The Life Giving and Life Guiding Eternal Principles Behind Each Commandment

Very nice. Please be seated now for the main message of the sermon. Our pastor Randy Delosandro. Reverend, today we want to continue on with our series in the Book of Deuteronomy. We've not been there for a while. I actually largely prepared this sermon the night, the day that I went into the hospital. I haven't been able to get it, but we're going to go through it now. I've used the preacher's outline and sermon Bible commentary and also the teacher's commentary in the preparation of this sermon. To give you a little bit of a background before we jump into it, and we're going to be at the very end of Deuteronomy 4.

Where we are in Deuteronomy is Moses and the children of Israel, but he's not going to be able to go into the Promised Land. But Moses on the other side of the Jordan is giving the children of Israel instruction as to what they need to be doing to be the people of God. He's giving a series of three sermons that encompass almost the whole book of Deuteronomy.

Now, to this point, we've gone through chapter 1, verse 1, through chapter 4, verse 43. And that's one sermon. Maybe you think, my sermons are long, but that's one sermon. Chapter 1 through chapter 4. We are now going to start the second sermon Moses gave. It starts in chapter 4, verse 44, and it goes through chapter 26, verse 19. That's really a long sermon. The first sermon, what God has done for Israel. What God has done for Israel. You know, bringing them out of slavery. The second sermon, which we're starting today in chapter 4 and verse 44, the theme for this whole section of Scripture, a large section of Scripture, 20-some chapters, is what God expects of Israel.

So here they are. They are just across the Jordan, just across from the city of Jericho. They're about ready to enter the Promised Land, and Moses, who's still with them, wants to enlighten them as to what they need to do to be successful in their new country. One of the things Moses, and the reason I'm giving this is because we're going to quickly get into chapter 5 of Deuteronomy.

And I was thinking, how do I go through chapter 5? Because in chapter 5, you obviously have got the Ten Commandments. And so, as I wrote in an email to you a couple, either last week, I think it was two weeks ago, in my midweek Bible study series, I made mention that I wanted to go through the Ten Commandments a little differently than I have in the past.

What I want to do is give the principles behind each of the commandments. And I'm not trying to say here that the principles I'm going to discuss to you today are an exhaustive list. These are some major principles behind each of those commandments. And so, as I was thinking about chapter 5, which is talking largely about the law of God, I got to thinking about law.

And the reason why Moses wanted the people to really listen intently to the Second Giving of the law. Law is the foundation of any society. It's the glue that holds people together. It's the law that controls people's behavior, if they will allow it to control their behavior. Telling them what's right and what's wrong, what to do, what not to do. The law enables people to relate together, to work together, to build together, again, if they properly follow law, and they have the right law. Obedience to the law was needed when the Israelites entered and settled in the Promised Land. They were destined to become a great nation of people if they would do just one thing.

Follow the law of God. Now, as I said to you months ago when we started this journey through the book of Deuteronomy, I wanted to go through this book, you know, maybe one chapter or so a month on the Sabbath. It would take a couple of years to do this. But I wanted to do it because Deuteronomy is not just some old ancient book in the Old Testament.

Deuteronomy speaks to us today. The same thing is true for us as New Testament, New Covenant Christians, as it was true for them back then. If we obey the law of God, as God has designed His law, we will live successfully.

We'll be the people that God can be very pleased in. So Moses therefore summoned all the people together. He wanted them to listen to the law of God. He wanted them to renew their commitment to keeping the law of God. Brethren, that's something you and I should always keep in mind. Not just that Passover time, not just that during the Holy Day seasons as they come to us.

But, you know, one of the things we can do every Sabbath is think about our commitment to the law and the ways of God, to renew our commitment to God. And of course, as you take a look at the theme, the overall theme of the law of God, the overall theme is the theme of love. You know, in the New Testament we read where God is love.

God expressed Himself in this beautiful law, which is a law of love. But God also said something interesting. I'm not going to turn to the verse. You might want to just jot it down in your notes. We're going to go through a great number of verses here today, so I don't want to turn to every one. But in Exodus 20, where we have the original giving of the law, chapter 20 and verse 5, I just want to read you a portion of that verse that says, For you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.

Then God says something very curious about Himself. God says, For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. God says He is a jealous God. Now, what does that mean? God is a jealous God. The Hebrew wording there portrays a very strong emotion, even a passionate emotion and desire. God has a, when God, and it says that God is jealous, it means that God has an intense love. He has a high level of commitment and demands expression in a relationship that excludes all others. God is it. Now, we can have other loyalties in our lives, but when it comes to the supreme loyalty, God says, I am a jealous God. I am passionate about this.

You cannot have anything on the same level as me or above me. And the reason God is so passionate about that is because He knows if we do that, if we have something on the same level as Him or higher than Him, that hurts us.

And God is passionate about not wanting us to be hurt. Not long-term. I mean, God allows us to live in this world of pain and suffering, but it's for an ultimately good cause for us to learn. So God is very passionate about being a jealous God and for us to understand what that means. Okay, that's a little bit of background. Let's now get into the very tail end of chapter 4 of Deuteronomy, which serves as an introduction to chapter 5 in the law of God.

Chapter 4, verse 44. Now, we're starting the second sermon of Moses, what God expects from Israel. Verse 44. Now, this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel. These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which Moses spoke to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt.

