Ten Commandments and the 21st Century (Exodus 20:1-6)

Ever notice how easily “God” turns into a supporting character in our story? We open Exodus 20 by slowing down at the starting line, where God names Himself, asserts His authority, and reminds Israel that He redeemed them from slavery. That context changes everything: the Ten Commandments are not dusty relics or cultural leftovers. They reveal God’s holiness, confront our favorite excuses, and push us toward the only One who fulfills the law perfectly, Jesus Christ.

We unpack why God gives the law in the first place: to display His glory, to expose human sin with uncomfortable clarity, and to provide a standard for godly living. Along the way we talk about what the law cannot do, it cannot justify you, cannot produce righteousness, and cannot give real peace. If you’ve ever been intimidated by the “moral” person who seems fine without Christ, we explain why appearances can’t heal the conscience, and why the gospel is not an upgrade but a rescue.

Then we camp on the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me,” and show why it functions as the foundation for the other nine. We also challenge five common distortions that derail faith: God as an eager bellhop, a stern teacher, an impersonal scientist, a doting grandfather, or a Mr. Fixit we use when life breaks. If you’re wrestling with honesty, coveting, or contentment, we connect those struggles to where allegiance truly sits. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review with the biggest “false view” you’ve caught in your own thinking.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:44

So God in Exodus chapter 20 says, I want you to understand who I am. I am Yahweh. I am Elohim. I am powerful. I am in sovereign control, and you are my people. You belong to me. And on the basis of the preeminence of his character, he graciously reminds them of his provision. He says, in case you've forgotten, uh the power of Elohim,

God’s Name And Authority;

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remember verse 2b, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. Did you forget?

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart. Today we're entering the Ten Commandments. These commandments are not outdated. They're not irrelevant. They reveal the very character of God. They expose the depth of our sin. And they point us straight to the one who fulfills them all. Jesus Christ. Today Stephen opens with the first commandment. You shall have no other gods before me. He'll help us see why this command is the foundation for everything else God says. You may discover false views of God lurking in your own thinking. Today's lesson is called Ten Commandments and the Twenty-First Century.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

I don't know what that had to do with the news convention, but he got off on the subject. He told the members of the National Newspaper Association, quote, We're living without moted rules. The rules we're living under are the Ten Commandments, and I bet nobody here even pays much attention to them because they are too old. Today, the commandments would never go over because nobody likes to be commanded. Commandments

Why God Gives The Law;

