Exodus 20:1-17

Peace to you my brothers and sisters.

Today’s Bible Verse: [Exodus 20:1-17 ESV] 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 slavery. 3 "You shall have no other gods before me. 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 or 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 the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 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 a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 13 "You shall not murder. 14 "You shall not commit adultery. 15 "You shall not steal. 16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."

These are the ten commandments, also known as the moral law. It has two sections; the first four deal with our relationship with God and the last six deal with our relationship with each other.

God tells us that He is the only God and the believer knows this.

He tells us that we shall have no other gods before Him. This does not mean that there are other gods but man tends to worship other things and put them ahead of God. Money and power are good examples.

[Exodus 20:4-6 ESV] 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 or 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 the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Does this mean that we can’t paint pictures of animals or people, or make statues of animals or people? No, it means we can’t worship them. It also means that we can’t make pictures of Jesus or God or angels.

What does He mean by calling Himself jealous? Simply put, if you elevate anything to His level or above for worship, He will get angry at you.

[Exodus 20:7 ESV] 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.

Name: שֵׁם shêm, shame; a primitive word [perhaps rather from H7760 through the idea of definite and conspicuous position; compare H8064]; an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character:—+ base, (in-) fame(-ous), named(-d), renown, report.

Name is character.

Vain: שָׁוְא shâvᵉʼ, shawv; or שַׁו shav; from the same as H7722 in the sense of desolating; evil (as destructive), literally (ruin) or morally (especially guile); figuratively idolatry (as false, subjective), uselessness (as deceptive, objective; also adverbially, in vain):—false(-ly), lie, lying, vain, vanity.

Basically, we are not to make His character useless. Many people do this by misrepresenting themselves as speaking for God.

[Exodus 20:8-11 ESV] 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 a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

The Sabbath is the seventh day and on our calendar that is Saturday.

Work here is work for monetary gain.

[Exodus 20:12 ESV] 12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

This is something our young are not taught any more and we see the results.

[Exodus 20:13 ESV] 13 "You shall not murder.

Murder is the killing of a human being. Abortion is murder.

[Exodus 20:14 ESV] 14 "You shall not commit adultery.

Adultery is more than breaking wedlock. Having sex outside of wedlock is adultery.

[Exodus 20:15 ESV] 15 "You shall not steal.

If it does not belong to you then you should not take it.

[Exodus 20:16 ESV] 16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Basically, don’t lie.

[Exodus 20:17 ESV] 17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."

Coveting is desiring but it is more like lusting for. It is lusting for to the point of stealing.

We all have a job.

[Matthew 28:18-20 ESV] 18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

All of the disciples of Jesus are to spread His word and the gospel.

This is the gospel:

[1 Corinthians 15:1-6 ESV] 1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

[Acts 2:22-24 ESV] 22 "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know-- 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

[1 John 2:2 ESV] 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Propitiation: ἱλασμός hilasmós, hil-as-mos'; atonement, i.e. (concretely) an expiator:—propitiation.

This is penal substitution; that is, our sins were transferred to Jesus and His righteous transferred to us.

Go forth and spread this good news.

I pray that God has revealed Himself to you and that you have salvation.

Remember, God is sovereign. That means that he controls everything.

I hope this has been a blessing to you. May the rest of your day be blessed. Peace.