Lesson 11: The Ten Commandments (Part 1)

The Ten Commandments (Part 1)Pre-Session Warm Up(Exodus 19 - 20)Have you heard of the Ten Commandments? Do you know what theyare for? (To get you to heaven.) Can you tell me each of the TenCommandments? The Lord gave us these rules to live by. Did youknow that breaking even one of these ten rules only once insomeone's whole life brings that person under condemnation? Onlyby keeping all of the Ten Commandments every minute of every dayall of your life will you be perfect enough to be suitable to enterheaven. God said in Deuteronomy 27:26, “Cursed is anyone whodoes not obey these laws.” If it is this important to God that you keepthe Ten Commandments shouldn't you know what they are?Opening PrayerFather, we want to be pleasing to You. Since we call ourselvesChristians, we want every one of our thoughts, words, and actions tobring Your name blessing and honor. Teach us this morning how weare to live. Help us to listen and understand with our hearts thismorning. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.Memory VerseThis is love, that we walk according to His commandments. (2 John 6)LessonAfter escaping through the Red Sea, the Children of Israel keptwalking and walking over the desert sand, traveling through thewilderness, heading to a new country, the land that God promised toAbraham.Exodus 19:1In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land ofEgypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai.About two months after they left Egypt, they reached Mt. Sinai. Theycamped there for about one year. And it was here that God gave themdetailed instructions about how to live and how to worship Him.God told Moses why He considered the children of Israel, "HisChosen People."Exodus 19:5-6a"'Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant,then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all theearth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holynation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children ofIsrael."God's reason for rescuing the Israelites from slavery was that Hewanted Israel to become a model for everyone else in the world tofollow. He said I want you to be "a kingdom of priests and a holynation." God wanted the children of Israel to be spiritual leadersshowing everyone else in all of humanity how to live according toGod's way and how to properly serve and worship Him, the only trueand living God of the universe. He wanted Israel to represent God'sway of life, to teach his Word, and to show everyone else the Way toeverlasting life with Him.This was God's plan all along. That's why He promised Abraham thatHe would make his descendants into a great nation. He chose thisone nation and put it through a training program, so that one day itcould be a channel for his blessings to the whole world.Exodus 19:10-11Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and sanctify them todayand tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. And let them be ready forthe third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon MountSinai in the sight of all the people.”Moses Lesson #11 Page 59

The Ten Commandments (Part 1) Exodus 19 - 20The people had to prepare themselves for God's appearance. Theyneeded to wash their clothes to be ready to meet God. This wouldremind them how pure and clean they needed to be in the presence ofGod. They were to set themselves apart from their daily routine inorder to dedicate themselves to God.Just like the children of Israel needed to get their minds and heartsready to meet with God, when we meet God for worship, we need toget our minds and hearts ready. We should set aside the cares ofeveryday life.Exodus 19:16-20Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there werethundering and lightning, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and thesound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were inthe camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp tomeet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now MountSinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it infire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the wholemountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet soundedlong and became louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answer himby voice. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of themountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, andMoses went up.This was the scene when God gave the people The Law. SometimesGod speaks to his people with a majestic display of power; at othertimes he speaks quietly in a still small voice. Here at Sinai, theawesome display of light and sound was necessary to show IsraelGod's great power and authority. God wanted to show the people justhow awesome and important the Ten Commandments are. Only thenwould they listen to Moses and Aaron. The people were trembling withfear when God spoke.The Law is made up of ten rules to live by that's why we call The Law"The Ten Commandments." The first four have to do with ourrelationship to God. The last six have to do with our relationship to ourfellow-man.The order that God gives us the commandments is important. Weneed to put God first.Commandment #1 — You shall have no other gods before meExodus 20:2-3I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out ofthe house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.This is the first commandment because if you obey it by truly lovingGod and putting Him first, you will find yourself obeying the other ninecommandments.The Israelites had just come from Egypt, a land of many idols andmany gods. Because each god represented a different aspect of life, itwas common to worship many gods in order to get the maximumnumber of blessings. When God told his people to worship andbelieve in him, that wasn't so hard for them — he was just one moregod to add to the list. But when he said, "You shall have no othergods before me," that was difficult for the people to accept. But if theydidn't learn that the God who led them out of Egypt was the only trueGod, they could not be his people — no matter how faithfully they keptthe other nine commandments.By honoring and loving God, you learn to honor and love others. Theone true God, Creator of heaven and earth, deserves your love,worship, and obedience far above anything or anyone else. Today wecan allow many things to become gods to us. Money, school, play,sports heroes, singers, TV and movie stars, friends — none of theseshould be as important to you as God. No one sets out with theintention of worshiping these other things. But by the amount of timewe devote to them, they can grow into gods that ultimately control ourthoughts and energies. Letting God hold the central place in our liveskeeps these things from turning into gods.Jesus said, "Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only."(Matthew 4:10)Page 60 Moses Lesson #11

