Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: God created sex. He's the author. And the key is that it's to use it for what it's designed for within marriage. And since it's God-given, it must be God-guided. Adultery mars and crushes the image of God's holiness and his purity. And it is a crushing blow to the sanctity of relationship because it removes the significance of trust in a relationship.

Guest (Male): Calvary Church in Aurora, Colorado now presents Abounding Grace with our pastor and teacher, Ed Taylor. Today, we return to our series on the Ten Commandments with commands seven through ten: don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, and don't covet. That's how God wraps up the big ten. Let's allow the Lord to speak to us now through His word.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Open your Bibles. Exodus chapter 20 is where we are, verse by verse studying the book of Exodus. We'll finish the chapter today. And the title of our Bible study is, no surprise, The Ten Commandments Part 3. And we're going to finish up the Ten Commandments as we wrap up our look and our study at the revelation of God.

He's revealing Himself to the nation of Israel who are no longer slaves, have been delivered from Egypt, they've been taken out from under their taskmasters. They have a brand new master, but nothing like they've ever experienced before. Only that they have heard of Him, only that they have cried out to Him. And now along the way, God has revealed Himself in power, in majesty, and now He's giving insights and direction for how they're to live their life in relationship with Him.

I know it's a simple illustration, but like if I came and moved in with you and you let me stay with you for a little while, there would be house rules. There would be things you expect of me. They may be spoken, that's the best. They may be written down, but there are house rules. There are rules that you would want me to follow to maintain relationship.

I'll give you one of them. One thing I'm sure you would not want me to do is to go into your refrigerator, take out the milk, open it up, and drink it right from the container. I don't know that you would want me to do that. You would prefer for me, you'd say, "There's anything in the refrigerator is open to you, but with the milk, can you just please get a glass? It's in the cupboard. Just take it out, pour yourself a glass, be respectful. We don't all want your germs when we're drinking milk."

It's a rule. It's not a rule like, "If you want to stay here, do this with the milk." It's not delivered that way. It's relational. I want you here. I want you to stay here. I want you to get back on your feet. I want that. But I also want it not excluding me. I want you to acknowledge that it is our house, but you're welcome in our house. You're family. Come on in. But don't drink the milk out of the container, please. That's just gross. Just don't do that. Don't do that because it's a respect.

On a much broader scale, God is doing the same thing. This is how you live your life. It's best for you. It's best for us. It will identify you for all the false idolaters. You will be easily recognized as My followers if you live by these rules. And that's what they are. They are rules. We often refer to them as commandments. You could also refer to them as regulations. You could also, as one commentator recommended, you could just call them these are ten words from God.

He's giving them direction which will be the first of many, but these are the ten that He gives. These are not rules, and make this clear because it comes into our life today. These are not rules that will save them or place them in a right relationship with God. They already are in a right relationship with God. He delivered them. Later on, He will lay out for them a covenant, He will give the parameters of that covenant, but at this point, they're already following Him.

He's already in relationship with them. These rules come to those in relationship, which is important for you and me because there's no set of rules or regulations that you or I live by today in order to be saved. We are saved according to Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8, "By grace through faith you have been saved, not of ourselves or not of yourself. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

So you could say that we are not saved by good works; however, we are saved for good works. The reality of the works of righteousness follow our life because of our relationship. Last time we looked in depth, if you weren't with us, in the command to honor your mother and father, a very important one. It was a very powerful time if you weren't here. The Holy Spirit was very thick and very present among us as we were studying the Bible last time, and especially in this topic of honoring your mother and father because we asked and answered the questions of how we're to honor parents, especially how do we honor those parents that dishonored us.

And we spent some time in depth looking at that. But we learned, remember, that I may not and you may not have the whole pathway of what the future might look like in honoring parents that dishonored. But we do know the first step. It all begins with forgiveness. We don't know where it's going to lead and we don't know how it's going to be worked out. We don't know what God wants to do and how it will return, but it begins on our part. We honor the parents that dishonored us by forgiving them.

