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We read as our text in Exodus, what is commonly known as the "Ten Commandments." Of all of scripture, this is probably the most famous, and yet there's a good chance that some of you heard them in their original form for the very first time today. Most people have heard them paraphrased and it's one of those things that we as Christians automatically "assume" that we know all about. I return to them in this message because there is a great attack on these commandments today in America. As you probably know, just last year the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for an Alabama court room to have a statue containing the ten commandments in the lobby. An Alabama chief justice, refused to take them down prompting legal action against him and the removal of the commandments by force. For what it's worth, I admire that judge who stepped down from office and refused to obey the order to remove these commandments from his courtroom, because if I was given the option to do what I was called to do, but to be forced to do it without the commandments of God involved in it, I would have chosen the same! To me, that judge displayed a trust in God above America, and that is a view that I appreciate because it is becoming altogether rare nowadays.

I'm not here to rail on America's legal system, as there is nothing that I can do about such things in a Sunday service. I recognize the removal of the ten commandments from our legal system as the symptom and not the disease. They were able to remove prayer from our schools because most Americans had already removed it from their homes, and that was the real problem. And so it is with the ten commandments: their removal from our legal system would have never come to fruition if Americans had not been gradually removing them from their lives for years. Simply put, to popular society today, the Ten Commandments of God have become the "Ten Suggestions" or part of a multiple choice examination where they can pick the ones that they would like to obey and leave out others. The popular notion among Christians is that they were for the era of Moses' law only and somehow don't apply to us today. It is my goal in this message to change that view in the minds of you and I today by giving us a better understanding of what God was saying in these ancients commands written on stone so long ago and to prove to you that not only are they applicable to us today, but they are absolutely necessary if we are to serve God as He desires.

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Most of you probably don't know that in the Old Testament, they are not called the "Ten Commandments" at all, but quite literally they are referred to as the "Ten Words." That may cause some confusion in your mind because they are sentences and much longer than ten individual words from God, but the term "Word" is used in a greater sense as in "receiving a Word from God." To the Israelis, a commandment from God was a sacred thing and something to be obeyed, but for something to be a "Word" from God would elevate it to direct revelation of the mind of God. To receive a "Word" from God meant that you had been given the very character and mind of God. So when they referred to these commandments in scripture, they called them the "Ten Words" signifying that they recognized that these commandments were a little higher than all of the other commandments of God given at that time. In fact, the rabbis teach that the 603 other commandments given to Moses were simply clarifying and explaining and giving details of the basic principles given in these Ten original Commandments. If a man, were to obey the "Ten Words," or "Ten Commandments" as we normally say it, and do so in every circumstance, he would obey all of the Law of Moses!

Today there is a religious trend to hunt for a "fresh Word from God." I'm all for the operation of the Spiritual gifts, but what people usually mean when they say that is that they want "something new, beyond the Word of God to give them their spiritual fix and perhaps help them to convince themselves that they don't have to live all of the written Word of God." If that is you today, then I have a "Word" for you -- ten of them! And they are the originals! And they still need to be applied to your life today!

Today, most of these "Ten Words" are not popular because they are largely negative in nature saying "thou shalt not" do something. In fact, in our other text, Paul called these commandments the "ministration of death." In other words, they do not tell you what you should do to change, but merely point out what is not godly in your life. Our culture today tends to resent the Word of God or a preacher identifying areas of their life and saying "this needs to change" or "this is not right!" And that's too bad, because Paul goes on to say that the "ministry of death" by these commandments was "glorious." Even though they were negative in nature, they delivered Israel from Egyptian lifestyles and took them to the Promised Place of God! Paul goes on then to say how much more shall the ministry of the Spirit be glorious! If obedience to these commandments could bring hope and blessing back then, then how much more should they do so today with the power of the Holy Ghost helping us change!? Paul went on to say that the "letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." In other words the Word of God identifies things in our life that need to die, but only so that the Holy Ghost can cause a resurrection of a new creature! If some of these ten words hit a little too close to home in your life, remember that God wants you to repent and turn from them so that there can be a resurrection of His promises and His blessings in those areas of your life! God only says "thou shalt not" to bring you to a place of a new anointing! God only uses the "ministry of death" to set you up for the "ministry of resurrection" through the Holy Ghost!

