“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. God has warned and commanded his children not to love and worship idols or false gods made by the minds and hands of men. The Ten Commandments were not given for the lower animals but for man, given for those who are in the image and likeness of God, but some pay little more attention to them than do some of the lower animals. It has no use for the commandments of the Lord. We have a peacock that is as colorful and beautiful as almost any creation. Lower animals do not know or teach the Ten Commandments. This afternoon I am going to read and briefly comment on the Ten Commandments of the Lord. The Lord personally gave commandments that would help mankind to grow and develop his Godlike attributes. Man’s mortal creation and birth are living evidence of divine power, and man is left without excuse. God also said that he created man from the dust of the ground. 1:26–27.)Įvery child should be taught by his parents that he is a child of God and in the image and likeness of God. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him male and female created he them.” ( Gen. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. … I like to reflect on the following passage of scripture: There is no knowledge as important as knowledge revealed to man from God. We fall more in love with Christ the more God’s Word is implanted in us.My dear brothers and sisters: There is great responsibility that goes with being a Latter-day Saint. We keep the commands by having our minds renewed as we hear the Word of God taught (2 Cor 3:18 Rom 12:2). So, while it is helpful to know what the commands are, we must avoid thinking we can keep the commands by strength of our wills or by focusing on them. We know from Romans 7 that a fixation on the commandments results in more sin, not less. Of course, the way in which we keep these, and all other commands, is by falling more and more in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. If a believer does not know that adultery is wrong-and sadly, many young people grow up thinking that any and all sexual practices between consenting adults are comparable to playing tennis and are morally neutral- then he may ruin marriages and incur temporal judgment without even realizing that what he is doing is wrong. While we are not to focus on the commands, it is vital that we know what God commands us to do and what He commands us not to do. We are to avoid murder, adultery, theft, lying, and coveting. We are to honor the name of the Lord God and to honor our mothers and fathers. We are not under that command.īut we are to have no other gods. The only one not given in the New Testament is the fourth command, honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy. That is, nine of the ten are part of what is called the royal law, the law of Christ, and the law of liberty. Why memorize the T en C ommandments? Aren’t we free from the Law of Moses? While it is true that we are no longer under the Law, it is also true that nine of the T en C ommandments are repeated in the New Testament. Therefore, the order is do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, and do not covet. That is, these five are in descending order in terms of how physical they are. The final five deal with sinful actions to avoid, starting with the worst. (Some might remember that as three nos and two honors, since the third commandment refers to not taking that Lord’s name in vain, which is the same as honoring the name of the Lord.)įive. (That is the first of the T en which deals with interpersonal relationships.) (That is, do not take His name in vain.) Remember, that is, honor, the Sabbath day and keep it holy. We are not to have any other gods other than the one true God a nd we are not to have any idols. The T en C ommandments start out with two nos. I am sharing with you his memory devi c e, a brilliant one.Ĭan you remember 2, 3, and 5? That should be easy since those are the first three prime numbers. He figured out a way that he would never forget them. In the course of the conversation, Craig said that studies show that most pastors and most Christians cannot name the T en C ommandments in order. We have been friends since I first met him in 1980. Last week Shawn and I had lunch with one of my former seminary professors, Dr.
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