The Ten Commandments, The Law of God, Revisited 3, 4

"Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

The Ten Commandments were not given to us to memorize in order. They were not given to us for our kids to learn how to say in order in Sunday School. In Deuteronomy 11, God Makes it clear....

"Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be. There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known." {Deuteronomy 11:23-28}

Last time we talked about Commandments One, and Two. Have no other Gods before God, and do not commit Idolatry. Today we will be discussing Commandments Three, and Four.

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."{Exodus 20:7}

There are three ways that you can take the Lord's name in vain. They are:

To Curse
To Denounce
To Swear By

To Curse

Do you really mean that if someone curses, God "will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."? Yup. But it's just words. Or a figure of speech. What's the big deal? The big deal is, if you are a Child of God, and you call out His name, He is going to be there. So whatever you say, actually means something. If you do not mean it, then why say it?

"And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp; And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:) And they put him in ward, that the mind of the Lord might be shewed them. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death." {Leviticus 24:10-16}

Is God serious? Why? One, to use His name in vain is a sign of disrespect. He is God. Yet, using His name in vain, by cursing, you bring Him to nothing. You denounce His God Head and authority. You turn Him into a figure of speech with your words.

Two, words have power. God Created all that is, was, or ever will be, with words. The Word declares, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." Later, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Jesus told us, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." You as a Child of God?

"For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." {Mark 11:23}

So think about this. You are a Child of God. You have the Spirit of God in you. You are driving in traffic, working, walking down the street, whatever, someone offends you in some way. What do you do? You now have a choice. Here are two possible scenarios to think about.

First, you could get mad, and yell something like "God Damn You." Or something like "Jesus H Christ, drop dead already." You get the point. Now that person goes on with their life. Say they are channel surfing or scanning a Magazine, or walking down the street, when they come onto one of those Corner Preachers. They hear or see, "God so loved the world, He gave his only begotten Son." "Jesus Saves" Or something to that effect. They ignore it and move on. They go the rest of their lives never hearing the truth. They die.

Now lets say you say something like "God bless you." Or "Jesus loves you." Now when that person is channel surfing or scanning a Magazine, or walking down the street, when they come onto one of those Corner Preachers. They hear or see, "God so loved the world, He gave his only begotten Son." "Jesus Saves" Or something to that effect. They may actually remember YOU. Instead of just ignoring it, YOU pop into their head. They think to themselves, "Oh yeah, like that person I cut off, or bumped and then cursed out. {Whatever} They were so calm about it. I would want to rip someones head off if they did that to me, yet, they Blessed me? What is this all about anyway?" They learn the Truth, and are now saved. Do you know it? Nope. Will you even meet that person again? Nope. But what you did and what you said in that moment in time, made all the difference in the world to that person.

YOU are a Child of God. YOU have the Spirit of God in you. YOU have the same power and authority as Christ Himself had. YOU have a responsibility to watch what you say and how you say it. There is power in Words. Being a Child of God, you have ever more power. Be careful. God does not take His name being used in vain lightly.

After all, Jesus told us

"Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." {Matthew 18:18}

To Denounce

Jesus told us

"But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation." {Mark 3:29}

Blaspheme? "the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God; the act of claiming the attributes of deity; irreverence toward something considered sacred." Simply put, if you reject Him, you reject Jesus. If you reject Him, He cannot Save you. You will die in your Sin.

To Swear By

In other words, saying something like this. "I swear to God, I will....." Or, "By God, I will...." As a matter of fact, God does not want you searing by anything.

"Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.

Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." {Matthew 5:33-37}

So we are talking, and you say "Promise?" I say "I swear to God." What if I do not fulfill my promise? What if I do not keep my word? What then? What can I possibly do to God? God wants your Yes to be Yes, and your No to be No.

So to recap. Do not curse, denounce, or swear by, God or His name. Honor Him, and respect Him. He is God. and again, He will not hold those blameless that do.

"Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." {Exodus 20:8-11}

Now this one is one of those that have been completely forgotten. It has also been twisted, changed, and some can not even understand what it means, from the lack of teaching. First, Saturday, is now, and has always been, the Sabbath. That is what Saturday means. The Sabbath Day. Sunday is now, and always has been, the first day of the week. So if you want to go by the letter of the Law, you should be keeping Saturday as the Sabbath.

How do you "Keep it Holy?" There are four ways you can "Keep it Holy."

1 - Pray, spend time with God.

You should of course Pray to God always. But when you have more than that five minutes before you go to work, school, or whatever it is you are doing, you should spend more time with Him. We have learned that God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. The Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. He is the Creator of all that is, was, and ever will be. He is now, also, your Daddy.

You want to know who God is? Spend time with Him. Talk to Him. Tell Him what is happening in your life. Share with Him your hopes and dreams. Let Him know what your concerns are. Ask Him why this or that is. Ask Him to teach you His way. His plan for you. Just talk to Him.

2 - Read the Bible.

One way you can get to know who God is, is read His Word. Spend extra time in the Word. Don't just scan over it, but actually digest it. Get to fully understand what it means. Talk with God while you are doing it. Ask Him how this could be, or the reason for that. Allow the conversation to be a two way conversation. You may be surprised. God can and will communicate with you.

3- Go to Church.

