“Into the Wilderness”
A Sermon Series in the Book of Exodus
“The Ten Commandments, Part 2”
Exodus 20:12-14
Introduction
God has called His people a Exodus 19:6 “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” This promised land inhabited by God’s people would point the world to God. God was creating a society and culture that would reflect who He was, and how He wanted people to interact with each other. When the lost world would come to find God there – their lives and how they treated each other would point them to God and His Word. So, in order to have and maintain this society, or this new kingdom of God on earth, He gave them commandments (laws, statutes, etc.)
The First Commandment; The Exclusivity of God (v. 1-3) If/Then not And
The Second Commandment: No Other Gods (v. 4-6) No idols
The Third Commandment; Honor the Lord’s Name (v. 7)
The Fourth Commandment; Keep the Sabbath (v. 8-11)
Prayer
The Fifth Commandment; Honor Your Father and Mother (v. 12)
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
The Ten Commandments can be divided into two sections. The first section deals with how we relate to God and the second sections deals with how we relate to other human beings. “The first four commandments teach us to love God, while the last six teach us to love our neighbor.”[1] Both are built on a love relationship – the first section is built and establish on our relationship with God, and then the other commandments flow from the first.
1 John 4:20-21 “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot1 love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
In this section there is a relationship established (your parents) and then all the other commandments flow from that. For example, if you don’t love God then you more than likely will worship other gods, and you will not carry His name is a way that is honoring to Him. If you do not love your parents, then it is unlikely that you will treat others (your spouse, your neighbors, etc.) as God requires you to.
Our parents have authority over us. How we treat them has a direct influence into how we treat others who have authority in our lives. Ephesians 6:1-3 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Paul is saying, if you want to do well in this life, then honor your parents. (v. 12) “that your days may be long in the land . . .” If you will honor your parents, there is a promise from God that life will go well, and your days in the land will be long – there is a consequence of children who respect their parents – their lives go better, and they live longer.
“. . . the reference to length of stay in the land is a warning to the Israelites as a whole (Duet. 4:40; 5:32-33), a fact that underscores just how important this command is. By breaking God’s commands, the people will jeopardize their possession of the land God has given to them. This “promise” is not a personal blessing, but a blessing for a people to possess a land under God’s rule and thus become a light to the nations.”[2] Later in Ezekiel 22[3] the people violate all of the ten commandments and God responds by saying, “I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries.” Their stay in the promised land ends.
It is in the home that people learn how to interact with the world around them, and how to treat other people. Honoring those who are preparing you for the world is foundationally important (and commanded by God).
If parents are not present children have to figure out life on their own.
Parents teach consequences, and children must learn that their actions and how they treat others, have consequences for their lives. It is far better to hear parents say, “don’t go beyond our backyard and they do, and then they lose a treat while they are young, then to never learn this law of life and end up in prison. But the consequences of one boy affects the nation as a whole.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, 20 and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”
The home (specifically parents) maintains a society of people who respect authority, understand consequences of behavior, and the home is where they learn how to be productive citizens. The consequences of a home where children are not taught these foundational things is disastrous to that society. Remember they are coming from one land (slavery in Egypt) and that culture was horrible. Now they are going to another land (the promised land). They have a choice what this land would be like – if they followed God’s law then this new promised land would be a place of freedom, order, and security – a godly place.
If we look at Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, imagine the scandal of having a son like him in that society. He had demanded his inheritance, (he greatly dishonored his father,) he then wasted the inheritance on wayward living. But, instead of presenting the son to the elders to be stoned, look how the father reacts. Luke 15:20-22 “And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.” You have to establish the sin and horror of what the boy did, before you can understand the magnificence of grace the father showed.
The Sixth Commandment; Do Not Murder (v. 13)
13 “You shall not murder.”
This is the shortest of all the commandments; it is literally two words “lo ratzach,” or “Don’t kill.” In the Hebrew language there are eight words used for kill, so the one word given here was very specific.[4] It’s not used in relation to military service, or executing a death sentence, self-defense or hunting of animals. What the commandment specifically forbids is the unlawful killing of a human being (murder) – which does include euthanasia, abortion, and suicide. “It applies to ‘murder in cold blood, manslaughter with passionate rage, [and] negligent homicide resulting from recklessness or carelessness.”[5]
Every human is made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27). Every person is His creation, they bear His image, and you don’t have a right to destroy something that has His signature.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN-C5N60u_M
God Alone is Sovereign Over Life.
