Moses on the Mountain with the Lord - Part 12
(The Ten Commandments - Part 2)
Exodus 20:1-11
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - September 8, 2010
BACKGROUND & INTRODUCTION:
*When Moses came down the mountain from his 40-day meeting with the Lord, he carried something back with him: the Ten Commandments.
-And tonight we will go back to Exodus 20 to see what was on those tablets “written with the finger of God.” (Exodus 31:18)
*But who needs the Ten Commandments? -- John Hamby points out that the Ten Commandments keep us from fuzzy thinking about sin. When we determine our sinfulness based on comparing ourselves with the behavior of others we do not look so bad. We rationalize, “Everyone else is doing it. It must be ok!”
*The Ten Commandments clear the fog. They remind us that regardless of what every one else is doing, no matter where our society draws the lines, some things are wrong. The standard of behavior is not determined by what our friends think, but by what God thinks.
-So who needs the Ten Commandments? -- The answer is: we do! (1)
*But please remember that these Ten Commandments and all God’s commandments hang on the Lord’s two great laws of love.
-Jesus taught us this truth when someone asked the Lord, “Which is the greatest commandment in the law?” -- And in Matthew 22:37-40:
37. Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
38. This is the first and great commandment.
39. And the second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
40. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
*Every commandment of God hangs on God’s kind of love. It is the same kind of gracious, merciful love that moved Christ to die on the cross for our sins.
-Anything that God ever asks us to do or not to do can all be traced back to love.
1. So last week we saw that the First Commandment teaches us to love the Lord with the throne of your heart.
*Listen to the First Commandment again in Exodus 20:1-3:
1. And God spoke all these words, saying:
2. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3. You shall have no other gods before Me.”
*God says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” God wants to have first place in our hearts tonight. He greatly desires and deserves to be on the throne of our hearts. So love the Lord with the throne of your heart.
2. But also love the Lord with your talents.
*Last week we saw that this is the principle implied for us in the Second Commandment. We see this Commandment in vs. 4-6, where the Lord said:
4. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
5. you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
6. but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
*God said not to make any idols to worship. This seems very strange to us today, but it was a big problem for the children of Israel for about a thousand years.
*Now we will probably never be tempted to bow down before a golden calf.
-But the problem for us is that people can make idols out of just about anything they can have or see or do. So the Second Commandment teaches us not to trust in the works of our hands. Instead, we should trust in the God who gave us our hands and every other good thing we ever have.
*Now, let’s go forward tonight by reading vs. 7-11. Here the Lord said:
7. "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10. but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
11. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
3. These verses teach us to love the Lord with our tongues.
*This is the principle of God’s Third Commandment. Listen to is again in vs. 7: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”
*It is so easy to get in trouble with our tongues!
-James was right on target about this when he wrote:
3. Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.
4. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.
5. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
6. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.
7. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.
8. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3:3-8)
*We do get into trouble with our tongues.
-Sometimes we keep silent when we ought to speak out. There are times when we should praise God but don’t. There are times we should talk to people about Jesus, but we don’t. We keep silent when we ought to speak out.
-And we say things we shouldn’t say: Gossip, lies, angry, cutting words. We’ve probably all been guilty of that. And many times people take the Lord’s name in vain. But in vs. 7, God’s Word says: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”
*Taking the Lord’s name in vain: What does that mean? -- Martin Luther explained: “We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, conjure, lie, or deceive by his name, but call upon him in every time of need, and worship him with prayer, praise and thanksgiving.” (2)
*Have you ever taken the Lord’s name in vain? -- Sadly, many of us would have to say yes.
*I remember the first time my dad heard me say terrible things like that. I was about 12. My brother, a friend and I were camping down in the bottom of our yard near the creek. Dad came down to check on us and heard us say the most terrible things. He didn’t confront us right away, but later he told me how hurt he was to hear us talk like that.
*I remember how ashamed I was. (I still had enough sense at the time to be ashamed.) But I didn’t even think about the fact that our Heavenly Father heard me too. How much more shame we should feel over some things God has heard from us? -- Thank God for the mercy of the cross!
*Love the Lord with your tongue.
4. But also tonight, love the Lord with your time.
*This is a key principle for us from God’s Fourth Commandment, and we see it in vs. 8-11. Here the Lord said:
8. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10. but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
11. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
*We have already spent some time on the Sabbath, because it was the last thing the Lord discussed with Moses before He sent him back down the mountain in Exodus 31. The basic meaning of Sabbath is “intermission.” It comes from the root word that means “rest, cease, put an end to.”
*And the fact is that God was very serious about His Sabbaths. Two times in Exodus 31, the Lord gave the death penalty for neglecting the Sabbath.
-This reminds us that God surely cares about how we spend our time.
-It is one of the most precious things He has given us in this world, so of course God cares about how we spend our time.
-And our love for the Lord should show up in the way we spend our time.
*But why did the Lord give this Commandment to observe the Sabbath?
[1] One reason why is because the Sabbath is a sign.
A. For example, the Sabbath was an important sign to remind us that God created the world. God tells us this in vs. 11: “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
B. The Sabbath was also a sign that God sanctifies His people. As the Lord told Moses in Exodus 31:13, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.’”