And remember this: Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry, quoted, taught, and reaffirmed 9 of the ten commandments of Moses as things that should be obeyed literally. And Jesus came so that you might have "life, and that more abundantly!" Here is a brief synopsis of some of Jesus' references to the ten commandments:

1st Mark 12:29-30

2nd Matt 4:9-10

3rd Matt 5:33-37

4th ********

5th Mark 10:19; Matt 15:4-6; 19:18-19; Luke 18:20

6th Mark 10:19; Matt 5:27-32; 19:18-19; Luke 18:20

7th Mark 10:19; Matt 5:27-32; 19:18-19; Luke 18:20

8th Mark 10:19; Matt 19:18-19; Luke 18:20

9th Mark 10:19; Matt 19:18-19; Luke 18:20

10th Matt 13:22; 19:23-24; Mark 7:21-23; Luke 12:15- 21;

It would take us a while to go through all of the confirmations of the Apostles in the remainder of the New Testament, but let me sum it up by saying that -- like Jesus -- the Apostles taught that the Ten Commandments were to be literally obeyed except for the 4th commandment which was to obeyed in a spiritual sense. We'll discuss that when we come to that but I want to impress upon you that these "Ten Words" from God are not outdated or outmoded but are very much still in fashion in heaven!

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Without any further ado, here are the Ten Words from God:

1. Don't have any other gods before Jehovah God.

God said "I am Jehovah thy God, ... don't put any other gods before me!" Jehovah God of the Old Testament is to be put first in our lives -- that's the meaning of "before me." It means that we are to serve Him and put Him first in everything we do, whether it be a decision in our family, work, or personal life, God's will should be considered and prayerfully sought. We should devote time and effort to Him and His kingdom before anything else.

This also means that we should not serve Allah, Buddah, Krishna, or any other of the zillion gods that pagan religions have invented as a substitute. Those are not different names for the same God. My God has mercy, which Allah lacks. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and it's not through self-deprivation and meditation, but through His Spirit that the path to eternal life passes! God has no political agenda and is most certainly not "anti-Jew." God supercedes His creation! He is the only one! I don't care if the Pope kissed the Koran and supposedly blessed Islam as the "same faith," it's not the same faith! Jehovah God is still supreme! He is first! He is the only, living God! And He should be before anything or anything else!

Let's maximize the commandment into the New Testament. If Jehovah God is the first and the foremost and the All-powerful, then we have a seeming contradiction in scripture, because the New Testament and Old Testament combine to teach that Jesus is Jehovah God come in flesh to save His people. In the New Testament, people worshipped Jesus. In the New Testament, people left all to follow Jesus -- they put Him first in their life. When "doubting" Thomas finally got to see the resurrected Christ, he cried out to Jesus: "my Lord and my God" (John 20:28-29). Jesus didn't rebuke him for such a statement, but commended him for finally believing something that others would believe without having to actually see the flesh of Jesus Christ!

Is there a contradiction? In the Old Testament, Jehovah God declared over and over that He was the only One, and that He was to be first! But now they are calling Jesus "God" and worshipping Him! There is no contradiction when you get the revelation that Jesus Christ IS Jehovah God become flesh! There's no distinction there, except that the One Spirit of God become flesh to save us. The terms "Son of God" simply refers to the flesh that was born of a woman, and therefore was called a "Son." Listen to some Old Testament prophecies:

Isaiah prophesied of what would be the sign that they would know that Jehovah God had come to save Israel. Listen carefully:

It was Isaiah who also prophesied:

That's why the scripture declares in the New Testament that "God was revealed in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3:16), and that Jesus is "the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). The very name "Jesus" means "Jehovah has become salvation." We are commanded to worship Jesus. We are commanded to pray in His name. We are commanded to do everything in the name of Jesus. That's putting Him first! And it's obedience to first Word given to Moses because Jesus is Jehovah God come in flesh and therefore His name is higher than any other name (Philippians 2:9-11) and is the only name that saves us (Acts 4:10-12). When we exalt Jesus, we are exalting Jehovah to first in our lives! Any religion that does not has broken the first commandment!