Now, I want you to notice the time frame here of the message. Now, of course, we're talking about the second generation. The first generation died in a wilderness. We're now looking at the second generation. But Moses wants to remind them about having their family, and they as little ones, came out of Egypt. They came out of Egypt. And, you know, it's not really that far removed from their history. God wants them to realize they are a special, distinctive people. And, brethren, we are a special, distinctive people.

What's going to make them special and distinctive is they're keeping the law of God. And as they keep the law of God, they are to be an example to the nations around them. And the same thing is true for us. As we keep the law of God, as we obey God's law and His commandments, His judgments and the statutes, we become an example to those people around us.

So, when we're reading Deuteronomy here, we're not just reading something that has historical background and emphasis. We're reading something that is for our day today. Verse 46, Who Moses and the children of Israel defeated after they came out of Egypt, and they took possession of the land, and the land of Og, king of Beshan, two kings of the Amorites, who were on this side of the Jordan toward the rising of the sun, on the eastern side. And so, what Moses here is conveying to the people here in verses 46 and 47 is they have been successful.

They have been successful because they were allowing themselves to obey God. They were allowing themselves to follow God, and Moses wants them to remember as long as they keep on doing that. Now, they're not going to be perfect in their obedience. As long as they keep on doing that, they can go from one success to another. Verse 48, And from Aror, which is on the bank of the river Arnon, even to Mount Siam, which is Hermon, and all the plain of the east side of the Jordan as far as the sea of Arabah, and now below the slopes of Pisgah.

So there we've got a little bit of the geography there. Now we get into chapter 5. And chapter 5 again is very instructive for us as New Testament, New Covenant Christians. Chapter 5, verse 1, And Moses called all Israel, Note, all Israel, And said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the judgments, which I speak in your hearing today, That you may learn them, be careful to observe them. So notice there are three words here. They want, you know, they are to hear, they are to learn, they are to observe or do.

And notice also in verse 1 there, And Moses called all Israel, He called men, He called women, He called the children. And that has been something that we in the Church of God have held dear over the generations. You know, we've had Sabbath classes, you know, when we've had little ones we've had Sabbath classes, But typically we'll have our Sabbath classes either before or after services.

Because during Church we want everybody in the same room. We want men, we want women, we want kids, we want to be taught as families, sitting together as families. As it says here, all Israel, one big family. And it says here, they are to hear. The word hear means to hear intelligently.

In other words, to really pay very careful attention to what is being said, To the various nuances of what is being said. To be diligent in our listening, not to be lazy in our listening, but to be diligent in our listening. And brethren, isn't that true for us today? When we're coming to services and we're listening to sermonettes and sermons, And even before and after church when we're having discussion with our brothers and sisters.

When we're having discussion with other people of like-minded who have the Spirit of God in them, We need to be people who actually hear. Hear intently. Hear intelligently. Then it says here in verse 1 that they are to not only be there to hear, But it says they are to learn. I speak in your hearing to this day that you may learn them, the statutes and judgments.

The idea here in the Hebrew about learning is to not only grasp the information, But to let it really soak into our hearts and minds. We are to listen intelligently. We are to listen to the nuances.

We are to be just really taking everything in and then letting it all soak into our consciousness. Again, that's work. When we do it properly. And then it says here that they are to carefully observe these things. They are to do those things. Which means they are to put those things into action in such a way that their hearing, their learning leads to obedience. The same concept is true in the New Testament. The whole concept of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. And all of us in this room, we view ourselves as disciples of Jesus Christ. A disciple in the New Testament terminology was not one who just came to listen. It was one who came to listen so that they could do.

Listen so that we can do. Which is an aggressive form of listening. So again, this is very much for us today. Now we go down to verses 2 and 3. Verse 2, The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.

Notice, The Lord our God made a covenant with us. Now in one sense, in a very real sense, they're the second generation. But Moses is now turning present tense on them. He said, look, your parents have died in the wilderness. What we're about to go through now is for you. It is for you. Let's not think about mom and dad. They're dead, they're gone, they're buried, they're not going to come into the Promised Land. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. They were little kids then. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us.

Again, what Moses means by that, obviously God was making a covenant with their parents, but their parents didn't obey. So Moses is now saying, look, what's past is past. Now I want all of you to listen very carefully. He made a covenant with us who are here today. All of us who are alive. So what Moses is talking about now is present tense. He knows he's going to start reiterating the law of God. And the law of God revolves around timeless, eternal principles.

Today we're going to look at the first four commandments, and we're going to look at seven principles that are involved in those four commandments. The first commandment we'll see one. I'm not saying these are an end-all. You may see other principles there. This is maybe a starting point, but in commandment number one I'm going to talk about one principle.

In commandment number two I'll talk about one principle. In commandment number three I'll talk about two principles. And in commandment number four, the second commandment we'll talk about three principles. Seven altogether. They help us understand the timeless nature of the law of God. That's why we say the law of God has never been done away. Why would you do away with something that has beautiful, eternal truth? Why would you do away with something like that?

There's no need for that. Okay, verse four. Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 4. The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. Now again, they were little kids at that time. But the point that Moses wants to get across is, look, this is not something that I'm giving to you secondhand, thirdhand, fourthhand. You were there. You may have been little kids. You may have been hiding behind your mom and your dad because it was kind of a scary situation.

