Sermons and Stories:
11/7/07-The Tenth Commandment [Continued]
Exodus 20:17
By Pastor John Pruitt
Buffalo Valley Baptist Church
The Breaking of the Tenth Commandment Implies the Violation of All the Other Nine. You could say that the Tenth involves the "Mother sin." This commandment expresses the depravity of the heart.
FIRST: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." If your desire is for the things of the world, then your love is not toward God. See 1 John 2:15 and Eph.5:4-5. Jesus said, [Matt.6:24], "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
SECOND: "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. A man who lusts after those things which cannot be obtained righteously has bowed down to those things. They will become his primary interest and goals.
THIRD: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Pretending to love, honor, and serve God while in your heart lusting after the world's goods and pleasures constitutes taking the Lord's name in vain; for hypocrisy is taking the Lord’s name in vain.
FORTH: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." Using the Lord's day for things other than worship and prayer means that you are putting your own fleshly interest ahead of your duty to honor the Christian Sabbath; therefore, rendering it unholy.
FIFTH: "Honor thy father and thy mother." A person has a moral and Biblical duty and responsibility to see that the needs of their parents are met. How many children, like the "prodigal son" have squandered their parent's savings through mischief because they lusted after something that they cannot afford?
SIXTH: "thou shalt not kill." The root cause of every premeditated murder, and most impulsive murders can be trace back to an unholy desire to have something that was unobtainable by righteous means. Illustration: Sauls Jealousy of David caused him to seek the life of David with great passion. David's lust for Bathsheba caused him to order the death of her husband Uriah. King Ahab’s lust for Naboth’s land drove him to murder his neighbor.
SEVENTH: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Jesus said that adultery does not start in the bed, but in the heart. "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." This involves both being overtaken (supposedly) in a moment of temptation as well as actually contemplating your lust and the sin in your mind. The person who cheats on their spouse either way is a sorry, lowdown dog!
EIGHTH: "Thou shalt not steal." The root of theft is covetousness. What is it that causes a person to take something that does not belong to him but an envious and covetous heart? His only ambition is to have what someone else has that he, himself either does not have, or simply wants more of. But just the desire to have and the thought of stealing or taking is the breaking of the Tenth Commandment.
NINTH: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." What is the motive behind a lying tongue but personal gain? It may be to obtain something or to protect personal ego, or spare oneself from reproach, but it is self motivated.
Can you see the seriousness of the matter? When you consider the implications of the breaking of the Tenth Commandment you find that it is the last word in the moral law of God. The Pharisee’s ask the Lord what the greatest commandment was. His reply is found in Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus said unto him, 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. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. E-mail, johnpruitt@frontiernet.net.
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