Greg Laurie - The Ten Commandments (03/10/2018)
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Pastor Greg Laurie kicks off a series on the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, showing how God's rules aren't about spoiling fun but protecting us for true happiness and holiness. He stresses that real joy comes from putting God first, avoiding idols, honoring His name, and resting in Him, ultimately pointing us to Jesus for forgiveness and rest when we fall short.
Finding True Happiness God's Way
Tonight we are continuing our series that we are calling "The Greatest Stories Ever Told". And my very imaginative title is "The Ten Commandments", Part 1. So turn in your Bible to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. And let's start with a word of prayer.
Father, we need truth in this age in which we live, in which there is so much uncertainty, so many shades of grey. But You have given us absolute truth in Scripture. And very specifically You have given us truth in the Ten Commandments. Absolute truth to live by. So we pray as we look at them now, that You will show us how they apply to our lives. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Let me start with a question. I guess you can raise your hand if you like. How many of you would consider yourself happy people? Raise your hand up. You are a happy person. Okay. That is not all of you. Well that is interesting. Alright. How many of you think of yourself as an unhappy person? Raise your hand up. Oh no one is going to cop to that. I see. So do we have some undecided, is that what this is? Sort of like our election right now? What does it deal with undecided voters? I kind of don't get them at all. What? I have no mind. I am undecided. Do you have a world view? Why is this so hard to decide? Get out there. Inform yourself. And then make a decision. But that is really an aside. That is not what I was planning on saying. I was going to get to that a little bit later. But it is an interesting question if we are happy or not happy in life.
Two Paths: Happiness or Misery
Because effectively, there are two ways that we can live in life. We can live the right way or we can live the wrong way. There are two paths that we can take in life. We can take the right path or we can take the wrong one. We can take the path that is the narrow road that leads to life. Or we can get on that broad road, the freeway if you will, that leads to destruction. Or, to use another biblical illustration, there are two foundations we can build our lives on. We can build on the solid rock or we can build on the shifting sand. And the result is we can either live the happy and holy way or the miserable and unholy way.
Now a lot of nonbelievers have a wrong concept of what it means to be a Christian. Their concept of being a Christian is, number one, you are lame. Number two, you are boring. Number three, you never have any fun. And then you are boring. And then nothing is ever going on. And did I mention, it is just boring. That is how they see the Christian life. But for them to have fun they need to, well first of all they have to get some drinks in them. Or some drugs in them. Or some kind of a false stimulant. And then they have to go to that party. And then they need to hook up with somebody and do all the things that they do.
But here is what I am suggesting to you: everything you are looking for in life is found in a relationship with God. Take the story of the prodigal son that Jesus told. Here is a boy that ran away from home. He probably thought, you know, living with dad is such a drag. All the rules. All the regulations. All the fun is outside of this home. So he leaves home. Now really what was this boy looking for? Well it appears from the story he wanted nice clothes. He wanted great food. And he wanted parties. Right? So he goes out and spends all of his money. He comes back empty handed, miserable. And what happens to him? Well the first thing the father does is he gives him some nice clothes. He says, "Bring out the best clothes." The next thing the father does is he says, "Let's have a barbecue. Let's get out the fatted calf" so he has the fine food. And how about parties? The father says, "Let's rejoice and have a party. This my son who is dead is alive again."
So my point is, everything the boy was searching for was in his father's house all along. So here is what I am suggesting to you. The way to be a happy person is going to be found in what you do and what you don't do. There are certain things you should not do, if you want to be happy, as well as certain things you should do.
The Blessed (Happy) Life in Psalm 1
Let me illustrate. Psalm 1. "Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful." Now that word "blessed" can also be translated "happy". Happy is the man. Happy is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Who does not stand in the way of sinners. Who does not sit in the seat of the scornful. That is what he doesn't do. Let me loosely paraphrase it. Happy is the man, or the woman, who doesn't hang around with ungodly people doing ungodly things. But that is what you should not do.
Now what should you do? "But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in it does he meditate day and night. He will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that will bring forth fruit in his season, and whatever he does will prosper." So if you want to be happy, you live within certain parameters.
Psalm 112 verse 1 says, "Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments." Now that word "blessed", again, can be translated "happy". And even a more accurate reading would be "happy, happy". I like that. Happy, happy, super happy, is the man or woman who fears the Lord, reverences God, and greatly delights in His commandments. What? Commandments? Well aren't those things you should not do as well as things you should do? Precisely. Happiness comes not only from what you do, but what you do not do.
God's Commandments: Protection, Not Prison
Years ago, I was in my backyard, and I saw a brightly colored bird nestled in the grass. And I also noticed that my dog, a German Shepherd, was looking intently at the bird. And I thought, okay, that bird's days are numbered. His minutes are numbered. And I thought, what is a bird like that doing in my yard? It is not the kind of a bird that you see in the wild. It was the kind of bird someone would have in a cage. And so I thought, maybe it is someone's pet that flew away. So I got down on the bird's level. I put my finger out, and sure enough he jumped right on my finger.
So I walk into the kitchen. My wife is cooking dinner. I said, "Kathy, look at this." And there is this beautiful little bird sitting on my finger, kind of shivering, probably thinking the dog is still coming after him. And we decided it must be someone's pet bird that got away. And our youngest son, Jonathan, knew a little girl down the street whose bird died. And he said, "She has a cage." I said, "Quick, run and get the cage." So he runs down the street, comes back with the cage. We set it up on the counter. I open up the door, take my finger where the bird is perched, hold it up to the door of the cage. He couldn't get in there fast enough. And immediately he is hopping from perch to perch. He is chirping away. He is on the little swing. Happy days are here again.
That is interesting, isn't it? It seems cruel to put the poor bird in the cage. "Set the bird free." Right? No. This bird did not want to be free. Because that bird did not see the cage as bars that were keeping him in. He saw them as barriers, keeping my German Shepherd out. So God has given us the commandments. Don't look at them as prison bars, keeping you in, keeping you away from fun. They are protecting you. They are there for your own good. God is saying, keep this stuff out and you will be a happy person if you do these other things.
Well, that is why we come now to the Ten Commandments. Because this is where it all begins. Because from these commandments we can know right from wrong. Abraham Lincoln said, "But for the Ten Commandments we would not know right from wrong." James Madison, the man most responsible for the drafting of our Constitution, made this statement. And I quote, "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not on the power of the government. Far from it. We have staked the future of our political constitutions upon the capacity of each and every one of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God." I like that. I would like to hear a political leader say that today. Without any embarrassment or concern about how it would affect them. Hey, here is what is true. The Ten Commandments of God. We need to live by those.
Recapping Israel's Journey to Sinai
Well, this is a part of our series that we are calling The Greatest Stories Ever Told. So let's pick up where we last left off. You remember, God directed Moses to go into the court of the most powerful man on the face of the earth, the Pharaoh, and demand the release of the Israelites. And the Pharaoh would have none of it. And he was angry that Moses would defy him in this way. And so a series of miracles were done to bring Pharaoh around. And we would just read over and over again, "Pharaoh's heart got hard. Pharaoh's heart got hard." And it just stayed hard. And the judgments and plagues that came against Egypt grew in intensity. And finally, reluctantly, the Pharaoh says, "Fine. Go. Leave." And then he tries to compromise with Moses. "We will leave your children." Moses says, "No." "We will leave your animals." Moses says, "Not a hoof will be left behind." So finally the Pharaoh says, "Fine. Get out of here." And off Moses goes with all those Israelites following him into the wilderness to have a feast unto the Lord.
Well, that's... They are on their way. There is an excitement. There is a joy. We are free from the Pharaoh finally. And they come right to the edge there, facing the Red Sea. And they look behind them. And who is in hot pursuit but Pharaoh and his armies with the chariots, with the swords, with the spears, coming after the Israelites. And they freak out completely. They start yelling at Moses, "Oh great. There weren't enough graves left in Egypt. And you don't have to bring us out here to die in the wilderness. What a mess." And Moses started to pray. And I love this. Because as he prayed, God said, "Why are you talking to me? This isn't the time to pray." Loose paraphrase. "This is the time to move." He says, "Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, that He will work for you today. The Egyptians you see today, you will never see them again."
You know the story. The Red Sea opens up, and the Israelites pass through on dry land. And by the time the Pharaoh and his armies got close enough to go after them, the Red Sea closed back down on them again. So now they are on the other side. And they have the biggest worship service. They are giving thanks to God for delivering them. It is fantastic.
The Ten Commandments: God's Clear Instructions
And now the Lord is going to start leading them. He has the ultimate GPS system. A fire by night. A cloud by day. Way better than the new app for maps on the new iPhone. For sure. It is real simple. When the cloud moves, you move. When the cloud stops, you stop. At night time, it lights up. Real cool like. You know. A fire. That is not hard to figure out. And so, not only does He show them where to go, but He feeds them with this supernatural substance. It would sort of be out there on the ground every morning. Sort of this flaky like substance that was sweet to the taste called manna. It is from the Hebrew word "crispo cremo". I made that up. But it is a reference to Krispy Kreme in case you missed it. But it was sweet. It was delightful. And it would be there every day. So man, I am telling you, these guys had it made in the shade.
And now God is going to give them the Ten Commandments. And so He says to Moses, "I want you to meet me up on Mount Sinai." And so Moses says, "Alright Lord." And he leaves Aaron in charge. And I told you a while back that when God called Moses, He didn't really want Aaron to come along, but He went along with the idea. He says, "Alright you can bring Aaron your brother, but really you don't need to. But I will let you." So he left Aaron in charge. And that created a lot of problems. As we will see in a moment.
But let's consider now the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses. Exodus 20. And we are going to start in verse 2. Here is Commandment number 1. And they are on the screen if you are writing these things down with the references so you can sort this out. And know what Commandment is what.
