Deuteronomy 5: The Ten Commandments

hi I'm John Stevenson we're going to be looking at Deuteronomy chapter five in our continuing study of the book of Deuteronomy as we've noted Deuteronomy is set up in six sections we begin with the preamble that's just the first few verses and then there was the historical prologue starting in chapter 1 verse 6 and taking us through the end of chapter 4 with that in mind we come now to the stipulations we'll be seen the Ten Commandments in this section but then after that we'll see related Commandments and all the later related Commandments we'll will find the Ten Commandments as they're sort of table of contents and though we call those the stipulations and that's going to be the whole center point in the book when we get to chapter 27 though many blessings and cursings blesses if you keep a lob the curses if you don't keep the law and finally we see the succession clauses beginning in chapter 31 to the end of the book what happens now that Moses is going to die what will happen to that new leadership and we'll read about that then Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 1 then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them hear o Israel the statutes and the ordinances which I'm speaking to you in your hearing notice your to hear and your to do that in order that you might learn them and that you might observe them so notice the verbs here learn observe that word observe is the Hebrew word Shamar observed works although you could actually have translated that to guard it guard them carefully it's the same word that was used back when Adam was first placed in the garden to keep the garden in a year to keep his his his command you took guard the commencement there's a sense in which Adam was placed in the garden to guard the garden and so likewise he were to guard the commands of Lord verse four the Lord spoke to you and this is Moses relating to the Israelites what God had done 40 years earlier the Lord spoke to you face-to-face at the mountain from the missiles fire while I was standing between the Lord and you at the time to declare to you the word of the Lord for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up to the mine you know the Israelites didn't want to get too close to God because after all God is big and he's Gary and his lambs and fire and smoke and all this bad things and so Moses had been the mediator he had been between the Lord and the people so the Lord spoke to Moses and then Moses turned and spoke to the people will Lane the Lord's commands and notice he said these these 10 words these 10 commandments the first four of those Commandments are going to be toward God so that we have no other gods and there are command against idolatry God's name is to be holy and finally the command of the Sabbath the fifth command is interesting we could we could actually I put it in the column toward men respect for parents although it's been argued by some that that's really a commandment or guide as well even though the parents involved it's as though the parents are the authority under God and and so showing respect for parents is tantamount to showing respect for God but I'm going to leave it in the column where I have it here toward men so respect for parents and then no murder and I'm trying to phrase it the way the Hebrew has no murder no adultery no stealing no false witness and finally no company so the first for like I said maybe five Commandments depending what we do with that respect the respect for parents our tour guide and then the rest are word man now all of these laws that are given are perfect they don't really need to be updated they're there they're good the way they are they are spiritualize yes they have they have outward physical ramifications outward physical applications but they are spiritual while some of them resemble laws of society they far surpass those laws in their intent if you don't if you doubt that take a look at what Jesus had to say about them in the Sermon on the Mount where where Jesus says you look you've heard it was that don't murder but I'm saying the real intent of the law is don't even think evil of someone don't speak evil of that person you've heard it said don't commit adultery and I'm saying to you don't even look with busts in your heart towards somebody you've heard it said you know don't steal and in any case he takes it through each one of the commandments um doesn't mention everyone but but we could take it through our each one and and show how the intent of the law is to go beyond just with a lot less that means that they have a corresponding corollary so that when a duty is commanded there is a contrary sin which is forbidden and conversely when a sin is forbidden there is a contrary duty which is being commanded when the law says don't commit adultery there is something positive being said about the sanctity of marriage they are not merrily a moral code they are also confidential stipulations and as such they contain cursings and blessing formulas that are interspersed throughout the commenced so we start with chapter five verse seven you shall have no other gods before me now that's not implying that necessarily that there is the existence of other gods although in that day and age people believed that there were other gods and it had not yet been clearly revealed not know that those are just those are just things of you know Miss imagination or wood or stone or or sometimes maybe there were other spiritual powers remember the Bible speaks of of angels and demons and and so these other spiritual powers maybe maybe we're there in any case the command is that you shall have no other gods before me now this command forbids atheism obviously you know you you know yeah I am God and so that that's sort of an obvious point but it also forbids idolatry where they are not to be making false images even things that might be repeated is going to be clarified in the next commandment but it forbids idolatry even things that might represent God it forbids materialism making a god of things you know you ever see somebody who maybe you know looked upon a possession maybe a brand-new car with such great delight that it was maybe even akin to worship the worshipping of money and the finances and those are very shallow things to worship and just command for business it forbids spiritual carelessness that we not be very careful about making God in first place giving God our priority it forbids selfishness making a God of self because that's what selfishness is and it forbids pride which is the corresponding quality of selfishness under a different name if forbids unbelief and that's a sobering thing because we all have a tendency to be guilty so unbelief and in one way or another the second command you shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth you see an idol