Before this command was given Genesis 9:6 says, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” The reason that a person would lose their life because they took someone else’s life is because the person was “made in the His own image” (God’s image).
God loves the people he has created. While they may have rebelled against Him, He has a plan for their redemption – God is sovereign over all of life, and He cares deeply for everyone. Murder was reprehensible since the beginning going back to Cain and Abel. When Cain had killed his brother, God said to Cain, “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground” (Gen 4:10).
In response to Cain murdering his brother God has two punishments, “And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” “Because the earth had been compelled to drink innocent blood, it rebels against the murderer, and when he tills it, withdraws its strength, so that the soil yields no produce.”[6] The punishment meant he had to constantly be on the move to follow something that will give him strength. In response, “Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.” He fears for his life, others will know he is a murderer and will take revenge.
Calvin says, “[In Genesis 4] God first shows that he knows the deeds of men, even though no one complains or accuses; then, that the lives of men are more dear to him than to allow innocent blood to be shed with impunity; thirdly, to take care of the pious, not only while they live, but also after death.”[7]
Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother3 will be liable to judgment;”
The Seventh Commandment; Do Not Commit Adultery (v. 14)
“You shall not commit adultery.”
Someone once said, “Marriage is when you agree to spend the rest of your life sleeping in a room that’s too warm, beside someone who’s sleeping in a room that’s too cold.” In order to understand adultery let’s look at the first marriage, Genesis 2:18-25 “Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”
The helper that God gave to Adam was not another animal, or another man, but another created human distinctly different but still “bone of my bone,” called woman. How she was made, complemented how he was made – they were made to complete each other. Without her, he was incomplete, (v. 20) “there was not found a helper fit for him.”
Genesis 1:28 gives the mandate for this couple “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, . . .” Only a man and a woman can be fruitful and multiply. The result of men and women being fruitful is that children (who are commanded to honor their parents) are brought into the world. It is this husband and wife’s responsibility to “but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
“So the primary purpose of this commandment is to protect marriage. Adultery is the greatest sexual sin because it violates the trust between a husband and a wife. It breaks the marriage covenant, a promise made before God.”[8]
Ephesians 5:22-24, 31 “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. . . 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
God has arranged an order for His creation. Husband and wives, men and women, in the context of marriage and the home, bring life into the world, and then take responsibility for that child. But adultery is wrong, not because sex is bad, “but because it is designed to be such a powerful force for good.”[9] Sex is like superglue. When used properly it seals the bond of matrimony. It is the glue that holds a couple together. Since sex is like superglue, it cements and connects things together and if it is placed in the wrong places it makes a huge mess. If used incorrectly it puts things together that should not be.
Adultery is a corruption of the created order of the home.
Adultery is more than a man cheating on his wife, or a woman cheating on her husband. Adultery, sex before marriage, fornication, bestiality, homosexuality, pornography and prostitution are all violations of this created order – all of these are corruptions of the home. When you go away from this created order you rebel against your Creator and adulterate what He has created.
Sexual violence, rape, pedophilia, incest, or any form of sexual abuse is a violation of this commandment. The seventh commandment is a command to hold to the created order of the universe, specifically the home and don’t substitute it with something else.
Jesus clarifies adultery even further, “You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” The command goes further than physical acts, but to the desires of the heart.
Later when Jesus was teaching a crowd brought a woman caught in the act of adultery, and were carrying stones to carry out the law, John 8:9-11 “But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” (Go and sin no more).
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[1] Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word, Exodus (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2015) 562.
[2] Peter Enns, The NIV Application Commentary, Exodus (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing House, 2000) 421.
[3] Ezekiel 22: 6-12 “Behold, the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. 7 Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you. 8 You have despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths. 9 There are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you who eat on the mountains; they commit lewdness in your midst. 10 In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. 11 One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profit and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.”
[4] Ryken, 575.
[5] Ryken, 576.
[6] C. E. Keil & F. Delitzch, Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes, Volume 1 (Grand Rapids, Michigan; William B. Eerdsmans Publishing Company, 1985) 114.
[7] C. E. Keil & F. Delitzch, 113. (translated from Latin to English).
[8] Ryken, 589.
[9] Ryken, 590.
It is like a father who teaches his child to wear a helmet when he rides his bike. Every time the child goes to ride his bike the father tells him, wear your helmet – then one day the son goes out, puts on his helmet and rides his bike without the father having to say anything – he then falls – how did the father protect his son? By giving him instruction and the son then listens and obeys, and the son is protected when he fell.
