ten Commandments

God’s Constitution for Living

Grace Emmanuel Church

Pastor Sam Chess

(The Ten Commandments)

Long before our forefathers in this country laid out a constitution that would be a moral guide for this country God laid out a constitution that would be the moral guide for the universe.

The Ten Commandments: Exodus 20: 1 And God spoke all these words: 2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

1"You shall have no other gods before me.

2 "You shall not make for yourself an idol

3 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God

4 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy

5 "Honor your father and your mother

6 "You shall not murder.

7 "You shall not commit adultery.

8 "You shall not steal.

9 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

10 "You shall not covet

Let’s take a little quiz:

1"You shall have no _______ _______before me.

2 "You shall not make for yourself an ________

3 "You shall not _________ the _______ of the LORD your God

4 "Remember the ____________ day by keeping it holy

5 "________ your ________ and your __________

6 "You shall not __________.

7 "You shall not commit adultery.

8 "You shall not steal.

9 "You shall not give false _________ against your neighbor.

10 "You shall not ____________

Harder Quiz:

1"You shall have

2 "You shall not make

3 "You shall not

4 "Remember

5 " Honor

6 "You shall not

7 "You shall not

8 "You shall not

9 "You shall not

10 "You shall not

I’m not under the Law… I’m under Grace!

Some might say: this is nice stuff but it’s all from the Old Testament Law…we’re New Testament Christians! We have a New Covenant that is not written on tablets of stone but on our hearts. Aye matie…….

Jeremiah promised that…but look clearly at exactly what he promised:

Jeremiah 31:31-33 "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel…. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers ….33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.

When Jesus holds up the third cup of wine at the last supper and declares: this cup is the New Covenant in my blood he was, in fact announcing that upon his death a New Covenant would replace the Old. But remember how Jeremiah said the New Covenant would work. In the New covenant you wouldn’t have to laboriously follow hundreds of written laws to please God but that didn’t mean that God’s moral code would come to an end.

In the New covenant God’s moral code would become even stronger because it would become something God would etch into the heart of all believers.

If you follow the Ten Commandments on into the New Testament you will discover that Jesus himself takes each of the Ten Commandments, reshapes them, rewords them, and then ratifies them for everyone who would follow.

Jesus: Ratifies

Refines

Reinforces

Reiterates

All of the commandments except the 4^{th
command about the Sabbath day.}

Rather than tossing out the moral code of God, Jesus re-enforced it, often stronger than God had in the beginning. Murder= thoughts; lust= adultery, etc. Nothing in God’s moral code is to be taken lightly. Murder, adultery, stealing, lying, even the dishonoring of our parents is still part of the “in force” moral code of God.

Let s take a hard look at the 3rd commandment which is __________________________

Profaning God’s Name:

When God says…

Exodus 20:7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

…… what’s he talking about?

7Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain (KJV)

Perhaps you’ve been in a crowd before and heard you’re name being used in somebody else’s conversation. You said, “Did I hear somebody over there using my name in vain?”

Does that apply here? What kind of conversation would it take to be using a name in vain? As God listens to our conversations what would he have to hear to determine his name is being misused?

7 No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won't put up with the irreverent use of his name. (MSG)

Did the Message paraphrase get it right?

What’s in a name? (Let’s just do a brief “what’s the Bible say” lesson)

If you’ve studied the Bible much you know that names had a whole lot more significance than they do now.

Adam – dirt, red……. Eve- mother of living

Biblical names were based on three things… often prophetically given at birth:

1) Reputation 2) Character; 3) Personality

Noah; “brings relief”- He lived up to his name

David; “Beloved One” – He was

Jesus; One who saves…Savior

Phil 2:8 …. He humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth….

Notice the significance God attaches between Jesus name and His reputation and character…. When a Biblical person’s character changed God would sometimes change their name to match their new character.

Abram – Abraham; Father of Multitudes

Jacob (deceiver) – Israel (Prince of God)

There is fourth significance the Bible attaches to a name.

Authority!... When person’s character, reputation, and personality lined up with their God given name; people knew what to expect from that person. It gave that person’s life a high level of authority.

So with all of that as background….. why was God so concerned with how people used his name? Do you think the idea that God’s name stood for his Character and Reputation, Personality and Authority played into God’s command that his name not be misused?