A cloud coming down, tremendous claps of thunder, lightning, power, the earth shaking and quaking. So much so that your moms and your dads said, Moses, you go up and you talk to that God. If we talk to him, we're going to die. But the point is, Moses said, look, folks, you were there, and as a nation, God talked to us face to face. No one can say, well, we didn't have the word directly from him.

Oh, yes, we did. God came and talked face to face. Never did that before. God coming down and talking to a whole nation of people. Guys, God realizes how it can be. You talk to one person, and he talks to a person, and he talks to a person, but pretty soon after the 20th giving, things are failing. So God says, I came to you and I talked face to face. And I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire.

You did not go up to the mountain. So Moses here acts as a mediator. Much like Jesus Christ acts as a mediator of the new covenant, Moses acted as a mediator of the old covenant. Verse 6, he said, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. So God wants very much for these folks to remember who delivered them. He wants them to remember they came out of a very bad situation. They were in national slavery. And he wants them to know that they are about to go into their own land, and they can have the best of blessings, and all of that is being provided to them by God.

He wants them to understand that. Now put a marker here in Deuteronomy 5, because we'll be coming back and forth to this chapter all throughout the sermon. Put a marker there. Let's go to Philippians 2. Now I may mention we want to take a look at the principles undergirding the law of God. And here we see what I am referring to, where the genesis of this sermon in my mind began.

Philippians 2 and 5. Philippians 2 and 5. Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. That's what you and I strive for, the mind of Jesus Christ. The mind of Christ understands the eternal truth of God, the principles of God, knows how they work, knows how they blend together in a beautiful way. We drop down now to verse 12. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Now, brethren, we need to, in our minds, connect verse 12 and verse 13. So many times people will quote verse 12 by itself or verse 13 by itself. And when you do that, you don't get the full beauty of what Paul is writing to Philippian church about.

Verse 12 talks about working out your own salvation. How do you do that? How does one work out their own salvation? Well, verse 13 qualifies and explains that. We work out our own salvation because it's God who works in us. We don't do anything. You and I, as Christians, we don't do anything of eternal value apart from the grace of God. There is absolutely nothing that you and I will ever do in our lives that will withstand the test of time that will last for eternity apart from the grace of God.

So, yes, we have to do things. God says, you know, you've got to build character, but you're going to build character with my help. You're going to build character by my grace. And so we must always connect verse 12 and verse 13. We move on to verse 14.

So do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God, without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. So again, verse 15 harkens back to how Israel was to be a light to the world. We, as New Testament New Covenant Christians, are to be a light to the world. Now notice verse 16. Holding fast the word of life, the word of life. God's word contains eternal principles. The Ten Commandments are not just do's and don'ts. They are eternal principles. They are words of life. And we want to explore those words of life today. We want to examine the guiding principles behind each of the Ten Commandments. And again, I'm not trying to say here that what I'm giving you is an exhaustive list. I'm going to give you one eternal principle behind Commandment number one. There may be 25 or 30 or 40 for all I know. And you and I can meditate about that. We can think and we can pray and study about that. I'm sure there's more than one. With a sermon like this, there's only so much you can do with any given period of time.

So let's go back to chapter 5 of Deuteronomy.

Let's take a look at the very first commandment, commandment number one, which is here in verse 7, Deuteronomy 5.7. So, you shall have no other gods before me. No other gods before me. Now note the position of this commandment.

It is number one. And God does things for a reason. There's a reason this is positioned first. The eternal principle undergirding this commandment is this. That our supreme loyalty is to God alone. Our supreme loyalty is to God alone. That's the principle, the one I want to discuss anyway today, about the first commandment. Now you and I have other loyalties. We have loyalties to our spouse.

We have loyalties to our children, our grandchildren. We can have loyalty to an employer, to an next-door neighbor. And those are fine. And we should have other loyalties in life. There's nothing wrong with loyalties. We should be loyal people. But, remember the discussion about God being a jealous God? His intense passion for us not to love anything more than Him, because it hurts us?

God says, you know, you can love and have loyalties all over the place, but there's only place for me at the top. I am number one. Nothing is on the same level as me. Nothing is above me. The supreme loyalty is to God and God alone. And if we understand that, we save ourselves from a lot of pain. Because when you think about it, whenever you and I sin, we allow ourselves to have some other God before the true God.

Can you think of a sin that you have ever committed in your life where you've not taken a step backward and said, well, okay, on this particular occasion, God's not supreme in my life. This wrong thing I'm going to do or think, that is now supreme. That's why God is so passionate. That's why He's a jealous God. He doesn't want us hurting ourselves. Let's take a look, put a marker there in Chapter 5. Let's go over to Matthew, Chapter 22. Matthew, Chapter 22. Verse 35. Matthew 22, Verse 35. Then one of them a lawyer. He wasn't a lawyer the way you and I would typically think of a lawyer.

He was a lawyer with the law of God. Then one of them a lawyer asked him a question testing him and saying, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind. This is the first and the great commandment. Jesus Christ here is saying, Love for God will tolerate no other God. So in that sense, God is very intolerant. He will not tolerate any other gods in our lives.