1. Commandment number 1. You shall have no other gods before Me. Exodus 20:2-3. "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me."
Commandment number 2. No graven images. Verses 4-5 of Exodus 20. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor 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 fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."
Commandment number 3. You shall not take the Lord's name in vain. Verse 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."
Commandment number 4. Remember the Sabbath Day. Verses 8-11. "Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work..."
(We will continue with the remaining commandments in Part 2, but here are the first four we covered tonight.)
Commandment 1: No Other Gods – God Demands First Place
Now, if we were to arrange the Ten Commandments, we might place some higher than others. In other words, if you were going to go through the Ten Commandments, what do you think would be the most offensive to break? We would probably say, well, you know, probably murder. Maybe adultery. But then we would think, I don't know, is it really that big of a deal to have another God before Him? Well, according to the Lord, that is number one. That is where He starts. "Don't have another God before Me."
Yet a survey revealed that 76% of all Americans consider themselves completely true to the first commandment. Really? Most Americans say, "No, I have never had another God before Him." Well, maybe we have a failure to communicate here. Have we ever had another God before Him? Why is this important? Because we will serve what we worship. You see? You will serve the one you worship.
I remember when Jesus was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness. And Satan said, "Why don't you bow down and worship me? And I will give you everything you have come for. All the kingdoms of the world. They are yours. Worship me." Jesus said, "You shall worship the Lord God only. And Him only shall you serve." Why did Jesus say that? Because you serve what you worship. So whatever your affection is geared toward, that is your God.
But here is the thing that I want to point out before we kind of define what our God may be. And that is that the Lord points out that He is a jealous God. Verse 5. Why should I not have another God before Him? Because He is a jealous God. Now some people choke on that. I will tell you straight up, Oprah Winfrey does not agree with this. I don't know if that troubles you or not. But Oprah says, that just can't be true. In a recent show she said, "I was raised a Baptist. And we were way too hung up on traditional ways. I was sitting in church and I heard that God is a jealous God. And I asked, why? Come on. Let's get over it." She then said, "A jealous God is an insecure God." Then she went on to say, "I believe in the force. I call it God." Really. "I call it Star Wars." But, um, whatever.
Well, God would beg to differ with Oprah. And He says, "I am a jealous God." In verse 5. "Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children..." And so forth. Now, we immediately think of jealousy as a negative thing. And certainly it can be. There can be a sin of jealousy. And a sin of envy. We think of a jealous person as someone who is controlling and demanding and flies into a rage without the slightest reason.
But God is revealing Himself here. And He is a loving Father. "See, I love you," He is saying. "And I want an exclusive relationship with you." Is that unreasonable? I mean, I think you are probably a jealous parent. And by that I mean, you want the best for your kids. Right? You probably have one of those bumper stickers on your car. "I have the top student..." Whatever, you know. I kind of hate those a little bit. But whatever, you know. But you know, you want the best for your child. And you probably think your child is the best at whatever it is they do. They are the best athlete. They are the best dancer. They are the best singer. They are the best whatever. You love your children. That is just the way that we are. You want the best. That is what God wants. He wants the best for you. And so He is jealous in a sense. Or let's put it another way. He is opposed to anything that would cause harm to you.
And you know I would think that you are probably a jealous husband or wife. I mean how would you feel, wives, if your husband said, "Well honey my date is here. I am going out with her now. Can she borrow that outfit that looked really good on you last night?" Your wife would say, "Sure honey. Let me just load my shotgun. I will be right out." No. No self-respecting wife would put up with something like that. Nor should she.
So we say, "Well God I love you with all of my heart. But I have got this other God I am kind of into right now. And I kind of want to have a relationship with that God." God says no. "I am a jealous God. I want an exclusive relationship with you. You belong to Me. And I have committed Myself to you." So that is the way it needs to be. That is the concept that is being communicated.
And here is the thing that God reminds them of in verse 2. "Hey who brought you out of the house of Egypt and the house of bondage?" Hey just a little reminder. Who just delivered you from Egypt? Who just destroyed the Egyptian army? Who gives you manna every morning? Come on. Who loves you? Me. God is saying. Okay. So I have obviously made a big commitment to this relationship. I am asking for you to love Me back. I want this wonderful closeness with you. So have no other gods before Me.
Now when we hear that we think well yeah it is someone like lying down you know prostrate before an image. Well yeah it is that. But it is more than that. A God is whatever you are passionate about. Listen. Everybody has a God. We as Christians have our God. But people who are not Christians have a God. Even atheists have a God. Because their God is whatever it is that they are passionate about. Whatever they are committed to. Whatever they dream about or plan for or scheme for. That is your God.
Now we would all say well the Lord is my God. Well as they say the proof is in the pudding. It is in the way that you live. Not in just what you say. So commandment number one. The Lord says I want to be number one in your life. Okay. And I want an exclusive relationship with you.
Commandment 2: No Graven Images – Avoid Idolatry in Any Form
Now this is sort of an extension of that. Commandment number two. But it is a separate commandment. And sometimes people mix them together and don't understand. They are two separate commandments with two related messages. But yet a connected one. I mean a different one as well. Verse four. God says don't make for yourself a carved image. Or bow down to them nor serve them.
They say well I have never committed that sin. Well okay now. Let's go back to Aaron for a moment who I mentioned. Alright. So what happens? Moses says alright Aaron I am going to leave you in charge. I am going to go up there on Mount Sinai and I am going to get the commandments from God. Alright. Can you handle this? "No problem Moses. I have got it covered." So Moses has gone. Not very long. And some of the Israelite leaders come up to Aaron and say you know we are kind of tired of waiting for Moses. And we are sort of needing a God that we can worship. And they don't mean a God like the Lord. But they need an object. See they have been raised in Egypt. And there are idols everywhere. Remember all the gods of Egypt. And they are saying we kind of want a tangible God. A God that we can reach out and touch.
Now Aaron should have rebuked him and said what are you crazy? Worship the Lord. Look at all that He has done for you. Aaron instead says okay no problem. Everybody bring all your rings, your earrings, your jewelry, all that. I will make something up for you. So they bring all these gold things, all this jewelry. And he melts it. And he makes it into a golden calf. And then he puts it up there. And they start worshiping it.
Now how could this happen? Well here is what we need to understand. Because this seems alien to us. But it is easier to do than you may think. There were two phases to their idolatry. The first phase was more subtle and less obvious. The second was more blatant and radical. The point is one will always grow out of the other. The root of their open idolatry was the departure of their heart from the Lord and then leaning too much on the one that was God's instrument, Moses. Listen. Moses was their first idol. The golden calf was their second. It is not like they turned from God to a calf. They went from Moses to the calf. See they were worshiping God. They were instead giving their praise and adulation to the person God used.
Oh yeah. We can make idols out of people we admire. Right? Haven't you ever heard of a sports hero? What about the American idol? You know I idolize that person. "He is a guitar God" we will say. Oh that person. They are a sports God. Now we may use that phrase somewhat jokingly. But in a way when you look at the way some people are. Maybe that person is a God.
You say, "Oh well I am not that way." We can do it in the church too. We can make an idol out of a man of God. Or a woman of God. Someone the Lord has used to bless us. Maybe the Lord has spoken to you through them. And you admire them so much. You think they are so wonderful. News flash. They are human like you. You know people will sometimes say, "Greg I really wish I could get to know you better. Could you come over to our house and have dinner. And you know meet our whole family." And I will say, you know I really can't. I am sorry I have got so many things. "Oh come on just come. We want to get to know you better." You know what? I am afraid I would disappoint you. I think it is probably better I don't come over to your house for dinner. Because afterwards you would say, "I don't really like Greg. I don't know. He just, he wasn't what I expected. He just, I don't, you know there is just, He wasn't nice enough. He wasn't friendly enough. He wasn't, whatever." You know we make, I am not trying to excuse anything. But I am saying we have unrealistic expectations of people. And then we are shocked when we find out they have feet of clay. Everybody will fail you in some way, shape or form.
Okay so, we do this too. Moses was their idol. But now they have this other idol. What they are saying is, we want a spirituality. We just want to lower the standards a little bit. We want a God we can see and touch that appeals to the senses. Yet we don't want to feel guilty when we do something wrong. We sort of make our own God up. I mean that is a crazy way to live.
What if we lived that way in life? What if an airline pilot lived that way? You know "I am kind of not really into the whole aviation thing. Fueling the plane. Making sure everything is working. I say we just get this baby up in the air and see what happens." I did hear about a blonde who was flying in a plane. And her pilot keeled over. So she calls out, "Mayday! Mayday! My pilot is dead!" Air traffic control responds, "Don't worry. I will talk you through this. What is your height and position?" She says, "I am 5'4 and I am on the plane." He says, "Repeat after me. Our Father who art in heaven." All the blondes are, "I don't like that." Problem is I didn't get it. But if I got it. If I got it, I wouldn't have liked it. You can't make up rules like that. Or disregard other rules.
So here is how they rationalized it. They said, "Alright, here is the golden calf. But this is a festival to the Lord." This is where it gets interesting. "This is a festival to the Lord." What do you mean? You are worshiping a false image. "No, it is for the Lord." It is kind of a Christian false image. It is really okay. Oh yeah, we do that too. You know, I will see people will go out and do sinful things. But you know, as they are getting ready for the evening, "Well let's pray for the meal. Say grace." Yeah. Grace. "Lord, it would be great if you really prayed about what you are going to do. Lord, bless us as we get drunk. And probably fornicate later. Would you just bless?" You would never pray a prayer like that, would you? But I know people who do it. Oh, they have their little token spiritual exercise. And then they will go and do something that is blatantly sinful. That is what is happening here. "Oh, it is a feast for the Lord." And they are worshiping a golden calf.
