Exodus (Lesson 37)

We trace Exodus 20 from honor to integrity, showing how family order undergirds society and why God draws hard lines on murder, adultery, and theft. We distinguish children’s obedience from adults’ honor and apply each command to modern life with clarity and urgency.

• honoring parents as adults by living God’s word
• children commanded to obey, adults called to honor
• murder defined as intentional killing, not manslaughter
• Jesus’ confirmation of Exodus in Matthew 19
• adultery forbidden without excuses, marriage honored
• theft condemned in personal and systemic forms
• culture shifts contrasted with God’s unchanging standard
• practical calls to fidelity, restraint, and responsibility

Church Website — BibleBaptistDeLand.com

Ministry Website — JamesWKnox.org

YouTube Channel — YouTube.com/JamesWKnoxSermons

Sermon Audio — SermonAudio.com/BibleBaptistDeLand

Web Store — Store.JamesWKnox.org

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Study Setup
• 1:52 Transition To Commandments Toward Others
• 2:36 Honor Parents: Promise And Scope
• 5:21 Children Obey, Adults Honor
• 11:20 You Shall Not Murder Defined
• 15:20 Adultery’s Clarity And Consequences
• 19:25 You Shall Not Steal Applied
• 26:45 Summary, Appeal, And Resources

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:09

Welcome to the Preaching the Cross Radio Podcast, featuring the radio ministry of Pastor James W. Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of Delane, Florida. Our prayer is that these half-hour Bible study programs will bring the lost to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the saved to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior. Now here's your host, Pastor James W. Knox.