You know, several years ago, you probably remember, several years ago I gave a series of sermons, I think it was three or four, where I talked about all of our American idols. We've got the TV show, the American Idol, we've got our share of American idols. I went through a number of them in those sermons. You know, you and I, as we establish, we develop, we maintain, our personal relationship with the true and living God, we have loyalty to that God. That teaches us a great many points. Excuse me, a great many lessons. And this is the primary focus of the First Commandment, to teach us valuable life-giving lessons.

Jesus Christ sets us an example in all things. Let's look at Matthew 4. Here you've got the, you know, Satan testing Jesus Christ, a tremendous spiritual battle here. Tremendous in a sense that Satan was hoping that he could knock Christ out spiritually here and went over God. Matthew 4, verse 8. Again, a devil took him up onto exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. He said to him, All these things I will give you, if you will, will fall down and worship me.

Now this is Satan's world. I don't think anyone here doubts that. This is Satan's world. If Satan had this, he could properly offer this. You want this world? I'll give it to you. But notice what Jesus Christ says in verse 10. And Jesus said to him, Away with you, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

Him only shall you serve. Jesus Christ set the example of supreme loyalty to God. Nothing was going to stand in Christ's way in serving and honoring and loving the great God. 1 Timothy 6 And verse 17 1 Timothy 6, 17, Command those who are rich in his present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. He gives us all things to enjoy.

You know, God created a wonderful dwelling for mankind. It's called Earth, planet Earth. He fashioned Earth to provide us with everything we could ever need for our material well-being, for our survival. It's God's desire that we enjoy and appreciate the Earth.

But at the same time, God doesn't want us to take various things from the Earth and start worshipping them. They're lesser than He. We shouldn't worship anything in the seas or in the air or whatever, because that hurts us. So the First Commandment warns us not to accept a religion, warns us not to accept any philosophy that teaches us that our life and well-being originate with or depend upon anything other than God. There's no pantheon of deities.

There's no other source of life or blessing apart from God. There's no other power that rules over the heavens and on the Earth. God is a jealous God, and He's jealous because of His great love for you. He doesn't want us to hurt ourselves. So Commandment number one, the lesson we learn here is our supreme loyalty to God alone. Let's move on to Commandment number two. Let's look at the one principle I want to bring out here, one eternal principle for Commandment number two. Let's read it first. Let's go over back to chapter five of Deuteronomy.

And we'll read it here in verses eight through ten. Verse eight, You shall not make for yourself a carved image any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, or serve them for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.

Repeat that. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to the thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. The principle that we want to understand behind the Second Commandment is that it governs the true worship of the true God.

The true worship of the true God. There's a lot of false worship out there of false gods, but this commandment protects us from falsely worshiping false gods. The Second Commandment goes to the heart of our relationship with our Creator. And there are some questions that are asked that if we are thinking people and meditating people as we read that particular commandment. There are crucial questions that we should be asking and have asked. Answers to which the world doesn't have. As an example, how should we, as Christians, as people of God, how should we perceive God?

How should we perceive Him? How do we explain Him to ourselves and to others? Idols we know are representations of false, non-existent gods. But, but, as some people point out, can't we use pictures of Jesus and other things as aids to worship? Are aids to worship okay? Are they something that's beneficial? Above all else, what is the proper way to worship the only true God? Brethren, the Second Commandment protects our relationship with God.

That's an extremely important point. I guess I could have used that as another one of the principles. The Second Commandment protects our relationship with God. The Second Commandment, there were some in the first, and it explains that in our worship we must not reduce God to a likeness of a physical object. By doing that, idols limit an unlimited God. Idols limit an all-powerful God. You know, people in ancient times would have a picture or an obelisk or a statue of stone or wood or metal or even gold or silver.

Those were limiting an unlimited God. Again, if we were to think that way, that would hurt our relationship with God. And this commandment protects our relationship with God. We don't want to be thinking along the false kinds of lines. Now, again, we put a marker here in Deuteronomy 5. Let's go over to Ephesians 4. Is God's creation still going on today?

Is God's creation still going on today? Let's take a look at a couple of scriptures here to answer that question. I've said on a number of occasions that if I were to reduce the New Testament down to one verse, which I guess really is impossible to do, but if somebody were to say, if you were to grab one verse, what one verse really kind of shows what God's plan is here on earth for mankind?

I would go to this chapter, chapter 4 of Ephesians. I'd go to verse 13. Verse 13, "'Til we all come to the unity of the faith," in other words, unity with God, unity with Jesus Christ, "'and of the knowledge of the Son of God.'" Not only technical, not only book knowledge, knowledge of the heart, knowledge at every level, spiritual knowledge, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, "'to a mature,'" the King just says a perfect man, "'a mature man, a mature woman,' "'to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.'" If we have something in our life that's idolatrous, now, we don't have little totems someplace in our bedroom or in our house somewhere, but if we have, and I gave a number of sermons a number of years ago, if we've got something in our life that takes the place of God, that is our idol.

