MY GOD BROUGHT ME OUT
Exodus 20
Exodus 20:1-3
20 And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
The word GOD is Elohiym the supreme God
The word LORD is Jehovah the self existence , eternal
Jehovah Elohiym was speaking to the Israelites, just as He speaks to us today. The supreme, self existent God speaks to us today
The Word of God is timeless. For the believer there is no end to teaching.
There is no end to learning. Learning is for our knowledge and divine wisdom. If we hungry and thirst it must first be for the Word of God.
Sometimes the Word is exciting, other times it may seem boring. But it is
Always worth studying. Todays lesson may not be exciting, but God gave it
For our education. I have found in my years of study, that I don’t know as
Much as I need to know.
God freed Israel from slavery in Egypt and brought them out as a nation by
Destroying the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. They were a nation of free
People with a slave mentality. His first order of business was to take them
To Mount Sinai where He gave them His laws. A nation must have laws to
Govern them. A nation without laws is a nation in chaos. Freedom comes with responsibility
The first thing we must remember is it was the Lord who brought us out
Of sin city and placed on the other side, The side of His righteousness
GOD ESTABLISHED A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU FIRST
He is the Lord our God. He is Lord, Jehovah, self existence and eternal
He is our God, Elohiym, the supreme God. From the start, God established
A personal relationship with you. Before you knew God, He decided to make you His Child. He decided on you with all your faults, imperfections
And sin. You are good enough for God.
We were slaves to sin until God stepped into our lives. We had nothing to do with our salvation. It is God’s mercy bestowed upon us each day.
The Israelites knew about God but had not established a relationship with
Him. The Egyptians worshiped over 2000 gods. Israel grew to be nation
In the presence of idol god temples. Each of the 10 plagues God used to
Release Israel from slavery were related to Egyptian idol gods
10 Plagues and the Corresponding Egyptian God
Water Turned to Blood (Hapi)
Frogs Coming From the Nile (Heket)
Lice From the Earth’s Dust (Geb)
Swarms of Flies (Khepri)
Death of Cattle and Livestock (Hathor)
Ashes Turned to Boils and Sores (Isis)
Hail in the Form of Fire (Nut)
Locus Sent From the Sky (Seth)
Three Days of Complete Darkness (Ra)
Death of the Firstborn (Pharaoh)
It was the Lord who kept Himself in grained in the mind of the Israelites through four hundred years of slavery. God has a relationship with you. Do you have a relationship with Him that is established through faith?
FREEDOM COMES WITH RESPONSIBILITY God’s first order of business for His nation was to give them His law. The same law exists for believers today. The ten commandments written on stone tables were just a part of God’s law. Moses spent 40 days and nights on Mount Sinai with God and came down with a book. Exodus 24:7-12
The first four commandments are Godward. Who God is and how we are to worship Him. The last six are manward, our relationship with each other. With freedom comes responsibility first to God and second to each other.
RECOGNIZING THE ONE TRUE GOD Exodus 20:3 1ST COMMANDMENT “You shall have no other gods before me.” This primary command is our first problem . Adam loved Eve. She was his friend, his soul mate. The one he spent all his time with. Adam deliberately disobeyed God to satisfy his desire. For the first time God was in the backseat
This is common today. We put something else before God’s commands. We love our family, our pets, our jobs and our assets. Oftentimes, God takes a back seat until we have a problem. We can praise all day long, but family and wants come first.
The Israelites had the Egyptian pharaoh as their master and he ruled with an iron fist. They had the gods as their center of worship. They had gods to worship for every aspect of their lives. God separated Israel from the gods of Egypt to worship Him only.
1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
John 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
WORSHIP ONLY THE LORD Command 2
Exodus 20:4-7 You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand [ generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments.
We may come close to violating this second command when we buy Statues of Mary and Jesus and place them in our homes and cars. They are graven or carved images of God in heaven. We are never told to worship Mary the mother of Jesus.
No one has seen God at any time. We have no actual pictures of Jesus. Every carved image or picture is subject to man’s imagination. God is to be worshipped in our hearts and minds. We can get confused that these figurines are the God we worship. They are no substitute for the true and living God.
Pictures and carved images minimize the God we serve as something we can see. They are lifeless images that do not display the power, majesty, love, and character of God. A picture of Jesus on the cross does not display the pain, grief, disappointment and anguish He felt as He shed His blood for you and me. He is bigger and more powerful than our minds can comprehend. No picture or image can show God everywhere all the time.