SPEAKER_00: 1:07

And I welcome you to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. This program is heard on this radio station by God's grace and through the prayerful support of his people. And we are so very, very thankful that you have tuned in today. And we hope that you'll be able to stay with us for the next half an hour as we continue our study of the Bible book of Exodus. As a matter of fact, this is broadcast number 37 in our study of Exodus. And we come today to the 20th chapter in the 12th verse. We're in the middle of those commandments which set the tone for all of God's law. They are known as the Ten Commandments, and we have covered the four commandments that deal with man's relationship to God. Those commandments are Thou shalt have no other God before me, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, and six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. So God has given four commands that relate to man's relationship to God. Now we move to the six commands that have to do with man's relationship to his fellow man. And it begins with the twelfth verse honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Now keep in mind, keep in mind, that these commandments are given by God to one people and one people only. They're given to the nation of Israel, the Hebrew people, descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However, some of these commandments are given to the New Testament church as well. And in no uncertain terms does God state that what he commanded his earthly people in the Old Testament, he has commanded his heavenly people, or his heaven-bound people, in the New Testament. And in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse number 2, we read the following. Now, it's very interesting. Only one of these ten commandments carries with it a promised reward for obedience. When God told the people, thou shalt have no other gods before me, period, that's it. I'm not going to do anything special for you if you do that. I am special. Everything I do is uh should be appreciated, my grace, my love, my kindness, and so forth. But here in this commandment, the people were told that they may, it's possible, there's a possibility. God would permit long life in the promised land if they would honor their father and mother. In the New Testament, the possibility is offered. I may grant you long life if you will honor your father and your mother. Now, we've got to talk about some things here because these verses have been rebelled against by children since time began. These verses have been misused by some parents since time began, and there's great confusion that perhaps we can clarify in just a few moments here. First of all, in Ephesians 6:1, children are told to obey their parents, children, not adults, children, not grown men, children, not grown women, children. It is absolutely necessary for the due order that the family unit be preserved for the order of society, for the order of the human race. God did not begin with don't kill. He didn't begin with don't commit adultery, he didn't begin with don't steal. We'll get to all those. He began with the orderly structure of the family unit that parents, plural, a father and a mother, not two men, not two women, not one woman, not one man, a man and a woman were to give commands to their children. And as we have seen earlier in our study, those commands were to be God's commands, God's words. So before you get to don't kill, you have to have a father and a mother in place teaching that boy, teaching that girl, that life is precious, that God is holy, that murder is wrong. Before you get to thou should not commit adultery, thou should not steal, so forth. You have to have a God-fearing father and a God-fearing mother commanding that those children obey authority and do right, whether they understand or not, because they are told to do right. That's that's the foundation, that's the first commandment, that's the necessary essential principle. Now, this command is not obey your father and mother. In Ephesians 6 2, the command is not obey your father and mother. Children, children must obey their parents. But once you reach maturity, and now you have a life of your own, a home of your own, an income of your own, responsibilities of your own, and so forth, you are to honor your parents. Now, what were parents supposed to do when you were a child? They were to command you according to God's word. How do you honor your parents once you are an adult and no longer under their authority? You continue to live in accord with the commandments of God's word. That's how you honor your parents. Now, is an adult, an adult, a 40-year-old man, is an adult, a 35-year-old woman, are they supposed to obey their father and the mother? Well, let me ask you something. Jesus said, Jesus said to a man, follow me. That man said, I got a father at home. Jesus said, Let the dead bear the dead, follow me. Jesus didn't say, Oh, you've got a you've got a daddy? I'm sorry. I apologize for asking you to be my disciple. Go see if it's okay with your dad. Jesus said, a man's foes would be those of his own household. If he didn't hate his father, hate his mother, he couldn't be Jesus' disciple. Now you get a man that gets saved this week, and his uh this this this 25-year-old man gets saved this week, and his dad says, We're going out drinking Saturday. He says, No, Dad, I don't do that anymore. I'm a Christian now. And his dad said, I'm telling you, we've always gone out and got drunk Saturday night. We're gonna go out and get drunk this Saturday night. You telling me that that 25-year-old man has to obey his father and go get drunk? You're wrong. Doesn't make any sense. It's not scriptural, it's not logical, makes no sense at all. So, what did God command? He commanded children to obey their parents, parents who have been commanded to command their children to follow God's word, and then grown, grown children who are now adults, honor their father and honor their mother by continuing to live in accord with God's commands. Young man, your mama, your daddy took you to church, taught you about Jesus, led you in the paths of righteousness, kept you from this world, introduced you to the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you get out on your own, making your own money, living your own life. You turn your back on God and on church and on the faith of your father and faith of your mother. You are dishonoring your parents. It's a sin against God just as sure as killing, stealing, bearing false witness. All right, verse 13. Thou shalt not kill. Now, before some of you liberals that put your brain out of the curb, let the garbage man take them, pervert this verse beyond all recognition. Thou shalt not kill is interpreted by the Holy Bible as thou shalt not commit first degree premeditated murder. God told Noah, God told Noah to take seven pairs of clean animals into the ark. Because when he got off the ark, he would kill some of them for food and kill some of them for sacrifice. God, God sent the Hebrew people across the Jordan River into Canaan to wage war against people God deemed unfit to live. How about that? In fact, in fact, God, God sent the fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. God sent the flood waters crashing down on the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. It was God who directed that stone from David's sling right into the forehead of Goliath. So you understand, you understand, that thou shalt not kill is defined. Well, let me show it to you. Matthew chapter 19, Matthew chapter 19, and verse number, oh, let's see, 18. Jesus said, He said, saith unto him, which Jesus said, ready? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honor thy father and mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. So when Jesus, God Almighty, when Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, when he quotes Exodus 20, verse 13, he says, Thou shalt do no murder. Thou should do no murder. Now, in Numbers 35, we learn that if a man takes another man's life by accident, manslaughter, that's the term, the manslayer, that man is not guilty of violating Exodus 20, verse 13, which, by the way, uh murder according to God, murder according to the word of God, is a death penalty offense. The man who murders another man is to be put to death swiftly, speedily, without mercy. That's that's the word of God. And provision is made for the defense of and the sparing of the life of the man who commits manslaughter. You didn't know that was in the Bible. It's Numbers 35. So the man who accidentally takes another life, he finds mercy. The man who murders, no mercy for him, thou shalt not kill. Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder. Verse number 14, thou shalt not commit adultery. You got that? It's pretty clear. Pretty clear. Well, we are in love, thou shalt not commit adultery. Well, my husband was mean, thou shalt not commit adultery. Well, my wife, she just let herself go. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Well, I was I was tempted, thou should not commit adultery. Well, preacher, you just don't understand. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Got it? Pretty clear. Pretty clear. Thou, that means you, me, anybody reading God's word, thou shalt not, that's the negative, don't do it. Thou should not commit adultery. Now, Hebrews 13 says it this way. And you talk about a promise connected with the commandment. Watch this one. Hebrews chapter 13, Hebrews chapter 13, and verse number four says this. Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled. But whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. I'm sorry that you live in a day and age when adultery is so common and so widely accepted that it carries with it no stigma. Hardly anybody in your town would think evil of you if they found out you were committing adultery. You know what that means? That means hardly anybody in your town has escaped the judgment of God, which has turned him into a reprobate. That's what it means. Just because your society has changed doesn't mean God has changed. Just because your culture has become an animal, savage, barbarous culture, doesn't mean that God has changed his mind. Thou should not commit adultery. Horemongers, adulteress, God will judge. Do you understand, my friend? That the Bible, the Bible's very clear. If you are not married, you are to have sexual relations with no one. That's the word of God. That's the Holy Bible. And if you are married, first time you marry, the first time you marry, you are never to have sexual relations with another human being as long as that person you have married is alive. That's the Bible. That that same Bible says if you violate that principle, in some way or another, the judgment of God will visit itself upon your life. That's the scripture. Now I didn't write it, so don't get mad at me. You'll be better off to live by the word of God than you will be to live by the lusts of your flesh. You'd be better off to line your to work as hard at obeying God as you work at finding some liberal preacher on his way to hell to help you justify violating God's clear commands of both the Old Testament and the New. No adultery, period. So put your clothes on, get your eyes back in your head, go make that marriage work. Stop looking at junk on a computer. Stop daydreaming about him or about her. You got a husband? That's your man for your lifetime. You got a wife, that's your woman for your lifetime. You don't have a husband, right? You've never been married? Choose carefully, because whoever you marry, that's who you got for life. Thou shalt not commit adultery. You said when I preach, that's kind of old fashioned out and dated. Uh no, actually, it's not. Actually, it's not. It's still God's word for determination. Day for today. All right, thou shall not commit adultery. Then, then, thou shalt not steal. You don't take something that doesn't belong to you. You're not entitled to another man's possessions. Now, if you see something lying on a table, it didn't evolve there, it didn't grow there, it didn't just miraculously show up there. If it was not purchased by you, or if it was not given to you, guess what? It's not yours. It doesn't belong to you. You can't take it just because it's laying there. I'm amazed that mothers and fathers just uh see seem to feel no need to teach their children to keep their hands off of things that don't belong to them. Oh, look at this, let me pick it up. Oh, look at this, let me play with it, oh look at this, let me eat it. It's not yours. It's not yours. So whether you are hungry and I need to rob a store or out of work and you need to rob a bank, God, God, there there's there's no footnotes here saying, unless you're in what you deem difficult circumstances, then it's okay to steal. In fact, Proverbs says, men might justify you in some instances if you stole under duress. There's many a man would say, Well, I get that. I understand why you did that. But God, God said, Thou shalt not steal. Now, let me let me paint a scenario for some of you. It's gonna really, I'm warning you ahead of time. This is gonna make some of you really, really angry. Because, like all human beings, you like to justify your sin. And that's why some people really, really enjoy listening to the preaching of the cross broadcast, because we we tell the truth in the Bible, but but other people just can't stand it. So you ready? If I walk into your house with a gun and force you to give me your money, and then I take your money that I stole with a gun and use it to provide myself for the place to live and with groceries. I am a thief. Thou shalt not steal. That's what the Bible says. Now, everybody listening to my voice, I'm I'm almost certain every one of you listening right now agree with what I just said. Okay, how about this? How about I go to work all week, and at the end of the week, the government puts a gun to the head of my employer and says, you will give us 25, 35, 40 percent of that man's paycheck, and he gives 25, 35, 40 percent of my paycheck to the government, and then the government gives it to you to pay your rent and to buy your groceries, and you say, Oh, I get my check from the government. You're you're lying. You don't get your check from the government, you get your check from working people that the government robbed of their money to give it to you. You know what the Bible says? Thou shalt not steal. If you're living off the wages of someone else, and that person did not voluntarily give you that money, you're a thief. That's what you are. You know what the Bible says in the New Testament? Said somebody would live like that has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. You know, if you're living off stolen money, you might you might be, uh I don't know. Listen, I don't know if you're saved, I don't know who's saved and who's not, but I know this. If you're living off stolen money, you're not a Christian. God says you're worse than an atheist, you're worse than a Muslim, you're worse than a Hindu, you are worse than an infidel. If you steal from one man's family and claim that by stealing you're taking care of your family, you're worse than an infidel. How about that? Now that'll that'll get those cards and letters coming, won't it? That'll make you uh call all your friends and say, man, you ought to listen to this program. You know where we are? In these days, these perilous times, you know where we are? We are living in a day when people just do whatever they want to do and live however they want to live, and they just ignore God's word, thumb their nose at the Holy Bible, and then call themselves Christians, Christ ones, followers of Jesus Christ. Not so, not so. Both the Old Testament and the New, to Israel and to the church, God said, honor your father and mother. Both the Old Testament and the New. God said to Israel and the church, Thou shalt not kill, don't murder anybody. To the Old Testament and the New Israel and the church, God said, Thou shalt not commit adultery. Old Testament and the New, Israel and the church, God said to both, Thou shalt not steal. It couldn't be any clearer, couldn't be any clearer. Every child should know these truths and be taught to live and function within the boundaries they establish. Every adult should know these truths and should be governing their flesh and submitting themselves to the Lord so that they are living in obedience to all of these clearly stated truths in the Holy Bible. And you know it. God knows what he's talking about. We'd be better off just to obey God. All right, this is the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. Really, really, this would be a great day for you to write to us. We'd love to hear from you. Our mailing address is 872 Glenwood Road. 872 Glenwood Road. That's in D-Land, just like it sounds. D-E-L-A-N-D-Land, Florida. And the zip code number 32720 32720. That mailing address is in the United States of America. We will not send you letters soliciting money when you write to us. What we will send you is a catalog listing all of our available uh sermons, Bible studies, books, teaching materials. So please write to us. You can also visit us online, jamesnox.com. Online, Jamesennox.com will get you to the website for the preaching of the cross. Well, the announcer will be on now in just a moment to let you know when this program will be heard again over this radio station. And we hope at that time that you and a friend that you invite to listen with you will join us for the preaching of the cross radio broadcast. Until then, I'm Brother James. May the Lord richly bless you, and good day, thanks for tuning in today.

SPEAKER_01: 29:10

Join us every weekday for another episode of the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast. For hundreds of hours of in-depth expository Bible teaching, please visit our YouTube channel, James W. Knox Sermons, our sermon audio page, Bible Baptistoland, or our website, Bible Baptistteland.com. Until next time and throughout eternity, may Jesus Christ be praised.