The Ten Commandments, as Promises from God.

KSW 19 July 2003

Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith... Heb 12v2
When we fix and keep our eyes on Jesus we can see the ten Commandments as ten promises, reassuring, not condemning.

#1You shall have No other Gods before me. Exodus 20 v 3
God promises that He alone is the ONLY God and there is none other beside HIM.

Isaiah 42 v 8 I am the Lord; that is my Name! I will not give my Glory to another or praise to Idols.

Isaiah 44 v 18. They (idols) know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so that they cannot see and their minds closed so that they cannot understand.


#2 Ex 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
Isaiah 44 v 18. They (idols) know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so that they cannot see and their minds closed so that they cannot understand.
Man does not need to have an idol to be able to enjoy and worship God. He need only bring himself in praise and worship and the Holy Spirit opens the way to the father.
John 14:6 Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.


#3 Ex 20:7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
Ex 3:14 And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
God promises to punish those who takes his name in vain or who swears false oaths in his name.
Le 19:12 'And you shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the LORD.
The Name of the Lord evokes strength and power.


#4 Ex 20:8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Leviticus 11:44 ”For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth.”
Heb 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high;
1Pe 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light;


#5 Ex 20:12 ¶ "Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
Ro 2:5 -10 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honour and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
John 3:27 John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven.
Heb 5:4 And no one takes the honour to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.
God likewise shows and bestows honour on us as we believe in him. He will not give honour to anyone who will not receive it from him.


#6 Ex 20:13 "You shall not murder.
John 10:9-10 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.
God promises not to kill us but give us eternal life if we believe in him.


#7 Ex 20:14 "You shall not commit adultery.
Heb 3:6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
God holds faithful to us because of the covenant of the blood through Jesus Christ our Lord. He will not go and leave us for someone else.


#8 Ex 20:15 "You shall not steal.
God will not steal from us.
1Co 6:15 - 20 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For He says, "THE TWO WILL BECOME ONE FLESH." But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.



#9 Ex 20:16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
1Jo 2:27 – 29 And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.
Re 14:4 – 5 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.


#10 Ex 20:17 "You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbour."
2Co 11:2 – 3 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
God does not covet the things that we covet and keeps himself whole for us. He has a Godly jealousy if we go astray and will covet us if we return but shall remain faithful.

The Race

K.White 17 October 1999

Hebrews 12 v 1 -2
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God.”

Notice:- “Cloud”, not crowd of witnesses. These witnesses are those who have ran the race before us, have reached the goal and look down with joy and excitement, cheering us on to complete the goal.

I see a man on the track. He’s running his race. He knows his goal, but doesn’t know how fast he’s going or how long he’s got until he can reach the goal. Along the way, he’s hindered by people around him. A dense, seemingly endless crowd of people. None of the people are standing watching the race. Those watching the race are in the clouds above. No, these people are jostling him and each other as they are all attempting to run their own race, to find their own goal, to be the first to reach the ribbon across the end of the track and so as they aiming to be first, they also along the way either intentionally or unintentionally trying to prevent others from running and achieving their goals. So the man running was constantly having to fend off those who either tried to trip him, grab him, or push him over. The man knew where his goal was. He always tried to fix his eyes on Jesus, and not to look either to the left or the right. He had to knock people out of the way. He ignored their cries, because he was in a race, a race to glory. He shook off everything that hindered or entangled him. He went straight as an arrow for Jesus.

Along the way he heard a voice telling him to tell the others around him about the goal he was heading for, about Jesus and that his goal was better than any other. Surely not! He couldn’t stop to tell people. He was in a race. The people about him were intent on their race. But the voice persisted. He was told to slow down, look about him at the people, to hear their cries and frustrations and to point out that the goal he was headed for was by far the better goal and that at the end of the race their pains and frustrations would disappear.

He couldn’t do that. He would have to stop to explain. He would have to realise their pain and maybe even take note of his own pain too. Time was short, he was in a race. He couldn’t stop.

