Just exactly what are the ten commandments mentioned in the Bible? We read about them in (Exodus 20:2-17 NKJV):
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
These ten commandments, issued by God to Moses approximately 3,500 years ago, are truly a wonderful blueprint for morality. They are God’s standards of the way we should live our lives. There is only one problem – humanly speaking we can’t keep them all the time. Notice that they were issued after Adam sinned to a sinful people and while God wants us to follow then, He knows we will many times fall short. It’s important to realize that as sinners, we can’t, on our own, live up to His righteous laws and sadly will many times disappoint God with disobedience and sin.
But the good news is that God knowing this allows His commandments to play a vital role in leading us to Christ. For we read in (Galatians 3:22-25): “But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” This portion of Scripture is so profound because it basically says that the law was given to show and teach us how utterly spiritually bankrupt we are to keep the law and hopefully this realization will drive us to Christ.
There is clearly nothing wrong with the law, (these ten commandments) the problem is with us. In fact, if we look at (Psalm 19:7-11) we see that:
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.
In other words, the law is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, and true. And we should be grateful that God has given us this precious law showing us that if we follow these commandments we will be warned of danger and sin ahead and be rewarded with great blessings – verse 11. I love how the Psalm says it is a psalm of David because the language here in verses 7 to 11 makes me want to believe that David also wrote the magnificent Psalm 119 because of their similarities. Notice in verse 10 we read that the law of God (the Scriptures) are to be more desired than much gold. And if we read Psalm 119 we see that the Word of the Lord (His testimonies, statutes, commandments, law, etc.) is the psalmist’s true delight. For example, we read in (Psalm 119:16, 24, 35, 92):
Verse 16: “I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.”
Verse 24: “Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.”
Verse 35: “Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it.”
Verse 92: “Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction.”
My friends when we fall more in love with Jesus the Bible and its commandments become a sheer joy to obey because obedience to God brings God great pleasure and it glorifies His name. So, the next time you read the Word, ask God to make it a sheer delight – and watch how it will truly become a source of great joy in your life.