2. Don't worship, bow down to, or pray to any images, idols, or anything other than God, Himself.

Ex 20:4-6 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

It's very simple. Don't worship in any way anything that represents God -- not even a statue or idol of God Himself! There are some Catholic churches that have tracts that tell of the "Nine Commandments" because they have to leave this one out. We serve a jealous God! He wants you to pray directly to Him, and not to a statue of Him, His dead mother, or anybody else. He is your high priest, confess your sins to Him! To worship an image that represents God but is not actually completely God itself, is idolatry!

That's easy, but realize that you can have idol worship in other forms. Some people worship actors. Some worship sports stars. Some worship money. Some worship power. You worship what you put to preeminence. Anything that gets more of your attention and takes priority over the things of God whether it be attending His house, or prayer and Bible study, becomes an idol to you because of where you have placed it in your life!

There are some religions today who make Jesus a god but somehow separate from Jehovah God. They say that the Father and the Son are two separate beings or persons. The scripture teaches that the Son is the Father come in the flesh. And Colossians 1:15 says that the Son is "the image of the invisible God." If that is true, then if Jesus was another God beside the Father and yet in the image of the Father, and you worshipped Him, then you are worshipping something in the image and likeness of God that is not completely God, Himself, and that would be idolatry! But worshipping Jesus is not idolatry -- because Jesus IS God manifest in the flesh! Colossians 2:9 states:

What's your view of Jesus today!? It really matters who and what you worship!

3. Don't take God's name in vain.

Literally, this means that the names of God should not be a "byword" or something that you say in place of "ow" or "shucks." It would apply to all of the names of God; Jesus Christ should not be used in such language. To put it bluntly, God's last name doesn't start with a "d."

But it goes beyond even that. I'm currently reading a book by a professor of law at Yale who is a devout Christian and the book is about the efforts to get God out of our political system and thus out of America. It's a good book and the title is God's Name in Vain. He proposes that if we remove prayer and religion from our schools and politics and use governmental regulations to declare what is right and wrong morally, then we will have effectively have broken the third commandment. "In God we trust:" it's on our money, but most American lives reveal that we have taken on that name in vain!

How about most Christians? The very word "Christian" means "Christ-like." How many people call themselves Christians and yet regularly exhibit very NON-Christlike behavior!? If you call yourself a Christian and yet haven't developed a relationship with Him to begin changing your life to be like Him, then you've taken the name of the Lord in vain! The Pharisees looked at Peter and John, and it is written that they could tell that "they had been with Jesus" by their changed behavior. What does our behavior in everyday life tell others? That we are Christ-like? Or did we take that name in vain?

4. Keep the Sabbath Day.

As we have already mentioned, Jesus and the New Testament books command us to obey every one of the ten commandments literally except for this one. We are not bound by the rules and regulations of the Sabbath. Most Christians don't grasp this or grasp why. If we were bound to the Sabbath, then we would have church on Friday night, and Saturday morning and we would be limited to how far we could walk and what we could do at those times. Certain sacrifices would be required. Jesus went out of His way to "break" the Sabbath ceremonial laws set up by Israel during His ministry. He healed on the Sabbath day. His disciples picked and ate corn on the Sabbath which was considered harvesting and work. Why is that? Why would it seem that Jesus did everything that He could to show that we were not to obey the Sabbath law literally?

