moses saw the burning bush at Mount Sinai? God promised that He would bring Moses back safely to the same mountain.

2. Did God do what He promised? Yes, God always does what He says.

3. Why did God plan to give His commandments to Israel? God planned to give them His commandments to prove to them that they were sinners and that they were incapable of pleasing Him or being accepted by Him through their own efforts.

4. What was Israel’s attitude? They had forgotten the numerous times when they had doubted God and sinned against Him. They were proud and self-confident.

5. Why did God tell Moses to put a boundary around the mountain? To emphasize that sinners cannot approach a holy God. God hates sin.

6. Why were the people so frightened? Because the mountain was shaking violently, and there was fire, smoke, and lightning.

7. What did all of this show the Israelites? It showed them that God is almighty. He is pure, and He hates and punishes sin.

8. Who was God’s messenger to Israel? Moses.

9. How do we hear God’s words today? We hear God’s message from the Bible.

10. Today, has God changed His attitude toward sin? No!

11. What is God’s punishment for disobeying even one of His commandments? Everlasting separation from God and punishment in the Lake of Fire which God prepared for Satan and his angels.

12. Did God think that the Israelites would be able to obey His ten commands? No, God knew that no one would be able to obey them.

13. Why is it impossible for any person to perfectly obey God’s laws? We were all born sinners and separated from God, so we are not capable of pleasing God.

14. Will God accept us if we just do our best and obey as many of His commandments as we can? No.

The Israelites, like us, were born sinners, unable to please God. It is amazing that, as sinful as we are, we still think that we are able to obey God.

- Israel was sure they could keep their part of God’s covenant with them.

- We are the same today—how often have you heard someone say, “Oh, I just live by the Ten Commandments”? Yet, another evidence that we are sinners is that we hate to be told what to do—we like to be the ones in charge. But the Ten Commandments were given to us by our sovereign Creator who knew:

- That we could not keep His laws.

- That we needed His sovereign standard of righteousness.

- And that by considering His righteous standard we could then see our own sinfulness.

Let’s look now in God’s Word at His Ten Commandments.

In the first commandment, God said that He and only He should be everyone’s God.

This means that people should worship only Him.

- The word “worship” comes from the word “worth.”

- Only God is worthy of adoration and complete allegiance. He must be the absolute and only leader—above all others in people’s lives.

- God will not allow anyone or anything else to share His place as God.

- People must not depend on anyone or anything except Him for everything they need in this life or for life after death.

- They must not worship anyone or anything else.

- They must give God the highest place in their thoughts and give Him praise and thanks for everything. Isaiah 45:5 says, “I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.” Nothing and no one else should take God’s place in our lives.

- If a person puts anyone else in God’s place, that is rebellion and sin.

- Even if we say with our lips that God is our ruler, yet we do not give Him the first place in our hearts all of the time, we have still broken this commandment.

- Consider:

Adam deliberately turned away from giving God first place in his life. Adam went his own way instead of God’s way. All the descendants of Adam have gone their own way. No one has allowed God to rule every part of his life. Our own ancestors disobeyed this first command of God. They put the idols and spirits in God’s place, and Satan took God’s place in their lives.

- Consider:

Today, many people are putting themselves in God’s place—even to the point of calling this act of rebellion against God their religion. This religion (called “humanism”) teaches the exaltation of man to the place which belongs only God, giving man the idea that he can have the position of ruler and controller of his own destiny, giving man the credit for all achievements. Satan is the father of lies, and this lie is highly appealing to the ego of man. Satan appeals to man’s weaknesses, knowing all the while that this very sin is like the one which caused Satan and his followers to be removed forever from their positions of service before God in Heaven. He knows, too, that he and all his followers will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. Maybe you wouldn’t call yourself a humanist; you just want to make your own decisions. If you have even leaned on your ideas and desires instead of looking to God, you have broken the first commandment.

Have you ever given people (yourself or others) full credit for something without giving any thought to God’s part in what was done? If you have, you have broken this commandment. Have you ever looked for advice in a horoscope or ascribed any significance to the signs of the zodiac? If so, you have broken this commandment.

Have sports or family or home or money or possessions or work or position or social status or appearances or recreation or retirement or anything else ever become more important to you than God? If your answer is “yes,” you have broken this commandment.

None of us has continually put God first in everything. The punishment for disobeying this first command is separation from God. We are all guilty of breaking it.

God gave this second commandment to the Israelites so they would always remember that He is supreme and sovereign—greater than all the things He has created.

