WHY I BELIEVE IN THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD
Ps 119:66
66 Teach me good discernment and knowledge, for I believe in Thy commandments. (NAS)
Ted Turner has declared the Ten Commandments obsolete, "We’re living with outdated rules. The rules we’re living under are the Ten Commandments, and I bet nobody here even pays much attention to them because they’re too old. Today, the Ten Commandments wouldn’t go over. Nobody around likes to be commanded. Commandments are out!"
Turner is wrong when he declares that the Ten Commandments are outdated. As we will see in upcoming message, they are as fresh as ever.
"The Ten Commandments" were given by God on tablets of stone, Exodus 20:1: And God spake all these words, saying,
These "Commandments" are not obsolete. They are "Timeless Truths For Troubled Times".
(I BELIEVE IN GOD COMMANDMENTS BECAUSE)
I-BECAUSE THEY TEACH RECOGNITION:
Exodus 20:2: 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.
Keeping the commandments will not save anyone, for the only one who ever kept the commandments totally was Jesus. But the first commandment tells us we have to recognize that there can only be one God in our life, and that God revealed himself in the flesh in Jesus Christ.
ILLUSTRATON:
You may heard about the ad in a paper for a lost dog. Description: Brown, short hair, with bald spots, right leg broken from an auto accident, left hip hurt from another auth accident, rt. Eye missing from a fight with a cat, left ear bitten off from a fight with a dog answers to the name: Lucky? One thing this dog definitely is NOT, is lucky.
And one thing the 10 Commandments definitely are NOT, is a way of salvation.
We have no power to even attempt to keep the commandments outside Jesus Christ in us.
BUT THANK GOD WHEN WE RECOGNIZE AND RECEIVE HIS SON, JESUS IN SALVATION, THERE IS A NEW LIFE
ILLUSTRATION:
I love the story I heard about this fellow who had been a notorious drunk. One day he sobered up enough to go to church with his family. He heard the gospel and experienced the conviction of the Holy Spirit. At the close of the service, he went to the altar and the pastor showed him from the Bible how to be saved. He prayed and was saved. Of course he immediately lost his desire for booze, and he lost the desire to run with the guys he drank with. Several weeks later, he ran into one of his old drinking buddies. His old so called "friend" told him that he had heard that he had got religion and that he had quit drinking. The new Christian affirmed that. His friend then asked him, How do you know God is real? The man wisely replied, "I know God is real because he has turned beer and whiskey into clothes and furniture for my family."
MANY people do not want God intruding on their way of living. It is time however, for those of us who claim to be Christians to boldy SHARE HIM WITH OTHERS.
AND WE CAN’T DO THAT IF WE LUKEWARM
ILLUSTRATION;
Bro. Rick Coram shares a revival he had several years ago. The music director after his part sat on the second row with his wife, his 30 year old son, and their children. As the service continued, he would take a puzzle and start working on it, and then his 30 year old son took his puzzled out, and then, the children began pulling out paper and writing it. This father was bored with God and it influenced his children and even his grandchildren.
II-BECAUSE THEY TEACH RATIONALLY
(having reason or sanity)(they give sanity and order to our culture)
They set some boundaries for us; They teach us what is in bounds and what is out of bounds.
(can you imagine what playing a football game would be without rules?)(Would they allow you run out of bounds into the stands, or to the refreshment stand?)
Today, in America, many believe that there are no "moral absolutes." How many times have we heard statements like these: "What’s right for you may not be right for me."; "If it feels good do it."; "Anything goes."; " Nothing is right or wrong, there are just different opinions?" All of this is the result of the feeling that there is no absolute truth.
A recent poll found that 67% of Americans do not believe in moral absolutes. Among "Baby Busters", those born between 1965 and 1983, the percentage was even higher at 78%. Even 62% of professing Christians said that there was no absolute standard of right and wrong.
Exodus 20: 13: Thou shalt not kill.
ILLUSTRATION:
CHICAGO (Aug. 27) - A fired worker hunted down and shot to death six employees of an auto parts supply warehouse on Wednesday, then refused to surrender and was killed by police, authorities said.
ILLUSTRATON:
WACO, Texas (AP) - Former Baylor basketball player Carlton Dotson was indicted Wednesday in the murder of his former teammate and roommate Patrick Dennehy.
The indictment, which contained a single murder count, alleges that Dotson shot Dennehy on or about June 12. Dennehy’s body was found in a field near a rock quarry southeast of town July 25. He had been shot twice in head according to an autopsy report.
14: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
ILLUSTRATON:
I heard a youth pastor say one night after services at a camp, one of the teenage girl came to him crying. She said she needed to get right with God. As he talked to her, she confessed she was having an affair with one of the men in the adult choir at her Church
15: Thou shalt not steal.
ILLUSTRATION::
A London taxi driver used to wrap up his garbage each day and leave it in the backseat of his cab. Always by the end of the day, it was gone. Someone had taken it and gotten a big surprise.
No wonder we live in a society that has learned to put bars on the windows of their homes, or double locks on their doors, or to use video surveillance equipment in nearly every establishment.
III-BECAUSE THEY TEACH RESPONIBILITY:
We are to be responsible in our relations with those around about us.
16: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
This commandment however is not just about lying. It is more specific. It is lying with a target. It is lying... notice.. "against thy neighbor."
What a tangled web we weave. We all practice to deceive." That was a headline of a New York Times article of 2 years ago. Maybe you’d be shocked to hear, and maybe you wouldn’t, that it reported "91% confess that they regularly don’t tell the truth. 20% admit they can’t get through a day without conscious, premeditated white lies."