It could be our mates, it could be our children or grandchildren, it could be our job, it could be our wonderful house, it could be a car that we like because it's really a fast, good-looking car. But if we think more about that, we spend more time with that than we do with God, then that is our idol. And if we are doing that, then we are limiting ourselves, and if we are limiting ourselves, we're not going to be able to grow to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

The measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is ever-expanding, and we don't want to be limited. Our idol is limited. Satan understands that point very well. That's why idolatry was one of the biggest sins in the history of the nation of Israel. Satan realized, if I can get these people to commit idolatry, then their mind is focused off of God. And I've got them. I've got them. 1 John 3 1 John 3 2 Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed, but we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, when Christ is revealed, when? What's that talking about? It's talking about the second coming of Christ. When Christ comes out of second coming, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And we want to be fully spirit beings at the time of the resurrection. We don't want to be limited. We don't want to be like these idols that are in our life that hurt us. Brethren, idolatry has insidious side effects. We need to be aware of the insidious side effects of idolatry. A physical image, a painting, or a picture of a deity has neither life or power. Our God has tremendous life and tremendous power. There's no way in the world we could paint a picture of Jesus Christ in His day. He didn't want us to be able to do that. If Jesus Christ wanted us, and God the Father wanted us to have a likeness of Jesus Christ, He would have left it. Didn't happen. Wasn't what God wanted. 2 Corinthians 4 2 Corinthians 4 Verse 3 and 4 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3 But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. Here we see why Satan finds it so wonderful to get people into idolatry, including Christians. Because it will blind people to the truth, it will blind people to who and what they really are spiritually, it blind people to the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, and notice who is the image of God. God wants to protect His image. And I don't mean that in some negative way. Again, God is a jealous God. He's a God who wants us to thrive. He wants us to have the abundant life. Christ said, I've come that they might have life, and they might have life abundantly. Satan is the one who's come to kill and to steal and to destroy. You know, John 10-10. So Satan wants to condition people to visualize in their mind's eye various things in their life that will limit God in their life. And those things are idolatrous. And there's a whole long list. I'm not going to go through a whole long list. I think you get the point of what I'm saying here. This commandment protects our special relationship with our Creator, who made us in His likeness and is still molding us in His likeness. So we need to keep that in mind. Christ is still molding us in His likeness. The second commandment reminds us that God is far greater than anything we can ever see or imagine. We must never let that knowledge be pushed aside by the use of some image or likeness in our worship of God. So commandment number two, the eternal principle here is that the second commandment governs the true worship of the true God.

Let's move on to commandment number three. Commandment number three, I see two things I want to discuss with you. Two virtues that undergird this commandment, and I'm not saying these are the only two. I'm just saying these are two that I see right off the bat and what I want to discuss with you today. Two very important issues. Let's go back to Deuteronomy chapter 5, though, and read the commandment first. Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 11.

Deuteronomy 5, 11.

The two eternal principles, the two virtues I see with this commandment, are these. Honor and reverence. When we understand fully the impact of this commandment number three, we understand the virtue of honor and reverence. Brethren, do we see a lot of honor in our society today? Do we see a lot of people who are reverent in their relationship with God today? I think we see a lot of people who are dishonorable today.

This third commandment, and you know, how many times, I'm sure this is true for you, as I'm watching something on TV or listening to something on radio, or I'm reading something, or I hear a conversation in a shopping mall or whatever, and you see all these people walking around, taking God's name in vain. To me, it's like, you know, taking your nails on a chalkboard.

It just does something to me when I hear people taking God's name in vain. It just wins. But as we're going to see, as we look at this commandment, if you and I as Christians aren't living the like we should, then God's going to wince as He sees us living our life, because we're called Christians. We're called the people of God. And if we don't live our lives accordingly, then we are taking those names of God and Christ in vain. And we've got a whole world of people who know who we are.

Not everybody, but you know our business associates, because we talk about needing off for the feast, and we're actually next door neighbors, certainly our relatives. And what is our example before them? Are we like that screeching on a blackboard, because we're really, we say one thing and we're doing something else? Are we taking God's name in vain by our very actions? That's something only you and I can answer for ourselves. God knows. Now, these two virtues, honor and reverence, are kindred spirits. They are, the way I'm thinking about it, they're like family members. You know, you can have family members where they may look so different from each other, but they're still family.

These are a family of ideas here, a family of values, and I think they're coupled together. Honor means high respect. As we learn in the commandment number three, we have high respect for the worth and the merit and the rank of God. High respect for the worth, the merit, and the rank of God, Jesus Christ. Reverence takes that and goes one step further, because reverence takes as high respect for worth, merit, and rank, and then adds to it coupling that with awe.

Reverence covers that, couples that with the idea of awe. God wants us to be people of respect, respecting God for who and what He is, and standing in awe of Him, because when we do, that again is good for us.

He loves us, He wants to present these commandments to us, because they're so good for us. This is something I want to quote, the New Revised Standard Version. It's always nice to have a couple of extra Bible versions around if you can afford that. You may have a Bible program on your computer at home, you may have a number of different translations. You can always go to Bible bookstores. There's normally a shelf that has things on sale. You can get some paperbacks that have various Bible translations. That might only cost you a few bucks.

It doesn't have to be really expensive. But it's always good to have several around. If you have a computer and you enjoy the Internet, as I've told a number of you, there are literally hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars of free software on the Internet for you to study the Word of God. You've got boatloads of Bible translations. You've got various commentaries.