an image is not to be made of God because first of all because God is invisible and secondly because God had already made a great image of himself and that image of himself is you and me we were made in the image of God we are in a sense a a representation a visual representation just a little bit of a part of what God is now he's much bigger than you know it's a scale model it's it's it doesn't do the original source justice reminds me of when on my 30th birthday my wife what behind my back and and botany for my birthday a brand new car this is sort of a sports car looking thing a Firebird beautiful car but when it came time to open the presents I had this little box and and was asked to open and I opened it and inside was a model of a car and I thought well that's interesting looking I turned it over there was a key on the bottom and and into the driveway drove the real car of which the model was only a model now we're made in the image of God that doesn't mean God it's like us it means that there's a just a little tiny bit when you look at us that that reflects a little bit of who God is and it's a very it's not a complete image but but there is something about us that were made in the image of God this is a fallen image to be sure and that means that idolatry is a breaking of this command and a form of idolatry is spiritual adultery that is when we when we make an image of God when we put something else in place of God we are not just breaking the commandment but we are engaging in a spiritual adultery we're being spiritually unfaithful to our covenant bridegroom Jeremiah chapter three sort of flushes that idea idolatry is also the natural outgrowth of rebellion against God Paul points this out in Romans chapter 1 where he praises the the journey of those who turned from God and how God gave them over to follow a path of destruction as they rebelled against God knowing what God is like they deliberately and sometimes we deliberately turn from God notice you shall not worship them or serve them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the father's on the children not familiar when we read about God being jealous people have a problem with that but there's an appropriate place for jealousy there's both a bad jealousy as well as a good Josie a bad jealousy is when you love somebody and you don't but you don't want them to have nice things because you want them for yourself that's a bad jealousy a good jealousy is when you have a relationship a special relationship and you don't want to see that relationship shattered as somebody goes after a secondary relationship for example if I have if I'm married and I am I've been married in 40-plus years to my wife I don't want her to have the same relationship with somebody else that she has with me that wouldn't be appropriate that would be a righteous jealousy I want her to love me and to have that special union with me that's appropriate for a husband and wife and not with somebody else and likewise she doesn't give me any reason to be jealous but guy says I'm a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the father's on the children and on the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me but showing loving-kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my Commandments and notice notice the balance there the judgment goes to thee to the father from the father to the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but the loving-kindness goes much much further beyond that not just to the third and fourth generation but a thousands to those who love me and keep my Commandments notice those who hate me versus those who love me there's no middle ground either you easy you love God or you hate him it's impossible to be just to be just apathetic you always love for you hate whether you realize it or not we're loving you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain now the Jews are careful about this commandment to the point where it has been customary among the Jewish people not to even much not to ever say the name of God and so you notice in our translation you shall not take the name of and it doesn't have the name of God there instead it replaces the name with the word Lord in all capital letters that's that's a the the editors telling us that the name of God is actually there in that passage but they're not going to say it and they replace the name of God with the word Lord or the way you say Lord in and Hebrew is how deny so instead of saying the name of God they would they would instead pronounce that I deny Adonai your God Adonai Eloheinu the Lord your God in vain and and that you're not taking his name in vain now I'm not sure that's what's being commanded even though that became a tradition so that by the time of the New Testament was was written that was the regular approach that the Jewish people and the New Testament writers as well took to the name they they actually did not pronounce the name we we find no placement in the New Testament where the name of God is even written down it's always substituted with the word Lord or or its Greek equivalent now what does this command four-bit when it revised not taking the name of the Lord in vain first of all it forbids the using of the Lord's name in a vulgar or a common way we that name ought to be special we ought not to use it lightly secondly it forbids the taking of God's name in a light or jesting way hi I have to admit I have to confess different times in the past were or perhaps I've told a joke and God was somehow in the joke and I've been convicted about that that maybe I shouldn't tell a joke like that where God is somehow enters into that that joke in a light way or adjusting what it forbids insincere prayer and you know sometimes if we're not careful you know we pray regularly and we find ourselves repeating the same prayer and I think some prayers are okay to repeat in fact in our in our church very often times you'll hear people utilizing the Lord's Prayer to pray and I think that's okay Jesus said to pray this way and yet and yet if we're not careful it can become insincere and something that we just do by rote it forbids the violation of our oath and vows that I might use the Lord's name in the taking of an oath in the taking of a vowel and that can be such a danger that Jesus actually suggested and James repeats it in the Epistle of James well why don't you just not take an oath or about why don't you just let your yes be yes you know be no and that way you actually refrain from doing it Deuteronomy 5:12 observed the Sabbath day we come down to the fourth commandment observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God in it you shall not do any work and now notice here in exit and Deuteronomy chapter five verse fifteen this is a repetition of the law of the way it had been given and yet there's an in addition