SPEAKER_01 2:57

are out. So he listed ten rules of his own and he calls them the ten voluntary initiatives. I would submit that he is not only misinformed, but I doubt he has ever sat down and looked at them and perhaps even knows what they say. I read a survey that less than 50% of everyone who attends church can list even four of the ten commandments. So is the problem that they do not apply, or is the problem we do not know what they say, and we've never taken time to look. Because we are going through the book of Exodus, we now approach the 20th chapter, and it is going to be delightful to spend time studying each of the Ten Commandments, and we are going to see how they apply to our lives. The first thing we need to do is take an overview of these Ten Commandments and answer the question: why did God give the law? We studied all of the fireworks in the previous chapter, and now he is about to give his revelation. Why did he give mankind the law? Three reasons. There are more, but I've pretty much boiled it down to these three. First of all, to reveal his glory and his holiness. Ultimately, everything that God says, everything that he reveals, everything that he commands, everything that he demands, gives himself glory and honor. And everything that we are to do in life is to reflect his purpose, and that is to glorify and honor him. So these ultimately provide the foundation where his name, his power, his purity, his character can receive glory and honor. The second reason is to reveal man's sinfulness. It's easy for us as humans to rationalize any sin or any activity that we may participate in, but you match up to the Ten Commandments, and it reveals that none of us are perfect, and we cannot rationalize what we do. The Bible calls them sins. They are a violation of God's commandments. My wife and I were watching a documentary that had an interview in there with a man who had killed several people. And they were talking about this individual's life and how he is, in some ways, very intellectually intelligent, he is sharp, he has earned a degree, and he finally had a chance to appear before one particular courtroom, and they were doing a dramatization of that appearance in court. And it was interesting that this man who has put a number of people in the grave stood and he said, I know I knifed that person, I know I shot that person, but I am not at fault. It is the system that has created what I am. Well, we look at that and we think, man, is he ever dodging the issue? Perhaps, but you and I also rationalize things that we do. For instance, the command says, Thou shalt not steal. Well, none of us would claim that we're liars, uh, but yet we would cheat on an income tax report. We would uh adjust the hours that we work so that our employer doesn't get a full forty. We may find other ways, but we would never consider ourselves uh liars. The Bible says not to steal. And we would never consider ourselves thieves, but are there areas where we in fact take what does not belong to us? Would we consider ourselves covetours, and yet do we look at those things that belong to others and secretly desire them? You see, the commandments are what we could call straight talk from God to mankind. And he really doesn't pull any punches. The bottom line is whether or not we will apply them to every area of our lives. You can take a plumb line and you can hang it next to a wall, and that plumb line will reveal how crooked the wall is. The plumb line cannot make that wall straight, it can only reveal that it's crooked. That's the nature of the Ten Commandments. They are revealing that in our nature which is crooked, which is deceitful, which cannot be rationalized away. Why is that? It is to reveal our sinfulness so that ultimately we will come to Jesus Christ, who is the fulfiller of the law and find in Him salvation. There's a third reason, and that is to reveal a standard, a principle for godly living. It's fascinating as I've begun studying these commandments that the first four reveal the relationship that we are to have with God. The next six, or the final six, reveal our relationship that we are to have with one another. So the foundation for these commands are that you are to have no other gods before you. You are not to create some other image, you are not to take his name in vain, you are to assign a day of worship and rest to him, and on the basis of what we now have in relationship with him, now we will not kill, we will not steal, we will not covet, etc. So the beginning and the foundation is a relationship with God, a principle that reveals the standard whereby we can live in a way that pleases God. Now, uh the law is uh compared to a mirror, it reveals man's sin. James chapter 1, verse 23

The Law Exposes Our Sin;

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talks about looking into the mirror of the word, and we should never look into it and see our reflection and leave, forgetting to put into practice what we have learned. So the law, that which is perfect, the standard, reveals uh who we are. My favorite painter is Norman Rockwell, and he has a painting that has always fascinated me. It is the lady standing at the counter at the butcher shop, and the butcher has a turkey on the scale, and they are smiling at each other, and at first glance everything looks just right. The lady's dressed all properly, and the butcher's wearing his apron and his cap. But if you look closely, you will notice behind the turkey the butcher's thumb pressing down, and you will notice the lady discreetly pushing up. It is interesting when you consider that those individuals would never call themselves thieves. And yet, when you look into the mirror of the word, its perfect standard reveals man's sin and sin nature. It also is compared in Scripture to a yoke, and that is disobedience to the law brings bondage. In bondage to sin. It is also compared to a schoolmaster. The schoolmaster in the New Testament time was usually a trained slave that would take the children of the household and prepare them for adulthood. He is saying that the law is, in a sense, a trained slave of his character, and it prepares you for the way of Christ, who is the only one that can ever fulfill it. And finally, the the law is compared to letters written on stone in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, as compared to the new law, the summation of the law, that is the law of love that is written on our hearts. Now remember, before we even begin this study, that the law cannot do several things. I'm sure you are aware of this. I fear we failed to apply it. First of all, it can never justify from sin. Keeping all of the law could never declare a man righteous. That must be an act whereby a righteous God gives us the declaration of righteousness, and that is justification. It also can never give righteousness, that is perfectness. And thirdly, it could never produce peace. Following the law can never produce peace. And let me apply that. You and I are so often intimidated, we are fooled by that moral person who may live next to us, who may work down the hall from us, who seems to be the epitome of clean living. And yet, if they do not know Jesus Christ, don't be fooled. They do not have peace of mind. If you got behind the facade, if you got beneath that veneer, you would find a person who has difficulty in their thoughts. In fact, the scripture talks about one who, by the law, can never receive a perfected conscience. And so you may think, man, they've got it together. They don't really need what I've got. Don't be fooled. They need Jesus Christ. Because even though they are seemingly the standard of morality, they do not have a clear, perfected conscience that only comes from knowing Christ. With that said, now, as foundation, let's take a look at Exodus chapter 20, and we will cover the first commandment, the remainder of our time. The first commandment is, well, let's begin with verse 20 and work our way there. Or verse 1 of chapter 20. Then God spoke all these words, saying. And here is what I want to give you the presupposition of faith in that first verse. I'm going to give you several points. The first is, then God spoke all these words. And when I read that and studied the way he would introduce his revelation, everything in Genesis, the first three chapters, are so hard to swallow by the liberal or the critic or the scoffer because they have never come to grips with the very first verse. In the beginning, God. It is in the basis of faith in that God that I can believe that He created all of the things that He said He created. And you take that same thought to Exodus chapter 20. It is on the basis of the fact that God spoke these commands. And I believe that God gave these commands as revelation. Then on that basis, I can now believe. It is wrong