- Consider:

God is spirit, He does not have a material body, He had no beginning and will have no end, He is everywhere all the time, He knows everything, He is all-powerful, He is absolutely holy and perfect. He is supreme—greater than all. No part of God’s creation, no man-made idol is worthy of worship—only God is to be worshiped. No one knows what God looks like, so God said that we should never try to make anything which we think resembles Him. The only way anyone can know what God is like is to let Him teach them through this book, the Bible. Anything different from what the Bible says is a lie of Satan.

How important it is for us to know what the Bible says about God! Though we do not see Him now with our eyes, we can learn about Him through His Word. God wants us to know Him! That is why He has given us the Bible. The things we learn from the Bible about God are true. Because the Bible says that God is sovereign, holy, righteous, loving, gracious, merciful, unchanging, all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere all the time, we can know for sure that God is exactly like this. Because the Bible teaches us that God demands the death penalty for all sin, we can know for sure that this is the truth.

In the third commandment, God told the Israelites that they must always respect God, acknowledging that He is their Creator and rightful ruler, and never speak or use His name in a careless way. - God is the almighty Creator and ruler of everyone and everything.

- Everyone should fear God and realize that He has the power to take our lives and to destroy us all in everlasting punishment.

- Consider:

It is wrong to say evil things about people or to refuse to give them the respect they deserve. A child should show respect for his or her parents. A wife and husband should show respect for one another. A young person should show respect for his or her elders. Careless, disrespectful words have become socially acceptable in our society. We hear them spoken even against our leaders. The concept of respect for human leadership—parents, teachers, government officials—has been all but forgotten as people use their “free speech” to say whatever they please without regard for others. To insult a human being is bad, but how much more evil it is when we have shown disrespect for the true and living God or used the name of God in an incorrect way.

All who have not given God the respect He deserves are condemned.

In the fourth commandment, God told them to keep the seventh day as a special day of rest in honor of Him, the one who created all things in six days.

- Do you remember what God did on the seventh day, the day after He finished creating the world?

- God rested because He had finished everything that He had planned to make.

- Consider:

The Lord told Israel that they should rest every seventh day so they would remember that God alone is the Creator of all the earth and everything in it. God is the only rightful owner of this world. Satan and His demons have taken over this world for their own, but it does not rightfully belong to them. God gives life to all things. He gives the rain and the sunshine on the earth so everything will grow. He alone is the Creator, owner, and provider of all things. Satan is in control of most of the people in this world, but the world still belongs to God.

Psalm 24:1,2 says, “The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters.” Psalm 33:8,9, says, “Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”

All who have looked to and depended on anyone but God as the Creator and giver of all things have disobeyed God’s command. This terrible sin against the true Creator will be punished by God.

In the fifth commandment, God said that children must respect and obey their parents. If they do not, they are sinning against their Creator. Anyone who disobeys this command is sinning against God.

None of us have obeyed our parents completely.

- Some examples:

Talking back

Ignoring them when they speak

Arguing with them

Disobeying them

Crying to get our way

Pouting

Giving them the silent treatment

Criticizing them

Thinking (but not saying) “You don’t understand anything!”

We have all broken this commandment as well as all the others.

- Remember, even if we obeyed nine of the commandments and disobeyed one, we will still be condemned by God.

- Furthermore, God expects us to obey these commandments from the time we are born until we die.

- One act of disobedience will be punished by everlasting separation from God.

In the sixth commandment, God told them that to kill someone is sin against God.

- He is the Creator of all people.

- He gives life to every person.

- No one has the right to take another person’s life unless God says so in His Word.

God also makes it very clear in His Word that, if a person hates someone, he has committed murder in his heart. God says that, if a person wishes to kill someone, he is already a murderer and is condemned by God.

In Matthew 5:21-22 we read, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”

- If we curse a person, we have committed murder.

- God judges us, not just by what we do, but by what we really want to do.

- God knows our motives because God knows our hearts.

In the seventh commandment, God says that it is sin to have any sexual relationship with anyone except one’s own wife or husband. The punishment for all sexual sin is everlasting separation from God.

- Consider:

After God created Adam, He gave Eve to him to be his wife. God said that, because they were married, they were no longer two people before Him. They were now just like one person. Husband and wife belong to one another, and they must live only with one another.

Many people today will tell you that this commandment is old-fashioned and out-of-date. But God does not change. Sin is still sin. God has not changed His mind about adultery.

Adultery and all types of sexual sins are also committed in the mind.

