Love Carved in Stone

Jim1120   -   June 26, 2025

Love the Lord Your God – Part 3

Love Carved in Stone

Passage: Deut. 5:1-23

Introduction:

• Would it surprise you to know, that the Ten Commandments were never written in order to get a person into heaven?
• If that is the case then why were they written, for what purpose?
• Also, are we supposed to keep the Ten Commandments? I thought we were not under the Mosaic law So, what’s up with that?
• We are in a series on how we are to love God. So, what does the Ten Commandments have to do with us loving God? Aren’t they an archaic set of rules relegated to some old past civilization that have no relevance to us…or not?  If they are relevant, how are we supposed to relate to them?
• Deuteronomy chapter 5 will tell us what those commandments are and the NT will tell us how we are to relate to them.

Context

The book of Deuteronomy is a book of three messages or sermons from Moses, which he preached to the people on the far side of the Jordan river on the plains of Moab, just before they crossed over into the promised land.  40 years have gone by and the first generation of Israelites have all died, due to their unbelief at Kadesh-Barnea. 

Yahweh now tells Moses to re-tell the Law to this new generation and so Moses preaches three messages to the nation.

Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments this way, when asked what is the greatest commandment in Matt. 22:35-40:

³⁵ One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the great and foremost commandment. ³⁹ The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

What we see here, how Jesus responded to the Lawyer, is the very structure of the 10 commandments. Commands 1-4 loving God, 5-10 loving your neighbor. We going to follow the Master’s outline.

Now, turning to Deuteronomy 5:1-5 (Legacy Standard Bible) where we see the prologue to the Ten Commandments:

Exposition of the Passage:

Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them:

“Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the judgments which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and be careful to do them. ² Yahweh our God cut a covenant with us at Horeb. ³ Yahweh did not cut this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today. ⁴ Yahweh spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire. ⁵ I was standing between Yahweh and you at that time, to declare to you the word of Yahweh; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain.

I.  Prologue: Moses summons all of Israel and us to worship again, Yahweh, who is the deliverer and the sovereign king, covenant keeping God, who brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt (Deut. 5:1-6)

• Mount Horeb is the place of the commandments, and is another word for Mount Sinai. It was on that mount where Yahweh cut His covenant with Israel, and Moses says these commandments are still relevant to the current generation, even after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness by their parents who all died out. They are about to enter the promise land.
• Moses focus also is upon the fear and awe of God. “⁵ I was standing between Yahweh and you at that time, to declare to you the word of Yahweh; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain.” The fear of the Lord has two aspects, one of withdrawal and the other amazement and wonder and thus a willingness to approach this awesome God.
• When God gives important commands, He also gives us a vision of Himself. You see, their obedience of these commands, doesn’t come from obligation but love and awe of who God is. Jesus proved this too with the Transfiguration (Mark 9) where His glory is revealed to His three leaders to motivate them to follow as disciples. Just before this in Mark 8:34 Jesus says, to deny themselves and pick up their cross and follow Him. It isn’t easy to follow Him. If you struggle with discipleship; with following Jesus, go to the greatness of God, the greatness of Jesus Christ. Discover who He really is. There you will find the motivation to follow him exclusively. Because His greatness produces passion in us to follow Him.
• You see, relationship always precedes obedience with God. What did Jesus say, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (relationship) THEN He says abide in me, if you love me, you will obey etc.

II.      Commandments concerning our relationship with God (Deut. 5:6)

⁶ ‘I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

• This brings us to major point: the Ten Commandments were never, never, never given so that Israel might be saved. What does the verse say? Yahweh already redeemed them from the Egypt. These people were already redeemed; already saved.
• The Law was never given for Israel achieved justification. Genesis 15:6 Abraham believed God and it was credited as righteousness, long before the Law was given! The Law can never accomplish the righteousness of God, only shows where we fall short of it.
• Here’s the point: The Law was not a condition for a relationship, but a confirmation of a relationship that already existences. Because they believed in God’s deliverance from Egypt, they were already declared righteous, like Abraham. The Law was the means of living life under the Mosaic covenant in Land in relationship with Yahweh.

⁷ ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.

First:  We must give to Yahweh our exclusive loyalty (5:7).

• Yahweh must be our only God; we must worship Him alone. This not only applies to Israel, but to all people who believe and follow Him. He must have preeminence in our lives far above all other things.
• So, this is what Moses is saying NOT to have other gods before Yahweh, but it is also saying what they are to have in Yahweh alone: He is to be the object of their faith, the reason of their obedience and the focus of their trust in times of trouble. In saying the negative of other gods, he is affirming what Yahweh is to be to them.
• What do we put “before our God”? – Positively, it must be fundamentally our belief, our obedience and our trust in Him. So, the question this morning is what do we really believe in? What and who do we really obey? What do we really trust in when things are bad?