You can learn a lot about God, by spending time with your Brothers and Sisters in Christ. You can also feed your Spirit. It can, and will, make you stronger. Not only can God communicate with you in your Prayer Closet, by use of His Word, but He can communicate with you through others. You would be surprised what you learn, when you are actually helping others. Even if it doesn't seem like it at the time.

The ideal concept of the Sabbath, is to do nearly nothing. That is why the early Church picked Sunday to gather. You rest on Saturday, the Sabbath, the last day of the week. You start your week on the first day, gathering together to worship God. Now, if you only have one day, and it is Sunday, I'm not sure God will be too upset with you about you going to Church on your Sabbath. Even if it is more than 3637 feet.

What's that? What is 3637 feet? That is a Sabbath Day's journey. Some religions have decided that if you go more than that, then you are considered working on the Sabbath, and in turn, you are in violation of the Law.

In Deuteronomy.....

"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you." {Deuteronomy 4:2}

No where in the Word, does GOD say, you can not walk more than 3637 feet on the Sabbath. No where in the Word, does GOD say, Thou shalt eat, or not eat, this or that on the Sabbath. No where in the Word does GOD say, that you must wash your hands before you eat, nor, does it tell you you can change this or that, according to your concept.

As a matter of fact. Jesus did quite a bit on the Sabbath Days.

"At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.

But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?

But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day." {Matthew 12:1-14}

You see, it was man that made the Rules and Regulations, you should not pick crops, considered work, on the Sabbath Day. They also created the Law of eating with unwashed hands. Jesus told them that HE is Lord over the Sabbath, and what He does, or those who has His Spirit in them do, is not a violation. But the Sabbath is for man. Continuing...

"And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.

And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.

Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other. Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him."

Again, Jesus told them the truth. All that were there knew, that they would indeed rescue the Sheep on the Sabbath. But THEIR Traditions still say it is against the Law, so they were still angry and sought to kill Jesus for violating their Traditions. Their Religion. Then in Mark....

"He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.

And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." {Mark 7:6-9}

What Jesus is saying to them is that they should be following what God says, more so, than what they have decided is their Traditions. It is far more important to do good on the Sabbath, or any day, than it is to blindly follow man-made Traditions.

In Luke...

"And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him.

But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth.Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it? And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other." {Luke 6:6-10}

Then

"And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day." {Luke 13:10-17}

OK, first, it seems funny to me that the Ruler of the Synagogue was not even amazed that the Woman was healed. But was angry that Jesus healed her on the Sabbath. He was so blind with indignation that Jesus violated his Religion and did what HE {The Ruler} did not authorize.

You see, even today, there are many in Organized Religions that feel that they are the Highest Power. The final authority. That THEY are the is all and end all of all things. Here is Jesus telling them, NO. They are not, God IS.

"The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him."

No, I did not forget number 4. Remember, I said there are 4 ways to keep the Sabbath Holy. Number 4 is the simplest, and yet, for many, the hardest one to keep. Ready? Are you sure?

Number 4 - REST!!!

Yup. REST. We have turned life, into a 24/7 life. Work, School, even Play. We need this NOW. We got to get that NOW. If you want to work for some companies, you have to work 24/7. Overnights, Holidays, Weekends. You do not have a choice in some cases.

You know what happens if you go full bore 24/7? You run out of gas. You wear out you body. You can end up killing yourself. We end up training ourselves to go on four hours of sleep, overcome tiredness with Caffeine and other, uh, assistance, and we go til we can't go anymore.

We must learn to REST. Just simply STOP! Just relax. You need time to spend learning the things that are really important, and your body needs time to recharge. Learn how to REST.

So to recap a bit here. The Sabbath is made for YOU. It is a day of rest. Pray, spend time with God. Read the Word, spend time with God. Go to Church, spend time with God and others that you can learn from and grow from. The Last? Actually REST.

These first Four Commandments are simple to understand.

1-Have no other gods before God.
2-Do not commit Idolatry.
3-Do not take His Name in vain.
4-Remember the Sabbath, and keep it Holy.

Jesus Himself summed them all up with this.

 "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment." {Matthew 22:37-38}

God will not take a back seat to anyone, or anything. He loved you so much that even though you were a Sinner, Jesus came and died for you. He loves you so much, that even though you still Sin daily, He cleanses you with His own Blood. He has become your Father, and you His Child. You must put Him first, above and before all. Who do you serve? The Creature, or the Creator?

Do you know Jesus as your Savior? Have you been adopted into the Family of God? If not, say this Prayer. Right now. Wherever you may be. Say it in your own words, and do not doubt in your heart. God will hear you. He will send the Spirit of Life to you. Let us Pray..

"Oh heavenly Father, Lord God. I am a sinner. I know this. I know there is nothing I can do to change that. But I know you can. I accept Jesus's sacrifice for me. I repent my sins. Please send the Spirit of Adoption into my life. Help me to get to know the real you. Save me. Please. In the name of Jesus, Amen!"

That's it. It really is that simple. Now go tell someone what you have just done. "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." {Romans 10:9} You need to find a Church that God leads you to, and be Baptized the way Jesus said to be. You are now a Child of God. A new Creature. You "have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." {Colossians 3:10}

If you want to tell me, or comment, question, give testimonials, or just say "Hi," the Email is opntalk@gmail.com

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. {2 Corinthians 13}

Until next time, be Blessed, be a Blessing, and Jesus IS Lord..