when we look at Exodus chapter 20 verse 11 where the law was first given a lot of the Sabbath we read from the nephron six days Lord made the heavens the earth to see it all within them and rest on the seventh day therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath made it holy here we have an addition yes you're going to remember it's true the heavens and the earth and how God created but you will also remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand but an outstretched arm therefore Lord your God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day so notice that the Sabbath was not just a remembrance for the creative event that we saw back in Exodus chapter 20 verse 11 but also now in Deuteronomy there in chapter 5 verse 15 years in addition where the Sabbath is also used to remember the redemptive event of bringing forth the nation of Israel so the Sabbath looks back to creation but it also looks back to Redemption now that brings up the question about the Sabbath today most Christian churches make it their practice not to meet or to worship on the seventh day that is what we would call Saturday but rather on the first day of the week I remember have been asked many times the past why do why do I worship on the first day and and my standard answer is sort of flippant I usually say well if gee if I worship on the third day of the week I'd be the only one there but but truthfully the reason most Christian churches have opted to begin and this is the practice that goes all the way back to the New Testament you can look in the book of Acts and in the epistles and see some evidence there that that from day one the church began to meet on the first day of the week and yet there's not a command that they have to do with that way in fact Paul says look one person looked at one day above another another when it seems all day alike look ladies one be fully persuaded in his own mind and so if there's a church out there and I've got a friend who's a rabbinic messianic pastor and his his assembly meets on the seventh day and and I think good for them and my church meets on the first day of the week and I think well good for them and historically why that takes place is because of the resurrection that that greater redemptive event greater than the establishment of the nation of Israel which remember of Deuteronomy we just read the Deuteronomy remembers that but the greater redemptive event was what took place in the death burl and especially the resurrection of Jesus and so because of that there's a there's a new rest into which we've entered and so it has become the practice I'm not saying you have to do it this way but it's a practice of the the church throughout most of Christian history to meet on the first day of the week the next commandment chapter 5 verse 16 honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you and notice there's something added this time that your days may be prolonged there's a promise that goes with us that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you in the land which the Lord your God gives you to honor father and mother I would suggest that this includes a respect for all authority that this this call for honoring reminds us that there are certain people there are certain situations in certain places where where Authority has been established by God and ought to be honored whether its father and mother or were those political fathers and mothers you know presidents and kings and governors and things like that judges and the God has established authority to be honored now the last five of the commandments and we're going to go through these very quickly they're joined with the love conjunctive that is a little Hebrew word and so honor your father and mother and then the explanation was given and now we read no murder and no adultery and no stealing and no Barina fault was false witness and no coveting very quickly it's almost like you know bullet points and that's why I put them up here very quickly no murder no adultery no stealing no bearing false witness no comedy and yet each one of these I would suggest have within a positive principle when when God says no murder that's establishing a respect for life and a care for life that we ought to have no adultery is establishing a law that marriage is appropriate and it ordained by God and not to be preserved and protected no stealing actually ordains this idea that it's appropriate for for people to have possessions the right to ownership of possessions but also I think we're called Ephesians chapter 4 actually cause let him who says let him who stole steal no more but rather work with his hand so that he may be able to provide to those in need and so it's not just a right of ownership but it's the opportunity to share with others no brain of false witness means that we ought to be true tellers in what we do and what we say I would even say what we what we post on social media ought to be the truth and we have to check things out like that and finally finally no coveting now notice this last one verse 21 you shall not covet your neighbor's wife when you shall not desire your neighbor's house as fielder's maid male servant or his female servant or as ox or a donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor and there's a sense in which whatever you covet you've already broken not just this law but internally mentally at least you've you've broken one of those other Commandments what's wrong with this everything what's wrong with well I'm going to use the the big order what's wrong with company it's taking that which God is establishing and saying I want that for myself I want to be first place I want to be God summary statement is given in verse 22 these words the Lord spoke to you to all your assembly in the mountain from the midst of the fire of the cloud and of the thick gloom with a great voice and he added no more which means that you should be either and he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me you know sometimes we talk about something written in stone the law was written in stone it's not to be changed it's not to be changed it is there for us yes even for today and that's why you have every one of the laws of Moses are going to be repeated in the New Testament sometimes with a little variation but but that really changes just something bigger came along a bigger redemption for example in the case of Sabbath but stealing was wrong then it's dealing it so wrong adultery was wrong then adultery so drunk worshiping another god was wrong then it's still wrong and we're still called to be righteous because God is righteous

Channel: DrJohnStevenson

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Keywords: Deuteronomy 5, Ten Commandments, 10 commandments, Torah

Id: I1gNIM3AK98

Length: 23min 49sec (1429 seconds)

Published: Wed May 10 2017