THE 10 COMMANDMENTS

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“God spoke and these were His words.  I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt...”  (Exodus 20: 1-17)

1. Worship no god but me

2. Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or under the sea.  Do not bow down to any idol or worship it because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals

3. Do not use my name for evil purposes

4. Observe the Sabbath and keep it Holy

5. Honor your Father and your Mother

6. Do not commit murder

7. Do not commit adultery

8. Do not steal

9. Do not lie or accuse anyone falsely

10. Do not covet that which is not yours

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Another name for the 10 Commandments is God’s Law.  Notice that Commandments 1-4 pertain to sins against God.  Commandments 5-10 pertain to sins against our fellow man.  Throughout the centuries, man has used these as a baseline for our man-made, temporal, laws.  God’s Law, in and of itself, is perfect.  It is man’s inability to keep the law that is a sin. 

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The Law reveals God’s perfect standard, yet when we compare ourselves to this standard, we always come up short.  No one can measure up as God’s standard is total (100%) perfection.

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If this is the case, then just ONE sin (James 2:10) demands God’s just punishment and mankind is doomed as no one can be perfect in God’s sight and keep all of the commandments all the time…except Jesus!

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The Law was introduced to reveal wrongdoing and make man look toward a Savior who would trade His perfection for our sins.