*God gave the Sabbath as a sign of His sanctification. He said, “That you may know I am the Lord who sanctifies you.” In other words: “That you may know I am the God who purifies you and makes you holy. I am the God who makes you fit to be in my presence.”
*Now we know that God would sanctify us through His own death on the cross for our sins. So Hebrews 10:10 tells Christians that by God’s “will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
*Now we know that God sanctifies every believer through the cross of Jesus Christ. But the Sabbath was a very important Old Testament sign that God is both our Creator and our Savior.
C. Wesley Roberson reminded me that the Sabbath was also a sign to the people who lived around the Jews. It showed those other people that there was something different, something special about the Jews and their God.
*In this sense, the Sabbath was a sign of the Hebrews’ faith, -- faith that they didn’t have to work seven days a week to have their needs met, faith that God was going to take care of His people.
*Of course, we don’t worship on the Jewish Sabbath. It begins Fridays at sundown. No. We follow the New Testament model of worshipping on Sunday, the first day of the week, the day of the Lord’s resurrection. But setting aside a day for rest and worship is still a sign of faith. It certainly has been for Truett Cathy and the folks of Chick-fil-a.
*God gave the Sabbath for a sign.
[2] But He also gave the Sabbath to renew our strength. God gave the Sabbath for our rest. So in vs. 9&10, the Lord said:
9. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10. but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
*Of course the Scribes and the Pharisees of Jesus’ day took it way too far. William Barclay explained that that their whole outlook on religion made it a thing of thousands of rules and regulations and therefore made it an intolerable burden. The Pharisees had distorted God’s law with a heavy burden of man-made rules and regulations.
*Take the case of carrying a burden. In Jeremiah 17:21, “Thus says the Lord: Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day. . .”
-So a burden had to be defined, and it was defined as “food equal in weight to a dried fig, enough wine for mixing in a goblet, milk enough for one swallow, honey enough to put upon a wound, water enough to moisten an eye-salve,” and so on and on. Then it had to be settled whether or not on the Sabbath a woman could wear a broach, a man could wear a wooden leg or dentures. -- Or would it be carrying a burden to do so? Could a chair or even a child be lifted on the Sabbath Day? (3)
*The Scribes and Pharisees took it way too far. In Mark 2:27, Jesus told them: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” But they refused to listen, and they often condemned the Lord for the things He did on the Sabbath.
*For example, Mark 3:1-6 says:
1. And He (Jesus) entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.
2. And they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.
3. Then He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward.''
4. And He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?'' But they kept silent.
5. So when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand.'' And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.
6. Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.
*But Jesus told them that the Sabbath was made for man. God wants us to rest.
-God gave the Sabbath for our strength.
[3] But don’t miss this: The Sabbath is also a shadow of God’s ultimate goal for you. The Sabbath is a shadow of the eternal rest that God wants to give you in Heaven.
*Hebrews 4:1-10 compares believers to the unbelieving Children of Israel in Exodus and says:
1. Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
2. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
3. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,'' although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4. For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works'';
5. and again in this place: "They shall not enter My rest.'' (i.e. the Promised Land)
6. Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of (unbelief),
7. again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "Today,'' after such a long time, as it has been said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.''
8. For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.
9. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
10. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
*The Sabbath teaches us that God wants to give us rest: Physical, emotional and spiritual rest in this world, and eternal rest with the Lord in Heaven.
*About 5 years ago, Mot Richey told us about a close friend their son Mark had in high school. His name was Charlie. He was a good boy and a strong Christian. But sadly, Charlie was diagnosed with bone cancer. After doing all they could to fight the disease over in Houston, Charlie lay in the bed unconscious for days.
*Then one day, he sat up in bed with a big smile in his face. Charlie stretched out his arms and said, “I see Jesus!”
*His mother said, “Go to Him Charlie!” -- And he did! Charlie laid his head back down and died. But he is not dead. Charlie is in Heaven, resting forever with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
*The Sabbath teaches us that God wants to give us rest. He wants to give us physical, emotional and spiritual rest in this world, plus everlasting rest with the Lord in Heaven.
*Do you have His rest? -- You surely can, if you will trust in the Lord.
-And you can put your faith in Jesus in just a moment when we go to the Lord in prayer.
*That will be the beginning of your new life in the Lord, a life that should be ruled by loving the Lord. Tonight the Ten Commandments help us see how to do it:
-Love the Lord with the throne of your heart.
-Love the Lord with your talents.
-Love the Lord with your tongue.
-And love the Lord with your time.
1. Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “Smoke on the Mountain” by John Hamby - Exodus 19:1-25
2. Martin Luther, from his Small Catechism in "Martin Luther--The Later Years and Legacy," Christian History, no. 39. (Found in Bible Illustrator for windows - Topic: Ten Commandments / Subtopic: / Index: 949 - Date: 12/1997.1238 / Title: Luther on the Ten Commandments)
3. Adapted from “MAKING RELIGION A BURDEN - Matt 23:1-4” and “THE ETERNAL LAW - Matt 5:17-20” - “BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES (NT)” by William Barclay, Revised Edition (C) Copyright 1975 William Barclay. - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland. - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