Very, very powerful. You can get it on the app, online, on YouTube, everywhere we post it. It will set you free as you learn to honor your mother and father. So pick up with me now in verse 14. We covered the murder. Now verse 14: "You shall not commit adultery." Number seven. The seventh commandment is no adultery. From the sanctity of life, do not murder, we come now to the sanctity of marriage.

And adultery is defined as stealing from another what does not belong to you. Marriage was the first institution that God created. One biological man, one biological woman, for one lifetime. It's unfortunate we have to add that word, but it's necessary in our world today that our definitions are very clear, that God's intention for marriage is one man, one woman, one lifetime. And in the redefinition of our culture today, that is one biological, the biology, the identity you were given at conception. Very, very important.

That's God's will. That's God's idea. He wanted sex to be absolutely fulfilling, something to be enjoyed in marriage. God created sex. He's the author. And the key is that it's to use it for what it's designed for within marriage. And since it's God-given, it must be God-guided. Adultery mars and crushes the image of God's holiness and His purity. And it is a crushing blow to the sanctity of relationship because it removes the significance of trust in a relationship. Very painful.

When sex is outside of marriage, when it's abused, severe consequences can come. It's another thing that I've seen come up in my ministry recently on the radio but also here is the consequences of sexual sin, the consequences of even divorce. They're long-lasting. And I find myself, as some are describing to me the difficulty they're going through right now and how God's going to get them through, it's unfortunate. God's ideal is not always what we live up to. We fail, we sin. There is sin among us.

God's ideal is what we're shooting for. It's what His desire is, but we recognize that not everyone's able to hit God's ideal. It's not a moment of condemnation but rather a moment of forgiveness. However, there's always consequences with sin. And I was describing, and I've said it a couple times to different people, I've just been able to pause them and I say, "I know this is why God hates divorce. This is why God hates adultery. This is why God hates fornication. It completely destroys what God intended."

Now it's not that God can't repair and God can't forgive, of course He can. He can do great work in our lives, but the reality is that this sin is forbidden for good reason. When it's abused, severe consequences can come. And sexual sin in general is forbidden by God. It's not isolated to just one sexual sin. Sexual sin of adultery, which is defined as sex outside of the confines of your covenant of marriage. Fornication is defined as sex between unmarried people. Homosexuality would be sex between people of the same sex. And then you mix into all the variations of that today.

It's all forbidden. It's all forbidden and it all mars. And once again, Jesus takes this and even goes deeper with adultery where He says in Matthew 5:27, "You have heard it said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman, and conversely looking at a man, to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Our time today is not to develop this in any depth, but understand Jesus is reminding us that these commandments are not merely outward behavior modifications, but they're all issues of the heart, the heart.

So that outwardly there may not be the sin. We learned this with the sin of murder. Outwardly there may not be the sin. You may go, "Oh, never mind, it doesn't apply to me. It's no big deal. I would never ever ever do that." Really? Because you're in relationship with God, it's a matter of the heart, not just the behavior. And both are very damaging: adultery in the heart, adultery physically, very damaging to a marriage.

And while there could be gradations of how bad it is and how bad it can be, they're both very dangerous. Sinning in the heart, sinning outwardly, they're very painful and felt the same way. Notice now in verse 15, "You shall not steal." Pretty straightforward. Do not steal. Don't take what does not belong to you. And it's possible to steal in a number of ways, you know. It's not just simply being known as a thief or a robber. You can steal from your employer: time. You can make an agreement with your employer and because you think better, you can steal time from your employer.

You can steal from the government as you fill out your tax forms, or you not taking advantage of laws to minimize your tax liability. That's not stealing, but lying by making the numbers to take away your tax, you can steal from the government. You can even steal from God, did you know that? In Malachi chapter 3, verse 8, it says, "Will a man rob God? You have robbed Me," God says. But you say, "In what way have we robbed You?" And the answer: tithes and offerings in our giving of ourselves to Him.