There seemed more people in his way now, going in all directions. He was forced to go slower and he became more annoyed. An old woman grabbed him. She told him she was confused. Had lost her goal and didn’t know the way back to it. He pointed out his goal. Pointed out the eyes of Jesus and told her about that goal, but she didn’t comprehend. She didn’t move and so he went on his way.
“You need to explain. You need to take time with them” the voice raged in his head. “Just like the one who had explained it to you.”

The man was thinking hard now. How could he explain effectively? He thought back to how one day he had met someone who had pointed out Jesus to him, who told him that the goal of heaven was greater than any other, that the prize was greater and the welcome warmer. Whilst thinking of these things he had stopped still. A giant of a man appeared to be barrelling straight towards him from the left. He only had a very short time to think which way to dive before the man would knock him flat, but this giant suddenly stopped right beside him indignant as to why he was directly in his way. The runner thought this was his chance and so he pointed to Jesus and told the giant to fix his eyes on Jesus that there was where the greater prize would be waiting. The man promptly turned and started towards Jesus. The runner had difficulty in keeping up with him. “By the way” he told the giant “tell others about Jesus as well.” As the two headed towards the goal together there seemed to be a surer step, but there were still a lot of people to negotiate. Both began explaining their goal to others. Soon there was a small group who were headed in the same direction with the same purpose. Some though after a while began looking around at other goals and wandering off again, only to be tripped up by other people.

As the group grew, the way seemed to be easier. People began to give way to the group or to give it wide berth for fear of being trampled on. The man began running again. His race was on. The group was happier than others about them. They began to encourage each other to run faster and surer towards the goal.

The man was sprinting now. The weakest in the group seemed to be keeping pace and even to be ahead of him at times. He was spurred on. He ran flat out. The group ahead, his ‘family’ cleared the way for him, allowing him to run freely. He was thrilled at the shear joy of running the race. The group moved off to the left. He wondered why until he realised he could see the ribbon in front of him. He was on the threshold of winning his race, of receiving his prize, the crown of righteousness, of being able to be with Jesus, his friend whom he had known since the time when he first fixed his eyes upon him.

Bolting through the ribbon, he felt the excitement of finishing the race, felt the joy of reaching his goal, and he ran straight into the arms of his friend, Jesus. Jesus said, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”and placed the crown of righteousness on his head. Placed a banner around his shoulders, a medal over his head. Only a few of the group who had ran with him, had ran through the goal. He looked questioningly at Jesus, who pointed downwards. He looked and saw these people, saw the giant and the others, carrying on their race, letting others know about Jesus and the prize, heading towards the goal in their time, heading for Jesus. He was in the clouds. He had joined the witnesses, watching, encouraging, shouting, cheering as people streamed towards the goal of Heaven.
As Timothy had written, he had run his race, fought the good fight, kept the faith and had received the crown of righteousness.

Lake

I see a lake on top of a plateau leading up to the edge of a precipice. The lake is fed from the far side by a river floowing out from the distant hills.
The lake is beautiful, and is surrounded by green fields growing all kinds of crops, being irrigated from the river and the lake. There are beautiful trees, poplars and firs growing up beside the river and the lake. The land is very fruitful.
The lake is held before the precipice by boulders built to keep the water from flowing over the edge. The land below the precipice is arid and dusty. Nothing grows there and there are lots of boulders.
The river is God’s grace and mercy. We benefit from the lake of grace, but we lack from seeing further grace and from the benefit of God’s power because we have placed boulders to dam the river, creating the lake by which we want to live in the beauty of God’s present grace to us.
By building the boulders, we do not see the river tumbling down into the valley below. We miss out seeing the magnificent waterfall. We miss out seeing the magnificence of God’s power. We miss out from receiving fresh grace and mercy. We live from past grace, storing it up for future use to irrigate our lives.
By building boulders, we are preventing God’s grace from reaching our neighbour below us. We keep the grace of God to ourselves. We do not share it. We do not let our neighbour see God’s power at work. We prevent the river of God from touching their lives. We let them wallow in the dusty dirt of their land without water, without sustenance. We keep them from experiencing God’s love and mercy.
Remove the boulders and the river flows down the precipice, flows as waterfall, clearing out a channel into the dry land, directing the water, forcing the water to flow faster into that land, washing and cleansing the land, allowing grass, crops and trees to grow, allowing that land to be fruitful.