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.
We covet when we desire that which cannot legitimately belong to us. We covet when we want something so badly that we are willing to exploit others to get it. We must guard against an attitude toward God that suggests that He has shortchanged us and that He owes us more.
WE MUST NOT COVET BUT SHOW KINDNESS
ILLUSTRATION
At the end of World War I, Herbert Hoover, later to become President of the United States, led the allied relief efforts in Europe. He kept hundreds of thousands from starving, and a new word entered the Finnish language. In Finland, to "hoover" means "to be kind, to help." If someone coined a word from your name, what would it be?
IV-BECAUSE THEY TEACH RESPECT:
12: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Let me say at first, many parents are not honoring their children in the way they treat them.
ILLUSTRATION:
INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Three Indianapolis children were forced to drink vinegar, eat peppers and take cold showers as a form of discipline, sheriff’s deputies said.
Marion County sheriff’s deputies found the malnourished children ages 10, 8 and 6 with rashes Sunday after a neighbor reported "banging and howling" from the apartment. Deputies said one boy told them that he had been kept in the bathtub all day.
Court records showed Corrigan said she was a former employee of the Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries. Watson said she worked for Acme Health Services, a local firm that specializes in home health care, the Star said.
ILLUSTRATON:
PHOENIX A couple were arrested on child abuse charges for allegedly keeping their 5-year-old twin sons locked in filthy makeshift cages for nearly 20 hours a day.
Police found the boys Saturday after an adult older brother told an off-duty officer at a grocery store about the squalid living conditions.
When police arrived at the home they found the children inside two cribs that had been wired together and sealed by plastic crates. Roaches filled the cages, which contained a blanket and small mattress stained with feces and urine.
They were happy to see us and opened their arms wide, reaching out to be held and picked up," police Sgt. Jacqui MacConnell said.
But secondly, children are to honor and obey their parents.
ILLUSRATION:
I heard about a revival preacher who was eating supper with a family during revival. The little 7 year old girl howled out above all the people in the café, Hey Bill, Hey Man?
He said later that night after the service, that same little girl pushed a little boy. Her mother said don’t do that honey. She howled again in front of everyone, You butt out, this is none of your business?
You now it would not hurt our children in our day to say yes sir, and no sir.
ILLUSTRATION:
Jack Moore tells the story of a boy who was talking to a friend at school. He said, "I’m really worried." And his friend asked, "What are you worried about?" He said, "My dad works hard to provide for the needs of our home. Mom washes the clothes, prepares the meals, and keeps the house clean." His friend said, "Well, what in the world are you worried about?" The boy replied, "I’m afraid they might try and ESCAPE!"
We owe our parents a huge debt of gratitude. They deserve our honor!
V-BECAUSE THEY TEACH RIGHTEOUSNESS:
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.
We are to be righteousness in our what we say, and how we keep the Sabbath or Lord’s Day. In fact we are to be righteous in all of our actions.
ILLUSTRATION
AUGUST 25--A cast member of MTV’s "Real World" was arrested last week after he flagged down a Georgia policeman and took off running when the officer stopped his cruiser. Adam King, 24, was apprehended a few minutes later--at about 3:20 AM--by Statesboro cops and charged with "loitering/prowling" and being a pedestrian under the influence. King, who lives in Beverly Hills, was apparently visiting Clyde "Ace" Amerson, a Statesboro native who appears with King on the current season of "Real World," set this year in Paris.
ILLUSTRATION:
PITTSBURGH (AP) - A Roman Catholic priest was charged Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter in the death of a drunken Pitt football player who fell through a church ceiling after a cookout at which the priest was accused of serving alcohol to underage drinkers.
We are told that every nine minutes someone in the world dies of aids. Every 24 hours in USA, a teenage girl gets pregnant.
When one finishes the 12th grade, they will have watched 30,000 hours of TV. In that times they will have heard or seen 500,000 references to sex. MTV from 7-11 Pm will have 1500 references to sex in one hour.
ILLUSTRATION:
I heard a preacher say he was told about a couple who had a girl going to the prom. They got a motel room for them to stay in after the prom. They said, they didn’t want them on the road after the prom. It would be late, and a lot of people would be drinking on the room. They were setting up a dangerous thing to happen in doing this,
VI-BECAUSE THEY TEACH REWARDS:
6: And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
12: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee
Those who refuse to settle for less are given a promise. God says in verse six that he shows steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my
Commandments
The promise of God is "that your days may be prolonged. (NAS)" There’s a promise of longevity of life to those who obey God by honoring their father and mother. Honoring your father and your mother not only is a focus on the family, it is a focus on the future.
CONCLUSION
The ten commandments are not the ten suggestions! They do not provide for eternal life, but they do give us principles to govern our lives.
Adrian Rogers, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, tells about the man who made his sons work in the cornfields while their peers spent the afternoon at the swimming hole. Someone scolded the father saying, "Why do you make those boys work so hard? You don’t need all that corn." The wise father replied, "Sir, I’m not raising corn. I’m raising boys."
LISTEN,GOD IS RAISING HIS CHILDREN. HE WANTS ALL TO BE SAVED AND THEN LIVE BY HIS COMMANDMENTS. ARE YOU SAVED? ARE YOU LIVING IN OBEDIENCE TO HIS COMMANDS?
(NOTE-SOME MATERIAL CAME FROM SERMON CENTRAL PREACHERS)