And it's all free. I literally probably have several thousands of dollars worth of Bible software on my computer at home because that's one of my tools. A mechanic will have all of his tools to work on cars. Well, I'm a minister, and I've got literally thousands of dollars over the years. I put into three or four major Bible programs, buying various modules as they become available. But right now, I would tell any of you beginning right now, if you want to do a lot of serious study, you can find so much of that if you've got Internet.

And if you want to know, I can tell you after services, we're at some of those sites there. But here, in a new Revised Standard Version, it talks about this verse. It says, You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

So notice the emphasis of the new Revised Standard Version, wrongful use of God's name and misusing God's name.

Now, the way Vines looks at that particular set of words is, if you were doing this thing, which the... My new King James says, you're taking God's name in vain. It's all the same word, same idea. Vines, complete expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words, says that that word is... it means deceit. If you handle God's name improperly, it's a deceitful thing. It's a deceptive thing. It's a thing full of malice, falsity, and emptiness.

God's name is a name of power.

When we're praying to God, the last thing we say is, Amen. Correct? That ends our prayer. But what do we do as we're ending our prayer? In the name of who? We're using the name of God. We're using the name of Jesus Christ. Because those names are so full of power and energy.

And we don't want to wrongfully use or misuse those names. We don't want to wrongfully use or misuse those names being attached to us.

Let's look at Psalm 104. Psalm 104.

Verse 1. Psalm 104. Verse 1.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, O Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty.

God is clothed with honor.

Something we need to appreciate about our great God.

You know, years ago, I enjoyed Motown music. I'll have to admit.

I forget that Alan could tell me who sang this song, Respect.

Aretha Franklin. There you go. I think she just got engaged here recently.

Respect is the cornerstone of any good relationship.

Respect is the cornerstone of any good relationship. If we're going to have a good relationship with God, we need to respect Him. We need to realize that He is clothed. He is clothed in honor.

And we need to be people in our lives who live and work and play as honorable people.

People worthy of respect. Psalm 89.

Psalm 89. And verse 7. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints. Is this the assembly of the saints? Yes, it is. This is the Church of the Living God. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be held in reverence. And to be held in reverence by all those around Him.

Again, why is this so important? Let's go back not to Deuteronomy chapter 5, but let's go back one chapter before. Deuteronomy chapter 4.

As we have respect for God and the things of God, we will follow in honor and obey God. We will live by what He says for us to do. We will fulfill our destiny. Notice here, Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 5 through 7.

Actually, I will go first and say the same thing.

Now, brethren, is that just true for people who lived long ago and whose bodies have turned to dust? Or is this something that is true for us today? That we are to set an example. And as we set an example, as we are alight to the world, it says in Matthew chapter 5, that people give glory to God. As we see right here, verse 7. What great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord of God is to us? For whatever reason we may call upon Him. And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments, as are in all of this law, which I set before you this day?

Brethren, God wants us to love and reverence Him. He wants us to honor Him. These are aspects of respect that we show to God. It begins in our thoughts. It motivates our thinking, our actions, everything that we are.

So let's remember these two very important keystone principles, the chapter to commandment number 3. Let's move on to commandment number 4. That's what we'll talk about today. Sabbath command. We'll go back to chapter 5 of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 5 verses 12 through 15.

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commands you to keep the Sabbath holy. To keep the Sabbath there. So there we've got the command for the Sabbath. Now I said there would be three things, three eternal values I want to link to this commandment. Again, there may be more. I'm just going to go through three here. The three are these. Holiness, sanctification, and consecration. Holiness, sanctification, and consecration. Eternal values. And again, much like we talked about before with honor and reverence, these three, holiness, sanctification, and consecration, these are a family. These are very, very similar concepts. When we're talking about being holy, we're talking about being set apart for the service of God. Set apart for the service of God. The Sabbath helps us understand that. Being set apart for the service of God. To be sanctified carries with it the idea of being set apart, but being set apart is sacred.

You can set all sorts of things apart. This morning I was setting apart my breakfast materials. I have my own way of eating, and you probably wouldn't want to follow my example, but I have a couple of little roll-ups. I put out the peanut butter. I set apart my sugar-free preserves.

I take out my little flat, what do you call those things? They're like a tortilla thing. They're soft. I slather peanut butter and jelly on them. Roll it up and I eat them. It works for me. It works for me. But I set apart my peanut butter. I set apart my jelly. I set apart my blood pressure medication and all those things. You can set a lot of things apart. But the idea of sanctification means setting something apart as sacred. Holiness is being set apart to serve God. Sanctification is setting and being set apart for sacred use. And consecration is being set apart for worship. So these are three kindred ideas to serve, to worship as a sacred individual. Sacred before God. Sacred in a sense that we are going to worship God the way God asks us to worship Him.

Now this fourth commandment, as you're aware, concludes the section of the Ten Commandments that specifically deals with our relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Helps us understand how we are to love and worship and relate to God the Father and Jesus Christ. Explains how we are to do it. You know, when I first came into the church many years ago, as I've told you so many times over the years, I came in by myself as a 15-year-old kid.

