Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror of God's Ten Commandments to see how you really look? Maybe it is about time that you did...
Nothing is hid from God’s holy eyes. He sees your every thought and He will judge you accordingly. If you were to die today and stand before the Judgment Seat, would you be found innocent or guilty? Listen to your conscience. You know you would be guilty. Do you think you would go to Heaven or Hell? You would go to Hell. You may say to yourself, “But I tell God I am sorry for the things I do.” If you were in court because you just raped and murdered a young girl, no matter how truly sorry you were for your crimes, If the judge was a good judge he could not let you go just because you are sorry. You must be punished. The Bible says, “The soul that sins it shall die” (Ezek. 18:4, 20) and “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23a). God is infinitely more good and more just than any human judge and all sin is against Him. Because you have a conscience you have sinned with knowledge. Each time you told a lie or stole or looked with lust you knew you were doing wrong.
God is infinitely holy, infinitely perfect, and infinitely righteous. In order for you to enter Heaven, you must have a holiness, perfection, and righteousness equal to that of God’s. You may say to yourself, “But I go to church; I give to this charity; I do all these good things.” The Bible says, “All our righteous deeds are as a filthy rag” (Is. 64:6). You have sinned against an infinitely holy God. By good works shall no man be saved. You will spend an eternity in Hell, eternally separated from God and His goodness, suffering in constant reminder of your sins for all eternity. Because of your sin, God’s anger and wrath abides on you.
But, there is good news. Imagine you are standing in front of a judge, guilty of multiple serious crimes. All the evidence has been presented and there is no doubt about your guilt. Your apologies and good works cannot erase your crimes; therefore you must be punished. The fine for your crime is $50,000 or imprisonment, but you do not have two pennies to rub together. The judge is about to pass sentence when someone you do not even know steps in and pays your fine for you! The court accepts the money and declares that you are free to go. The law has been satisfied, your debt has been paid in full, and the stranger's sacrifice was a demonstration of his love for you. That is what God did for you 2000 years ago.
It is not God’s will that you should perish. He is rich with mercy. That is why He sent Jesus Christ, His only Son—God in the flesh—to condemn sin in the flesh by living an absolutely perfect life. Through Jesus Christ, God has provided a way for you to be forgiven. Jesus Christ took the punishment for your sins. The Bible says, “God demonstrated His love toward us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). The cup Christ prayed three times that God the Father would let pass from Him contained all the wrath, anger, and hatred of Almighty God toward sinners. He bore your sins on His body upon a cross that was meant for you. Jesus Christ laid His life down and died for your sins. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). Jesus Christ will provide us with a holiness, perfection, and righteousness that is equal to that of God’s—if we but believe. All you need to do is repent of your sins and turn to God, believing in what Christ accomplished on the cross. To repent is to have a change of mind about sin and about God, and it means to turn from your sins and to turn to God.
- You shall have no other gods before Me.
Has God always been first in your life? Have you honoured Him with your every breath? Have you thanked Him for everything that you have and are? Let us look at a few examples of the gods in the lives of North Americans:- Self is our god. How many people are self-centered, self-reliant, self-obsessed, and living for self? Culture tells us "It's all about you," but that is a lie. Nobody seems to care about each other any more. They have become unloving and uncaring.
- Sex is our god. Look at our sex-saturated world and how everyone is chasing after sex, and yet they are still not satisfied. Sex permeates everything around us from the magazines to the advertisements to the television shows to the movies. People are getting more brazen about sex, doing it in public without concern for who sees them and how it will affect those who see (such as children). Sex is the end-all be-all for the majority of people these days, as if it makes their life more meaningful, which it does not.
- Money is our god. You know the pursuit of money is a god when people's lives revolve around chasing that almighty dollar. Even though they have enough to be content with, it is never enough. They need more and more and more. Yet, the happiness they are chasing after still eludes them.
- Our stomachs are our gods. We constantly have to stuff them with food all day long while others around the globe are lucky if they see three square meals a day. We buy take-out and pre-packaged foods galore and eat all sorts of junk food. It seems we never stop stuffing our mouths. We spend more on food than what we should, and we probably wastefully throw half of it out. Try and tell me that our stomachs are not our gods.
- Our TVs are our gods (this includes other technological devices such as computers). The whole family gathers around the TV just to worship it, spending more hours in front of it than doing anything else. People, including their children, walk around nearly 24/7 glued to their technological devices without ever giving them a rest. This also includes those individuals who sit day-in and day-out in front of a gaming consoles playing games and/or things like Facebook and Twitter, wasting the precious hours of their life. People no longer seem to have any one-on-one personal time with anybody. They are too busy becoming one with their technological contraptions.