Because the Sabbath was to teach us about the Holy Ghost! It was a day of rest. It was a day of recovery from the weariness of life. It was a day set aside holy to the Lord that was to be a refreshing for humanity. Isaiah, prophesying about the Holy Ghost said:

The writer of Hebrews quoted this verse to prove that the Holy Ghost was the rest! If you went to a synagogue on Friday night and Saturday morning every week faithfully, and yet don't have the Holy Ghost, then you are not spiritually at rest! The Holy Ghost is the answer that you've been looking for! It's the refreshing that draws you out of a life of sin and into the kingdom of God! It's the fulfillment to the void of your life! And so God has ordained that EVERY day be a Sabbath day! If you've got the Holy Ghost, then everyday, no matter how stressful, can be faced with confidence and praise and contentment because "greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world!" We celebrate the Sabbath day when we receive the Holy Ghost and let it operate in our lives and so this commandment becomes even more potent because we are commanded to keep it holy! If you receive the Holy Ghost, and don't let it work in your life to bring a change in your life to keep you holy, then you are not keeping your spiritual Sabbath! Remember the Holy Ghost and let it operate in your life EVERY day!

But preacher, does that mean that we don't have to come to church on Sunday? No, the principle of you needing to set aside one day out of seven to rest and to worship is still a valid one and one that began before the law and thus continues afterwards. But we are not bound to the ceremonial Sabbath, because that was to be spiritually fulfilled by the Holy Ghost. The early Church fathers established Sunday as the day that we set aside during the week because it was the day that Jesus' resurrection was discovered by the women going to the tomb. The writer of Hebrews, after explaining how that the Sabbath was to teach us about the Holy Ghost, went on to make sure that we understood that we were to go to church:

We still need church attendance and we should go even more frequently the closer we get to "the day" of the Lord's return. The Jews had morning and evening worship on the Sabbath, and Jesus said that "unless your righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 5:20). I think that those two scriptures are enough to tell us that we should make coming to church a priority more than just once a week. The concept of coming only once a week to church was invented, quite frankly, by the Catholic church, and is by no means a scriptural concept although it seems to have a grip on America!

5. Respect your father and mother.

Paul wrote that the fifth commandment is the first one with a promise attached to it. If you respect and honor your father and mother, then God will extend the amount of time that you will live in the Promised place. Notice that the scriptures doesn't actually say that it will extend our life years, but rather that God will extend the length of time that we spend in the promised places of God during the years of our life!

The principle is this: when you submit and honor God-given authority, God will bless you and the years of your life -- whether they be great or few -- will be saturated with the promises of God. You need Godly authority in your life -- whether it be a parent, teacher, law enforcement, or spiritual authority such as a pastor or youth pastor -- you need someone to be accountable to. Freedom without accountability will always lead to an abuse of that freedom! But freedom with accountability will continue on! The writer of Hebrews wrote:

You need to respect authority and speak kindly to them. Respect and say "yes sir" or "yes ma'am" to the police officer that pulls you over because you chose to speed. If a teacher corrects your child, don't automatically take the side of the child, but talk to that teacher privately with a good attitude and find out exactly what happened. If it is something that you felt like the teacher made a mistake on and yet will not be detrimental or harmful to the child, then let it go and teach that child to submit to authority even when they feel as if it wrong. If it's something serious like abuse or a personal agenda, then take the appropriate action, but if your child gets corrected at school, and then hears you bawling out the teacher, you are teaching them to NOT respect authority, and there will come a day that they will not like your correction and will respond to you as you have shown them how! In the end, your response to Godly authority in your life will be what you are teaching your kids to treat you as, therefore we must honor our fathers and mothers by submitting to Godly authority in our life!

6. Don't murder.

I believe this. If it comes down to killing an unbeliever that has broken into my home and myself being killed who is saved, I believe that the unbeliever needs to live so that just maybe, he would have one more chance. Our culture with it's graphic violence has desensitized us to the value of human life, but that doesn't change the fact that we are all made in the image of God. The advice of Jesus to "turn the other cheek" when smote seems to have fallen by the wayside of modern Christianity, but it's still true.