My folks wouldn't let me go to church. And I didn't have a proper understanding about keeping the Sabbath because I wasn't able to talk to any of the brethren. This is back in the Stone Age before cell phones. And so I would sneak out of a morning or evening. I would go down to the corner, and there was a phone booth. Now I don't even know, do they have phone booths today? I'd go to a phone booth, and I'd put in my dime, talk about how long ago this was, put in my dime, and I'd call Alan Mantoyful, who was the minister in the area at the time.

And I virtually never got Mr. Mantoyful. I would get his wife, Sonia. And I asked her, I said, Sonia? I said, Mrs. Mantoyful, how do I keep the Sabbath? What do I do? I've never done this before. And she would give me instruction. And I never met Mrs. Mantoyful those years at that particular time in the mid to late 60s. I went to Ambassador College years and years past, and I was giving a sermon at the Feast of Tabernacles in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and I related this story.

And I mentioned her name, and she was in the audience. And she came up and introduced herself, and we both started crying. Because I'd never met her before. But when I first began keeping a Sabbath, kind of the idea was, well, you don't do anything on the Sabbath. That's totally false. Because a Sabbath is a day of tremendous work activity. But it's spiritual work activity. Spiritual work. Not physical work. God wants us to have a tremendously rewarding, fulfilling, and active spiritual activity on this particular day. Prayer, study, church attendance, fellowshiping.

Special day that we dramatically use to focus our energies and our activities with God as the focus. We want to, and all the other commandments, fall in line here. We want to show our loyalty to God on the Sabbath. We're not going to work on the Sabbath. We want to show our loyalty. He is supreme. We want to show that we are going to properly worship Him on the Sabbath.

We're going to come to services. We're going to do what God wants us to do. We are going to honor Him. We're going to reverence Him by doing what He asks us to do on the Sabbath day. Now, I'm going to turn to something that some would say is controversial. Oh, what is that? Oh, please, let's do that. Let's turn to Genesis 2, and we're going to see something that is controversial. There are those, and unfortunately those who once upon a time worship with us, who no longer worship with us, who no longer think the Sabbath is to be honored, who think that the Sabbath was done away, and the first place where the Sabbath is really mentioned is maybe Exodus 16, if they're going to be really generous.

Or they'd say, you know, Exodus 20 when God first gave the law. And yet, there's something interesting here in Genesis 2, the first three verses. Genesis 2, verse 1, Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished, and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done, and he rested. Note the word rest. We're going to come back to that in a little bit. And he rested on the seventh day from all of his work which he had done.

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. He set it apart. Not like peanut butter and jelly, but he set this apart. He didn't do that with any other day of the week. He never did that with Sunday. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested. There's that word again. He rested from all of his work which God had created and made.

We take a look at this, and again here's where the controversy comes in. We understand the Sabbath as being holy time. We understand the Sabbath as being an eternal principle. In these verses we see on three occasions where God ends his work and he finds rest. God finds rest. Aren't we supposed to emulate God? Aren't we supposed to follow his lead? God rests. Shouldn't we rest? Which day did God rest? He rested on the seventh day. It was interesting, after services at Ann Arbor this morning, one of the members came up to me and they were watching, I think it was Jeopardy or something.

One of the categories was the seventh day. What do you do on the seventh day? The people were responding, well, we go to church on Sunday on the seventh day. We have a basic problem with counting here. But no one was challenged. That wasn't challenged back in the day. On a seventh day, on Sunday, we go to church. Well, Sunday is the first day.

It's not the seventh day. But here we see God himself as resting on this seventh day. Now, here's where we have an interesting interpretation. And that is with this word rest. The word rest in these verses is a form of the word Shabbath, the word used for Sabbath.

Shabbath means to cease or rest. And that's where we get it. Sabbath, meaning, is a day of rest. So to paraphrase this account in Genesis 2, it would say, God Sabbath on the seventh day from all of his work. God Sabbath on the seventh day. Genesis, Chapter 2. Genesis, Chapter 2.

So, here's a principle that God wanted people to understand from early time. Very, very early time. I've quoted to you, time is running by here, but I've quoted to you, Deuteronomy, Chapter 4, where we are to be a light to the world. In your notes, you might want to put down 1 Peter, Chapter 2, Verses 9 and 10. 1 Peter, Chapter 2, 9 and 10 talks about how we are a special, peculiar people, called out by God, people who once did not know the mercy of God, but now know God's mercy.

You know the section of Scripture, how we are to be lights to the people of the world. Let's take a look at a couple of Scriptures I do want to turn to. Let's look at 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5, because the creation of God is still going forward. And the Sabbath has significant part to play in all of that.

God is not creating new worlds and new planets. It's not that we're aware of. But God is creating something spiritually in us. And the Sabbath has a great deal to do with that. 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. A new creation. All things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. The Sabbath is not merely a reminder of a past creation. God finished the physical part of his creation in six days.

However, the spiritual part still is underway. You right now are, you know, we are, as I've said so many times in the past, we are unfinished business with God. And as I pointed out today over in Ann Arbor, so far as Randy Delosandro is concerned, it's as if God says, okay, Delosandro, we're going to take some of those highway barrels, those orange and white barrels, we're going to put them all around Delosandro.

Because he really is a project in working place right now. Of course, God probably says, well, if he is a work in progress right now, let's take the jackhammers to this guy. Let's get out there, we'll do some real work with him, and I think that took place in December there as a languishing in the hospital. But the Sabbath is still a part of God's way he's creating. He's creating something that's very beautiful.

