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The Ten Commandments
02-23-2011 Vol. 3 Part 13
Psalm 31:7-14 NKJV I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy, For You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities, And have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a wide place. Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; My eye wastes away with grief, Yes, my soul and my body! For my life is spent with grief, And my years with sighing; My strength fails because of my iniquity, And my bones waste away. I am a reproach among all my enemies, But especially among my neighbors, And am repulsive to my acquaintances; Those who see me outside flee from me. I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel. For I hear the slander of many; Fear is on every side; While they take counsel together against me, They scheme to take away my life. But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." Jesus I pray in your name for all the victims of the earthquakes, floods, and other natural disasters that are occurring around the world. Please comfort and console those that have lost loved ones. Jesus we raise you up and praise your most Holy and Precious name. Amen.
Exodus 20:17 NKJV "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."
A teenage boy was taken into juvenile court for stealing a car, which he later crashed. When in court the judge asked him why he stole the car, here's what he said: "Every day I used to walk by this house and see this beautiful sports car. And I used to think, man would I like to have that! Every day after I'd see the car, I'd walk up the street and sit on the park bench and imagine myself behind the wheel. Sometimes I'd actually feel like I was driving it, holding my hands like they were on the steering wheel, going around curves and everything. One night after supper when it was just beginning to get dark, I sneaked up to look inside the windows of the car to see what the car was like inside. To my surprise, the keys were in the ignition. I just couldn't resist."
Basically, this young man violated two of the Ten Commandments. The one that says, "Thou shalt not steal"; and the last one which warns, "Thou shalt not covet ... ". The sin of covetousness is the root cause of many other sins. When a person covets, he has the want of something that does not belong to him. It is the evil craving or desire of something so intense that is not yours. Remember a few lessons back I talked about “desire”. If we let desire run rampant without stomping on it right away, it may lead to sin by actions. As we will find out in this lesson, the thought or desire is sin in itself. Do you remember what happened to David when he saw Bathsheba? 2 Samuel 11:2-4 NKJV Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. 3 So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" 4 Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. He let the desire overcome him and committed Adultery along with Murder.
To make sure no one would misunderstand what He was talking about, the Lord spelled out some of the things we are not to covet: "thy neighbor's house, thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor anything that is thy neighbor's."
Notice three things in particular about this 'commandment of the Lord:
1.) It is possible to covet (want badly) both people and things.
2.) God's people are not to covet "anything" that belongs to someone else.
3.) The word "neighbor" as used in Scripture refers not just to the person next door or in your neighborhood but to all other people (Luke 10:29-37 NKJV But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.' So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." ).
Consider too, that this commandment is the only one of the ten that deals with the motive or thought instead of the act or deed. Every evil act begins in the mind or heart. Jeremiah, the prophet, recognized this fact when he wrote, Jeremiah 17:9 NLT "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? God wanted us to realize that wrong thinking is just as sinful, as wrong doing. Evil thoughts and evil deeds go hand in hand.
Jesus too, taught against evil thoughts and motives. He said, Matthew 15:19 NLT For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. Did you notice that "evil thoughts" are right at the top of the list? You know why? All evil actions begin with evil ideas. In this one verse, Jesus mentions six of the subjects dealt with in the ten commandments. And all of them begin with evil thoughts. Jesus used even stronger language in Luke 12:15 NLT Then He said, "Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own." He then gave the illustration of a wealthy farmer who had all the riches and goods he could ever need. But still he wasn't satisfied. So interested and involved was this man in acquiring material things that he had no time for God and spiritual things. His greed cost him the loss of his soul. Jesus called this man "a fool"!
Have you ever wanted something so bad and when you get it you are on cloud nine, but then in a few days you see a similar item and then wish you had that. Like a laptop computer for instance, you have had your eye on a certain model and then you get it and you are really happy. In a few days you see and advertisement for a laptop that has all the features of the one you just got, but this new model has the one feature you wished laptops had, but wasn’t available at the time of purchase. Now you start wanting that computer (Covetousness sets in.). You see, once coveting starts, you are never satisfied. Contentment slips out the back door. We have to be very careful of this commandment. We are to be content with ourselves, what we have, and with what God provides for us. A covetous individual lives in the world with a view of what the world owes them (me, myself, and I). This takes an individual’s eyes and mind off of God and also causes sin by making materialistic things an idol or practicing idolatry. Colosians 3:5 NLT So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
Why do people steal? Because they "covet" something they see in a store window, or something they see on television or something that belongs to a friend. Coveting usually comes first (desire) and drives a person to steal. The saddest fact of all is this: Things don't satisfy (2 Corinthians 4:18 NKJV while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal). The best evidence of the emptiness of great wealth or great possessions is the fact that the highest suicide rate exists among the rich and not the poor. More wealthy people take their own lives than do poor people. Why, money and material possessions simply do not satisfy the hearts of men. Only God can do that!
