January 12, 2025 - Exodus 20:1-17
January 12, 2025
Exodus 20:1-17
Lessons Learned
by Wayne Gaeddert
1. The Hebrew text calls what we refer to as the Ten Commandments, ‘The Ten Words.’
2. The Hebrew word Sabbath means ‘rest’ or ‘intermission.’
3. God established a covenant relationship with Israel as his bride. Therefore, God expected Israel to have an exclusive relationship with him.
4. God redeemed Israel from the polytheistic Egyptian culture.
5. God reveals himself by his words and deeds. Images cannot see, hear, speak, or intervene on behalf of those who worship them. Therefore, idols and images made by human hands cannot represent God.
6. We are to worship the Creator, not the creations of a man.
7. God’s name is to be honored, not drug through the mud.
8. The God who created us knows of our need for worship and rest, therefore God set aside a day for worship and rest from the daily grind.
9. The Ten Commandments are like a boundary, within the boundary is peace, rest and safety. Outside the boundary may appear to be appealing and pleasant, but ends in strife, sorrow, and pain.
10. The first four commandments address your relationship with God.
11. The last six commandments address your relationship with others.
12. God established the family as the basic building block of culture and society. Dishonoring parents destroys the basic building block of society.
13. God values human life, he created man in his image. Murder destroys a life that God created for the purpose of praising Him.
14. Adultery violates an exclusive covenant relationship created by God between a man and his wife, weakening and often destroying the family, the basic building block of culture and society.
15. Stealing disregards the right to own property and the responsibility to work. Ephesians 4:28
16. Stealing is telling God that He cannot provide for you.
17. Our God is the God of truth who cannot lie. (Titus 1:2 & Hebrews 6:18) When you lie, you are not reflecting the character of God.
18. Coveting is lusting and planning to acquire that which rightfully belongs to someone else.
19. Coveting is dangerous because it is the step that precedes stealing.
20. “Commandments do not save sinners. God saves sinners.” Dr. Kevin Shrum
21. Jesus summed up the Ten Commandments with these words: “...Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
22. Application:
The commandments tell us how to relate to God and how to relate to people around us.
The commandments provide boundaries that enable society to live in peace.
Those in the Old Testament were restrained by the Law.
“So the law was our guardian (i.e. schoolmaster, disciplinarian, tutor) until Christ came…” Galatians 3:24a NIV
In the New Testament, Paul says that through the law we gain the knowledge of sin and our need for a Savior.