In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Welcome back to Purify the Heart. This is Pastor Zachary Courie. In Exodus 19, the Lord revealed Himself in a terrifying manner to the people of Israel at the top of Mount Sinai, in fire and smoke, thunder and lightning, an earthquake and an alarming trumpet blast. Today, in Exodus 20, the Lord speaks His Ten Words, which will become known biblically as the Decalogue, most famously known as the Holy Ten Commandments.
Exodus 20
20 And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or 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 the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
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.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” 21 The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
22 And the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. 26 And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’ (Exodus 20:1–26, ESV)
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
When the Lord speaks His Holy Ten Commandments, He speaks them for His people. He doesn’t reveal these things to everyone all at once, and He prefaces the Decalogue with the words, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” All other nations are supposed to be taught the Decalogue from God’s chosen people, and only when those other nations are incorporated into the people of God through the covenant of circumcision. Then these Divine Laws will be applied to them as well. When Christ comes along, however, He’s born into the covenantal people, and comes for the express purpose of fulfilling God’s Law. But as God become man, He fulfills it not just for Israel, but for all of mankind, who He desires to incorporate into Israel by faith in Him as their true Savior.
In other words, the Israelites were not expected to keep the commandments in order to be saved, which is a common misunderstanding. They were already saved, and now they’re given these Commandments to live as God’s saved people. They weren’t saved from Egypt to be their own and do whatever they want; rather, they were saved from slavery to be the Lord’s own, because to be His own is to be truly free. This is true with regard to all of mankind. We cannot save ourselves by keeping the Law of God, as the Jews will go on to believe, especially the religious leaders in the New Testament known as the Pharisees. They were legalists whose faith was not in the Lord’s salvation, but in their own works. In the Exodus story, however, we see a microcosm of what the Lord is attempting to do with all of mankind. God created man to be the good reflection of Him in the world. Man willingly enters into the slavery of sin, death, under the dominion of the devil; however, the Lord doesn’t leave man to suffer all of the consequences of his self-chosen destruction. God redeems man, by the blood of Jesus, restores man to life, in order that man may live the life that God created him to live.
Each of the Ten Commandments are protecting a gift that God wants to give to us. Let’s look at each.
The First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods,” protects the gift of God giving Himself as King over his people.
The Second Commandment, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God,” protects the gift of calling upon God’s name in every trouble, and to pray, praise and give thanks.
The Third Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,” protects the gift of the preaching of God’s Word in which we find true rest and leisure whenever it’s meditated upon.
The Fourth Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother” protects the gift of authority.
The Fifth Commandment, “You shall not murder,” protects the gift of life.
The Sixth Commandment, “You shall nor commit adultery,” protects the gift of chastity and marriage.
The Seventh Commandment, “You shall not steal,” protects the gift of possessions.
The Eighth Commandment, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor,” protects the gift of reputation.
The Ninth and the Tenth Commandments, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house,” and “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor,” protects the gift of contentment regarding our relationships as well as our possessions.
As Martin Luther explains in his summary of the Ten Commandments, “God threatens to punish all who break these commandments, therefore we should fear His wrath and not do anything against them. But He promises grace and every blessing to all who love Him and keep His commandments, therefore we should love and trust in Him, and gladly do what He commands.” None of this would be possible, however, without Christ having fulfilled the commandments perfectly as our human substitute, and having paid by His blood shed on the cross for our having utterly despised and broken the commandments. The Holy Spirit is then given to all who believe and are baptized so that we would be granted the forgiveness of sins and live now as God’s saved people according to His will expressed in the Holy Ten Commandments.
Let us pray. O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy, be gracious to all who have gone astray from Your ways and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of Your Word; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, You despise nothing You have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create in us new and contrite hearts that lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness we may receive from You full pardon and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Thanks for joining me to Purify the Heart! Tomorrow, in Exodus 21, the Lord continues to give Moses various laws about slaves and restitution, where we’ll see the Lord applying some of His Ten Commandments in specific situations that the people of Israel were already or were going to be experiencing. Until then, grace be with you. Amen.