If it is anything or anyone other than Yahweh, than Jesus Christ, we violate the first commandment. If we put before God belief in ourselves, if we put before God a following after materialism, consumerism, power or success, if we put ultimate trust in our jobs, our mates, or children, or friends before God, we have violated the first commandment.

Jesus permits no rivals in His relationship with us!

⁸ ‘You shall not make for yourself an idol—any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

⁹ You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

¹⁰ but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Second: We must not make or worship representations of Yahweh (5:8-10)

• This commandment has been misunderstood as a restatement of the first as “having no other gods before me.”
• Rather, the commandment forbids Israel to make or worship any image or likeness of Yahweh. Now in later history of Israel their did make idols for other gods, (as Steve spoken about last week), but here God is speaking about any “idol” of Himself or any “likeness” of Himself. An “idol” means “to hew” or “cut out” from wood or metal, figures. “Likeness” is a more general term referring to any “representation” or “resemblance.”
• Israel and us are refrain from making or worshipping an resemblance of Yahweh because it prevents us and Israel from making our God too small. Or as Luther said to Erasmus, “Your thoughts about God is too human.” You’ve no doubt heard the saying, “God created man in His image and man returned the favor.”
• The smallness of God will determine the smallness of your faith. God is concerned that we know and experience His transcendence and imminence. When we see, study, understand His greatness, our faith and trust in Him will increase. Just as we get to know those we are in relationship with (whether a partner or a friend), our trust of them increases. If you want to increase your faith, get to know God better.
• Moses further stresses the absolute prohibition of images of Yahweh by merisms, which show extremes and everything in between: “…what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.” But describing the extremes Moses is emphatically saying you can’t put Yahweh in a box, you cannot make a physical earthly image of Him, He says, because I’m distinct from your world and it violates my character!!
• Not only was Israel not to make representations of God, but verse 9a says, “You shall not worship them or serve them;” the word “worship” literally means to “bow down.” To “serve them” is to obey what is required by the god or idol.
• You see what is happening here is, the reverse of Creation. Man/woman are the image of God on earth, and not an idol that is supposed to represent Yahweh. How foolish to make an image of God when you are the image of God. He gave you the capacity to worship and serve Him. Don’t give it away and thus escape responsibility or bring Him down to your size.
• Moses now gives an even bigger reason not to form images of Yahweh. It’s found in verse 9b…. and it’s an amazing statement. (Steve spoke about this last week.)

I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God

• Jealously has largely taken on a strictly negative connotation of envy in our culture, but in the OT the term is related to “zeal.” The word here occurs only 6 times in the OT. The idea is Yahweh is zealous or has an ardent protection of what is rightfully His. Because anything physical representation fails to deal adequately with the nature of the sovereign, self-existent character of Yahweh, He forbids images in order to protect the perception of His character. He is holy and distinct from His creation, therefore, it is foolish to use His creation to represents Him or to worship Him.
• So, just as a jealous husband refuses to share His wife with another man, so Yahweh refuses to share His people with another god.
• Do we have representations of Yahweh, or Jesus today? Well, some churches use Crucifixes and the Eastern Orthodox church use Icons (beautiful paintings of Christ), which by themselves are not Idols but if we use them to worship God or help worship, then they can take on a physical representation of God, which in my opinion can be a violation of the second commandment.
• We don’t use the Cross to worship, we don’t worship the Word of God and any physical thing because it violates Jesus’ character, because it puts Him in a box.
• Now, Moses further supports Yahweh’s jealous character with this striking statement:

“…visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

God is not saying that He holds a son or a grandson personally responsible for the sins of his father, rather, this verse is saying that God allows the natural consequences of the sins of one generation to work themselves out in the following generation who hate Him or reject Him.

But, then he says this:  ¹⁰ but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments”.

God assures this new generation, in spite of the consequences their parents passed down to them because of their unbelief, if they can maintain their love of Yahweh, He shows lovingkindness to thousands. This is His hesed love. A covenant keeping love. A loyal love, a faithful love of Yahweh.

The principle of sowing and reaping is universal cross all of our lives and the consequence of our sowing bad stuff are not wiped away with confession. The sin is, but not the consequences. Those consequences will happen. But God wishes to stress that His love transcends consequences. He is there with us in the midst of the bad consequences and the good ones too, because He has a loyal love for you!