It's a spiritual creation. And notice more of this over here in Ephesians 4. We only got a couple more scriptures to read what we've done for the day. Ephesians 4. In verse 22. That you put off concerning the form of conduct the old man, which goes corrupt according to deceitful lusts. This is now chapter 4 of Ephesians, verse 23.

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that you may put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. The new spiritual creation is internal. It's of the heart, it's of the mind, in each and every one of us. And the Sabbath helps us tremendously. As we listen to sermonettes, as we listen to sermons, as if we have got conversations before and after with our brothers and sisters. You know, there was a wonderful sermon I've given this morning over in Ann Arbor.

Steve St. Charles gave a really wonderful talk about the Kingdom of God lecture series. He said, you know, we would love to see tens of dozens of people, hundreds of people coming to these seminars, and we're not seeing what we would like. He said, but think about this. Think about all the times Jesus Christ and the Apostle went out, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. What did they get? What did Jesus Christ himself get when he was preaching to people? This is prior to Pentecost, obviously. He ended up with 120 followers. You know, Jesus Christ! You don't get bigger than that in terms of preaching.

You don't get better than that in terms of preaching. And so Steve was making the point that if we're just looking at numbers, we're looking at the wrong thing. You know, two of us in this room came to me during this last week and told me that one said something and one inferred something, that they really got so much out of the two messages that were given on last Sabbath.

You know, looking at something very simple, something very basic, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. And these two people said, you know, Mr. J, I really learned this about myself and I need to be doing this with myself. And I think you may have thought the same sort of thing, because I hear that a lot. After both of those two presentations, the one in September and the one just last week. So there are things going on in our hearts and minds.

There's creation, and the Sabbath is so vital to that. It's so vital to that. Last scripture we want to turn to today is over here in Exodus 31. How can I go through a discussion about the Sabbath and leave out Exodus 31? For those people who say the Sabbath covenant, the Sabbath command is done away, what do you do with Exodus 31?

That's the case. The book of the law has long since done and closed and ratified and sealed with blood and all that sort of good thing. What do we do with Exodus 31? Exodus 31, starting here in verse 13, Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, Surely, my Sabbath, you shall keep. For it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sets you apart.

Now, does it make any sense that God is going to say things like this, knowing that down the road, He'll say, well, you know that Sabbath, it was foolish. We don't need that Sabbath anymore. Well, it was helpful for a while, but we don't need it anymore. Is that the kind of God you and I worship? Kind of fickle? No. God wouldn't do that. It was for all of our generations.

Verse 14, You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall show you, put to death, for whatever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. You know, pretty hefty penalty for non-compliance here. You die. It's not like as though they're going... I couldn't believe my ears when I was watching the news, I think it was last week or the week before, talking about this cruise ship disaster off the coast of Italy. Now, here you've got... I forget what the death toll is, 15 or 16 now, and so many people are still missing. The cruise ship is laying on its side by this little island. So what did the company offer the people who got off of that? They said, well, you know, since the cruise had just started, your next cruise is on us. And if you want a cruise after that, we'll give you a coupon for 30% off. Are you kidding me? People lost their lives. And they want to give you a coupon? It's not like they're buying a pair of shoes. A coupon for 30% off? And now just last night, I heard, well, we realized the error of our ways. We're now going to give everybody $15,000. I thought, you've got to be kidding me. You've got to be kidding me. $15,000? People were crawling uphill in a darkened hallway. The ship is laying on its side. People don't know what's going to happen. I think something like 20 people are still missing. They're probably still in that ship dead. And you're offering, well, we'll give you $15,000. Or the coupon. Or both. No, we don't. No, here are non-compliance you die. You know, non-compliance you die. Simple as that. Verse 15, works will be done for six days, the seventh day of Sabbath, and rest, holy to the Lord, who does any work on the Sabbath, they shall surely be put to death. Verse 16, therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a perpetual covenant. Mr. Armstrong used to make the comment, we only have one kind of Christian. And if it's incumbent upon Israelites to perpetually keep the Sabbath, the Gentiles can't say, we're not going to do it, because we've got one kind of Christian. We don't have two kinds of Christians. We've got one kind of Christian, and everyone is going to perpetually keep the Sabbath, for all time. Verse 17, it's a sign between me and the children of Israel forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested, He rested and was refreshed. So we learn something about the Sabbath, reinforces something in our mind, the Sabbath refreshes us. It's a time of intensive, spiritual work and activity, but that refreshes us. So, brethren, today we've taken a look at the first four of the Ten Commandments. We saw what Jesus Christ said in Matthew 22. We said, you shall love the Lord with all your God, with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind. This is the first in the Great Commandment. I mentioned we wanted to take a look behind the scenes, behind these commandments, and see what makes them tick. Commandment number one, showing our supreme loyalty to God alone. Commandment number two, governs the true worship of the true God. Commandment number three teaches us the values of honor and reverence. Commandment number four teaches us the virtues of holiness, sanctification, and consecration. The next Sabbath, our work is cut out for us. Next Sabbath, I've got to go through six of these. So, I'll try to be brief, and we will go through the next six, next Sabbath.