Do Christians need to be reminded of this? Say it out loud, church. Yes! He's like, this is not for the Old Testament saints coming out of Egypt, it's for you today. This is God's word. Someone, I'm sure, listening to this Bible study, even if it's just one person on the other side of the country, other side of the world, someone hearing this, the Lord wants you to know the answer is no. You cannot steal. Don't do it. No.

Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 28: "Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need." Such a liberating life you have in Christ. No longer taking, but giving. No longer harming, but helping. It's a gift from the Lord to us, especially those of us that just had such a bad sinful life. Every sin that we were in, everything that harmed someone or hurt someone, God says, "No, no, no. Don't do that anymore. I got something better for you."

I don't want you to harm people. I don't want you to steal what's not yours. I want you to be a giver. That's going to bless people. Be a giver. Follow My lead. Be honest. Be faithful. Live in fidelity. Honor your commitments. Honor your marriage. Honor your singleness. Honor Me. Don't live like that anymore. That's not for you. It was harmful and hurtful, but now you can be a help. And then those of you that maybe have a background in stealing, "Hey, don't steal anymore. Here, let Me give you something better," God says. "Don't steal anymore but work and give things away."

And you're not trying to make up, "Okay, okay, I'll be. I'm going to get... I stole for five years, so I'm going to give for five years." It's not God's not asking you to measure. Now there may be restitution necessary with specific people for sure, like you know that you stole something from someone and the lawnmower's still in your garage. Give it back. You're a believer now. Give it back and say in Jesus' name, "I stole this from you." You know, there's restitution. But I'm talking about like you're free now. You're free to give.

You're not in bondage to stealing anymore. You're not in bondage to looking at someone and seeing them for what you can take from them. But now God has put in your heart by the Holy Spirit, you can look at someone and see how you can help them, how you can give to them, how you can help them along in life, how you can minister to them, how you can take all the bountiful blessings that God has given to you and help someone else. Pretty straightforward.

Number nine, verse 16: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." And this has been often given to us as you shouldn't lie. Don't lie. Don't bear false witness. Of course, bearing false witness would be to say something untrue against your neighbor. But the principle here is that God loves truth and hates falsehood. God loves truth. So there's no room for this realm of being untruthful. And no more colors when it comes to lies anymore, no more.

"Well, it was just a white lie." Can't have it. Or a green lie, can't have it. Purple lie, can't have it. Half lie, half truth. Get rid of that out of your vocabulary. It doesn't exist anymore. Believers in Jesus Christ speak the truth. And there's no half truths, no, it's the truth. And if it's a hard truth, then we speak the truth how? In love. But we speak the truth. We're to be known as truth bearers. We're to be known as men and women who keep their word, men and women that go the extra mile, men and women that our yes is yes and our no is no.

We can be relied upon in a culture where people can't be relied upon, that we're honest in a culture where people lie. That we're the honest ones, no matter the cost, no matter what it costs, we're going to tell the truth. And that's the command. Let me show you this. Turn over to Proverbs, you're close to it, so it's to the right from where you are. Proverbs is right next to the Psalms, and I want you to see this verse 16. So when you get there, Proverbs chapter 6, verse 16.

Very important passage in the Proverbs. I encourage you for part of your Bible reading to read a Proverb every day, a chapter of Proverbs every day. There are 31 chapters, so you can read a chapter every day once a month. And then on the days that have less than 31, then you can just read the last two chapters whenever you want, like whatever day. You can get ahead for some of the months, but the months that have 31 days, you can read a chapter. So chapter 6 was a couple weeks ago, and notice with me verse 16, chapter 6.

For those of you that read the Proverbs, you already read this: "These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him." Verse 17: "A proud look and," then what does your Bible say? "A lying tongue." If you like to write in your Bibles and it's convenient, you can circle verse any of these and come back to the word in verse 16, the Lord hates. What does the Lord hate? A lying tongue. You're not on the right side of God when you lie.