Here is the thing. A person who really knows God, and has experienced a new birth, and is living in fellowship with Him, should not need an image to help them pray. Now sometimes people will say, "Well you know, I am not praying to the image. I know there is a statue of Jesus, and I am bowing before it. And I am kissing the foot. But I am not praying to the statue. I am praying to the God it represents." You know what? Walks like a duck. Quacks like a duck. Kind of looks like you are bowing before an image. "Well I am not. In my heart I am worshiping God."
Here is what God is saying. No. If you are really worshiping Me, you should not need an image. You do not need a picture. "Here. Well I have this picture of Jesus, this painting of Jesus on my wall, and I like to look at it when I pray to Jesus." Well you know what? I do not think you need a picture of Jesus. First of all it is probably inaccurate. I mean I guarantee He probably doesn't look the way that we think He looked. But that is a whole other subject. But if you need this image or this statue, "Oh I have my crucifix and I always have it with me." Hey you know in case, I don't know, a vampire shows up or something, it is good. And it becomes an idol. It becomes like a good luck charm. Like a rabbit's foot.
Sometimes people will even deal with the Bible. "Well it is a Bible. Don't ever set another book on top of the Bible. Don't write in your Bible." I encourage you to write in your Bible. You know what I like to see? Thrashed Bibles. A Bible that is falling apart is usually an indication of a life that isn't. You show me a thrashed Bible, I will show you a person that is probably using it the way it is meant to be used. Not as some holy object we carry around, but as something we open up and read and consult on a daily basis.
We don't need idols. Let's not make idols out of people. Let's not make idols out of things. Because here is the problem. You will become like the God you worship. Psalm 115 says they have ears they can't hear. They have noses they can't smell. Those who make them become like them.
Commandment 3: Reverence God's Holy Name
Alright. So here are the commandments that God has given. They are not in sections of 5 and 5. They are in sections of 4 and 6. The first four commandments teach us to love God. The last six commandments teach us to love others. So commandments 1 to 4 are vertical. And commandments 5 to 10 are horizontal. If I truly love God, I will not have another God before Him. And I will not have a graven image. And I will not do this next thing.
Commandment number 3. Take His name in vain. Verse 7. "Do not take the Lord's name in vain." God cares about His name. Do you care about your name? Do you like it when people slander you? Or say things that are not true about you? Have you ever had that happen? I have. No one enjoys that. Because we want to protect our name. The Bible says a good name is better than riches.
Parents will think endlessly about what to name their child. Find the right name. Heard about one poor guy that had the last name Odd. That is a hard name to go through life with. Odd. You know, wherever he would go. People, "Odd." Oh, that is Odd. You are Odd. "That is the name I was born with, Odd." He really hated it. So he knew he was going to die. And he actually gave instructions to his family that when he died, he wanted his tombstone left blank. He didn't want people walking by and talking about his name anymore. He says, "Just leave it blank." They said, "Okay." So he died. They buried him. People would walk by this blank tombstone and they would say, "That is odd." Such a stupid joke. Okay. How many thought that was funnier than the blonde joke? Raise your hand. How many liked the blonde joke better? Wow. And even some blondes raised their hands. Because someone just explained it to them. Probably a brunette. No, I am kidding.
Okay. How do we take the Lord's name in vain? One way is obviously profanity. Isn't it interesting how people use the name of Jesus Christ so often? Even the nonbeliever in a spiritually deadened state knows there is something different, something powerful, something special about the name of Jesus Christ. They will just say, "Jesus Christ." Eugh. But why do they say that name? Why don't they, you know, if they hit their thumb with a hammer, "Oh, Hare Krishna." You never hear that. "Buddha." No. "Tom Cruise." They might be a Scientologist. I don't know. I don't know what a Scientologist would say. No. They say "Jesus Christ." And in a way, in a backhanded way if you will, they are acknowledging the power of the name of Jesus even though they are misusing it. They are just using it. Aren't they? Because the Bible says that at the name of Jesus Christ every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
The Lord is saying, "Don't take My name in vain." If you mock God, if you blaspheme God, the Lord says very clearly in Galatians 6:7, "God is not mocked; whatsoever a man sows, that will he also reap." And Matthew 12:36 says, "You will give an account on Judgment Day for every idle word you speak." Be careful.
How do we take His name in vain? Here is one way. When we say, "I swear to God it is true." Do you say that? "I swear, man. I swear to God it is true." Why do you have to say that? Probably because you are kind of a liar. Or your word isn't reliable. I think we have to swear. "I swear by this." Well what do you have to swear at all for? Remember the days when a man's word was his bond? And if he said, "I will do it," it meant he would do it. He did not need to sign anything. Okay, he said he would do it. It is good. And I know people like that still. They say, "I will do it." It is done. It is already done. I mean like you know they will do what they said they will do.
But when we have to swear to God, or by His throne, it shows there is something wrong. Jesus said in Matthew 5:37, "You have heard the law of Moses. Don't break your vows. But I am saying to you, don't even make vows. Just as simple, yes I will do it, or no I won't, is enough. Your word should be enough." Just strengthening your promise with a vow shows something is wrong. So if you say you are going to do something, just do it. If you are going to make a commitment, keep your commitment.
You know someone calls you up. "Hey, you want to go to dinner tomorrow night?" "Yes I will." "Okay, where do you want to go?" "You decide." "What time?" "This time." And they show up, and you don't show up. "Where are you?" They call you. You don't answer. They text you. You don't answer. They see you the next day. "Hey, what happened?" "Oh, I don't know. Something came up." Well you should have at least let the person know. But to not even show up, what was that all about? You know if you say you are going to be somewhere, be there. If you say you are going to help someone, help them.
Here is another way. If you are hired to do a job, do it. Christians should be the hardest workers. Never use your faith as an excuse for laziness. And I have seen some Christians who are full slackers. And that has nothing to do with their Christianity. They just use it as an excuse. "Hey, how come you didn't like sweep the floor?" "I was praying." Can you sweep and pray? "No man, just close my..." Oh well, you better pray about a new job. I don't know. You know, you say you are going to do something, do it.
How about when two people commit themselves to each other in marriage? How about honoring those vows? But what if we wrote vows that accurately reflected what is really going on? You know, "I, John, take you... to be my lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold from this day forward. Until a more attractive girl comes along. Or until I get bored with you. Or if it gets a little hard. Or if we have irreconcilable differences." I love that phrase. Actually I don't. I am being facetious. I hate it. Because it is invoked so often. "Well, why did you guys get divorced?" "Oh, irreconcilable differences." "What were they?" "I don't know. But they were irreconcilable." I have had irreconcilable differences with my wife for 38 years. And I expect I will continue to have them. We are different. She is really neat. I am kind of messy. I am always on time. She is sometimes a little late. She is cute. I am fat. What can you do? It is irreconcilable.
I had a girl come up to me the other day and said she needed some counseling. She is having problems in her marriage. And we chatted a little bit. And I just said, you know, I think when two Christians get married, the word "divorce" should never be on the table. I said, you know, my wife and I, we have had our disagreements over the years. But never has divorce been an option. Someone once asked Ruth Graham, "Have you ever thought of divorcing your husband?" Billy Graham. She said, "Never thought of divorcing him. Murdering him, yes. Divorcing him, no." Now that is a joke, by the way. Keep your vow. You make a vow, keep it. If you are not going to keep it, don't make it. That is one way to take His name in vain.
Really the phrase... Oh, let me add one other thing. This is kind of important. Saying, "Oh my God," a lot. You know, it is kind of a popular phrase. "Oh my God." Texting. "OMG." Exclamation Mark. Exclamation Mark. "OMG." "Oh God." "Oh God." "Oh my God." "Oh my God." No. Don't do that. You are taking His name in vain. "Well no. Taking His name in vain means like when you curse." Yeah, that is that. It is true. God's last name is not "dammit." That is taking His name in vain for sure. But using it in an empty way. Actually the word "in vain" can literally be translated in an empty, idle, insincere, frivolous way.
So I think we will be saying, "Oh that non-believer just, you know, used profanity. They took the Lord's name in vain." "Oh my God." "Oh my God." "Oh my God." Wait. Maybe you are doing it right now. Here is another way we can do it. Saying things we do not mean. To fellow Christians. "Hey I will pray for you bro. God bless." Okay good. Are you going to pray for them? No. But I like to say it. Don't say it then. If I say to someone I will pray for them, I pray for them. Or I will not say it. It is, you know. Sometimes "God bless you" is a way of getting rid of someone. You ever notice that? Yeah. "It is great talking with you. God bless." Like go away now. Well if you say "God bless," I mean it. "God bless you." "I will pray for you." When you say "praise the Lord," I mean praise the Lord. Don't say it if you do not mean it.
I have heard people say, "Oh man just praise the Lord. I was just walking on the street the other day and praise the Lord. And I just was thinking praise the Lord. And I was just, you know, praise the Lord. And I was just, you know, praise the Lord." Stop it! Say it when you mean it. Don't just use religious jargon. Because that can be taking the Lord's name in vain.
The worst way we take His name in vain is when we say one thing and do another. Hypocrisy. Jesus said, "Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?" Without question, the hypocrisy of the church is far worse than the profanity in the street.
Commandment 4: Remember the Sabbath – Rest in God's Provision
Now we come to commandment number four, and the last one we will look at together in this message. Verse 8, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy." Now there is probably more confusion and misunderstanding about this commandment than any other. Okay, so let's understand what it is and what it isn't.
Number one, this commandment was originally given to the Jewish people. The day of Sabbath. Sabbath rest. And by the way, it is Saturday. And it was not given to Christians in the New Covenant. This may shock you, but this commandment to keep the Sabbath is the only command which is not repeated in the New Testament. All the other commands that we have looked at are repeated. Some even made more stringent. Jesus said, "You have heard that it has been said, 'You shall not kill,' but I say to you that if you have hatred in your heart towards your brother..." "You have heard that it has been said, 'You shall not commit adultery,' but I say to you if you look at a woman with lust in your heart..." They have been made more stringent. But this one, breaking the Sabbath, is never mentioned. Because it was given to the Jews, not the non-Jews.