Exodus 19 - 20 The Ten Commandments (Part 1)Because people do not always keep the first commandment, Godgave the second...Commandment #2 — You shall not make for yourself a carvedimageExodus 20:4You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness ofanything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that isin the water under the earth.A carved image is an idol made from wood or stone or metal. It maybe a huge statue or even a tiny good luck charm. It may look likesomething God has made — an animal, bird, fish or human form. Godcannot be reduced to an idol. And people who make idols come tobelieve that the idol itself is a god. They trust the idol rather than lookto God.Psalm 115:3-8,But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. Their idols aresilver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they donot speak; eyes they have, but they do not see; they have ears, but theydo not hear; noses they have, but they do not smell; they have hands,but they do not handle; feet they have, but they do not walk; nor do theymutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them; so iseveryone who trusts in them.Jesus said, "No servant can serve two masters." (Luke 16:13)Taking God's name in vain means using it in a useless way. Whenyou or I use the name of God or His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in athoughtless way or as a swear word, we dishonor God. God's name isspecial because it carries his personal identity. Using it carelessly orin a curse is so common today that we may fail to realize how seriousit is. The way we use God's name conveys how we really feel abouthim. We should respect his name and use it appropriately, speaking itin praise or worship rather than in curse or jest.Simply pretending to pray or praise when you are with others can alsobe using God's name in vain. Say God's name only in ways that showyour love and respect. Ask God to help you honor His name and toprotect it, too.Jesus said, "Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God'sthrone..." (Matt 5:34)Commandment #4 — Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holyExodus 20:8Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.The word Sabbath comes from a Hebrew word meaning to "stop or torest from work." Holy means "to set apart." God was telling the peopleto set aside a special day each week for rest and worship. Israelobserved the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week, our Saturday.Because Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, Hisfollowers began to set aside Sunday as their special day of worship.Commandment #3 — You shall not take the name of the Lordyour God in vainExodus 20:7You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord willnot hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.As a day of rest, the Sabbath was God's gift to His people. God knewthat doing ordinary work seven days a week would be too tiring for us.When we use one day in seven as a day of rest and worship, wedemonstrate how important God is to us and it gives us the extrabenefit of refreshing our spirits.Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for theSabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27,28)Moses Lesson #11 Page 61

The Ten Commandments (Part 1) Exodus 19 - 20So far we have looked at the first four commandments, the ones thattell us ways to love God. The next six commandments tell us ways tolove each other. We will look at those next week.ConclusionWhat is the punishment due a person for not keeping one of the TenCommandments? (Death!) God's Word says, "For the wages of sin isdeath, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."(Romans 6:23)Did the children of Israel obey these Commandments? (No!) Haveyou always obeyed the Ten Commandments? (No!) God knew no onecould keep them perfectly. God gave us the commandments to showus that we are helpless to be perfect. We must realize our owninability to be righteous. This will be the only thing that causes us tostop trying to be good enough on our own and to run to God forforgiveness and mercy.When we study the Ten Commandments, we see how perfect God isand how sinful we are. Only one person who lived in this world alwayskept the Ten Commandments. That was God's perfect Son, the LordJesus Christ. Breaking these commandments is sin, and God says thepunishment for sin is death. Because the Lord Jesus never sinned, Hecould take that punishment for us. He died on the cross and roseagain. If you will admit your sin and trust the Lord Jesus to forgiveyou, He will come to live inside you and give you His power to obeyGod's commandments.God wants us to be in a place of humility before Him. He wants us tocome to Him and say, "I know what your perfect standard is, Lord.And, I know that I can never meet your demands. Thank You forsending Jesus who took the punishment that I deserve. I surrender toYou and ask You to forgive me and thank You for providing a way tolive with You for ever in heaven when I die."Closing Prayer[Teacher, have each child pray a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord.]Learning ActivitiesCraft CornerGame CenterUse the following review questions in a game of your choice:1. Why did God choose the children of Israel to be "His ChosenPeople?" (To be an example to the rest of mankind, spiritualleaders, to show everyone else God's way.)2. Why did God tell Moses to have the people wash their clothesbefore He would speak to them? (He wanted the people toprepare themselves, set themselves apart.)3. Why did God speak to the people with a majestic display ofpower? (He wanted to show the people just how awesome andimportant the Ten Commandments are.)4. What is the first commandment? (You shall have no other godsbefore me.)5. What are some things that take the place of God in our lives?(Money, school, sports, TV, movie stars, friends)6. What is the second commandment? (You shall not make foryourself a carved image.)7. What does it mean to take the name of the Lord your God in vain?(To use it in an empty or thoughtless way or as a swear word.)Page 62 Moses Lesson #11

Exodus 19 - 20 The Ten Commandments (Part 1)8. What does the word "Sabbath" mean? (To stop or to rest fromwork.)9. How do we keep the Sabbath holy? (By setting aside a specialday each week for rest and worship.)10. What do the first four commandments have to do with? (How toworship and respect God.)11. Why did God give us the Ten Commandments if He knew wecouldn't keep them? (He wanted us to realize our own inability tobe righteous. To humble us and to be thankful that He sentJesus.)12. What is the punishment due a person for not keeping one of thecommandments? (Death!)13. What is the only thing that will cause us to stop trying to be goodenough on our own and to run to God for forgiveness and mercy?(We must realize our own inability to be righteous.)14. What is today's Memory Verse? (This is love, that we walkaccording to His commandments. 2 John 6.)Moses Lesson #11 Page 63

The Ten Commandments (Part 1) Exodus 19 - 20Page 64 Moses Lesson #11