What The Law Cannot Do;

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to kill. It is wrong to steal. It is wrong to covet. But that is built on faith in God. So at the very beginning, we are speaking to the believer, the one who has acknowledged faith in God, that can ever hope to apply the principles in this chapter. The second thing is the preeminence of God. Look at verse 2. He says, I am the Lord your God. I am Yahweh. Elohim. I am preeminent. He says, I am the one that brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You see how that is built upon the truth? Not only that we believe God exists, but that He is our Yahweh. He is preeminent in our lives. He is our Elohim. He is the master of our life. There are many false conceptions of God, and I am speaking to the believer. Conceptions that make it impossible to apply revelation from God because we view God in a wrong fashion. In fact, I think he is beginning the commandments by trying to straighten out the perception of the people as to who he is. I want to take time to give you five false conceptions of who God is. You may discover in your own thinking, your own heart, one or more of these conceptions. Let me give them to you. The first we could call an eager bellhop. I do not mean to be sarcastic, but I think that that sums up an attitude that many people have toward God. This is the individual who carries your baggage. This person never argues with you because you are the person in charge, not him. And all he could ever hope for, perhaps, is a smile, a pat on the back, and maybe a tip. But you have him around because he conveniently helps. The mistake is, ladies and gentlemen, in forgetting that this is a sovereign God. We should never fool ourselves into assuming that whatever we think is right, he thinks is right. In fact, Joshua one time was about to go into battle, and you remember in Joshua chapter 5, verse 14, the angel of the Lord appeared, which is a pre-incarnate form of Jesus Christ, and he appears with a sword drawn, and Joshua says this. He says, Whose side are you on, theirs or ours? And the answer is incredible. The angel of the Lord says, Neither. I command the hosts of heaven. You see, that's something that we need to straighten out in our thinking. It is not that he is on our side, it is that we are on his side and we claim allegiance to him. He is the sovereign God. The point is of that passage. Not whose side the Lord is on, but whose side we are on. We don't demean his sovereignty. He is not a bellhop. He doesn't carry our baggage. He is a master. He is a sovereign, powerful God. I think another one is a stern teacher, a school teacher. This is the kind of individual you remember, you had one or two of them that determined to ruin your life. I had one of those in junior high school, she was my science teacher. She was brilliant, and she made that known to everyone. And if you ever asked a question that seemed less than intelligent, she quickly put you in your place. And I was prone to ask questions that were less than intelligent. So after the first week, I determined never to ask another question, and to this day I hate that Adam chart. Some of you had teachers like that. We we view God perhaps as a stern teacher, some some killjoy who uh who makes life miserable because he always wants to teach us lessons that are way too difficult. And if I ever ask a question, he makes me seem ridiculously foolish. Coming to church to worship him is an obligation. It's a drudgery. Perhaps you've watched on public television Lake Wobagan Days, Garrison Keeler, he nicknamed the church he went to because it was a drudgery, it was a difficulty. God was someone less than enjoyable. He nicknamed his church Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility. Jesus Christ said, Come to me, all you that are weary and heavy laden, and I will make life difficult for you. No, he said, I will give you a rest. The person who views God as that stern school teacher is someone who does not understand the compassion of God. And mind you, men and women, our perception of who God is affects our lives, affects the way we think and act. Let me give you another one. Let's call this one the impersonal scientist.

