Exodus: The 10 Commandments
LESSON SUMMARY
No one could keep God’s perfect law …
These were God’s laws. God is perfect, so God’s laws were perfect — They taught us what God’s standards are and what He is like.
And if we want to be perfect, we would have to keep God’s laws perfectly.
But because God’s laws were perfect, you and I will find it very, very difficult to obey all of them. Sometimes it’s very, very difficult to obey just even one.
If we break just 1 commandment, we have broken ALL the commandments. When we break a commandment, we sin — we miss God’s mark of perfection.
So instead of blessings, we deserve punishment!
Ever since, the commandments were given, no one could keep all of God’s perfect laws perfectly.
The Bible tells us, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
Except for the Perfect Man
No one … except the one perfect man, Jesus!
Jesus:
- Lived a sinless life — kept ALL God’s laws
- Became the sacrifice for our sins
- Was raised from the dead, defeating sin and death
Because Jesus kept all of God’s laws, He was entitled to all of God’s blessings.
When we accept Jesus as our Savour, we receive all the blessing that Jesus paid for us at the cross.
The Holy Spirit helps us to do what is right
The people of Israel had the Law, but they had not power to keep it. The Law just told them how bad they were, but could not help them change. It’s like holding the mirror — the mirror shows you that your face is dirty; it cannot help you clean your face; you try to clean it, but because your hands are dirty, your face becomes dirtier.
Because Jesus fulfilled the Law on our behalf, when we believe in Him, His Holy Spirit comes and lives in us. We become Jesus boys and girls.
We don’t need a list of hundreds of rules to tell us what is right or wrong. The Holy Spirit teaches us what God wants us to do.
Hebrews 8:10 tells us, “God will put His laws in our minds and write them on our heart.” It’s no longer laws on stone but on minds and hearts!
Even better … the Holy Spirit helps us to do what is right.
We can’t love people we don’t like, but Jesus in us can.
We can’t stop doing naughty things like beating our friend or fighting with our sister/brother, but Jesus in us can be kind and gentle to others.
When we feel we cannot love our friend, tell Jesus, “I cannot love my friend, but I know you can love him and you are in me”. Instead of thinking all the not –so–nice things about your friend, think about how kind Jesus is and how much he loves you, and you will find yourself loving your friend!
And even when we fail and fall, we will not receive God’s punishment anymore (although sometimes mummy and daddy will still discipline us). Instead, He still loves us unconditionally, and we have His blessings in our lives.