I still believe in what the scripture teaches that life begins at conception. I'm still against abortion in any form and in any case, and that's a moral view not a political one. I was adopted at birth and my biological mother was 15 years old and no one has seen my biological father since -- he didn't hang around for my birth. That fifteen-year-old girl considered abortion, but had a Godly brother that talked her into giving birth to the baby and giving it up for adoption in a Christian home. If not for that, I would never have lived my life and the anointing and calling and gifts of God would have never come to fruition. I believe in the sanctity of human life. Remember that God came in flesh through a virgin that most people did not believe her story. And Herod tried to kill all the babies just as Pharaoh did in Moses' time. It is the plan of Satan, in these times before Christ's second coming to kill babies in mass too, but it's through the plan of legalized abortion.

7. Don't commit adultery.

There is no such thing as an "open marriage." God considers it a covenant made with Him involved. If you are married, then you have committed yourself to that partner and made a vow before God to be faithful. Of course, God also teaches that sex is for the marriage relationship. The word for premarital sex in scripture is called "fornication." When you sleep with someone else before you are married, then you are sleeping with someone else' potential spouse. It's still adultery. Just because you are engaged doesn't mean that you are bound in a covenant agreement with that person, and so scripturally problems will arise in the marriage of people who sleep together before they are married because it's not God's plan. We are commanded in scripture to "flee fornication" in other words, run from even the hint of premarital and extramarital sex! Oh, how far our society has gone from this commandment. What you see on T.V. is NOT normal for the kingdom of God, but is for the kingdom of sin. There must be a healing of our homes and marriages and it will only come when the church separated themselves from sexual sin -- that is to refrain from sex outside the sanction of marriage.

Jesus added to this commandment in His teaching, and gave us some insight that will help us flee fornication:

If we are to flee sexual sins, then we must flee lust and lustful fantasy. There is nothing wholesome about watching someone else make love and there is no difference between watching someone in actuality and watching it on a screen. A Christian has no business reading novels that portray sexuality graphically and in detail in print because all of this is lust which plants the seed for sexual sin. Some of you are uncomfortable because of me discussing this in a church and yet you allow such things in your home. What's the difference? God is just as much with you there as He is here and He sees what is done in secret. Sex is not dirty, but sex and lust outside of a monogamous marriage relationship is sinful. The average home in America today has husband and wife spending very little time with each other in meaningful communication. The television and work have robbed the intimacy from the home. In his spare time the average husband is constantly bombarded with nudity and fantasy in the form of pictures and such. In her spare time the wife fills herself with graphic "romance" novels and soap operas that only fuel the emotional fantasies of feminine trait. All of this combined with the lack of intimacy and time in their marriage causes frustration and the wife begins to constantly nag and point out the faults of her husband and the husband responds by drawing in a shell and refusing to communicate. Resentment builds up, and this is "normal" in America.

With all of this baggage and frustration, it's no wonder that when the cute new girl stops the husband at the water cooler at work and compliments him and doesn't run him down, that it causes a pep in his step and an interest, after all, he's not getting that at home. It's no wonder that when the wife finds another man online that will spend time chatting with her about her day and her concerns and will actually listen to her and respond, that she begins to think about arranging a little rendezvous' with him. And the cycle of sin and broken homes and bad marriages repeats itself over and over again and it's so simple and yet we refuse to see what we are doing!

Oh, we need to have a Holy Ghost revival in our homes! Guard your eyes men! Guard your minds, women and stop running your husbands down, and husbands stop withdrawing from your spouses! Men, the answer is not to work longer and provide more money, because all the money in the world can't substitute for your presence and personal involvement in the family. Eat with your kids, spend time each day with them. Learn to find time together. And women, shut your mouth! Your nagging will never be enough to "force" your husbands to do what you want them to do and will always have the opposite effect. We need a revival in our homes to break the cycle of sin!