Faith Begins With God Speaking;

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This is the individual, somewhat like the other one, who has vast knowledge, who is very intelligent and intellectual but not emotional. This is the individual who seems far removed from the events of our lives. He is a thinker, he is brilliant, but he could never know how to communicate to me. And I really think that for an individual like this man I quoted at the beginning, who says that these things never relate, that is perhaps his perception of God, some far removed, brilliant person who does not know how to communicate with mankind and doesn't really know how to straighten things out. We also forget what is said of our God in Hebrews chapter 4, that we have a high priest who can sympathize with all of our difficulties because he was touched in every point, like we are. Let me give you another one. We'll call this one a doting grandfather. Picture in your mind, those of you that are grandparents, you can easily do this, although you may not admit it. An individual who loves the grandchildren so much that just about anything goes so long as they acknowledge your love. Just to sit on your lap. Nanny, as the kids call my mother-in-law, was in the living room and we had just gotten in. I think the kids were there alone with her all day, and Candace was in her lap. And uh I was kind of walking through the living room, and I heard Nanny say uh to Candace to get down and go do something. I I heard this pause, and you know pauses or very loud things? And then I heard this no and I stopped and went turned around, and about the time I turned around, I saw Nanny kind of look at her, and then they broke into laughter and they hugged, and Nanny said, Isn't she so cute? She's got a mind of her own. I wanted to send Nanny to her room. This is the view of God that he will just pat us on the head and let us do whatever we want. He's just so happy we say he is our God, and we're in the family. This individual finds it very difficult to apply the Ten Commandments because he figures that God will let him off. God is not a grandpa, and he hears and sees everything. I was reading of a gentleman, a grandfather who lived with his family, and uh he was he was losing his hearing, and uh the family sort of ignored him, and he would sit over in his rocker and rock away and unable to really hear what was going on. And finally, one day he decided it was time to fix that, and he went down and he bought him a couple of hearing aids, and uh he could hear wonderfully. He came back a couple of weeks later to just get a checkup, and and the doctor said, How's it going? And he said, Wonderful, I can hear everything. And he's the doctor said, Your family must be uh so happy, and he said, I haven't told my family yet. I've just been sitting around listening. And he said, I've changed my will two times already. No, that's not God. Cute, but not him. He is God. The last one that I would give you is that God is uh kind of a Mr. Fixit. He's uh He's there whenever you get into a jam. He's not there the rest of the time. He's the kind of person you often hear people talking about, how they got into a difficulty and they prayed and something wonderful happened. But you wonder, where is God the rest of the time? He's sort of like a rabbit's foot that you carry around. You can call his name if you need something, if you need a job, if you need something to work out, you know, all of that, then you go running to God and he'll fix everything. It is that view of him that distorts our perspective. In fact, the Israelites had that problem in 1 Samuel chapter 4. Uh they were having to

Five False Views Of God;

