Exodus 20:5

When the Lord gave the second commandment of the Ten Commandments, He gave a very interesting warning and also a promise concerning those who do not love God, and those who do love Him. The Lord said in Exodus 20:5-6, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” The warning is as follows: “I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.” And the promise is as follows: “shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”

It appears from these verses that we can divide the human race into two types of people: those who hate God and those who love God. There is a direct relationship between loving God and obeying the commandments. Those who love God will want to obey His commandments. That comes naturally. That is one of the reasons that loving God is the greatest commandment. If you truly love God, then you will more easily and more naturally keep His commandments. Jesus said in Mark 12:30, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”

How much do you love Jesus? One of the proofs of how much you love God will be how much you keep His commandments. There is a severe warning for those who hate Jesus. God said that He will be “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.” Of course, this is talking about consequences. There are bad results to disobeying God’s Word. The Bible says in Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” What is going to happen to you today? Many people would like to know the answer to that question. That’s one reason that some people incorrectly turn to horoscopes. To a great degree what happens to you today is a result of what you did yesterday because God is in control and His Word is true. One of the truths to notice about this warning from God is that if you do not love Him and if you disobey His commandments, not only will your life be negatively affected, but also the lives of your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. will also be negatively affected. Look at what happened when Adam and Eve sinned: all of us still face death because of them and their failure. Thank God that Jesus came to die for our sins and take away death. It says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

God’s promise in Exodus 20:5 is, “And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” Notice the three things that are related in this verse: obtaining God’s mercy, loving Jesus, and keeping God’s commandments. Even though we might keep God’s commandments the best that we can, we all still fail sometimes because we are all sinners. As it says in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Therefore, we do need God’s mercy. We can and should always rely upon the mercy of Christ, and we can never rely upon our own good works to earn God’s favor. As it says in Titus 3:5, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us…”

But there is a direct connection between God’s mercy and the obeying of His commandments. Here is one spiritual truth about this relationship: in order to turn to Christ and find mercy: you must desire to do the right thing and obey His commands. That is what repentance is all about. That is an important part of what we can call the spiritual psychology of salvation. Before a person is saved, that person is going along in sin; and then one day the Spirit of God convicts that person of the fact that they need to turn to Christ for forgiveness and mercy and that they need to change their ways. It would not be honest or genuine for a person to say that they want mercy without also saying that they want to change their ways and live a better life and start following God’s commandments. That is exactly what Jesus was talking about in John 3:19-21, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” The Light is Jesus. Any person in this world who really wants to change and start doing the right thing by truly serving God, will come to Jesus and believe on Him. Any person in this world who wants to continue doing selfish and sinful things will refuse to turn to the Light. Believing in Christ is very closely associated with the desire to do the right thing and the desire to obey God’s commands. This is an interesting thought: you can obtain forgiveness for your sins and failures once you turn to Christ with this motivation: the desire to start doing the right thing. That is the message of the Gospel, and it is also the message of the Ten Commandments.

The third of the Ten Commandments is in Exodus 20:7. God said, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” In the Bible there are many names given for God. Each one of the names reveal something about who He is. “Jehovah” means “the I AM” or the “eternally existing One.” “God” means the “Almighty.” “Jesus” means “Savior.” Those who honor God will naturally honor His name. Believers who are rightly related to God will say the same thing that King David said in First Chronicles 29:13, “Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.” David wrote in Psalm 8:9, “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” He also wrote in Psalm 44:8, “In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever.” Notice that Jesus said in Revelation 3:8, “I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.” How a person treats the name of God and how a person uses the name of God will tell you a tremendous amount about that person. It does not come naturally for a person to use the name of God with respect and with honor and with devotion. Just make sure that whenever you use the name of God or the name of Jesus that you do so with honor and reverence.

It is interesting that there are two of the Ten Commandments that have to do with the use of man’s tongue. One of the commandments is: “Do not lie.” The other commandment is: “Do not take the name of God in vain.” We know how terrible the tongue of man can be. It says in James 3:6, “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.” Have you ever seen a world of iniquity? Just go home, stand in front of the mirror, and open your mouth. Inside you will see a “world of iniquity,” and the two worse things your tongue can do is to lie or to take God’s name in vain. Sometimes we think that a foul-mouthed person who curses a lot has terrible speech and is therefore a terrible person; but much worse is someone who lies or someone who takes God’s name in vain.

Concerning the fourth of the Ten Commandments, God said in Exodus 20:8-11, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Notice the first word of this commandment is “remember.” Of course, this word is talking about what we think about. So this is a commandment that involves our mind, and how we use it. The first three commandments involved our heart, and our soul, and our spirit, and our tongue. Now we are told that we are to use our mind when it comes to the subject of the Sabbath Day. We must have the right thought about the Sabbath Day in order to keep it. We must have the right understanding of the Sabbath Day in order to be able to follow this commandment.

The word “Sabbath” is used for the first time in the Bible in the book of Exodus. Of course, the concept comes from the creation, when God created all living things in six days, and then ceased from the work of creation on the seventh day. The Bible says in Genesis 2:1-3, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” The important thing to remember is that the Sabbath represents ceasing from work: “God ended His work.” This concept will have its spiritual application in regards to works of righteousness. There are those who go about trying to establish their own righteousness through the performing of their own works. But they really need to cease from their own works and find rest in Christ. As it says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” And it says in Titus 3:5, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”

There are two more important points to make concerning the word “Sabbath” in the Bible. The first truth is that the Sabbath Day refers to Saturday. The second truth is that there are many Sabbath days, not just the seventh day of the week. For example, listen to what is said about the Feast of Tabernacles in Leviticus 14:39, “Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.” In Leviticus 25:3-4 an entire year is called a Sabbath. It says, “Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.” If you are going to try and keep the Sabbath Day as it is instructed to do so in the Old Testament, you have many more things to do and many more days to keep than just the seventh day of the week.

When the Israelite people came back into the land and were once again determined to follow the Old Testament law, it is interesting to notice what Nehemiah said. He wrote in Nehemiah 10:32-34, “Also we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God; For the shewbread, and for the continual meat offering, and for the continual burnt offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make an atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law.” Notice that the keeping of the Sabbath days is associated with all of the other ceremonial requirements of the Old Testament law. They go together.

In our next sermon among other truths we will review how the word “Sabbath” is used in the New Testament. For example, the word “Sabbath” is used very little in the New Testament, but when it is used, it is found in primarily three contexts: 1. The Sabbath Day is used to simply to tell what day of the week an event took place, as in Mark 1:21, “And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.” 2. Misunderstandings of the Sabbath Day is the reason for several of the condemnations and criticisms that Jesus received from the Pharisees. For example, it says in Luke 6:1-5, “And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days? And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungred, and they which were with him; How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone? And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.” Hopefully, the Lord of the Sabbath is your Savior. You can cease from your works and find peace and rest for your soul in Jesus.

3. The third way that the Sabbath is referred to in the New Testament has to do with teaching the fact that for Christians Jesus Christ is their Sabbath: their rest. For example, it says in Colossians 2:16, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.” Because Jesus fulfilled the law for me, I no longer am required to keep the ordinances of the law. Because Jesus fulfilled the law, I am no longer required to observe feasts or fastings, or holy days, or Sabbath days.

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