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“Oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear (reverence) Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!” says the Lord our God in Deuteronomy 5:29. In Luke 6:46 He says; “Why do you call Me Lord, Lord and not do the things which I say?’ Part of our willingness to do something is based on how well we know the one who is speaking. When it comes to the commandments let’s look at something we might not have seen before. In Exodus 20:1 the scripture says; “And God spoke all these words saying, I am the LORD your God…” The Lord that is speaking here is the same Lord who spoke in Luke, because the Lord of the Old Testament is the Lord of the New Testament. Ephesians 4:5 says there is one Lord. In other words the Lord that died for us on the cross is the one who spoke this into existence. It is the Lord who spoke all the commandments into existence. In Matthew 5:17 He says; “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill, or fill full.” How could He destroy His own words? After all Psalms 119:89 says; Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. The beautiful thing about being in a covenant relationship is that it is a process. Part of the process is to establish the conditions by which this relationship will operate. In Exodus 19:5 He says; “Now therefore if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.” In Matthew 7:24 He says; “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the Rock.” With that being said let’s take a close look at the commandments themselves. You may have been taught that the first 4 commandments deal with our relationship to God, and the last 6 deal with our relationship to each other. In Matthew 18:11 He says; “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” So what did we actually loose? Adam did not loose Eve. He did not loose the animals or anything that God had created for him. He lost Him. He lost Him because he disobeyed the very commandments the Lord had given him. The conditions of the relationship had changed based on Adams actions. Therefore it is not only the first four commandments that deal with our relationship to God; it is all ten. Let me show you what I mean.
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His Commandments = “But why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say” Luke 6:46 |
1.YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER gods BEFORE ME. They invited the people to the sacrifice of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. Numbers 25: 2-3
2. YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FOR YOURSELF A CARVED IMAGE- ANY LIKENESS OF ANYTHING IN HEAVEN, ON THE EARTH, OR WATER UNDER THE EARTH. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man- and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Romans 1: 22-23
3. YOU SHALL NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD IN VAIN. “But why do you call Me Lord, Lord and not do the things which I say?” Luke 6:46
4. REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY, TO KEEP IT HOLY. “Or have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profaned the Sabbath, and are blameless? Matthew 12:5
5. HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER. Father-“Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Matthew 23:9 Mother- But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. Galatians 4:26
6. YOU SHALL NOT MURDER. “Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me? John 7:19
7. YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? James 4:4
8. YOU SHALL NOT STEAL. “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “Who steal My words every one from his neighbor.” Jeremiah 23:30
9. YOU SHALL NOT BARE FALSE WITNESS AGAINST YOUR NEIGHBOR. And they began to accuse Him, saying, “WE found this fellow perverting the nations and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.” Luke 23:2
10. YOU SHALL NOT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOR’S HOUSE, WIFE, SERVANT, OX, DONKEY, OR ANYTHING. They covet fields and take them by violence. Also houses, and seize them. Micah 2:2
2. YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FOR YOURSELF A CARVED IMAGE- ANY LIKENESS OF ANYTHING IN HEAVEN, ON THE EARTH, OR WATER UNDER THE EARTH. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man- and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Romans 1: 22-23
3. YOU SHALL NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD IN VAIN. “But why do you call Me Lord, Lord and not do the things which I say?” Luke 6:46
4. REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY, TO KEEP IT HOLY. “Or have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profaned the Sabbath, and are blameless? Matthew 12:5
5. HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER. Father-“Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Matthew 23:9 Mother- But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. Galatians 4:26
6. YOU SHALL NOT MURDER. “Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me? John 7:19
7. YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? James 4:4
8. YOU SHALL NOT STEAL. “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “Who steal My words every one from his neighbor.” Jeremiah 23:30
9. YOU SHALL NOT BARE FALSE WITNESS AGAINST YOUR NEIGHBOR. And they began to accuse Him, saying, “WE found this fellow perverting the nations and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.” Luke 23:2
10. YOU SHALL NOT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOR’S HOUSE, WIFE, SERVANT, OX, DONKEY, OR ANYTHING. They covet fields and take them by violence. Also houses, and seize them. Micah 2:2
That is why the Lord says in John 14:15; “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 1 John 1:3-6 says; “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. Let me ask you a question. If your loved ones treated you the way we treat the Lord would they be your friend or your enemy? Psalm 110:1 says; “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” The enemy of the Lord is the one who disobeyed all of His commandments. It started with Lucifer and passed on to Adam and Eve. From there it was passed on to the rest of us. Oh the goodness and mercy of the Lord. It is the blood of the lamb that cleanses us from this very nature. It is a nature of disobedience, and loveless ness. Is it no wonder that when it comes to the judgment of the church it starts with the loveless church. In revelations 2:2-5 says; “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil, and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, “or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.” In Romans Paul speaks about the Law of God, and the law of sin. He says in Romans 7:22-23; “For I delight in the Law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” In verse 25 he says; “I thank God- through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” Why does he serve Him with his mind? Because when the Lord established the new covenant the Lord put His laws in our mind as it says in Hebrews 8:10. With his flesh he does what he says in Galatians 5:24; “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” All of this is why the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It is when we will not dishonor our true Father and Mother that we will not dishonor mom and dad. It is when we do not murder Him that we won’t murder each other either. It is when we don’t commit adultery with Him that we won’t with our mate. It is when we don’t steal from Him that we won’t steal from each other. It all starts with our relationship to Him before it extends to our relationship with each other. That is why “love your neighbor as yourself” comes second not first. In Revelations 3:8 it says; “I know your works. See I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.” In John 10:7 Jesus says; “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.” He is the door to those who keep His word, and His name. 2 Peter 1:23-24 says it this way; “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because “all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” Isaiah 55:10-11 says; “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that in may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. So with our hearts open and our mind filled let us truly heed the words of King Solomon which says it best in Ecclesiastes 12:13; “Fear (reverence) God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.”