Number two, Jesus never taught anyone to keep the Sabbath. The fact of the matter is, Jesus was repeatedly accused of breaking the Sabbath because they had perverted what it was. You see, man was not made for Sabbath. Sabbath was made for man. And they came down on Jesus because He healed a man on Sabbath day. Religion and rituals began to overtake the whole purpose of what Sabbath was.
Number three, the apostles never taught anyone to keep the Sabbath. Sabbath, they began meeting on the first day of the week. Now in the Old Covenant, the Jews, they met in their synagogue on Saturday. But the church, which was made up of Jews and Gentiles, met on the first day of the week, which was then Sunday. Now it is our last day of the week, but then it was the first day of the week. And why did they meet on Sunday? Because that is the day Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. It was a new covenant.
Now some have taken Sabbath, and they have tried to turn it into a law that Christians should keep. And they will say, if you do not keep Sabbath, you are not a real believer and so forth. But actually the Bible addresses that in Colossians 2:16. It says, "Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, or a Sabbath day. These are shadows of things to come, but the reality is found in Christ." You see, the Sabbath was pointing to, and was fulfilled in Jesus. Because Hebrews 4:9 says, "There remains therefore a rest [Sabbath rest] for the people of God." For those who enter into God's rest will find rest from their labors. As God rested after creating the world, let's do our best to enter that place of rest.
So people will make this like a law. You have to keep Sabbath, and it becomes a ritual. And it takes our wonderful faith, and turns it into something it is not meant to be. The message of all the religions of the world can be summed up in one word. Do. Do this. And maybe you will get to heaven. You might reach paradise, or reach nirvana, or find inner peace. Do, do, do, do. It is all doo-doo. One word could sum up our faith. Done. Done. Done for us. By Christ on the cross. That is right. When He hung there on the cross, and absorbed the wrath of God in our place, and cried out those words, "It is finished" (tetelestai), which is translated, "It is finished." Done.
So we don't have to keep Sabbath anymore. All right. But what was it? Well it was a day of rest. Now there is a principle there that is valid. And that is, it is good to have a day off, or you recharge. It is good, principally, to have a day when you focus on spiritual things. Why? Because all week long we are in a hurry. We are the only nation in the world with a mountain actually called Rushmore. You could write on some American tombstones: Hurry, worry, bury. You know we are always in a rush to get somewhere. And now we have all this new technology that is supposed to make our lives easier. Has it? I think it has made us a lot more distracted.
I know that from driving. Crazy people. It seems like whenever you see a person running a red light, every time they are on a phone. They are just a blur, you know. They don't even know what they have done. Or people walking down the street, texting. Not even looking where they are going, you know. Texting. We are having this perpetual conversation that just can't wait, you know. I read a stat that said 42% of Americans said they can't live without their cell phone. I mean, you leave your house, you forgot your phone. You break out in a cold sweat. "Oh no. My phone. I have to..." How did we survive all these years without these phones? You know, we are constantly texting, emailing, tweeting, updating our Facebook page, Instagramming. Just... I think it is good to just sometimes just unplug everything and just shut it all off. I don't know if we could even hear God in the midst of all that stuff. And I will tell you what, I am one of the worst offenders. I am always... If I come to a light, I am like... You know. I was like... Honk behind me. Oh, light went green. You know, I don't text while I am driving. But if I am stopped, you know, I will check my emails really quick. You know, but that is the way we are.
It is just good to unplug it, shut it down, turn it off, and be still and know that He is God. And that is the idea of Sabbath. Now it is not this legalistic day we have to observe, but it is a great idea to take some time off and just focus on the Lord. For many of us, that is Sunday. And I love to see Sunday set apart as the Lord's Day, just like the early church did. I don't get people that have Sunday off and, "Well, we might go to church. We might not go to church. I don't know. Is there a swell? Is there something else to do?" Like, what is wrong with you? You should make your first priority to worship with God's people. And maybe we will have some fun stuff we will do afterwards. But we are going to go to church. And we are not going to let anything stop us from getting together and worshiping and putting the Lord first. I think God will honor that in your life if you will do that.
Even Jesus took time off. In Mark 6, we read the apostles gathered around Jesus, reported all that they had done and taught. And so many people were coming and going. They didn't even have a chance to eat. And Jesus said, "Come apart to a quiet place and get some rest." So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. I love that. "Oh Lord, this happened. That happened." Have you guys had lunch yet? "Oh, we are too busy to eat." Come on. Let's get some lunch. Relax a little bit. You guys need to chill. You need to recharge. "Come apart." Come apart with Me. Listen, if we don't come apart, we are going to come apart. Come apart. Focus on the things of God.
Our emphasis is always on doing all these things. And we are worn out. During the next 24 hours, here is what your body is going to do. Your heart will beat 103,000 times. Your blood will travel 168 million miles. You will breathe 23,000 times. You will inhale 438 cubic feet of air. You will eat 3.5 pounds of food. That will be the average guy for lunch. You will speak 4,800 words. That is one phone call for a girl. Kind of equal mockery there. Okay. You will move 750 muscles. You will exercise 7 million brain cells. No wonder you feel tired. We are just constantly going.
So remember the Sabbath day. The principle is take time off. Recharge. Refuel. Focus on the things of God. But listen. The most important message of Sabbath is laboring under the burden of sin. That is why Jesus said "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." An expanded translation of that would go as follows. "Come here to Me you that are laboring under the weight and guilt of sin and let Me relieve your burdens." Have you ever been carrying around a lot of excess weight and had someone say "let me take that for you." That is what Jesus is saying. Hey you come in here with all this guilt that you have been lugging around for years and you come in here with all of your problems and you feel like you are in a vice that is tightening and you don't know how to get out of the situation you are in. Let Me lift that load. Let Me ease your pain. Let Me give you relief. Right now. "Come to Me," He says.
And really that is the message of what happened at the cross is He went through and died for our sin and paid the price for every wrong we have ever done and if we will turn from our sin and believe in Him we will be forgiven.
The Commandments Point Us to Our Need for Jesus
Coming back to what I said in the beginning of the message. Are you a happy person? Are you trying to find happiness in all the stuff this world offers? How has that worked out for you? If you have lived long I know it hasn't worked out well. And I know that you have found an emptiness and you have found a misery in it just like the prodigal son did that I mentioned earlier.
And then there are these commandments that we have all broken. You know there is not probably one of us that hasn't had another God before Him at one time in our life. Or we have worshipped a person we have worshipped an image or worshipped a car or a house or a job or some other thing we have let something else take the place of God in our life. And I am sure some of us have even taken His name in vain. We may have used it in cursing but then again we may have just said it in an empty way. We say Jesus but then we go and contradict it by the way that we live.
Here is the thing with the commandments. The commandments were not given to make us holy. They were given to show us we are not holy. The commandments were given to show us we need Jesus. The Bible says that they are like a schoolmaster. Kind of an old King James word. And the idea is sort of a disciplinarian. Like when you are in school it says you are messing up. The commandments were given to say you can't do this on your own. The commandments were given to drive you into the open arms of Jesus. It is like a moral mirror. And when you look in you say uh oh. I am not measuring up.
No every one of us have broken the commandments. You say "well yeah Greg maybe that is true but I haven't broken that many. I have only broken a couple." Well that is probably not true but just for the sake of a point I will concede that to you and add this. The Bible says if you offend in one point of the law you are guilty of all of it. So if you have broken one commandment that is enough to keep you from God and separate you from God. But the reality is you have broken more than one commandment and so have I. Some of us have broken every one of these commandments.
But the good news is you can be forgiven if you will turn from your sin and put your faith in Jesus. So we are going to close in prayer now and if there are any of you that need to find this rest we have talked about. You want your sin forgiven. You want your guilt lifted. You want to know that when you die you will go to heaven. I am going to give you an opportunity to get right with God and invite Jesus into your life. If you have not done that yet do it now as we bow our heads.
Father speak now to these that are here these that are watching and listening who may not yet know You. Help them to see Lord the words we have shared are true. They are Your words. They are the gospel. Help them Lord to turn from their sin and come to Jesus we pray.
Now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we are praying. How many of you would say tonight Greg pray for me. I want my sin forgiven. I want my guilt taken away. I want to know God in a personal way. If that is your desire. If you want to be forgiven if you want to know God would you just lift your hand up wherever you are and let me just pray for you. Just lift your hand up right where you are sitting. God bless you. God bless you. Wherever you are lift your hand up I will pray for you. You want God's forgiveness tonight. God bless you there in the back. Just lift your hand up or I can see it, please. God bless you there in the corner. Anybody else? You want His forgiveness. Maybe some of you have fallen away from the Lord. You've made a profession of faith, but you've not been living for the Lord, and you want to come back to Him again. You've been living a double life, perhaps. If you need to make a recommitment to Christ, let me pray for you right now. Lift your hand up, if you would. I'll pray for you. God bless you. Just lift your hand up, or I can see it, please. Anybody else? God bless you.
All right. I'm going to ask all of you that have lifted your hand, if you would, please, to stand to your feet, and I'm going to lead you in a prayer of commitment or recommitment. Just stand to your feet, and I'm going to lead you in a prayer. And I'm going to have you pray this prayer out loud right where you are. Just stand up. That's right. Stand up. Others are standing. You're not the only one, so don't worry about that. Even if you didn't lift your hand, but you want to make this commitment or recommitment to Jesus, stand to your feet. Let me pray for you. Anybody else? Stand up. God bless you. God bless you. Yes. Anybody else? Stand now. God bless you. One final moment. If you are going to stand, stand now. Let me pray for you. God bless. Anybody else? Stand now. God bless you. One final moment. You want to stand and make this commitment to Jesus. Stand now. Go on. Don't be embarrassed.
