Hi, I'm Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to serve as your Bible teacher every day on this great radio station. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. Why should we obey these Ten Commandments?
Why are they just as applicable today as they were 3,500 years ago? God Himself gives the best reasons for obeying the commandment in verses 1 and 2 of Exodus 20. Then God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. Perhaps you remember seeing a copy of the Ten Commandments hanging in your classroom when you were a kid.
Well, sadly, at this point, you won't see that going on right now in public schools. But today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress explains how these simple rules still contain the guiding principles for excelling in your studies and in everyday life. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome to this Tuesday edition of Pathway to Victory. On today's program, I'll continue this brand new series on the Ten Commandments we began yesterday.
It's called the Ten. In the first few books of the Old Testament, we find a long and complicated system of laws that God gave to the Israelites. Frankly, these laws were impossible for anyone to follow perfectly. So why would God establish them in the first place? And why don't all Christians follow them today?
I'm going to answer these questions and more in today's message. You see, in a broken culture like ours, where moral confusion reigns, where right is wrong and wrong is right, we desperately need to get back to the basics of morality. And that's exactly why I wrote my new book about these laws that are commonly referred to as the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments serve as guardrails to keep our lives on track. And when we follow them, God blesses our lives. Now, I'm especially excited about today because today represents the release date nationally for my brand new book.
It's called The Ten. How to live and love in a world that's lost its way. And I'm prepared to send you a copy hot off the press to your home when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. In fact, when you receive this hardbound book, you'll discover that we slipped another resource into the package.
The package will also include a collection of 10 exclusive encouragement cards so that you can carry a reminder of the Ten Commandments in your pocket or purse. We'll say more about my new book and other resources later. But right now, let's open our Bibles to Exodus chapter 20.
I titled today's message How to live and love in a world that's lost its way. The Bible. In this book is everything you need to live life as God intended you to live it, both now and forever. And as we look at God's Word, the most basic list of requirements that God gives us for a fulfilled life. The most basic rules are the Ten Commandments. And today we're going to begin looking at these commandments that I think we need to relook again like never before. If you have your Bibles, you can now turn to Exodus chapter 20.
Now, what is the purpose of this law? You know, all of this talk about the law, the law, obeying God's law, it's probably raising the question in your mind. Pastor, I thought you've said that the Old Testament is old, it's an old covenant, it's not operational today.
That's true. But that doesn't mean the law is evil, that it's bad. Yes, it's true that Paul said in Romans 6.15, we're not under the law, but we're under grace. Jesus said in John 1.17, the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. But the same apostle Paul said in Romans 7.12, the law is holy. 1 Timothy 1.8, Paul said the law is good if one uses the law lawfully.
Let me illustrate what Paul is saying there. How many of you have ever used a jug of Drano before? You know Drano, it's a great product. Is Drano good or bad? It depends how you use it. It's good if you use it to unclog your sink. If you use it to take care of your indigestion, it's bad.
You see, Drano is only good if one uses it rightly, for the right purpose. And it's the same way with the law of God. The law is good for its purpose, but remember, even though the law is good, it's limited in what it could do.
Let me show you what I mean. I want you to write down these three statements on your outline. What was the purpose of the law? The law was given to maintain order, not to transform our heart.
The law was given to maintain order, not to transform our heart. Remember, after the flood, God had destroyed the world through the flood because of the violence that was in the world. Genesis 611, now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.
People killing people. And God said, it's time to obliterate the world and start over again. So he created the ark.
Noah and his family were on the ark for over a year. And when they finally came out, God basically gave mankind a do-over. And he said, we're going to begin again. But in this new world, there has to be order. And Genesis 9 represents the forming of government, a way to keep order in society. Genesis 9, 6 says, here is the first rule. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made man. Here's the point. The law is good.
It has some value. The law may keep you from killing somebody. The fear of being executed yourself may keep you from killing somebody. But it can never keep you from wanting to kill somebody.
Speed limits sign, 70 miles per hour. That may keep you from pressing too hard on the accelerator. But it won't keep you from wanting to do that. It can maintain order, but it can't transform the heart. That's what Paul is saying. Secondly, the law was given to reveal our unrighteousness, not to make us righteous.
The only thing the law can do is show us how unholy we really are. That's what James had in mind when he said in James 1, 23, for if anyone is a hearer of the word, but not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror. For once he has looked at himself and then gone his way, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. A mirror is useful. It can show you that your face is dirty.
But guess what? It's not going to reach for a bar of soap and a wash rag and wash your face for you. It can only reveal how unclean you are. If the law could make us righteous, then we'd have no need for Jesus Christ. That's what Paul said in Galatians 2, 21. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness came through the law, then Christ died needlessly. If the law can make us holy, why do we need Jesus? It can't make us righteous.
Only Christ can. And the third limitation of the law was this. The law was given to lead us to our Savior, not to replace our Savior. Then in Colossians 3, 24 and 25, Paul writes, Therefore the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we no longer are under a tutor. Now, when we think of a tutor, we think of somebody we pay to help our kid out who's flunking algebra. We think of that as a tutor. That's not what the word means here.