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battle the Philistines and they were having difficulty. And so what did they do? They ran back and they got the ark. And they said, Ah, if we can just bring this ark, which is the representation of God's power and holiness, into battle with us, we'll win. No problem. And God allowed them to lose. He is not a lucky charm, he is not a God that comes along and you can use him whenever you want to to make everything just perfect. He's not a Mr. Fixit, He is a sovereign God. You can see how believing different perceptions of God changes the way we view revelation from God, can't you? So, God in Exodus chapter 20 says, I want you to understand who I am. I am Yahweh, I am Elohim, I am powerful, I am in sovereign control, and you are my people. You belong to me. And on the basis of the preeminence of his character, he graciously reminds them of his provision. He says, In case you've forgotten the power of Elohim, remember verse 2b, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. Did you forget? I make a claim on you because I am the one who brought you out of Egypt. I parted the waters. I brought the plagues. I gave you liberty. I have a right to be your God. Ladies and gentlemen, all those of you that have named Jesus Christ as your Savior, He has all rights in your life. He brought you out of the house of the slave. He has forgiven. He has redeemed you. You now belong to Him. He has provided so much. Don't forget. And then I think the command could be summarized this way, and that is the prominence of God. Let's look at verse 3 again. You shall have no other gods before me. Isn't that a logical conclusion of everything we said? In light of who he is, his preeminence and his provision, in light of all of that and the presupposition of faith in him as God, doesn't it make sense that he would say, now I am to be the only one? He would take Israel out of a polytheistic world, that is many gods, and he would make them monotheistic, that is, one God. He says, I am the true God, so don't have any others trailing along. I'm it. Luther, of course, applied this to contemporary man by saying, That is a God to whom you cherish and you yield your life. That is who your God is. God says, I want you cherishing me. I alone hold the right to that position. He says, I don't want any other gods before me. The words before me, Alpine, could be translated in my face. Let's draw. I don't want any gods in my face. And who go on in the next commandments that we'll look at and explain that in detail? He's it. He alone is sovereign. Let's wrap it up with two thoughts. First of all, the Ten Commandments are universal, absolute truths. They are not changeable, they do not fluctuate between cultures. These are absolute because God is the God of the universe. He is the creator of all men. And because of that, he has not only given us written revelation, but the writers of Scripture say He has written the law on our hearts. And that is in Romans chapter 1 a perfect illustration of that person who does not know Jesus Christ, but who knows the law. You go to some remote tribe in some distant country, and you get into that tribe and you observe as missionaries have shared with us, and you will find that they know it is wrong to steal. It is wrong to commit adultery. And with that come certain penalties. They don't have this. It is a universal, absolute truth that is not only here, but it is on the hearts of men and women. No one in America could ever claim that it is right to lie because they know in their hearts it is wrong. In fact, because of that, our sin nature yields or produces in us a tendency to what? To lie. Did you teach your child how to lie? Where did he pick it up? Did you teach them to steal? Where do they grab that one from? There is a law, and with that is the opposition to that law within every human being. These are universal. Absolute truths. And as this individual said, commandments are out because nobody likes to be commanded, and that is very true. The absolutes are being thrown out. No one likes yes and no. We want all of it gray. Whatever makes you happy, whatever you think you ought to do, the authority is gone. Because this book is, in effect, gone from their lives. Note this as well. Number two. The first commandment, as I've mentioned, is the foundation for the other nine. That is my perspective of who God is. My acknowledgement to God is the sovereign God in my life. That then produces the foundation for me now not to steal, not to kill, not to covet, not to commit adultery. Why all of those things? How is it that I will never commit those if that possible? Why? Because I have yielded to the first commandment, which is the foundation. That God is sovereign God in my life. Let me ask you a question. Do you have a problem with honesty? Do you have a problem with coveting? Do you have difficulty with stealing? Do you know where we go to find the foundation for a solution? In acknowledging that God is to be the sovereign God in your life. By yielding to Him, I now have the basis whereby I can live honestly. I can live contentedly. This is the foundation for the other nine.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

That was Stephen Davey, and this is Wisdom for the Heart. Have you ever had a question about the Bible and didn't know where to turn? Maybe a passage puzzled you. Maybe a doctrinal question keeps coming up. Well, we've built a tool to help you with exactly that. It's called the Bible Answer Tool. It searches through Stephen's teaching and gives you clear biblical answers. You simply visit wisdomonline.org slash ask and type in your question. Within seconds, you'll have an answer rooted in Scripture.org slash ask and then join us next time.