1 John 5:3-4 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world
HONORING GOD’S NAME Command 3 Exodus 20:7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”
We are often guilty of violating this command. How often have you been in a conversation with someone and remarked “My God” or “Jesus” as a casual expression? You were not in prayer or meditation to the Lord. Why would you bring God into your gossip?
Matthew 6:9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
HONORING THE SABBATH Command 4. Exodus 20:8-11
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.
God rested on the seventh day of creation and reflected on the goodness of His work. He set the example for us to live by. It is important for us to take care of our obligations. It is equally important for us to give God a day of reflection. It is important to rest from our labors to relax and give the body time to rejuvenate’
Have you ever been able to keep this command? We give God several hours on Sunday and then it is back to cooking, running and getting prepared for Monday. If we don’t cook we cause others to cook for us to buy. We have a style of religion, that is not religious to God. This command is not repeated in the New Testament, but observed. 1 Corinthians 16:2
2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
Honor God with the first fruits of your labor
HONORING YOUR PARENTS Command 5. Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
This command comes with a promise of a long and prosperous life. God’s prime and most loved creation is family. All other creations God spoke into existence. But man was made in His own image and likeness. Throughout Biblical history God has disciplined man to bring about righteousness. The command requires obedience and submission to the parents
Unfortunately in today’s society, home discipline is largely ignored. It is the parents responsibility to train a child to be respectful of them and themselves. We are in the generation where discipline is thought to be cruel and not necessary. We don’t discipline our children and dare anyone else to do it.
As a result we set the stage for a shorter disastrous life for our children. They either learn discipline at home or pay the price in the streets. God has commanded us to honor Him and out of love honor our parents. And out of love we must discipline our children.
HONORING HUMAN LIFE Command 6. Exodus 20:13 “You shall not murder.
The verse does not deny justice for the legal system for a criminal act. It is not about killing. God had just killed the entire Egyptian army. It was punishment for their sin. Only God can punish sin. God created man in His own image. A crime against man is a crime against God. Murder here is defined as to slay with premeditation or malice. It includes every act to harm or endanger the life of another human being.
You can kill the spirit of a person with damaging discouraging words. With the proliferation of the internet, many have committed suicide because of posts that destroyed their will to live. We must be careful to encourage others with our conversation. We commit a sin against God when we intentionally destroy the reputation of another person.
Matthew 5:21-22 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.
HONORING MARRIAGE Commandment 7 Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.
God defined marriage between a man a woman as two becoming one flesh. Marriage is defined as a permanent relationship until death departs them. Adultery robs the affection of the faithful partner. One who lust after another person outside of marriage has committed adultery in his or her heart. Out of the heart flows the issues of life. God looks at the heart before the physical act.
Matthew 15:19-20 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.'”
Adultery occurs in two ways. When both the man and the woman are married having sex outside of their marriages. The second is when one person is married have sex out side of marriage. Adultery weaken and destroys the family unit. God hates adultery
There is physical adultery and spiritual adultery Spiritual adultery is abandoning the true and living God for idol gods created with the human mind. The first spiritual adultery occurred in the angelic realm when Satan a Cherb abandoned his position with the intent on ruling heaven. Instead of worshipping the creator, he wanted to be worshipped.
RESPECTING PERSONAL PROPERTY Commandment 8. Exodus 15:15 “You shall not steal. From birth, God has ingrained in us, whats mine is mine and whats yours is yours. Our selfish attitude enforces that principle. We don’t have to be taught that about our personal property.
Malachi 3:8-11 8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse — the whole nation of you — because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
We rob ourselves of future blessing when we rob God.
SPEAKING THE TRUTH Command 9 Verse 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
One of our major problems is gossip. We love some juicy gossip. It is often someones opinion that is not supported by facts. Someone says “I heard” and we want to hear.
God is truth. Knowing the word is knowing the truth. You will know the and the truth will set you free. Free from gossip, free from lying, free from harming someones reputation. Free from the sin that destroys us. Proverbs 10:18 18 He who conceals his hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.
CONTROLLING DESIRE Command 10 Verse 17 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
God has given all of us enough to be peaceful, joyful, and content. To covet what someone else has is an insult to God. It is a selfish attitude. It is a complaint against God.
Any time we want what someone else has is devaluing what God has done us. Not only that, we devalue our own worth,
Ephesians 5:3-4 3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving
A pastor once said; the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence because that where the sewage is. The sewage of your mind
IT IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S COMMANDS THAT KEEP US FREE