Is it wrong to want anything, or to wish for anything? Not necessarily, to want and even wish to be a better Christian, a better witness, or a stronger testimony for the Lord is not wrong. Longing to see someone get saved or get right with God is good. Even to wish for a certain amount of material things is not necessarily wrong, unless the motive is purely selfish and these things are more important to you than the things of God. If you have a good job and can afford the finer things of this world, but don’t give 10% of the gross to God, live your life as a Christian, participate in your church functions, or participate in functions for the community to help the less fortunate, then who are you living for? Here's what Paul wrote on the subject: 1 Timothy 6:6-8 NLT Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. 7 After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. 8 So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. These are sound principles, if we have food, shelter, and clothing, the necessities of life, this is enough. I feel that anyone that plays the lottery is looking for something other than God. I’ve heard people say if they won the lottery they would have security. Their security would be in the money which will turn into greed and the want of more money. When you have lots of money it gets spent and then you need more. It is a never ending battle. 1 Timothy 6:9-10 NLT But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
Think of this: How much time do you spend thinking and working on spiritual things compared with the time you devote to earthly and material thoughts and deeds? Most people just don't put Christ first in practice, in their daily lives. Even when they attend church services, their minds are on other things. Is this true of you? The wise man said: "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 23:7). Discover what you think about most and you will usually find this is the thing you love the most or want the most. Paul states this to Timothy, the answer for a Christian, 1 Timothy 6:11-12 NASB But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
In closing we must be content with what God provides for us. Paul didn’t know what contentment was until Jesus converted him. Philippians 3:7-9 NLT I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with Himself depends on faith.
This concludes the study of the Ten Commandments and will be the last study until after the Streator Revival is over. At that time I will do a study on the Lord’s Prayer which I’m very excited about.
My God, How Great Thou Art! Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
For those of you that access these through my Blog we are going to have a month long revival in Streator, IL. The Streator Revival will start this Sunday at 7:00 PM. It will last for four weeks, every night of the week, 7 days a week at 7:00 PM. The Times press is planning on constant coverage along with the local radio station setting things up to live stream every nights event over the internet. The revival will be available on the internet WORLDWIDE with both sound and video, all the way through from Sunday February 27th until March 27th. If plans go as we hope, there will be an icon on the Streator Evangelistic Association website that will take you right to the broadcast. We're working hard to iron out some final details. But right now, things look very good! Here is the link for the site. http://site.streatorevangelistic.com/Home.html
The Streator Revival Committee also has a Face Book site with lots of info on it also. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=190207164346722&set=a.190207147680057.46413.152710668096372#!/StreatorRevival
The Streator Revival Committee also has a Face Book site with lots of info on it also. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=190207164346722&set=a.190207147680057.46413.152710668096372#!/StreatorRevival
Since I'm highly involved with the Revival I will not be putting out any email Bible Studies for the next 4 weeks, but I'm planning on posting Volume One on my Face Book page during the revival. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=190207164346722&set=a.190207147680057.46413.152710668096372#!/profile.php?id=100002009732468
Last Week’s Trivia: Where there actually dragons in biblical times?
Answer: Job 41:1-34 NLT "Can you catch Leviathan(BDB Definition: 1) leviathan, sea monster, dragon; 1a) large aquatic animal; 1b) perhaps the extinct dinosaur, plesiosaurus, exact meaning unknown) with a hook or put a noose around its jaw? 2 Can you tie it with a rope through the nose or pierce its jaw with a spike? 3 Will it beg you for mercy or implore you for pity? 4 Will it agree to work for you, to be your slave for life? 5 Can you make it a pet like a bird, or give it to your little girls to play with? 6 Will merchants try to buy it to sell it in their shops? 7 Will its hide be hurt by spears or its head by a harpoon? 8 If you lay a hand on it, you will certainly remember the battle that follows. You won't try that again! 9 No, it is useless to try to capture it. The hunter who attempts it will be knocked down. 10 And since no one dares to disturb it, who then can stand up to Me? 11 Who has given Me anything that I need to pay back? Everything under heaven is Mine. 12 "I want to emphasize Leviathan's limbs and its enormous strength and graceful form. 13 Who can strip off its hide, and who can penetrate its double layer of armor? 14 Who could pry open its jaws? For its teeth are terrible! 15 Its scales are like rows of shields tightly sealed together. 16 They are so close together that no air can get between them. 17 Each scale sticks tight to the next. They interlock and cannot be penetrated. 18 "When it sneezes, it flashes light! Its eyes are like the red of dawn. 19 Lightning leaps from its mouth; flames of fire flash out. 20 Smoke streams from its nostrils like steam from a pot heated over burning rushes. 21 Its breath would kindle coals, for flames shoot from its mouth. 22 "The tremendous strength in Leviathan's neck strikes terror wherever it goes. 23 Its flesh is hard and firm and cannot be penetrated. 24 Its heart is hard as rock, hard as a millstone. 25 When it rises, the mighty are afraid, gripped by terror. 26 No sword can stop it, no spear, dart, or javelin. 27 Iron is nothing but straw to that creature, and bronze is like rotten wood. 28 Arrows cannot make it flee. Stones shot from a sling are like bits of grass. 29 Clubs are like a blade of grass, and it laughs at the swish of javelins. 30 Its belly is covered with scales as sharp as glass. It plows up the ground as it drags through the mud. 31 "Leviathan makes the water boil with its commotion. It stirs the depths like a pot of ointment. 32 The water glistens in its wake, making the sea look white. 33 Nothing on earth is its equal, no other creature so fearless. 34 Of all the creatures, it is the proudest. It is the king of beasts."
Some people believe this is a crocodile, from the description here and in the KJV, I personally think this describes a dragon. I have never heard of a fire breathing crocodile. What do you think? What is the purpose of this question and the next? It is to get you to realize the earth is 6,000 some years old. Not Billions and Billions of years old like what we have been taught. If you believe the Bible you have to believe these creatures were on this earth during Job’s life time for God to describe them.
This week’s Trivia: Were there dinosaurs in Biblical times?