- Our sports teams are our gods. We erect multi-million dollar stadiums to house them in and throw temper-tantrums when they do not win. Movie stars, musicians, athletes, and other famous individuals, such as the Pope, are also our gods. Imaginary characters such as Santa Claus are even our gods. When we see these people in person, we lose all self-control and act ecstatically, even to the point of shedding tears in their presence. It is as if having met them has given our life some sort of purpose. When millions of people gather together like this, you can be sure that they are indeed worshiping these individuals.
- You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to housands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
We are worshipers by nature, but most often we choose to worship anything but the God of the Bible. We may not bow down to and worship a golden calf, but worship is more than just this. Anything that takes up more of your time than the God of the Bible has become your god, and the time spent with that thing is the evidence of your worship. The loss of self-control over one's emotions and the acts of obsessive insanity toward a person (favourite musician) or thing (favourite sports team) is also evidence of your worship. Worship is recognized in many ways. In our culture, even those who do not think that they are religious are worshiping something—usually self. If you always have to be the center of attention, you are worshiping the concept and idea of fame, as well as self. There can be things in our lives that are lawful hobbies for us to be interested in, objects we may collect, yet these things can eventually become idols in our lives that take up vast amounts of our time and attention. These things can have such a hold on our lives that if we suddenly departed from them, we would be grieved to our core. The reason for this is because it has become an idol in our life. - You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
If you have ever used the Lord's name as a four-letter curse word to express disgust, you are guilty of breaking this commandment. Doing so is also called blasphemy. But that is not all that taking the Lord's name in vain entails. If you have ever flippantly referenced God as a scape-goat to your schemes, or mentioned His name without due reverence and genuine intent behind your so doing, you are guilty of taking His name in vain. Taking the Lord's name in vain is essentially swearing by Him as a witness to what you are saying or doing when what you are swearing in regard to is false to begin with. - Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. ...
In essence, you are to pay homage to the Creator of the universe, remembering His works and honouring Him as the God of creation. Exodus 31 clearly states that the Sabbath was "a sign forever between [God] and the people of Israel." The Israel in question here is national Israel, not spiritual Israel. Paul says in Colossians 2:16, "Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of...or with regard to...a Sabbath" and continues in verse 17, "They are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ." Hebrews 3:7-4:13 speaks of the rest for God's people, which are the Christians. It says in 4:3, "We who have believed enter that rest." In verse 9 it says, "There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God" and in verse 10 states, "For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from His." Again, refer to verse 3. When we are born again, we enter that rest because Christ Jesus is the Christian's Sabbath. Every day is a day of rest in Christ for the Christian. If you want to dedicate any day of the week toward worship, you are free to do so. Remember, you are paying homage to your Creator, God. - Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
Have you always done what your parents told you to do or not to do? Without arguing? Have you obeyed them in every instance? Ephesians 6:1 says, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." Colossians 3:20 says, "Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord." Proverbs 6:20 says, "My son, observe the commandment of your father and do not forsake the teaching of your mother" (cf. Prov. 23:22). - You shall not murder.
Jesus said, "everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell" (Matt. 5:22). The Bible also says, "The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. ... But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes," (1 John 2:9, 11) and "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:20). If you are angry with your brother without just cause, or if you hate your brother, you are guilty of murder within your heart. Murder stems from hatred and so hatred is the same as murder in the sight of the Lord. If you have ever had an abortion, you are guilty of murder because you have killed the unborn child within your womb. A child in the womb has rights, as revealed by Scripture: "If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint a penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise" (Exodus 21:22-25). Abortion is murder, no matter how many laws might be passed trying to say it is lawful. You are a murderer. - You shall not commit adultery.
Have you ever committed adultery? Jesus said that "everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matt. 5:28). Lusting is having sexual desire for another person, whether of the same sex or opposite sex. Lust is also desiring the fulfillment of sexual fantasies within your life derived from the things you read or look at. Reading so-called "romance" novels is pornographic and you are committing lust. Looking at pornography is lusting. Reading your "teen" magazines and drooling over the "hot" guys is lusting. Gazing wantingly at women in magazines such as Maxim is lusting. Watching movies or televisions shows because of the "hot" guys or "sexy" women starring in them is committing lust. You are guilty of committing adultery in your heart. - You shall not steal.