¹¹ ‘You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

Third: We must not use the name of God for any empty or meaningless purpose (5:11)

• The term “in vain” (repeated twice) is often been misunderstood simply to refer to profanity when you get angry say, “GD,” that certainly violates this command, but there is far more at stake. The word “in vain” carries with it the ideas of emptiness and falsehood. It is used of an empty cry of a prayer, but from unrepentant heart; harboring sin or, hypocrisy, that’s emptiness, uselessness, of no value, because of there isn’t an alignment between what is said and the attitude of the heart. Job 35:13 say God will not answer an empty cry. When we use Jesus’ name that way, in hypocrisy, we violate the third commandment.
• The idea of falsehood is spreading rumors in order to avoid the truth. The prohibition is not to use God’s name for any insincere, meaningless, or false purpose. This would include false oaths, pagan incantation and spells or curses.
• Sometime we can use the name of Jesus like an incantation, just saying it over and over again, like His name is magic or like rubbing a Jeanie in a bottle. Or we can make oaths in Jesus’ name and never keep them. That is using His name in vain, in emptiness and for false purposes, because it is slur on His character.
• He provides a reason to follow this command with the next clause: “…for Yahweh will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” The figure of speech is a lessening “not leave him unpunished” to stress the emphatic-ness that He will discipline a believer who uses His name like this.
• How this will happen? I don’t know. The Jews were so worried about this, they didn’t even pronounce His name, Yahweh. They used another name when reading the Scriptures out loud in case they miss pronounced it.
• We can use and pronounce the name Yahweh and use Jesus’ name as long as we careful in our use of it and it becomes empty and superstitious in our usage. Because His name is a reflection of His character. So, we as believers must preserve the separateness of Yahweh’s being, that’s why Jesus prayed, “Hallow (or holy) is your name” and so should we, to honor His name.

¹² ‘Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as Yahweh your God commanded you.

¹³ Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

¹⁴ but the seventh day is a sabbath of Yahweh your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male slave or your female slave or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who is within your gates, so that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you.

¹⁵ You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore Yahweh your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.

Fourth: We must sanctify God’s sabbath (5:12-15)

• This is the only command not repeated in the NT. The Israelites were permitted to work for six days, but on the seventh day they were not to perform any work. The reason was God had rested from His work of creation on the seventh day and therefore had it sanctified.
• The Lord’s Day for us is Sunday and not Saturday, although the author of Hebrews say there remains a sabbath rest for us if we do not harden our heart, that is a reward in the kingdom (Hebrews 4:1-7)

Those are 4 commandments that relate to our relationship to God. Now, following Jesus’s outline, we will now look at the commandments that relate to our relationship to others.  The idea behind this structure is this:  If your loyalty to God is correct, it will be displayed in your faithfulness to others. Conversely, if there is anything wrong with your allegiance to God, it will show up in violations of the second part–lying, stealing, committing adultery, and the like.

III.     Commandments concerning our relationship with others (Deut. 5:16-21)

The fifth commandment is found in verse 16:

^“16 ‘Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which Yahweh your God gives you.”

Fifth: We must honor our parents (5:16)

• This command forms a bridge between these two sets of commands.
• First, a child is to “honor” their parents, just as they are to “honor” God (#1-4). Both involved submission and respect for authority. The second is right relationships with parents are basic to all relationships to others which forms the second set of commandments (#5-10).
• The term “to honor” means to treat someone with respect, deference and reverence that his/her importance deserves.
• This command unlike the others before it is followed with a promise of prosperity rather than a warning.
• When God promised that their days would continue long in the land, he was not guaranteeing an individual a long lifespan, he was referencing the nation would stay in the land. If they disobey this command, they, as a nation, would be thrown out of the land.
• Why so harsh? Because this honoring of parents, was basic to life in community. If Israel as a whole didn’t show honor to their parents, the family would fall apart which is the basis of society. Paul repeats this commandment in Ephesian 6:2-3. Paul isn’t promising a long life but he may be predicting the stability of a stable society or home. If the family goes bad so goes the society. I think most us have seen that in our day.

The next commandments (# 6-8) we are going to take as a unit…

¹⁷ ‘You shall not murder.

¹⁸ ‘You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹ ‘You shall not steal.

Sixth – Eight: Here we see that we must not deprive another of his/her life, his/her family or his/her property (5:17-19)

• Sixth: “You shall not murder” – The term “murder” generally refers “to taking someone’s life.” Its usage can refer to premeditated killing (1 Kings 21:19), unintentional killing (Deut. 19:4-5) or justified killing under the laws of eye-for-an-eye justice (Num. 25:27). The focus of this word is upon illegal or unlawful killing.
• The word in only used of murdering humans and not animals. You hunters out there, you are safe.
• The KJV say “kill” which ignores all that was said above, which focuses on any killing, which a pacifist would advocate. But I don’t think the word can be limited to any killing.
• Seventh: “You shall not commit adultery” – Adultery as oppose to other sexual sins, is a sin where one person has sexual relations where one or both are in a marriage relationship with someone else. This is destructive to family. When we come to the NT Jesus extended the definition of adultery to include the thoughts one harbors in his or her mind (Matt. 5:27-30). So, this commandment is elevated, in case we might become proud that we haven’t committed adultery…but often we have in our thoughts. Jesus said, you only need to lust, you only need to hate, you only need to desire, and you have broken the Law of God in your heart.
• Eighth – “You shall not steal” – It means quite simply not to take someone else’s property for yourself. This stealing tore at the fibric of relationships that make up society. It was an offense to the character of God.