8. Don't steal.

Don't take and keep what does not belong to you. It's very simple but it seems that some people have a problem with this. Early in my life of crime at around the age of 6, I found the dangers of stealing. I stole a candy bar from our hometown grocery and then began to eat it when we got in the car. When my mother saw it, she marched me back into the office of the owner of the store and I had to confess and give it back. The owner "thought about calling the police" but then much to my relief gave me a reprieve "just this once." Looking back, I realize that it was all a joke, but I thank God that they did that because I've never stolen anything else in my life! That store keeper made a believer out of me!

Hopefully, most of you understand not to take things from other human beings that is not yours, yet chances are there is someone under the sound of my voice that is robbing and stealing from God. How can you do that? Listen to the prophet Malachi:

A "tithe" means a "tenth." "Offerings" means anything beyond the first ten percent. God considers ten percent of everything that you make "His." You pay Him what is His by tithing or giving every $1 on the $10 to a church for the ministry. Your offering then is what you give beyond that ten percent. God said to not pay "tithes and offering" is to "rob Him!" He went on to say that such people live under a curse with God fighting against their finances. It may sound crazy if you have never tried it, but it works: if you will give God His ten percent and offerings and financially live His way, then He will "open up windows in heaven and pour you out a blessing that goes far beyond you can imagine." That goes for spiritual blessings and physical ones. Try doing your finances God's way and see if there isn't more money at the end of the month!

9. Don't lie or be deceitful in any way.

Ex 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

I was scanning through the AM radio dial a few years ago when I came across a "religious talk show" -- if there is such a thing -- with a supposed Christian psychologist answering questions. The subject of lying came up and this "Christian counselor" put forth the view that all lying wasn't wrong, but that little lies were normal and weren't anything to be ashamed of. When someone called in and quoted the ninth commandment to him, he said "oh, that's so old fashioned and so 'old testament'!" I turned my radio off shaking my head! Let me remind you what the New Testament scripture says:

"All liars." That would seem to include Christians that tell little "white lies." That would include preachers who don't preach the truth. That would include people who live in such a way to make you think one thing or who are deceitful without saying anything.

Christians should be the most truthful people on the face of the earth. That doesn't mean that you slander people and volunteer everything that you know, but that means that if "telling truth" would be worse off than telling a little small "fib" then you should not lie!

10. Don't desire things that aren't yours.

I would go as far as saying that this is another of America's biggest problems! We run ourselves into great debt trying to keep up with "the Smiths" (I can't say Jones, because we have some here!). We are not, as the scripture commands us to be, content in whatsoever state that we find ourselves in, but we will sacrifice our family time and church time and prayer time to work overtime to have more "stuff." We -- and I include myself within this group -- are very materialistic! And materialism and wanting "more" despite our abundance is the key issue as to why America is not having the massive revivals of say Africa and foreign lands. But somehow we've got to push through this idolatry of materialism and get back to the basics of living for God and putting Him first!

But the key issue here is the "desire for something you didn't have to pay for." People want something without having to pay the price. And if we are not careful, this attitude of covetousness can creep into our spiritual walk with God. I've known people to be jealous of the anointing and gifts of others and yet never give the first thought to the price that person paid for that anointing an ability. I've known people to get mad at God for blessing someone else mightily whom they though undeserved. I've been blessed in my life because of my parent's sacrifice. And I've also had a few jealous folks say "you had everything handed to you on a silver platter." Not only is that not true, but they don't see the sacrifice that my parents gave for the blessings that I received both physically and spiritually. And now, if I want my kids to reap the benefits that I received, then my wife and I must also sacrifice. Simply put, that's why we are here and that's why we live our lives the way we do! We've got to be willing to pay the price! If you get something for nothing, usually what you got is not worth much. And so it is in the Spirit. The greatest anointing and blessings are given to those who will sacrifice and go beyond the ordinary for Jesus Christ!