The Power Commandments

May 1, 1988

Introduction: We live in a sick and broken world today. And our world is broken on its failure to recognize and respect and observe TEN simple COMMANDMENTS which God gave to the human race through the Jewish people more than 3,000 years ago. But we can hardly expect society to respect and seek the wisdom of the Ten Commandments when the people of God do not hold them as vitally important as they really are:

I. THE COMMANDMENTS REFLECT GOD'S WILL FOR SOCIETY

Why should we, who are not saved by keeping the law, and who cannot keep it perfectly, be so concerned about the Ten Commandments? They have never been repealed, but what real relevance do they have for us here today?

True, they cannot save us. But in Romans 7 we read that they are
1. holy (verse 12), and
2. spiritual (verse 14), and
3. good (verse 16).
Jesus (in the Sermon on the Mount) tells us that He did not come to destroy the Law and the prophets, but to fulfil them.
We are not saved by the commandments, but Paul makes it plain that those who are saved make themselves subject to God's laws (Romans 8:6,7:)

"For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, FOR IT DOES NOT SUBJECT ITSELF TO THE LAW OF GOD, FOR IT IS NOT EVEN ABLE TO DO SO; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

We are not saved by God's holy Laws, but they are the basis on which we build our lives. They are the bones, the skeleton framework, on which society can be framed in justice.

II. A QUICK REVIEW OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS...

...and why they offer mankind's hope:

When people do refer to the Ten Commandments as a basis for life and living, they usually are thinking specifically of the 'Second Table,' the second half of the laws God gave that guide us in dealing with each other:

Honor family ties
Don't hold human life lightly
Don't hold lightly the power to create life
Hold property rights as very important
Be truthful, especially about your neighbor's reputation
Don't be greedy, even in the privacy of your heart, let alone actually doing these evil things.

If in fact we would begin observing these laws universally this would be Millennium, heaven's rule on earth. But this is the SECOND HALF of the Ten Commandments! Why, do you suppose, did God put those other FOUR first?

The reason is: The only way that there is any hope of the 'Second Table' WORKING is in connection with the 'First.'

But, you see, man, in all his 'wisdom,' "knows" better than God! Man has 'divorced ethics from morality.' He thinks he can be his own savior— and in his self worship and arrogance he writes off as archaic the laws which 'don't make sense.' And of course they don't make sense when we have turned all the values of life around and upside down. So God would have us to know that these first commandments are the power that can make the second, "ethical" commandments work.

Do you remember that 'First table?:'

God Himself must be absolutely FIRST!
No idol, no manufactured deity is ever to be worshiped, or even condoned.
The very name of God, and every thought of Him, must be reverenced. God's name should always be honored. IV. The Sabbath Day, God's gift to mankind, is to be observed by rest and worship; not seeking our own will and pleasure.

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO OVER-ESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF THESE FOUR COMMANDMENTS. We have felt free to "edit" them, and explain why they are or are not relevant. But if we are the people of God then we must not only give lip service to the commandments; they are to be written on our hearts!

(Jeremiah 31:33: "I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.")

(Hebrews 10:15,16 And the Holy Spirit bears also bears witness to us; for after saying, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put My laws upon their heart, and upon their mind I will write them, He then says, "And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.")

III. A CLOSER LOOK AT COMMANDMENTS I. AND II.

Look with me at just the first two commandments today:

THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.
Relating to the First Commandment: God does not share His glory with any other being. We must worship the true and the living God, who has revealed Himself in the Bible; but even more, has revealed Himself in Jesus. We can know God, and be sure of certain things about Him. But to be sure is not the same thing as taking a relationship for granted.
HOW MAY WE BE SURE WE ARE WORSHIPING THE TRUE GOD?
1. Jesus is our God-given revelation, our 'key' to knowing God. We must know the real Jesus; we must know Him for ourselves; we must make Him Lord of our lives, and of our days.
  The Jesus we come to know will never contradict in any way the revelation of scriptures (see John 5:39.)
2. God is infinitely tender. "Lovingkindness" is one of the great words of description concerning this God with whom we have to do.
3. But never forget: GOD IS HOLY And WE are NOT! Any "holiness" which we have is God's holiness, it is derived from Him;
Salvation is not so much an intellectual, cold, calculating thing— saying: "This is so!"— as it is a real thing, a continual breaking through into the reality of God.
1. Our greatest danger is not rejecting the God of the Bible. It is putting Him in a box and making Him perform. It is the easy familiarity and comfortable approach to old truth. It is being so confident of our stated formula that we no longer tremble at the approach of omnipotence. We have "tamed" God.
2. The only cure for this is living contact with God! Spelling it out in plain language: We need to make time, take time, to be with God every day of our lives. It won't always feel exciting.
3. I am not talking about far-out mystical experiences, or esoteric raptures now— they may have their place. I don't know much about that. But I am talking about contact with Almighty God.
  Unless we regularly break through into the consciousness of God's Presence we will find ourselves saying words to 'pictures of God,' the memories and recollections we have of Him in our distant or recent past. And God is NOT "was" or "will be." Where we live, where we are— GOD IS! He is the I AM THAT I AM!
THOU SHALT NOT MAKE UNTO THEE ANY GRAVEN IMAGES; THOU SHALT NOT BOW DOWN TO THEM AND WORSHIP THEM.
What about this Second Commandment? I can recall thinking when I was just a child that this commandment was totally unnecessary. For I "knew" that idols are silly; no one that I knew worshiped idols. I "knew" I would never have any problem with this commandment. And yet there are people, many people, in this world today that do have graven images and idols which they worship.
But that probably is not a great worry or temptation to you and me. What we need to see is that anything which is so dear that it begins to take the edge off our desire to obey the Father, and please Him, is to us an IDOL, whether it is comfort, or sports, or gadgets, or possessions, or position, or the church itself!
ANYTHING that makes us think WE "know" without humble and open dependance on the Spirit, and obedience to the Bible is hubris and is idolatry! That very same "agape'" love that can center one's life and love and interests outside of one's self can and often is directed toward that which is NOT God. John warns us
"Love (agape') not the world neither the things that are in the world; if any (person) love (agape') the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (I John 2:15.)
So it is possible to take the kind of love that we are to give to God, and that God can give us for himself and others— this 'agape' love,' and give it to lesser things, to idols.

The prayer behind the words of the old altar song is so important to our soul health:

Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole
I want Thee forever to live in my soul;
Break down every idol, Cast out every foe!
NOW wash me, and I shall be Whiter than snow!

Conclusion:

Most of us pass through various attitudes toward God's Holy Laws, especially those of us who grow up within the preaching of the Bible.
We have a period when we live in and love authoritarianism. Whether or not we realize it, WE THINK THAT BY KEEPING GOD'S LAWS WE CAN BE SAVED. We may not think we do, and may not say we do- but we like the security of being told what is right and wrong. We like to hear that we are on the right side, and we know what is right and wrong because someone we respect tells us so. BUT WE FIND THAT THERE IS NO REAL LIFE IN TRYING TO BE SAVED BY KEEPING THE LAW.
But then we begin to think as adults; we reject untested truth. We don't like to be told: "Do so because I say so!" Especially we don't like people telling us things like that— our parents, our teachers, human authority figures. But this carries over even to the heavenly Father, too! And in one way or another we demand AUTONOMY! We decide we'll be our own boss! BUT WE FIND THAT THERE IS NO REAL PEACE AND JOY IN BEING 'FREE FROM KEEPING THE LAW' OF GOD.
But when we come to ourselves, and when we come to know the love of Jesus in salvation, we choose freely to come under the authority of God. Not now simply authoritarian dictatorship, but accepting the loving authority of our heavenly Father. WHEN WE ARE BORN FROM ABOVE WE DISCOVER THE TRUTH: " BLESSED (HAPPY!) IS THE MAN (WOMAN) THAT WALKETH NOT IN THE COUNSEL OF THE UNGODLY . . . BUT IN (GOD'S) LAW DOTH HE MEDITATE DAY AND NIGHT. Life AND peace AND joy are not detached from the love of God's Laws!
To the person struggling in authoritarian blindness it seems that God has simply tried His best to make up some rules to keep us from having a good time.
But the wonderful thing we discover when we voluntarily place ourselves under God's LAWS, we see that they are an expression of His lovingkindness to us! The beautiful thing is: God's commandments are not harsh and arbitrary! Rather, they are designed to help to meet every need and longing in our God-created being!
If YOU are having trouble finding the power to live like a Christian— the secret is in the FIRST TABLE!
Matthew 6:33 If we will seek first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness, then all these things will be added.
And when GOD'S PEOPLE begin to keep God's LAWS in the power of His Spirit, I believe there is hope for a moving of the Holy Spirit in revival on our nation and on our world!

II Chronicles 7:14 If MY people, which are called by MY name will humble themselves and pray, and seek MY face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

[LET US PRAY!]

#28 [WS] Lead On, O King Eternal