Next is number nine…

²⁰ ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.’

Ninth: We must not perjure ourselves against our neighbors (5:20)

The idea here in “perjure” (that is willful telling an untruth,) is related to court proceedings. “Bearing false witness” carries the idea of deception, deceit or fraud. It means something that is deliberately and patently false.

And finally, number ten…

²¹ ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male slave or his female slave, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

Tenth: We must not covet (desire) anything that belongs to someone else (5:21)

• The final command serves as a check or summary to the previous nine because most sins, such as murder, adultery, and such, can be traced ultimately to coveting. The first five are related to desiring for ourselves that which belongs only to God.
• To covet is a yearning desire to possess, so much so, as to prompt an action. It means you have such a strong desire to overstep a boundary. The word is first used of Eve in the Garden who saw that the tree was “desirable”, she “took.” It the Biblical narrative “desire” is almost always followed by “take.” This does not mean seeing something someone has and wanting one just like it (like a car) – it means a compelling desire to have the neighbor’s possessions, to have that car.
• Notice the first nine commandments deal with overt behavior, the tenth deals with a condition of the heart.
• In addressing inner desires, God was in effect exploring what was behind overt outward actions (Mk. 7:20-23) like what Jesus was doing when He said, “…that which proceeds out of the man, that is what defies Him.”
• Don’t just focus on behaviors, but also see what triggers them in your life because that is where change needs to happens! That is where the Spirit transforms.
• Why? Because we can do all the right things with the wrong motives!
• In conclusion Moses reminders the Israelites of two things…

New Testament Application:

• Few would question the relevance of the Ten Commandments to believers in the NT, aside from the Sabbath which is not repeated.
• But, how does the big 10 apply to us today?
• Paul makes it very clear in both Romans 7:6; ⁶ But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter
• 3:24-25 ²⁴ Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
• If the Law was a tutor until faith came, when faith came, no need of a tutor, thus no longer under the Law. We do not belong to the Mosaic covenant, but the New Covenant, the one not made on stone tablets but with a cup which is a symbol of the blood of Christ and the New Covenant.
• But these religious and moral requirements are also an expression of the very nature of God, Himself. They stem from God’s character.
• Israel obeyed these commandments because they reflected the very character of Yahweh, AND because it was the summary of all the requirements of the covenant God made with them.
• We are no longer under the Mosaic law (repeat!!), but we still obey the 10 commandments (apart from the Sabbath, because it is the only commandment not repeated in the NT and it was the sign of the Mosaic covenant and we are not under the Mosaic covenant). But we follow the big 10 because they are a timeless expression of the will of God, which in rooted in His nature.
• As we read, the NT it does one of three things with the Ten Commandments:
• (1) It may confirm the commandments as they are stated. Paul does this in Romans 13:8-9 with the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth commandments. Paul summarizes them as “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
• (2) They might be restated to give them a higher standard for obedience. Jesus did this in the Sermon on the Mount with the sixth and seventh commandments (Matt 5:21-48), maintaining that He did not come to abolish the Law (5:17).
• (3) Finally, the NT may develop theological principle from a command, as the book of Hebrews does with the Sabbath Rest.
• So, we are to obey an individual commandment depending on how the NT handles it. For example, since the NT simply repeats the commandment not to covet, we as believers in Jesus Christ are not to covet. On the other hand, we as believer are to do more than not commit adultery, which would fulfill the letter of the seventh commandment; we are to refrain even from lusting in our minds.

So, in summary, we must give God our exclusive loyalty in our lives and worship and live with love toward others.

Jesus says he came to give life, life more abundantly, then we have ever known.

• There are really only two priorities we need to live out:
• One toward God – Love Him with all your heart, soul and strength
• Other, just like it — Love our neighbors, as ourselves.
• Use a relational priority system. God is at the center of all you do. And we do what we do through the Lord in all aspects of your life. The priorities then become flexible based upon the present moment. Note God is invited into every activity of your life, family, work, social, finance, etc. etc.
• The point being: there is a deliberate relationship of cause and effect. If we love the Lord, we will love our neighbor as a result. If we do not love our neighbor, then there is something wrong with our devotion to the Lord. 1 John 4:20 “If someone says, ‘I love God’ and hates his brother, he is a lair; for the one who does not love his brother who he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”