All right. God bless each one of you. Now I'm going to lead you in this prayer. I want you to pray this prayer out loud right where you stand. Again, as I pray, pray this out loud after me. Okay? Pray this now.
"Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner, but You died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now, and I choose to follow You from this moment forward. Be my Savior and Lord. Be my God and my friend. I choose to follow You, Jesus. Amen."
↓↓↓ Part 2 ↓↓↓
In Part 2 of "The Ten Commandments" from Exodus 20, Pastor Greg Laurie covers the final six commandments, emphasizing God's design for family, the sanctity of life, sexual purity, honesty, and contentment. He addresses tough topics like honoring parents, murder vs. justifiable killing, abortion, capital punishment, adultery, stealing, lying, and coveting, showing how these laws reveal our sin and drive us to Jesus for forgiveness and true transformation.
Reviewing the First Four Commandments
Tonight we are going to look at the "Ten Commandments", Part 2 from Exodus 20. Exodus 20. So let's pray together.
Father, as we open Your word, we know that it is just so relevant. But even more than relevant, it is just so right. It is so true. And Lord, we want to see what Your word has to say about life. And in fact, many of the things we are going to talk about tonight are issues that are in many minds. So we want to get a biblical perspective. Lord, we want to think and live biblically. Not emotionally, biblically. So help us to be hearers and doers of the word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.
I think we all sort of like top ten lists. You know, the top ten this, the top ten that. I came across a couple of lists the other day. Here are the top ten best movies of all time. Now I don't really agree with this list, but this was compiled by a bunch of movie goers who voted in a survey. Number ten, It's a Wonderful Life. Remember that one? It comes out every Christmas with James Stewart. Number nine, The Empire Strikes Back from the Star Wars series. Number eight, Citizen Kane. Then there is seven, Schindler's List. Number six, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Number five, Gone with the Wind. Number four, Casablanca. Number three, Pulp Fiction. I was really surprised to see that so high. Number two, The Godfather. And the number one film of all time, according to all of these people, was Star Wars. Eh, you know, I like Star Wars, but okay. It's all good. I mean, you are entitled to your opinion.
This one I found interesting. The top ten songs of all time compiled by experts in Rolling Stone magazine. These were other musicians. Number ten, Ray Charles, What'd I Say. Number nine, Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit. Number eight, The Beatles, Hey Jude. Number seven, Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry. Good Vibrations, in at number six, by The Beach Boys. Number five, Aretha Franklin's Respect. R-E-S-P-E-C-T, right? Marvin Gaye's What's Going On? Number three, John Lennon's Imagine. Number two, The Rolling Stones' Satisfaction. And the number one rock song of all time, Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan.
I like this one even better. The top worst songs of all time, according to Blender magazine. The Heart of Rock and Roll by Huey Lewis and the News. Don't Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin. And I totally agree with that. Always hated that song. Party All the Time by Eddie Murphy. Ebony and Ivory by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. And according to the... oh yeah, don't forget Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus. Now I don't know if I think this is the worst song of all time, but they said the worst rock song of all time was We Built This City by Jefferson Starship. Remember that song? It's lame, but it's not that bad. It's it. You know, so we all have our opinions on what we think is the best or what we think is the worst or what we think is the coolest or what we think is the lamest. And it changes from person to person.
Well God has a top ten list too. And you know what? He chose it and it's right. There is no room for opinion or voting on it. It wasn't reached by consensus. It's just God saying, this is my top ten list. These are the top ten things that I want to say to you, also known as the Ten Commandments. And it's found in Exodus 20.
God's Design for Family and Honor
Let's quickly review what we looked at last time. You remember that God gave these commandments to Moses who went up to Mount Sinai and received them from the Lord, written by the finger of God on both the front and back of the stone tablet. They are not in sections of five and five, as some may think, but in sections of four and six. The first four commandments have to do with my relationship with God. The final six commandments have to do with my relationships with others.
And as we look at these together, the commandments we are going to focus on in this message. We are going to deal with some hot button issues. We are going to talk about what a family is, what it isn't. We will touch on the topic of homosexuality. Is it ever acceptable? Are people born gay? We will talk about abortion and capital punishment. That is a lot of stuff in one message. Okay, so let's quickly review the first four.
Commandment number one. Have no other gods before Him. Exodus 20:2-3. Commandment number two. Don't have a carved image of any likeness of anything in heaven above or earth beneath. That is Exodus 20:4-6. Commandment number three. Don't take the name of the Lord in vain. Exodus 20:7. Commandment number four. Remember the Sabbath day. Keep it holy. Exodus 20:8-11.
All right. Now let's deal with the final six. Commandment number five. Honor your father and your mother. Verse 12. "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you."
You know it is interesting. Before a word is said by God about how we treat one another, He starts with the family. You know, few things in life can bring us as much pleasure or pain as your family. Am I right? I mean when things are working well in the family, it's just so great. And when things are not going so well, it's tough. You know. And there is always tension in families. You know, parents have tension with children. Children have tension with parents. Husbands with wives. Wives with husbands. Then you bring in the in-laws and the insane cousins that every family has and all the rest of it. And you know, family is complex.
But listen. God established the family. In Genesis we have Him bringing Adam and Eve together. He started with the family. He created the family. He invented the family. And He and He alone defines the family. Maybe that is why Satan hates the family so much and has effectively declared war on it because God loves the family.
And you know, there is only one picture that God gives to a lost world to show His love for the church and the church's love for Him. You know what it is? Marriage. He says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her." Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. So effectively here is what God is saying. Look at this Christian couple right here. And you see the way that husband loves his wife? That is how I love this church. My people. And you see how that wife loves her husband? That is how my church loves Me.
So don't you see because of that, when a Christian family starts to unravel, and when Christian people get divorced, how that is devastating in many ways to the testimony of believers in a given community? The devil hates the family. You know it has been said, a family can survive without a nation, but a nation cannot survive without the family.
Honor your father and mother. Interestingly, one of the signs of the end times is a lack of respect for one's parents. 2 Timothy 3:2 says, "For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents..."
So honor your father and mother. Now let's see a couple of obvious things. It doesn't say, Honor your mother and mother. As in two women married. Right? Or honor your father and your father. Or honor your mother and her live-in lover. See? This is what cultures say. No. As long as two people love each other, that is a family. It may be two men. It may be two women. As long as it is a committed relationship, that is fine. We do not even need this stupid certificate of marriage. We will just live together. That is what culture says. That is not what God says. And we tamper with God's formula, if you will, at our own peril.
Biblical Truth on Homosexuality and Family
And in our culture today there is a push for same-sex marriage and the normalization of homosexuality is gaining momentum. And you know, you bring a topic up like this and people get a little nervous. Some would even say, Well don't talk about that. That's political. Well wait a second. It's also moral and biblical. Sometimes moral and biblical issues end up being political issues. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about them because they happen to have political ramifications. We have to bring the biblical worldview to everything. And if it happens to affect an election, or if it happens to affect the way you vote, fine. You should vote biblically. Right? We should vote with a biblical worldview.
I mean, slavery was once a political issue too. Well don't talk about that. It's political. Yeah, it's also evil and immoral. And thank God that people like William Wilberforce, who was a British parliamentarian, decided to do what he could to overthrow the slave trade in England. He was a very influential man. And yet he dedicated his life to eradicating slavery. Thank God for people like Abraham Lincoln, who, you know, though it didn't stop the racism in our country, at least it was a step in the right direction in his emancipation that he gave to all of those who were slaves. That was a moral issue. That was a biblical issue. But there was a law that permitted people to own slaves. We fought a war over that. You may have heard of it. The Civil War. So it was a pretty big deal. But my point is, sometimes moral issues will enter into the political arena as well.
Well, you know, here are the arguments that we often hear. But wait a second. What if they love each other? Well, look. They can say whatever they want, but God calls that a sin. Well, immediately people say, oh, okay, you're intolerant and you're homophobic to say that, right? I hate the word homophobic. Because I could just as easily come back and say, well, you're biblophobic to say I'm homophobic. You know, and then you could come back and say, well, you know, you were critical of a phobic, so you're phobophobic. You know, hey. Enough of the phobic already. I'm sinophobic. You know, sin is sin. And God speaks very clearly on this issue.
Understand, there is not a confused message from the Bible on the topic. And anyone who says that they found a way biblically to justify a homosexual relationship is simply ignoring what the Scripture plainly teaches in so many places. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, it says, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God."
Now look, God isn't singling out one sin in particular. He's just saying all these things are sin. All of these things are outside of My order. And if you practice these things, you will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But wait, some people are born gay. I beg to differ. I think everyone's born as a sinner. And I think it's possible that some people have same-sex attraction, just like other people have other areas that they struggle with. Just because you're tempted to do something, doesn't mean you should do it. Oh well, I have this attraction. Therefore I'm gay. No, you have this attraction. Therefore you're a sinner. Just like that guy that's lusting after that chick over there. He's a sinner. And that girl who's lusting after that guy, that's somebody else's husband. She's a sinner. And just like that person who really would like to steal that car instead of buy it. They're a sinner. Just because I am tempted to do something wrong doesn't mean that means, oh that is what I am. No, that means I am a sinner and I need to resist that temptation.
So God has given us His order. We need to respect His order. It is interesting here the phrase used here for honoring your father and mother is a word that comes from the original language to mean to give weight. Give weight to your parents. Now you know as a parent, now a grandparent, I have actually gained weight so it is much easier to do in my case. You know and as you are being raised by your parents they will say things to you that you don't like. Like, what do you think I have a money tree somewhere? When I was your age you don't know the sacrifices I had to make. Or here is my favorite parental saying, because I said so. Why can't I do it? Because I said so. It drives me crazy. I will never say that to my kids when I become a parent. Oh really? We will see. Because you tell your child something and they keep pressing you and pressing you and you finally just say, because I said so. And then you say, I can't believe I just said that.