Here’s what was happening….. People had gotten very good at breaking Command one and two. They would carve up a little piece of stone or wood….call it their god….give it a name, a personality, a character, and eventually a reputation..

God sets out to reveal to these people that He, and He alone, is God, the only God! There really are no others. They really didn’t know much about God yet…. You know now that God is infinite in knowledge, and power, and intellect, and grace and love and justice, and on and on, and on!

If names really do describe Character and Reputation, Personality and Authority…what kind of name could you give God who is everything, The Israelites wanted to know… who are you? We’re used to idols that do some specific thing. You’re telling us not to serve idols… so tell us who you are and what you can do. Spell out to us your NAME.

Moses ask God directly…. and God revealed his name…..

My name is:_________________________ I AM!

O.K. You am what? You am who?

I AM WHO I AM!

Exodus 3:13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" 14 God said to Moses, "I am who I am . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' " 15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

There is so much we could say here about the significance of God’s name but that’s not the purpose of this message. I AM or Yahweh became the most potent word in the Hebrew language. It shows up 6,828 more times in the Old Testament but the authority of that name carried such significance to the Hebrews that they would never speak it or write it.

Once they really started to catch on to who God really was…. They were able to complete the sentence:

I AM________________________

I will be _________________________

They began to get a holy reverence for God’s Character and Reputation, Personality and Authority and with it came the 3rd commandment ringing in their ears.

Exodus 20:7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

When they talked about God they would insert “Elohim” so as not to take a chance on misusing his name. When they wrote about God they would use the consonants of “Yahweh” and the vowels of “adonai”; a newly coined word “Yehovah” so they did not take a chance on misusing God’s name.

In vain: Don’t lift up, take up, raise up, God’s name for worthlessness, for no good purpose.

Scripture is very careful to use God’s name only in invocations, prayers, praise, thanksgiving, direct teachings about God.

Everything else was considered to be emptying God’s name of it’s true content.. Making the name of God irrelevant.

If in fact, this third commandment is part of God’s moral code, and God’s moral code carries right through to us today….

Am I doing anything that would empty God’s name of it’s true content?

Are we using God’s name in some context, either verbally or in actions that renders God’s name/character/authority irrelevant?

People in the Bible got loose with this. In the days before credit bureaus they made oaths: “May the Lord do such and such to me if I do not pay you back” or “As the Lord lives, I will do such and such for you”

God said…don’t do that! Using my name in an oath empties my name of it’s content and I won’t hold anyone guiltless makes my name irrelevant.

We often think about the Israelites as rebellious people but it’s a little hard to imagine them putting the word Yahweh, and damn, and you in the same sentence. They would have been running for shelter for fear of God’s judgment. It’s interesting in our society that on a television station that bleeps out bad words they will leave God and damn and bleep out some far less offensive following word.

Our English language has been evolving for years. Have you ever noticed that 95% of our cuss words are either about bodily functions or sex, or they have some connection to God. The frequent use of the word God, with hell or damn, are words directly relating to the work of God in this world.

Surely no one here believes that the fact that they’ve risen to the top of the list of expletives in our language is accidental. Isn’t it odd that we never use any other supposed deities as expletives. If somebody wrote the words “damn Allah” in a newspaper there could be worldwide repercussions. But we can hear the words God and damn and never give it a second thought.

Even our slang words…if you look in the dictionary are shorted forms of God’s name or activities. Gee, Gosh, Golly, Heck, Dang, Oh my goodness.etc.

It has become so fashionable to use the phrase: “O my God”!

When you hear a 14 years old scream “Oh my God”, is she honoring the name of God or is she emptying God’s name of it’s true content?

Protecting God’s Character

Members of Congress are allowed to send their official mail free as long as the envelope states that what is inside is Government business. When it reaches the post office without a stamp on it goes to it’s destination.

People of lesser character have printed similar envelopes and sent free mail disguised as official US government mail.

We, as Christians, are operating under the character, reputation, and authority of Jesus Christ. When we claim to be followers of Christ…we take on the name “Christian” and then act in ways that are in direct opposition to God’s principles we are “taking the name of the Lord in vain!

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