God says that if we look at someone other than our own husband or wife and want to have any type of sexual relationship with that person, then we have already broken this commandment.

- When we do this, we have sinned against God.

- He knows every one of our thoughts.

- Every sin will be judged, even if it was only committed in the mind.

In the eighth commandment, God said they must never take anything belonging to someone else.

- God is the one who gives each person the right to own and to keep his own property.

- Acts 17:25 says that God “ gives to all life, breath, and all things.”

- If a person takes something which belongs to someone else, then he has sinned against God.

- Consider:

Even if a thief gives back the thing he stole or compensates the person for the thing which he stole, that will still not satisfy God for the sin of stealing. The punishment for stealing is everlasting separation from God. God will not accept any payment except death. God will not forgive sin unless the full punishment of death is paid.

Even if a person desires or plans to steal something but doesn’t do it because he is afraid of being caught, he is still guilty of stealing before God. God will never forgive sin until it is paid for in full. God will punish all sinners for the evil things which they planned to do even though they were not able to or simply did not do them.

In the ninth commandment, God said that they must always tell the truth about everything. God never lies, and He commands us not to lie.

- Consider:

Satan is the greatest liar. He lied to Adam and Eve in the garden. He lied to our forefathers and is still telling lies to people all over the world. Satan is the father of all those who persist in telling lies.

- Consider:

Some people make false accusations against other people. The motive behind these lies may be jealousy or anger or hatred; the lies are intended to cause the other person harm. Some people start rumors and make up stories. Others carry them on and add to them. Many people like to gossip. What may begin as a true incident is distorted or expanded to include things that are not true. All of this is lying and is sin against God.

Some people do wrong things and then lie to cover up what they have done. Even when they are brought to court, they still lie. Many people have escaped punishment here on earth because they have lied and people didn’t know that they were lying. But we can’t hide lies from God. God always speaks the truth, and He knows the truth about everyone and everything. But you might say, “What about white lies?” There are no such things. A lie is a lie. God hates lying and will punish all liars.

God’s tenth commandment said that they must not covet, that is, want what other people have.

- This was also Satan’s sin.

- He was proud and envious of God’s position.

- Consider:

Many people are greedy and jealous of others’ possessions. They dislike those who have more things than they have, and they covet other people’s property. They are never satisfied with what they have. In their minds, they are angry because they don’t have what someone else has. Instead of being satisfied, many people have the urge to continually “upgrade.” They base their ambitions upon what they think others already possess. For many, this is a subtle sin. “Keeping up with the Joneses” is really just another form of coveting. Today, advertising goads people on to coveting. Day in and day out, we are faced with pressure to want more and to buy more, so we can be like the image portrayed on the television or the printed page. Why are so many people deeply in debt with credit cards? Coveting has become a mark of prestige and social status in our culture.

But God has not changed His mind about coveting. He will punish all coveting because it is sin.

These are the Ten Commandments which God gave to the Israelites. God’s commandments are the same for all people, everywhere. Remember, if we try to repay people for the wrongs we have done them or if we bring an offering to church to pay for the sin of adultery or even if we serve a prison sentence for stealing, that does not mean our sin debt to God is paid. The payment for sin is death, everlasting separation from God in the place of punishment which He prepared for Satan and his angels.

All sin will be punished by God. God hasn’t changed His mind about sin. Has studying His Word changed your mind about sin? What do you think now about the Ten Commandments?

QUESTIONS:

1. Does God care if people worship or serve anything or anyone else besides Him?

2. Is it all right to make an image of something or worship anything else we have made or which God has created?

3. Does God care what we think about Him and what we say about Him?

4. Why did God command the Israelites to rest on the seventh day of the week?

a.

b.

5. Does God care if children disobey or are disrespectful to their parents?

6. Why does God punish all murderers?

7. What does God say about a person who hates someone else?

8. What is God’s attitude toward adultery?

9. Why will God punish all who steal?

10. Are people guilty of stealing if they plan to steal but then become afraid and do not do it?

11. What is God’s command about telling lies?

12. Does God care if we are envious of other people and want what they have?

13. Can anyone obey the Ten Commandments?

Suggested Daily Bible Readings:

Day 121: 1 Samuel, Chapters 5 and 6

Day 122: 1 Samuel, Chapters 7 and 8

Day 123: 1 Samuel, Chapters 9 and 10

Day 124: 1 Samuel, Chapters 11 and 12

Day 125: 1 Samuel, Chapters 13 and 14