It means attendant or slave. In Paul's culture, a slave would escort a child to the teacher. That's what the law is. The law leads us to Jesus, but it could never replace Jesus.
Again, the law is good if one uses it lawfully. Now, when we talk about the law, what exactly are we talking about? This is key to understanding these Ten Commandments. Remember, I said when Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights, he got all of the law.
Everything you find in Deuteronomy and Leviticus, it all was given to Moses on the top of Mount Sinai. But the law was divided into three parts. First of all, you had the civil law. It was for how the nation of Israel was to conduct its affairs, the civil law. Israel was a theocracy. America is not a theocracy. The civil law that God gave Israel has no impact on how we are to live today.
That has been done away with. We're not under that old covenant. There was the civil law. Secondly, there was the ceremonial law. These were the instructions about the endless sacrifices that the Israelites offered to temporarily atone for sin. The goats, the blood of goats and bulls could never wash away our sins. It was only a symbol. They went through these endless sacrifices. They went through these feasts in observance of special days. But they are no longer applicable to us today.
How do I know that? Listen to what Paul says in Colossians 2, 16 and 17. Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. These things which are a mere shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. You know, sometimes you can see somebody coming by their shadow approaching.
But when they come to you, ultimately, do you interact with the shadow or with the person? Well, that's what Paul said. All of these sacrifices, these special days, diets, they simply were a shadow of the Christ who was yet to come. But now that Christ is here, we don't need the shadow. We worship the substance.
That's what he's talking about here. There was the civil law, ceremonial law, but the third part of the law was the moral law. That is how we are to conduct our personal lives. And those laws are still operational today.
How do I know it? Because the New Testament repeats those laws for personal behavior. Jesus alluded to or quoted all of the Ten Commandments with the exception of one. And Jesus came not to nullify the law.
Get this. He didn't come to nullify the law. He came to amplify the moral law. Remember we saw that in the Sermon on the Mount? Jesus said, you've heard it said, thou shall not commit adultery.
I say to you, whoever looks on another person with lust has committed adultery in his heart. He was amplifying the meaning. Jesus said, you've heard it said, do not murder. I say to you, everyone who is angry toward his brother is guilty before the law.
He amplified. And then he also clarified some of the moral law. And that specifically relates to the Ten Commandments. Jesus never repeated the commandment, keep the Sabbath, keep it holy. Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. Because the day was going to change under the New Testament.
But as we'll see in a moment, the principle of work and worship still remains. When we talk about the law, we're talking about the moral law. And the Ten Commandments is the summation of that moral law of God. Remember in Matthew 22, somebody asked Jesus, Lord, what is the greatest commandment? He said, here is the greatest commandment. You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, your soul, and your mind. And the second is likened to it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. That's a summary of the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments deal with how do we love God with all of our hearts. And the sixth deal with how we're to love our neighbor as ourself. I think it's well past time for us to tap the Ten Commandments not only up in our school rooms, but in our own hearts and minds, and to pass these rules onto our children and our grandchildren. Now, I'm going to give you in these final few moments just a preview of coming attractions. Let's look at these Ten Commandments in about three minutes or less, okay?
Write them down. The first command, the most foremost command, esteem God alone. You shall have no other gods before me. You may think, well, I don't worship other gods.
Think again. An idol is anything we love or follow more than we love Jesus Christ. That's what an idol is, and the most foundational requirement for living is to have no other gods before the true God. The second command is worship God only. Verses four and five, you shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven or on earth or beneath the water, under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.
Now, some people, even some Christian groups, combine these two, but they're not the same. The first command tells us whom we're going to worship. The second command is how we're going to worship the true God. It's possible to worship the correct God in an incorrect way.
Many people think they're worshipping God when, in fact, they're worshipping only an image of God, an expression of God, and we're going to talk about how that applies to us. Thirdly, revere God's name. Exodus 20, verse 7, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave unpunished those who take his name in vain. We all think of this in terms of don't curse and use God's name in a curse.
That's one application, but it's not the only application. There are many ways we use God's name recklessly and needlessly, and we'll talk about that. The fourth command, value God's day. Remember the Sabbath, verse 8, and keep it holy. For in six days, verse 11, the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord God blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Though the day has changed, the principle hasn't changed. We need one day a week to focus on worship and relaxation. The next command has to do with how we're to treat one another. Honor your parents. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be prolonged and the day which the Lord your God gives you. We know children are to obey their parents, but what about single adults who are no longer living at home? What about young adults who have their own families? How do they or should they still honor their parents?
What if your parents are dead? Is it still possible to obey this command? We'll discuss all of that. The next command, preserve life. You shall not murder.
A very specific word there. How does this command relate to self-defense, to war, to suicide, to abortion? There are many ramifications of this command. The next command, you shall not commit adultery. Keep marriage holy. We've all witnessed the attempt to expand the definition of marriage to include two men or two women. We know that's wrong, but you know what's interesting is even those who follow an unbiblical definition of marriage will agree with us that the greatest single threat to a marriage relationship, however you define it, is adultery, unfaithfulness.
