TEN COMMANDMENTS – “Are the Ten Commandments Binding Today?

” 1

Are The Ten Commandments

Binding Today?
Lesson Text: Exodus 20:2-17

INTRODUCTION:
A. The 10 Commandments are found in Exodus 20:2-17
1. The Ten Commandments are perhaps the best-known law in all the world.
2. The Ten Commandments may be the least understood law in the world.
B. Few people understand . . . . . .
1. Few people understand that the 10 Commandments were for the Jews
only.
a. When Moses gave the Ten Commandments to the people the second
time, he emphasized that those laws were not made with their fathers, or
with “. . . anyone else, but with us, with all those of us alive here today.”
(Deuteronomy 5:3)
b. A covenant is an agreement between parties and affects no others.
c. The Ten Commandments constituted a covenant between God and the
Jews and affect no other.
2. Few understand that the Ten Commandments were only a temporary law,
which was to be done away.
a. While the Ten Commandments law was in affect, Jeremiah prophesied
that God would make a new and different covenant in the future.
“’Behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, "when I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took
them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant
which they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ declares the
LORD.
But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel
after those days,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will put My law within them
and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be
My people.
They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his
brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the
least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will
forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’” (Jeremiah
31:31-34)
b. That “new Covenant” would be the gospel available to all people.
1. Hebrews 9:15 – “For this reason He is the mediator of a new
covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption
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of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant,
those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal
inheritance”
2. Hebrews 12:24 – “And to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant . . .”
3. The Hebrews writer references the Jeremiah 31 prophecy in
Hebrews 8:7-13 –
“A New Covenant For if that first covenant had been faultless,
there would have been no occasion sought for a second.
8 For finding fault with them, He says, "Behold, days are coming,
says the Lord, When I will effect a new covenant with the house of
Israel and with the house of Judah;
9 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day
when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;
for they did not continue in my covenant, and I did not care for them,
says the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds,
and I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they
shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and
everyone his brother, saying, “’know the Lord,’ for all will know me,
from the least to the greatest of them.
12 For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their
sins no more.
13 When He said, " A new covenant," He has made the first
obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is
ready to disappear.”
4. The new covenant would involve a new name.
a. Isaiah 62:2 – “The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all
kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, which the
mouth of the Lord will name.”
b. That new name was given in Acts 11:26 – “. . . and the disciples
were first called Christians in Antioch.”
c. Revelation 21:5 – “. . . Behold, I make all things new.”
3. Few understand that the Ten Commandments have been invalidated and
no longer apply to us as a law.
b. 2 Corinthians 3:7, 8, 11 – “But if the ministry of death, in letters
engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not
look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading
as it was . . . . . . .
8 How will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?
TEN COMMANDMENTS – “Are the Ten Commandments Binding Today?” 3
11 For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which
remains is in glory.”
c. Paul says that which was written on stone—The Ten Commandments—
has been done away with, while the ministration of the Spirit” or the New
Testament, remains.
d. Colossians 2:14 – “Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements
that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of
the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
d. The cross of Christ marks the end of the Ten Commandments as a law
and the beginning of the new dispensation.
4. Few people understand that today we must keep certain commands, NOT
because they are in the Ten Commandments, but because they are in the
New Testament.
a. Nine of the Original Ten Commandments have been “brought over” into
the New Testament.
b. Those that have been repeated in the New Testament are not listed
together as they were in the Old Testament and are simply a small part
of the over-all commands of Christ.
c. Each of the nine “brought over” has been expanded to include a great
deal more than they did in the Old Testament.
e. A shocking truth to many: “Today one could keep the Old Ten
Commandments perfectly and still be lost.”

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS NATURALLY DIVIDE INTO TWO

SECTIONS
A. The two sections are:
1. The first four deal with one’s relationship to God.
2. The last six dealing with one’s relationship to his fellowman.
B. The Jews summarized the Ten Commandments into these two laws.
Matthew 22:36-39 –
And He said to him, " You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the great and foremost commandment.
"The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS THEN . . . AND TODAY

1-4 = MAN’S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

A. Commandment #1 – “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus

20:3
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1. Matthew 4:10 – “Then Jesus said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, You
shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”
2. Galatians 5:19-20 – “The deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: . . .
idolatry . . .”
3. Colossians 3:5 – “Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to
idolatry.”
4. 1 Peter 4:3 – “For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried
out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts,
drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.”

B. Commandment #2 – “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any

likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water
under the earth.” Exodus 20:4
1. 1 John 5:21 – “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”
2. Galatians 5:19-20 – “The deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: . . .
idolatry . . .”

C. Commandment #3 – “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God
in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in
vain.” Exodus 20:7
1. Matthew 6:9 – “. . . Hallowed (Holy) be Your name.”
2. Ephesians 4:29 – “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth,
but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the
moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”
3. Matthew 5:34 – “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for
it is the throne of God.”
4. 2 Timothy 2:19 – “. . . Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to
abstain from wickedness.”
5. Philippians 2:9-11 – “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and
bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee bow, of those who are in
heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father”

D. Commandment #4 – “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

Exodus 20:8
1. The “Sabbath Day” or seventh day corresponds to our Saturday.
2. The word “Sabbath” means rest, thus the Jews were instructed to do
absolutely no work at all on that day. The Hebrew word for Sabbath meant
“to cease or abstain.”
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3. In the New Testament Gospel, we find no instructions at all for the keeping
of the Sabbath.
4. In the New Testament, we are commanded to keep, not the seventh day,
but the first day of the week.
a. Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the week. Matthew 28:1
b. The church began on the first day of the week.
1. Began on the first Pentecost following the resurrection of Christ.
Acts 2:1
2. Pentecost always fell on A Sunday (reckoned seven Sabbaths plus
one day [a total of 50] from the Sabbath of the Passover week –
Leviticus 23:15-16)
c. The disciples met on the first day of the week to partake of the Lord’s
Supper. Acts 20:7
d. The disciples “gave of their means” on the first day of the week. 1
Corinthians 16:1-2
5. Never be guilty of calling the Lord’s Day the Sabbath. 2 Timothy 1:13 –
“Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me . . .”
6. The fourth of the Ten Commandments was not brought over
(repeated) in the New Testament Gospel law.

5-10 = MAN’S RELATIONSHIP WITH FELLOWMAN

E. Commandment #5 – “Honor your father and your mother . . .” Exodus

20:12
1. Ephesians 6:1-3 – “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with
promise: that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”
2. Matthew 19:19 – “Honor your father and your mother . . .”

F. Commandment #6 – “You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13

1. Romans 13:9 – “For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’
‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false
witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are
all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.’”
2. Matthew 19:18 – “ . . . You shall not murder . . . “
3. Matthew 5:21-22 – “You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You
shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.'
But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause
shall be in danger of the judgment.”
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4. 1 John 3:15 – “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know
that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”

G. Commandment #7 – “You shall not commit adultery.” Exodus 20:14

1. Romans 13:9 – “For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery.”
2. Matthew 5:27-28 – “You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You
shall not commit adultery.'
But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has
already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
3. Matthew 19:9 – “I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual
immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries
her who is divorced commits adultery.”
4. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners
will inherit the kingdom of God.”

H. Commandment #8 – “You shall not steal.” Exodus 20:15

1. Ephesians 4:28 – “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him
labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to
give him who has need.”
2. Romans 12:17 – “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things
in the sight of all men.”
3. Matthew 19:18 – “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery,'
'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness."
4. 1 Corinthians 6:10 – “Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”

I. Commandment #9 – “You shall not bear false witness against your

neighbor.” Exodus 20:16
1. 1 Peter 3:10 – "He who would love life and see good days, Let him refrain
his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit”
2. Matthew 19:18 – “You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,'
'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness.”
3. Luke 3:14 – “Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, ‘And what shall we
do?’ So he said to them, ‘Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and
be content with your wages."
4. Matthew 15:19-20 – “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed
hands does not defile a man.”
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J. Commandment #10 – “You shall not covet.” Exodus 20:17

1. Luke 12:15 – “And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of
covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things
he possesses.”
2. Romans 13:9 – “. . . You shall not covet . . .”
3. 1 Corinthians 6:10 – “Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”

CONCLUSION:
A. Matthew 17:5 – “While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud
overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying,
"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!"
1. Moses represented the Law – “Don’t hear him.”
2. Elijah represented the Prophets – “Don’t hear him.”
3. Christ represented the new covenant – “Hear Him!”
B. Matthew 28:18 - "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
“ALL” means none left for any other.”
C. “Are the Ten Commandments Binding Today?” No
D. Let us then remember:
1. The Ten Commandments have been taken out of the way and nailed it to
the cross.
2. We are no longer bound by the Ten Commandments that appear in Exodus
20:2-17.
3. Nine of those commandments have been repeated in the New
Commandments but because they are found in the Testament of Christ.
4. Furthermore, those nine commandments that had been repeated in the
New Testament actually constitute a very small part of the all-over
teachings of Christ.
E. God’s Plan for Man’s Salvation
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