So sometimes we may look at God's laws, God's standards, God's absolutes, and say, well I kind of struggle with that. I don't know about that. How can I know it is true? God just says this. Because I said so. Really. You know it is true? Because I said so. Now listen. God is a source of truth. God is truth. So if God says it is true, it is true. You may agree with it. You may not totally agree with it. You may not fully understand it. But that doesn't change what it is. So we will just have to live with it because I said so. And I guess it will all sort itself out in heaven for those things we don't understand.
But you know as I get older I have seen a lot of drama played out in real time in many lives. And I have seen what happens to men and women that get married and stay married and work in having a strong marriage and raise their children in the way of the Lord. And then their children have children. And then they have great-grandchildren. And I have seen how that works. And that is really nice. Not without problems. Every family has its challenges. Every family has its tragedies. Every family has its prodigals. But you see in the big picture how it works when you pass these truths on from generation to generation.
Then I have seen families that they get the divorce and then they get remarried. Then they get divorced again. And they get remarried. And all these weird little things get mixed in. And you see how those problems can be passed on from generation to generation. So let's just take God's Word. He said, Honor your father and mother. Well, I don't know. He said so. Just live with that.
The Sanctity of Life: Murder, Abortion, Capital Punishment
Commandment number 6, verse 13. "You shall not murder." Now we live in such a violent and murderous culture today. A culture that is awash in violence and killing. Nearly two million people a year become violent crime victims. But what does this mean? Is all killing wrong? You might be surprised by my answer. No, it isn't. Not all killing is wrong. All murder is wrong. But all killing is not necessarily wrong.
A better translation of verse 13 would be, "You shall not murder." That is an important distinction to make. Because not all killing is murder. All murder is killing. But not all killing is necessarily murder. We are never to take the life of another human being for no justifiable reason. But the Bible does not condemn all killing.
If you study Numbers 35, you will see that there is a difference that God establishes between killing and murder. You say, Well, when is killing ever right, man? Like when someone wants to kill you? Like if someone breaks in your house? Meaning harm to you and your family? Guess what? You have the right to self-defense. I will just pray. I will pray too. I will pray, praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition. That is right. You know, all the gun owners are like... When Jesus sent his disciples out, he told them to take a sword with them. Might take a sword. For shish kebab, right? No, for self-defense. You have a right to defend yourself. A country has a right to defend itself when it is attacked.
I mean, we say all killing is wrong. Really, was it a bad thing for us to take military action against the Nazis in World War II when they were slaughtering Jewish people and others as well? No. Nobody wanted a war. It was a horrible war. But they had to be stopped. Just like the war on terrorism right now. We have the right and really the responsibility to defend ourselves.
And God has even established authority, as in the military, and as in the police. In fact, Romans 13 says, "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil."
Now here is an interesting footnote. When Paul made that statement, guess who the authorities were? The Roman government. Was the Roman government a pure, moral, godly force on the earth? Hardly. They were a military machine. But even with the problems of the Roman government and the Caesars, Paul recognized that God is ultimately in control. And there is a place for authority. And there is a place for a military. There is a place for a police force. That doesn't mean they always do the right thing, because they don't. But he is establishing a biblical foundational principle there.
So what does the Bible mean when it says, You shall not murder? The word murder means to dash in pieces. Interestingly, this word is never used to describe the death of an animal. Nor is it used to describe the death of an opponent in war. Nor is it used to describe the death by capital punishment. So that is an important distinction to make.
In fact, capital punishment was established by God himself. In Genesis 9:6, He says, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man." So he is saying, You must execute a person who murders another.
Now, of course, whenever there is a person being executed, and I would only agree with capital punishment when that person is guilty beyond any doubt whatsoever. But if that is clearly established, and that person is executed, you will have the people that will have the prayer vigil, if you will, outside of the place where the execution is taking place. And invariably, they have the sign that says, Thou shall not kill. And I am thinking, But this person may have been a mass murderer. Yeah, well, thou shall not kill. It is wrong to kill him. A kind of a moral equivalency. It is like, Well, I know he killed, but to kill him is just as bad. Well, no, it really isn't. Because that person murdered innocent people, and now he is facing the punishment. He is facing justice for that.
Ironically, a number of the people, it seems, that believe that capital punishment is wrong also believe that abortion on demand is right. Now that gets really confusing to me. So abortion is acceptable, and executing a mass murderer is wrong. So basically, you are saying, Kill the innocent and spare the guilty. That is really what you are saying.
And now coming to the topic of abortion. This, again, is not one of those debatable topics. You know, if you have heard someone say, Well, you know, the Bible is really not clear on this. I think it is very clear on this. I will give you a couple of verses to back that up. The Bible is very clear on this simple issue. Life begins at conception, not at birth. Birth begins at birth. Life begins at conception.
Listen to David's words to God as he spoke of being in his mother's womb in Psalm 139:13-16. "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them."
Acknowledging that God had a plan for him even before he was born, Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."
In other words, God is saying, Hey, before you were even formed in your mother's womb, I had already called you. Notice God says, I formed you in your mother's womb. Each child is created by God. Each child should be given a chance to live. Notice God doesn't say, Well, I waited until you were born to have a plan for you. Because you really weren't a human yet. Just a mass of tissue.
Max Lucado said, "You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on this earth by the Master Craftsman."
Well, what about a child that was conceived out of wedlock? Yeah, what about it? I think they deserve to live. I was conceived out of wedlock. I'm glad I was allowed to live. I could have been an abortion statistic. Because back in the days when I was born in 1952. But it was a more scandalous thing to have a child outside of marriage than it is today. But God had a plan for my life. Has a plan for my life. And every child has a right to live.
Yet, since the passing of Roe v. Wade in the early 70s, 50 million babies have been aborted. Every 15 seconds, an abortion occurs in America. And it's grown into a $500 million a year industry in the United States and an estimated $10 billion industry worldwide. It's a sin. And it's murdering unborn children. There's no other way to look at it biblically.
And it's something that... I'll tell you what. When someone is running for office, I check their position. And I could never vote for a candidate that approves abortion on demand. You make your own decision on that.
Some will say, you know, come on, you're getting a little too dramatic here, Greg. And, you know, it's just terminating a pregnancy. Really? Is that what it is? Well, yeah. It's just a fetus, an embryo, glob of cells. These are things that... Terms that are used to describe unborn children. Uterine contents. Products of conception. This is my favorite. It's a potential human being. What else would it be? A horse? It's a living child made in the image of God, knit together in the mother's womb. I don't care how the child was conceived. It is what it is. And the child should be given every right to live.
I would challenge any woman who is considering an abortion to go have a sonogram. Studies have found that 90% of mothers who have a sonogram decide against abortion. Guess why? It's a picture of the baby in your womb. And boy, these sonograms are getting way more sophisticated nowadays. They are almost like 3D. You can really see the child. You know, so... Well, you know this uterine content. No, that's a baby. You want a picture? Check it out. And when you see it's a baby, you think about it differently, of course.
And you say, Well, what about if the mother's life is in danger? That's always cited. And it's such a rare occurrence, but yet it is always the one that everyone invokes. The mother's life is in danger. Well, so? I mean, let me ask you this, moms. If you were crossing a street and your child was in front of you and a car was speeding toward you, would you push your child in front of the car? Well, my life was in danger. No, I don't think you would. I think you would push your child out of the path of the oncoming car, and if it hits you, that's just the way it goes, because your maternal instinct would be to save the life of that child.
So my feeling is... Your mother's... The mother's life in danger? Okay. It seems like it could be an acceptable risk. Most of us have heard the story of New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow, right? Tim's parents were Christian missionaries in the Philippines in 1987 when Pam, Tim's mother, contracted amoebic dysentery, the leading cause of death in the country. She was pregnant with Tim, who was her fifth child, and was very dehydrated and very sick. And her doctor advised her to abort the baby because of the powerful medication she would have to take to survive. And so here's one of those rare mother's life in danger scenarios. But Pam Tebow decided to carry that child to term. And of course the baby survived. Tim's dad, Bob, said, We thought we lost the baby about four times. He's a miracle baby. So we reminded him of that hundreds of times. Well now he's one of the, you know, depending on your opinion about quarterbacks, one of the greatest quarterbacks out there. And if, at the very least, he's a committed Christian who speaks out for his faith. You know, so... But his mother's life was in danger, you see.
So some of you are thinking, Oh, gosh, all right. What kind of a sermon is this? Well, thankfully, I've never murdered anybody. And I've never aborted a child. So I think I'm off the hook on the thou shalt not murder commandment. Good chance. But there might be an issue still.
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount said, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment..."
See, many of us would never murder a person, but we wish they were dead. Right? You know, have you ever hated anyone? Let me rephrase the question. Have you ever driven on the freeway anywhere around here? 1 John 3:15 says, "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."
And the word used for hate means to habitually despise. Not just a transient emotion of the affections, but a deep-rooted loathing. Look, we all lose our temper at times. And I don't think this is addressing that so much. It's like you got angry and honked at someone. You're a murderer! No, you're just a honker. It's what you are. You're a honker. Okay. And maybe you shouldn't have lost your temper. This is different. This is deep-rooted loathing. This is, I hate your guts. When you walk in a room, I just seethe. I just boil. I just, I would like to see you destroyed. I sit around and think of ways that I could hurt you. Guess what? That's like murdering a person. And that's a sin before God.
So you see how we can still have a problem here. In fact, Ephesians 4:31 says, "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."
So we as believers are not to hate, but to love our enemies. And certainly we are called to love one another, to love our fellow Christians.