How do we avoid the trap of unfaithfulness in marriage? Next, respect the property of others. You shall not steal. You know, the right to personal property is enshrined in the Fifth Amendment of our Constitution, but it came long before that in God's Word.
God is the one who expounded on the concept of personal property. And then, protect the reputation of others. Verse 16, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Have you noticed that with social media today you can destroy somebody?
You can obliterate their reputation in a nanosecond, by a tweet, by a post. We're going to talk about how that commandment applies today. And finally, control yourself and be content. You shall not covet your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor. You know, look at most any other sin, adultery, theft, murder.
Whatever the sin, at the root of it is a feeling of discontent with your present circumstance, wanting something more, wanting something different than what God has provided for you. And in this final message, we'll talk about how to develop that attitude of contentment. Why should we obey these Ten Commandments?
Why are they just as applicable today as they were 3,500 years ago? God Himself gives the best reasons for obeying the commandment in verses 1 and 2 of Exodus 20. Then God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God. The first reason we're obligated to keep these commandments is because God is our Lord. I am the Lord your God. You see, the ruler gets to make the rules. We have an obligation to serve God. John Ortberg says it much more eloquently than I could. He said, the reality of this world is that I was born into somebody else's kingdom.
Let those words sink in. I was born into somebody else's kingdom. My life came to me as a gift I didn't choose.
It is suspended from a slender thread that I did not weave and cannot on my own sustain. That's why we obey the commands, because God said to. God is our Lord. Secondly, God said, obey me because God has set us free. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. He said, Israelites, remember, the reason I freed you is not so you can go out and serve yourself. It's so that you can serve me and experience the blessing of doing so.
And the same thing is true for us. That's the whole point of Romans 6, 7, and 8. Paul said, before you became a Christian, you were slaves to sin. Satan was your taskmaster, and he is a cruel taskmaster. But Christ paid the price to redeem you out of slavery, not so that you could serve yourself, but so that you could serve me and appreciate and enjoy the benefits of doing so.
We all serve somebody. We're either going to serve Satan or we're going to serve God, and that's the choice before us. You know, we often talk about disobedience. We describe disobedience as breaking God's commandments.
Have you heard that? People talk about breaking God's commandments. The truth is, it's impossible to break God's commandments. God's commandments remain strong and firm.
The psalmist said, thy word is established forever in heaven. You cannot break God's commands. You can only break yourself upon God's commands. Could I tell you what I see as a pastor? Every week, I see people, not only non-Christians, but Christians, who are experiencing the carnage of breaking themselves on God's commands.
They experience unwanted divorces, unending regrets, unrealized dreams, all because they've chosen to say no to God's most basic commands in life. Which is it going to be for you? Are you going to experience God's blessing in your life or God's judgment in your life? Moses said it this way, the choice that is before every one of us in Deuteronomy 11. See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but you turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today.
The choice is simple. If you listen to God's commandments, you will choose God's blessing. But those who disobey choose God's judgment instead. We're just getting started in our brand new teaching series about the Ten Commandments. And I know you agree, nothing is more pertinent than returning to these proven guardrails for life. The increasing number of school shootings, gender confusion among boys and girls, and soaring drug addictions, these things aren't accidental.
They are the result of ignoring the laws of God. In light of these tragic outcomes, it's important to take a fresh look at the Ten Commandments. And when you give to Pathway to Victory, you're empowering us to share these fresh thoughts to a world desperately in need. Plus, when you give a gift today, I'm going to send you my brand new book for this teaching series.
Again, it's simply called The Ten. David will give all the details in just a moment. First, I want to share a word of encouragement to all of you who make these daily programs a reality. Henry recently wrote to us and said, I always had doubts about my salvation, a misunderstanding about what true faith, saving faith, really is. I'm not a person who cries, but when I heard one of your messages about salvation, I broke down right there. I finally understood what saving faith really is.
I know I am saved now because I trust in the blood of Jesus Christ. Isn't that wonderful? And to those of you who support Pathway to Victory, this man's story of spiritual victory involves you as well, because you're the ones who make this ministry possible.
David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You're invited to request the brand new book from Dr. Robert Jeffress titled The Ten, how to live and love in a world that has lost its way when you give a generous gift to Pathway to Victory. Call us at 866-999-2965 or visit our website at ptv.org.
Now, when you give an especially generous gift of $100 or more, we'll also include the complete teaching series, The Ten, on audio and video discs, plus a study guide to use for personal or group study. Call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. Now, you could also send your request by mail right to PO Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. One more time, that's PO Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
I'm David J. Mullins. What's at the top of your priority list? Well, join us next time when we'll discover what it looks like to have no other gods before God himself. That's coming up Wednesday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Imagine waking up to the sight of Alaska's majestic coastline or spotting wildlife from the deck of a luxurious cruise ship. Experience these unforgettable moments on the Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska with Dr. Robert Jeffress. Relax with us in Alaska and I guarantee you'll come home spiritually and physically refreshed. To book your spot on the 2024 Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska, go to ptv.org.
