Review of the Previous Lesson

We started in the first lesson by saying we were going to look at things the way God does. Remember that when God looks at our life, God looks on the heart. He sees what is on the inside. A man’s heart is so deceitful that a man on his own cannot even know his own heart (Jeremiah 17:9). So if you want to know how God sees things, and how God sees you, you are going to have to come to God’s Word.

One day, we will all stand before God and give an answer for our lives (Romans 14:12). We will have to give an account for everything we have ever done, everything we have ever said, everything we ever thought, and God will judge us. He will judge us according to truth (Romans 2:2). The Bible tells us that truth is found in the Word of God (John 17:17).  So when we come to the Bible, what we are really doing is checking out the manual by which God is going to judge our lives one day. Therefore, we are looking at our lives in light of the Word of God.

We know the Bible is true because of how it was put together and the claims it makes that it is God’s Word. God has given us His law to show us what He demands of our lives. There are 613 laws in the Old Testament, but the whole law is summed up in the Ten Commandments.

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Not one of us can say we have lived our life in complete love, subjection, honour, and respect to God Himself. We live our lives our own way, our own direction, doing our own thing.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.

Most of us do not worship idols, but the Bible talks about people who make a god in their own mind. They decide how they want a god to be. Maybe they want a god who is kind, good, loving, merciful and overlooks sin, or who gives whatever they want and desires. That is not the God of the Bible. Even if you have the right concept of God there are times when in your mind, you decide how you want God to be and to act. You have broken the second commandment.

3. Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

This includes cursing, but goes much further than just that. The word vain means emptiness. To take God’s name in vain also means to take God’s name and treat it lightly, to treat God as if He means nothing.

4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

This speaks of giving God time in our life, time each week that we might spend with Him. It means more than just giving God an hour on Sunday morning. Most of you have your whole agenda for today planned and God is not even in it, except for this hour you will endure in church. Even while you are sitting in church, your mind is caught up with a million other ideas. Your mind is not even giving God the honour that He rightly deserves.

5. Honour thy father and thy mother.

Who can say they have honoured their parents all their lives? Who can say they have lived their lives in complete respect of their parents at all times and never said anything wrong or never acted in a wrong way or never had a wrong feeling in their heart towards their parents? I don’t think there is anyone who can say they have always lived, honouring their parents as they should.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

Hopefully most of us have never killed anyone. But Jesus interprets this command for us in Matthew saying if you hate your brother or have anger towards a person it is the same as murder. In a sense, you have killed him in God’s eyes. That is how God sees it.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Jesus said that if you look upon a woman to lust after her in your heart, you are guilty of adultery. Not only the physical act, but also just the wrong thought makes you guilty before God.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

That means anything, no matter how small.

9. Thou shalt not lie.

There is not a person alive who can say they have never broken that commandment.

10. Thou shalt not covet.

Coveting means desiring, wanting something so much that it consumes your whole being. All you can think about is how you can get it.

As we look at the law of God we must say that we are guilty, condemned before God. Some people pride themselves in doing the best they can and hoping God will overlook the rest. However, James 2:10 tells us that if a man offends in one point of the law, he is guilty of all.

The bottom line of it all is that we have broken the law of God. There is not one person down through history today that has ever been able to keep all of God’s law perfectly all of his life. There will not be one person from now until the end of time that will be able to perfectly keep God’s law all of his life. It is impossible to do. Therefore, we all stand guilty and condemned before God.