Sexual Purity: No Adultery or Lust
Commandment number seven, verse 14. "You shall not commit adultery." This is a no-brainer. What is adultery? It's basically speaking to a person who's married and being unfaithful to their spouse. And then if you're single, it's called fornication. That's having sex before marriage.
And man, I'll tell you, the sin of adultery, what trouble it's brought upon the human race. Think of how different our world would be if we would just keep this single commandment. Think how different our country would be. Think how different so many people you know how their lives would have been if they had not committed this sin. How many divorces would have been avoided. How many families would still be together. How many fathers would still be at home to raise their children. It's just this sin that has caused so much havoc.
Now, we have to understand that God has given us a sexual drive just as surely as He created the family and brought a man and a woman together. God thought up sex. Sometimes we forget that. We think we thought it up. No, no. God thought it up. God invented it. And sometimes the Christian position will be mischaracterized. And people will say, well, you Christians just believe that sex is for procreation. Well, we do believe it's for that. But God has given it to us for pleasure. He has given it to us for fulfillment. And it is something that He can really bless. Blessed sex. Imagine that.
But there's only one place God will bless sex. And that's in a marriage relationship. Here's the thing. When you think it doesn't matter and you think you can go out and have your one night stand or your little fling and nobody gets hurt, but in reality a lot of people get hurt.
Part of the problem is is when a man and a woman come together sexually they enter into a state of oneness in effect. In fact, 1 Corinthians 6:15-18 says, "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For 'the two,' He says, 'shall become one flesh.' But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body."
Of course when that oneness takes place and ultimately a child may be conceived and you look at that child you know and some children will resemble the father more or the mother more and some are just this perfect blend of both parents and then as they get older they start to favor one parent over another in appearance or in personality and such. That's the oneness. That's the whole idea. You see it there in a living person before your very eyes. But there is that closeness, that intimacy that God will bless.
But you say it doesn't hurt anyone. Well actually it does. A University of Tennessee study found among young women there seems to be a direct correlation between illicit sexual behavior and serious emotional problems. The University of Oregon did a study among young men and found that those who engage in premarital relationships make poor marital risks. Doesn't hurt anyone. What about the teen pregnancies or just unwanted pregnancies in general and of course the abortions that often result. One out of every five abortions is performed on a woman under the age of 20. Four out of every ten teenage pregnancies ends in abortion. Doesn't hurt anybody. What about HIV AIDS? Effectively having a death sentence.
And so what does God say about adultery and fornication? Hebrews 13:4 "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge."
There it is. It's a sin. Now if you've committed it repent of it and God will forgive you. Okay? But know this. Lay it out for you plain. If you're committing this sin right now and you don't repent of committing this sin here's what God says. Those that do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Well I'm a Christian so I'll go to heaven. Well then I would ask you the question if you're really a Christian would you continue to practice a sin when God says if you do so you'll not inherit the kingdom? I would begin to question if you're a Christian. And if you are a disobedient Christian you need to repent of this sin. I know you've rationalized it and I know I'm just raining on your parade right now. Sorry. But this is what the Bible says and I'm telling you this for your own good.
And so we'll say well again I'm not committing adultery or having sex outside of marriage. Well do you ever lust after men or women? Back to the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
Think about pornography. Think about people that go out there on the Internet now and the things that they look at. Of course it's a huge industry. There's 4.2 million porn sites one article said. And people are you know it said that the search engine request total 68 million per day. People searching for pornographic images. Look you've got to guard your mind. It starts right here. Okay All sexual sin starts right here. You want to protect your mind. You want to protect your thoughts. You want to protect what you're exposed to. You want to protect what your children are exposed to. Don't just give your little kids free access to the Internet. There are sexual predators out there. Watch what they do. Check out what they're doing on their phones.
You know I just told my kids a long time ago this whole this is my room it's my private space forget about it. I'm dad you live in my house I'll look where I want. End of story. You know and that's it. They knew. You know. But why? But why? Because I said so. You know so I'd look through stuff. Well what's going on here? I'll look at your history on your computer here and I'll check this out. Hey my wife has my password to my email account. My wife picks up my phone. She can look at any of my texts. She can go look at any of the stuff I look at. I'll look at any of the stuff she looks at. It's an open book. It's cool. Check it out. You know you should be able to live that way. Not have some little secret life where you're filling yourself with this stuff because it's only going to become an insatiable thirst you cannot satisfy. You should never feed lust. You should starve it. Don't feed it. Starve it.
Honesty, No Stealing or Lying
Commandment number eight. "You shall not steal." Verse 15. Now there's so much stealing in our culture. It's so commonplace. It's really kind of insane. Do you know the number one kind of theft that happens now is employee theft. It's not just the person that walks into the store and steals something and walks out. It's the people that work in the store stealing stuff. It's the people getting your credit card numbers and charging stuff up and that sort of thing. So we've become so accustomed to it.
I read a survey that they interviewed people and asked them why they didn't steal. And the number one reason was well I might get caught. Number two reason was well the other person might try to get even. Number three reason was well you might not need the item. Need the item? How about it's a sin? That didn't seem to occur to anyone.
Here's what God says about stealing in Ephesians 4:28 "Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need."
Here's three simple principles about how to live our lives as Christians. Number one if you've stolen steal no longer. Don't take something that doesn't belong to you. Don't illegally download stuff. You know don't take things that are not yours. And if you've taken something give it back or make restitution. You know we'll say well I stole I stole from you. Man will you forgive me for stealing your laptop? I stole it. Forgive me. Okay I forgive you. Can I have my laptop back? No. Just forgive me. Give me my stinking laptop back. And you should. You should make restitution if you can.
I remember Zacchaeus he was a tax collector. Back in those days the way those guys made their money was they would collect the taxes and they would add on the top and pocket it. And that's what Zacchaeus did. And so he didn't have a friend in town. He lived in Jericho. One day Jesus showed up and was walking around and the crowd was following him as they always did when Christ was around. Zacchaeus according to the Bible was kind of a little guy. So he climbs up a tree to get a peek at Jesus. And Jesus is walking by with his crowd around him pressing and pulling. He looks up Hey Zacchaeus! Zacchaeus didn't know Jesus. Hey Zacchaeus come on down from there. We're going to have lunch today. So Zacchaeus came down from his tree and he and Jesus disappeared into his home for a while. Everyone was probably waiting outside. And then finally the door opens and Jesus steps out and Zacchaeus steps out. And Zacchaeus had been converted. And the first thing he said he wanted to do was I want to give back four times what I took from someone else. I'll make four times restitution. Jesus said truly salvation has come to this house. And see that shows conversion. Real conversion and real change.
So we should number one steal no longer. Number two be useful. He must work Ephesians 4:28 says get out and work. Guess what? The world doesn't owe you a living. Get out of your mother's basement. You're 40. Get a job. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says "For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat."
But yet if some of you are living idle lives refusing to work and wasting time meddling in other people's business in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we command you settle down and get to work earn your own living. The government doesn't owe you anything. Don't leech off people. Go out and be responsible and look for a job. Well it works hard to find. Well find work wherever you can find it. Do something. Make an effort. You know sometimes people are out of work and they're saying I'm praying the Lord will provide. Well that's good. Pray. Have you submitted your resume? No I'm just praying. Have you applied for a job anywhere? No just praying. Start looking.
Commandment number nine "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." Ever been caught doing something wrong? What's the first thing you do? You lie. Were you doing this until... No. It's an immediate reaction.
According to an article in Washington Post magazine online it pointed out that people lie 92% of the time to save face and 98% of the time to keep from offending someone else. And you know there are times when it is hard to tell the truth. I'm not talking about a bald faced lie. And I do resent that term by the way. Because I'm bald faced. Anyway. You know I'm not talking about just lying. But you know I'm talking about it's hard to tell the truth because you don't want to hurt their feelings.
You know. Guys here's just a word of advice. I've been married 38 years. Okay. When your wife comes in with her new outfit and says do I look fat in this? Here's the answer. Always. No matter what. No. Yeah you look a little fat. Oh don't say that to her. But there are times you know someone may ask her opinion on something. What do you think? Yeah. You know they sing. Oh I have people you know I want you to hear my child sing and have them in a harvest crusade. Okay. Well. I'm going to have them sing for you right now and they sing and you're like okay. They're not good. They're not good. What do you say? You want to be like Simon and say rubbish. It was rubbish. But you or bad karaoke you know or something. But I wouldn't say that because I don't want to hurt a person's feelings you know. So you try to be imaginative and say they have a very distinct sound. One of the most fascinating performances I've ever seen or heard.
But we tell little white lies and we may not even realize it. You know someone calls and you don't want to answer the phone so you say to your child tell them I'm not home. You ever done that? Or you say I forgot. You didn't forget. It was the traffic. It wasn't the traffic. You left four minutes ago. I love your outfit. You really hate it. Oh I'm so glad you called. I was just getting ready to call you. No you weren't. The check's in the mail. No it isn't. I love this one. I'm praying for you bro. Okay. Really? I mean don't ever say that if you don't mean it.
There's other ways we can lie as well. Gossip and backbiting. Gossip topples governments. Wrecks marriages. Ruins careers. Destroys reputations. Causes nightmares. It spawns suspicion. And it generates grief. Even its name hisses. Gossip. It's just really from the serpent. You know those little innuendos.
Proverbs 20:19 says "He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets; Therefore do not associate with one who flatters with his lips."
There are certain people I know who can't keep a confidence. I literally know if I say something to them it will be on CNN that night. And here's what I need to say to make sure it's on CNN. Don't tell this to anyone. And they're like you know they just can't they're just oh they just got their little juicy morsel they're doing it. Oh boy I'm going to tweet it. I'm going to put it on my Facebook page. I have to call. I have to you know they just can't keep it in. They trade in gossip.