Have you ever stolen anything? The size and value are irrelevant. If you have ever downloaded any movies, music, computer games, or computer programs from the Internet without paying for them, you have stolen them. If you work at a job and are not doing what you are supposed to do and are wasting company time, you are stealing time from your company for a job you were hired to do. If you take longer than provided breaks, you are stealing time for productivity from your company. If you have ever left work early and had someone else punch/swipe you out later, you are stealing money for which you have not earned from your company (you are also lying to your company by doing this). If you are using someone else's cable or Internet, having been hooked up to it illegally, you are stealing. What do you call someone who steals? You call them a thief. - You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
How many lies have you told in your life? This includes any supposed "white" lies that you have told, as well as exaggerations and "stretching the truth". What do you call someone who tells lies? You call them a liar. How many lies do you need to tell in order to be a liar? If you only need to kill one person to become a murderer, you only need to tell one lie to become a liar. - You shall not covet ... anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Have you ever coveted something that did not belong to you? Coveting is the desire to have something that is not yours. It is wanting to get "stuff" just to show off to others and to try and keep up with the Joneses (even though the Joneses are broke and in debt up to their eyeballs). It is wishing that your life circumstances were different, by not being thankful for what you have and what God has given you. It is having an insatiable desire to get things you want but do not really need. Pack rats, who do nothing but store things they have bought and will never use, are prime examples of covetous individuals. If you attain to a set standard of living, rather than living within your means with what you have, and being content with it and thankful for it, you are a covetous person. Covetousness is also idolatry, the breaking of the first and second commandments, because you have made it your god and are worshiping it by your great desire thereof.
Nothing is hid from God’s holy eyes. He sees your every thought and He will judge you accordingly. If you were to die today and stand before the Judgment Seat, would you be found innocent or guilty? Listen to your conscience. You know you would be guilty. Do you think you would go to Heaven or Hell? You would go to Hell. You may say to yourself, “But I tell God I am sorry for the things I do.” If you were in court because you just raped and murdered a young girl, no matter how truly sorry you were for your crimes, If the judge was a good judge he could not let you go just because you are sorry. You must be punished. The Bible says, “The soul that sins it shall die” (Ezek. 18:4, 20) and “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23a). God is infinitely more good and more just than any human judge and all sin is against Him. Because you have a conscience you have sinned with knowledge. Each time you told a lie or stole or looked with lust you knew you were doing wrong.
God is infinitely holy, infinitely perfect, and infinitely righteous. In order for you to enter Heaven, you must have a holiness, perfection, and righteousness equal to that of God’s. You may say to yourself, “But I go to church; I give to this charity; I do all these good things.” The Bible says, “All our righteous deeds are as a filthy rag” (Is. 64:6). You have sinned against an infinitely holy God. By good works shall no man be saved. You will spend an eternity in Hell, eternally separated from God and His goodness, suffering in constant reminder of your sins for all eternity. Because of your sin, God’s anger and wrath abides on you.
But, there is good news. Imagine you are standing in front of a judge, guilty of multiple serious crimes. All the evidence has been presented and there is no doubt about your guilt. Your apologies and good works cannot erase your crimes; therefore you must be punished. The fine for your crime is $50,000 or imprisonment, but you do not have two pennies to rub together. The judge is about to pass sentence when someone you do not even know steps in and pays your fine for you! The court accepts the money and declares that you are free to go. The law has been satisfied, your debt has been paid in full, and the stranger's sacrifice was a demonstration of his love for you. That is what God did for you 2000 years ago.
It is not God’s will that you should perish. He is rich with mercy. That is why He sent Jesus Christ, His only Son—God in the flesh—to condemn sin in the flesh by living an absolutely perfect life. Through Jesus Christ, God has provided a way for you to be forgiven. Jesus Christ took the punishment for your sins. The Bible says, “God demonstrated His love toward us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). The cup Christ prayed three times that God the Father would let pass from Him contained all the wrath, anger, and hatred of Almighty God toward sinners. He bore your sins on His body upon a cross that was meant for you. Jesus Christ laid His life down and died for your sins. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). Jesus Christ will provide us with a holiness, perfection, and righteousness that is equal to that of God’s—if we but believe. All you need to do is repent of your sins and turn to God, believing in what Christ accomplished on the cross. To repent is to have a change of mind about sin and about God, and it means to turn from your sins and to turn to God.