Neither are you on the right side of your neighbor. When you lie, it's neither an act of love toward God nor an act of love toward your neighbor. You're not even fulfilling the royal command, and neither am I. You gain nothing from lying. You gain nothing. And when you're a truth teller, when you tell the truth, you don't need to have a good memory with the people that you talk to. You don't have to worry what you told this person, what you told that person, what you sent that person.

When you tell the truth, you don't have to have a good memory because you told the truth. You're just living in the truth, living in the light. Nothing hidden. It's a big deal for some people coming out of the world when you're born again, like that's a big deal to be known as a truth teller. You may even have the reputation, "Well, he's just a liar. He's just a liar. He's just a liar." Not in Christ. In Christ, you're a truth teller and just live the power of God in your life.

Not only that, we'll just finish the section. Not only does God hate pride and a lying tongue, but "hands that shed innocent blood, a heart," verse 18, "that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift to running in evil." And now notice it switches a little, verse 19. Now he goes to the person. He says, "A false witness who speaks lies and finally one who sows discord among the brethren."

It's important that we tell the truth. We're to be truthful with one another. Lying erodes trust among us. It breaks relationship, separates us from God, separates us from each other. And lies include slander, gossip, made-up stories that ruin reputations of another person. Relationships are always built on truthfulness and trust. And you know the depth of your relationship through time and testing. Those are the ingredients: truthfulness and trust, time and testing, working through, becoming the woman and the man that God wants you to be.

Verse 17 now, coming back to Exodus, the final commandment given is, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor." And some of you're going, "Checkmark, checkmark, don't want my neighbor's ox, don't want my neighbor's donkey." But covetousness is a sneaky one. This is a sneaky one because I don't know how many people I've ever met that really come and confess, "You know, Pastor, will you pray for me? I'm very covetous."

But it's very common. It's just unseen. This is an interesting because it's an internal. It's very internal. Hard to see outwardly. Hard to see the action outwardly. Nobody sees your coveting heart. Nobody physically sees my coveting heart, but God. Covetousness is a form of discontentment. Jealousy, jealousy is is really wanting, you know, seeing someone else has something and you really want it. Coveting is a little worse than that. Coveting is you see what someone else wants and you're willing to do whatever it takes to get it.

Or, you know, I think coveting is is a source, I know it's it's an interesting source, but I think it's the source of when someone decides that they just want to key your car. I think it's one of those resentment area... I mean, there's other reasons for that, but like you come out from the store and you're like, "What was going on? What happened here?" And it's just somebody saw what you have, they don't have it, and they want to express their anger and frustration in ruin it for you. I I would say there's probably more than jealousy there. It's probably especially like a stranger doesn't know who you are, doesn't know anything about them. You have no issue with them, but they see something of yours and want to destroy it. They want to harm you for it. Covetousness.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today for Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. We've been in Exodus chapter 20, again looking at the Ten Commandments. You can hear these radio programs on our website anytime at aboundinggraceradio.com or listen to us wherever you get your podcasts. Another way to go and grow in the word is by downloading our app. Search for Ed Taylor. This is a great way for you to take in the word of God wherever you may be. Do you struggle with anger, as so many do?

We'd like to recommend an excellent book on the subject from Tim LaHaye and Bob Phillips. It's titled Anger is a Choice. Whether you're dealing with the rage of others or battle it yourself, you'll discover how to keep anger under control instead of it being in control. Request a copy today when you give a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace. Call 877-30-GRACE. And I should also mention the book is available online at our e-store. Take a look at calvaryco.store. Calvaryco.store.

Again the toll-free number: 877-30-GRACE. There are some costs that go with being on the radio like this and we're looking to the Lord to provide for us. If He's leading you to take an active role in the ministry through either a one-time gift or ongoing monthly support, please visit us online at aboundinggraceradio.com or call 877-30-GRACE. Well, that will do it for today. Come back tomorrow when Pastor Ed Taylor will pick up where we left off in Exodus here on Abounding Grace.

Guest (Male): Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church Colorado here in Aurora.