And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
– Exodus 20:1–17
This is the 10 Commandments. It’s one of the most famous passages in the Bible. I just want to read the whole passage and then just give one thought that will lead us into prayer. So here is Exodus 20:1–17, “And God spoke all these words saying, ‘I am the Lord, your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.'” Remember those words. That’s the foundation. That’s what I want us to come back to after we read these 10 commandments. The first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.”
In this passage, God lays out the Ten Commandments that clearly lay out some of the foundational commands of God.
Exodus 20:1–17 Lay Out the Foundational Commands of God
The second commandment, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me. But showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Commandment number three, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” Number four, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it, you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”
The Ten Commandments Help Us to Love the Lord
Commandment number five, “Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God has given you.” Number six, “You shall not murder.” Number seven, “You shall not commit adultery.” Number eight, “You shall not steal.” Number nine, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. And number 10, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant, or his ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbors.”
Exodus 20:1–17 Gives Us the Ten Commandments
So there’s 10 commandments that God gives to his people, They all spring from the foundation back up in verse two, when God said, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” And the picture I want you to see, I want us to lead into praying together according to this passage, is God freed His people that they might obey His commandments, and in this freedom and obedience that they might experience life to the full. Let me say that one more time. God freed his people out of slavery that they might obey His commandments, and in this freedom and obedience, they would experience life to the full.
So God, based on this picture in Exodus 20:1–17, we pray. Thank you for saving us from our slavery to sin, our slavery to self, our slavery to the things, the ways of this world. We praise you for saving us from the penalty of sin, death. Jesus, you are the Lord, our God. We praise you for dying on the cross for our sins, for bringing us out of the slavery we were in to sin that we might obey you. God, thank you for freeing our souls to obey your commands, to walk in your ways, and in so doing to experience life. And so God, I pray that over every single person listening right now that they would know that through faith in Jesus, they have been freed from sin to obey you.
Help Us to Obey Your Commandments
God help us to obey your commands. Help us to walk in your ways today, in all your ways that we see all over your word. Help us to walk in your word your ways in obedience to your commands, and in so doing, God, we pray that we would experience life to the full. God, I pray that over every single person listening right now. I pray for abundant life to be theirs by the grace that is available in Christ and freedom from sin to walk in your ways.
God, we praise you for what you did in Exodus chapter 20, for what you have done in even greater ways in our lives through Jesus’ blood on the cross and death for our sins, resurrection from the grave, and we praise you for the freedom we have. We pray that you’d help us to walk in obedience and today that we would experience the life to the full that you have made possible for us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
