The Ten Commandments - Pt. 2

The Bridge

Exodus 20

Two reasons why we need to know and obey God’s commandments:

1. GOD’S SEVERITY - God is great and He is serious.
The purity of God requires that Moses and his people be purified because they would be coming into the presence of a holy God at the base of Mt. Horab (Sinai); The priority of God’s Word requires our complete focus on what He has to say (1 Corinthians 7:35). He deserves the utmost reverence and respect and it is God’s desire that His people be fearful of sin (Hebrews 10:26). The ten commandments that God issued to Moses, and all men, reflects His eternal unchanging nature and will.

2. GOD’S SYMPATHY - God is gracious.
God expressed His sympathy for His people by reminding them that out of love, He brought them forth and delivered them from slavery under Pharaoh of Egypt (Deuteronomy 7:6). For this reason, God required that His people obey His commandments. God’s law is set in the context of His grace, and in the same sense, it is out of gratitude and love for Him for delivering us from His wrath (i.e., the penalty of sin) that we are obligated to obey His commandments. This is what is expected of those who have been redeemed.

God gave us the Ten Commandments so that we might remain free from sin (1 Peter 2:16, Galatians 5:13, James 1:25). His laws provide men with a set of boundaries for living so that we may live in obedience in His holy presence. Moreover, God gives us these laws for our own good Deuteronomy 32:46).