You may be like the guy who said I never repeat gossip. Ever. So listen carefully the first time. Right? He doesn't repeat gossip. Get it? Okay wait one second. That joke didn't work. Never use that joke. Okay got it.
But sometimes gossip is presented in what we might call an acceptable way. We won't call it gossip. We'll just say have you heard or you know I don't know if this is true but I heard listen. find out if it's true before you repeat it. I'll tell you my initial reaction when someone comes with something that's sort of slanderous or hurtful about another person I'll say how do you know that's true? Where did you hear that? I want to know your source. Well I can't reveal my source. How do you know that's true? And maybe the person is right over there and will say let's go over and ask this person right now. Oh I want to ask well then shut up.
You ever had someone tell lies about you? It hurts. Find out if it's true. Well I just wanted to pray. No you didn't. You just wanted to gossip. Sometimes we even gossip in prayer. You know that? Let's pray. You know Lord that Joe with his affair. Joe's wife is like what? You know she didn't know. But you just prayed about it. And maybe it wasn't even true. Maybe it's a rumor. You know don't gossip about people. Make sure it's true.
Here's a helpful principle before you repeat something. It's one word. Think. T-H-I-N-K. Aren't you impressed I can spell the word think? T-This is what you ask yourself before you repeat information. T-Is it truthful? Is it truthful? Are you sure it's true? H-Is it helpful? Is it helpful? I-Is it inspiring? N-Is it necessary? K-Is it kind? Think. Think about it before you say it. If it doesn't pass that test don't say it. If I lived by that I wouldn't say anything. Amen. Do us all a favor and shut up.
You know this is really an issue on the Internet. Because anybody can say anything about anybody anywhere. And it just floats out there in cyberspace. And you can just send this thing out and people will just spread it and they'll you know pass it on to more people and it may be completely false.
Contentment: No Coveting
Commandment number 10 and we'll end here. "You shall not covet." Maybe this is the most misunderstood of all the commandments. Verse 17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."
Listen. Coveting isn't simply desiring something we don't have. If you like see something that you admire well that's a nice car. that's a nice dress. That's a nice whatever. Oh that's nice. Don't covet men. That's not coveting. That could simply just be admiring. The difference between that and coveting is you become devoured by desire for something. And a lot of times it's a something that isn't yours to ever have.
Notice he talks about your neighbor's wife. See. I want her. I don't just want a wife I want his wife. That's the idea that's being communicated here. In fact the word that is translated coveting is also translated to pant after something. You know sort of like a wolf who's gotten a taste for blood and he's out there pursuing his prey panting. That wolf will not rest till he gets that prey and kills it and eats it. And that's what coveting is.
You just become an object. Then the mind admires an object. Then the will goes over to it and the body moves in to possess it. Now let's say your neighbor got a new car and you admired it. Okay? That's admiring. Let's say that you went out and got the same car the same model the same color identical to your neighbors. That's not coveting. That's copying. That's not a sin. It may irritate your neighbor.
But let's say that you go over to your neighbor's car and you ask him if you can take it for a spin around the block and he agrees and you hop in and you drive away and never come back again. That's Grand Theft Auto. But you see one thing led to another. I must have that.
And there are people that covet through life. They become obsessed with certain things and they will make any sacrifice to get what they want. It may be a person. It may be an object. It may be a position. Whatever it takes they are going to get it. And it can destroy you. I mean Judas Iscariot effectively threw his life away for 30 pieces of silver. He betrayed the Lord of glory.
1 Timothy 6:10 says "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
That verse is often quoted as follows. Money is the root of all evil. The Bible says no such thing. The Bible says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil while some have coveted after. That's the operational word. Some have coveted after. It doesn't mean it's bad to want some money. It's a person who covets after it.
You know, sometimes a person who may not have a lot may have more of a problem with coveting than a person who is very successful. Because they are obsessed with it. It is all they think about. Maybe one of the reasons that they are struggling is because they are spending all their money on lottery tickets or going to Vegas and gambling. They are looking for that angle, that quick fix, that thing that is going to make them successful in their own eyes. And then off you go and it can actually destroy your life.
The Commandments Drive Us to Christ
Look, as we read through these commandments, I think that we all recognize that we have offended in one way, shape, or form on multiple occasions. Am I right? And why were the Ten Commandments given? Were they given to make us righteous? No. Because no one can keep them. There is only one person who has ever walked this earth who has kept the Ten Commandments. It is me. Now let me explain. That was a lie. I just broke one of the commandments making a joke. No. I would call it a joke. But of course I have not. There is only one person and I think you know who that person is. Jesus.
Jesus kept the law. Nobody else ever did. Everybody else broke the tenets of the law. Even the most godly men that were raised up throughout Scripture. They all broke the law in one way, shape, or form. In fact, Paul the Apostle felt that he had really observed most of the law, but the one he admitted to really having a problem with was the sin of coveting. Because it is internal. You know? You can sort of control your actions. I don't do this. I don't do this. I don't do this. I am doing pretty well. But doggone it, your heart, man. You can't control your heart. You are like, I want this. I want that. It is like alien. Get back in there, you know? We should go. We should. No. You can't control it. Right? How many of you understood the alien reference? Okay. Some of you. I don't understand that. Okay. I am not going to explain it to you. But that is coveting.
So what does the law do? The law opens my eyes and it shuts my mouth. The law is for the person that says, oh I am a good person. God says, oh really? Come on over here and take a look at yourself in my mirror. You know, you think you look pretty good when you look in a mirror in a dimly lit room. And then you walk into a mirror where the lights are really bright. Or even worse, when you look at yourself in one of those magnifying mirrors. It is like you go, let's see. You know. Every flaw is magnified. That is reality. That is what the law does. I look at the law and I go, oh boy. Okay. We have a problem. That is right.
That is why the law is there. The law, however, is not sent to condemn. The Bible says in Galatians it is sort of like a school teacher, a disciplinarian if you will, to drive you to Jesus. So I come, I look at the law, I say, okay I have broken it. In fact I have broken multiple laws. And Jesus says say, well that is where I come in. Because when he died on the cross, he took the writing of commandments that was against us, the Bible says, and nailed it to the cross. He took it out of the way. So that punishment that should have come upon you and me was put on Jesus at the cross.
So if I will turn from my sin and commit my life to him, I am forgiven. And now, here is the really great thing, is he writes the law on my heart. So I do not do it now because I have to. I do it because I want to. And it makes all the difference in the world.
So instead of a bunch of rules and regulations, I can't do this and I can't do that and all these restrictions. It is like, you know what, I actually really don't want to do that. I mean really, is this really that hard to figure out? Yeah, you know, I really love the Lord, so I don't think I am going to worship another god. I really love the Lord, so I am not going to bow before an idol. I really love the Lord, so I am not going to take his name in vain. And you know what, because I love the Lord, I love people, so because I love people, I am not going to steal from them. I am not going to kill them. I am not going to take something that belongs to them. I don't want to even do that. See, that That's what happens in conversion, is it becomes a part of our desire.
But if you are trying to live by little religious rules, or you are trying to be a good person on your own, you fall short because all of us have sinned. And if you offend, the Bible says, in one point of the law you are guilty of all of it. So you will say, well you know what Greg, actually I feel pretty good. I don't think I have broken that many. Well listen, one is too many. One is too many. If you have ever broken any of these commandments, and in case you don't know this, I am going to tell you, you have. You fall short.
But if you will turn from your sin again, and put your faith in Christ who shed his blood for you at the cross of Calvary, you can be forgiven.
So let's close in prayer and give you an opportunity to make a commitment or re-commitment to Jesus if you need to. Let's all pray.
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for its truth. Sometimes it makes us uncomfortable, but not in a bad way. Because it shows us our need for Jesus and causes us to turn to you. And that is always a good thing. And I pray, Lord, for any here, any listening, any watching right now who do not yet know you, help them to come to you right now and believe in Jesus, we would ask.
Now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we are praying together, how many of you would say tonight, Greg, I want to be forgiven of my sin. I have broken the law. I have fallen short of God's glory. I have sinned and I am very aware of that right now. But I am sorry for that sin and I want to turn from it. And I want Jesus to forgive me. If that is your desire, if you need God's forgiveness tonight, would you just lift your hand up and let me pray for you. Just lift your hand up where I can see you. God bless you. You want God's forgiveness. You want Christ to come into your life tonight. Raise up your hand. I will pray for you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless. While our heads are still bowed, maybe some of you would say, you know what, I am a Christian. But I have been doing some of the things you have been talking about. I have been stealing. I have been lying. I have been gossiping. I have been committing adultery or fornication or lusting. Filling my mind with lust. And I am ready to repent of that and get right with God. If that is your desire, why don't you raise your hand up? Let me pray for you tonight. God bless you. Anybody else? Raise your hand up. God bless all of you.
Now I am going to ask you to raise your hand if you would please stand to your feet. And I am going to lead you in a prayer of commitment or recommitment. Just stand up and I am going to lead you in a prayer. Don't be embarrassed. We are all sinners here. Just stand up and let me pray with you. Anybody else? Stand up. You want to make a commitment or recommitment to Jesus. Wherever you are, stand to your feet. God bless each one. God bless you. One final moment. Stand up now. We are going to pray together. Anybody else? Stand now. God bless you. God bless you. Anybody else? I think there are a few more that might want to stand. I will give you another moment to do that. Just stand now. God bless you. Anybody else? Final moment. God bless you.
All right. You that are standing, pray this prayer out loud after me. Just pray this out loud right where you stand.
"Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. And I've broken your law. And I have fallen short of your standards. And I'm sorry for that. And I repent of my sin. You died on the cross for me. And shed your blood for me. And rose again. And I want You to live in me. So come into my life. I choose to follow you, Jesus, from this moment forward. Thank you for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen."