Question 50: What does the preface to the Ten Commandments teach us?

Answer: The preface to the Ten Commandments teaches us that because God is the LORD, and our gracious Redeemer, his commandments are for our good and he does not will for us to depend on ourselves in keeping them, but to trust his grace and power.

Introduction

I have listed below Exodus 20:1-2 as a reminder of the preface of the Ten Commandments.

And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the LORD your God,

Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

Day 1: The Commands are given for Our Good

Deuteronomy 10:13

We looked at verse 4 a few weeks ago out of chapter 10. Moses is recounting the seconding writing of the tablets to the descendants of the unbelieving Israelites. They are preparing to enter the Promised Land. In verses 12-13, Moses summarizes the essence of the Law yet again. MacArthur outlines these as five basic requirements (sha’al) that God expects from His people.

First is to fear (yare' = to fear, be afraid, to stand in awe of, reverence, honor, respect) the LORD God. We should always be in awe of God for all that He is (as we pointed out last week). It is in this attitude of reverence that we submit to Him and obey His commands. Second is to walk (yalak = to go, walk, come, manner of life) in all of His ways (derek = way, road, distance, journey, manner). As Paul stated in Ephesians 4:1 that we are to walk worthy of the calling by which we were called. We are to conduct ourselves in holy living. Third we are to love ('ahab) God. Our deepest affections should be for God “as the deer pants for the water.” Fourth is to serve (`abad = to work, serve, to work for another) the LORD God. This is the natural outworking of loving and fearing God to be compelled to serve Him. Fifth is to keep (shamar = to keep, guard, observe, give heed) the commandments of God. We spoke of this extensively a couple of weeks ago out of the letter of 1 John (such as 1 John 5:3).

At the end of verse 13, we see that these commands were given for our good. Good in the Hebrew is towb meaning good, benefit, welfare, prosperity, or happiness. We are to heed the commands of God because of who He is and because He has delivered us from the bondage of sin. It will be our loving privilege to serve God out of a heart of gratitude. However, as stated here, we will find it to our benefit to obey the commands of God. David exclaimed, “Blessed by the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation” (Psalm 68:19). In Deut. 6:24, Moses says that we are obey God’s commands “for our good always.” The message can be seen in three different ways.

First to the children of Israel under the covenant it was to their benefit to obey the commands of God. For the old covenant was conditional upon Israel’s obedience to the commands of God (see Exodus 19:5-6). This is also restated in Deut. 30:19-20: “choose life that you may live.” God’s protection was with them when they obeyed His commands, but His protection was withdrawn when they disobeyed (Deut. 30:7-10).

Second is the fact that the commands and statutes had temporal benefits to those who obeyed them. The dietary laws proved to prevent disease and to give strength compared to the diet of the Gentiles (see Daniel 1:15). Some commands carried their own promises such as the fifth commandment to “Honor your father and mother that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God giving you” (Exodus 20:13). Obviously, obedience to God’s commands benefited those who obeyed who did not suffer the punitive consequences or natural consequences of breaking these commands.

Third as the redeemed of Christ Jesus, it is to our good to obey the commands of God. Paul points out that grace has made all things lawful, but all things are not profitable or helpful (1 Corinthians 6:12). We see this in three different ways. First as Paul points out here in verse 12 that sin has power (exousiazo = authority, mastery). To sin is to place us under the power of sin. Sin has a way of bringing us under its authority into strongholds that are even more difficult to break from. This sin will take away our sense of peace, joy, security, and usefulness. Stated in the positive, the Spirit will produce in us His fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). Second as Paul points out in the following verses in 1 Corinthians our bodies do not belong to us, but to Christ. We are not to mix a body of Christ with sin. To do so is to play the harlot. Our witness for the glory of God is marred in sin. Not only do we loose of usefulness, but also we bring shame and reproach to the name of Jesus—the One who died for our sins on the cross of Calvary. In obeying the commands of God we glorify Him in our bodies. Last in obeying the commands of God, we are a benefit to fellow believers and also to unbelievers. In 1 Corinthians 10:23, Paul quotes similarly from 6:12 except he adds that “all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.” The effect of a particular law or statute (even of the repealed dietary laws) should be considered according to the conscience of the immature believer or unbeliever rather than to our liberty. As Paul then concludes in 1 Corinthians 10:31-33, we are to consider our witness to others above our own benefit. Is this not the essence of the love and the Gospel itself that it does not seek its own?

1. Have your family to think of and/or research the many commands of God listed in scripture. Explore the benefits of obeying these commands to us temporally, eternally, and to the benefit of others.

Day 2: Only God Can Perform Heart Surgery

Deuteronomy 30:6, 10:16

Moses has just completed a recounting of the commandments given to him by God on Mount Sinai (ending at Deut. 26:14). He then recounts the covenant to the children of Israel (26:15-19) and instructs them to set up white-washed stones with the commands of God written upon them when they enter into the Promised Land (27:1-10). Then Moses instructs them over a few chapters on the blessings that will come to them for obeying the commands of God and the cursing that will come to them if they disobey the commands of God (Deut. 27:11-29:29).

Prophetically, in Deut. 30:1, Moses says, “when these things come upon you” both the blessing and the curse. Moses is already telling the children of Israel that they will rebel against God. Keep in focus that this is Moses speaking to the descendents of the unbelieving who would not enter the land. Now even to these descendents in the Wilderness of Unbelief, Moses proclaims that they would see times of blessing, but inevitably great times of cursing when they find themselves “among all the nations.” He is instructing them that when they find themselves in the midst of one of these curses (when they come to their senses), that they need to turn back to the LORD God who delivered them “out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

In verse 2, Moses gives them the cure for the curse of exile namely repentance. They must return to the God of the covenant. Again, we have the essence of the Law restated here except in the order of the words. In this restating, obedience to the commands of God is stressed. But before they can obey with all their heart and all their soul, they must come to God Himself. They must come to the end of themselves in desperation: “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:17-18, see also Isaiah 57:15). Repentance precedes obedience to the commands of God, but most assuredly obedience will follow a love relationship with the Father (reference 1 John 2:3-6).

In keeping with the Shema (Deut. 6:4-9) Moses includes their children in this call to repentance. The purpose for including the children here is two-fold. First is the fact that true repentance by the parents will result in a calling of the parents to their children to repent. The father’s will call their wives and children into family assemblies and plead for the repentance of each one (Acts 10:24). Second is the fact that the nature of the covenant is to be multigenerational. The covenant is to be passed down from father to son in the ceremony of the circumcision (Genesis 17:9-11).

In verses 3-5, the benefits of repentance are given. God will have compassion on the children of Israel who are scattered among the nations in captivity. This compassion will be manifest in two ways. First is that they would return to the land of their fathers. We see an example of this in the exile to Babylon (Daniel 1) and the return back to Jerusalem (Ezra and Nehemiah). Second is that they would multiply and prosper even beyond the kingdom of their fathers. Ultimately, this passage is prophetic to the end times with Israel coming together with the Lord saving one third (Zechariah 13:9).

In verse 6 (our focal verse), we see how repentance and blessings are made possible: God Himself performs His spiritual surgery upon the hearts of men. As the catechism states, it is not up to us, but up to His grace and power. In Deut. 10:16, the charge is for Israel to perform this surgery themselves. We have frequently mentioned these last few weeks how helpless Israel was to set their hearts toward God and reject their own idolatrous ways. We have examples with the Golden Calf and the unbelief in the wilderness. We see it noted in Deut. 29:4 that God had not given them a heart to perceive and eyes to see even in the midst of great deliverance. In 2 Corinthians 3:14-15, we see Paul stating the fact of the unbelief of the Israelites being a veil upon their hearts. They were caught in a catch 22 of sorts. The veil would be lifted only if they believed, however, they could not believe unless the veil was lifted. Our understanding is made perfect in Christ. By His finished work upon the cross and by His effective application of it to our heart. One day, in the fullness of time, even the elect of the nation of Israel will be saved when they recognize Jesus Christ as the Deliverer (Romans 11:25-27).

Even here in the Old Testament the emphasis is not upon the physical circumcision, but upon the spiritual circumcision of the heart (see also Romans 3:29). The establishment of the circumcision of the foreskin is an interesting one to say the least (see Genesis 17:10-14), but a very symbolic one. The foreskin can hold in its folds disease that could be passed on to wives and then onto children. So we see a practical application here of the circumcision intended to preserve the children of Israel. God chose the reproductive organ to show that sin is passed down from generation to generation by the nature of sinful fathers (originating with Adam). Symbolically the heart is in need to be circumcised of the disease of sin. This fleshly sinful layer must be removed in order for us to love God with all of our heart and soul that we might live (reference the sins of Galatians 5:19-20).

1. Circumcision can be a sensitive subject for some. Handle it as you wish with your children. This may be an opportunity to discuss other aspects of sexual purity that God demands of us.

2. An activity suggestion for children will be to draw hearts with a layer of sins (list some on the heart) that keeps them from seeing God clearly. Draw a clean heart with Christ in it that is free to love God.

3. Can we obey the commands of God under own power? What was required of Israel in order to obey?

Scripture: Deuteronomy 10:13, 16; 30:6.