Ten Commandments Misunderstood

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. Did you hear that? This is the Theology Central podcast, Making Theology Central. I want you to listen to that one more time. That's not played just because I have nothing else better to do. It is played because it really establishes what you are going to hear. Let's listen to it one more time. Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central.

0:47 Looking at our world from a philological perspective. That is what we attempt to do here. Now with that, I would like to say good afternoon everyone. It is Tuesday, August the twentieth, twenty twenty four. It is currently two ten pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio from which I try to make Theology Central. And when you look at things, I know this is going to be a shock, But sometimes when you look at things from a philological perspective, you find yourself in conflict with the very people who should be looking at things from a theological perspective.

1:29 When you look at things from a theological. Perspective, you'll find yourself in conflict with the Church, with Christianity. Who has been so politically hijacked, and. So they've so reduced Christianity to nothing more than a moral system, a political ideology that you're you're looking at it from a theological perspective. You go to the church, into Christians, into Christian ministries, and you find yourself you're in conflict with the very people you thought would be. On your side. You find yourself there's no longer a place for you at the table. The table of Christianity is now a politically hijacked system that has reduced Christianity to simply morality.

2:10 It's moralism. Theology has been thrown out. Theology is no longer welcome. And basically there's a sign at the door. Leave your theology out here, pick up your politics, pick up your desire for morality, and now you can have a seat at the table. All of you theology people leave. You're not welcome anymore. Christianity is no longer philological, it's political and it's morality. That's the way it is. Now. I know when I say that, many of you shake your heads and go, no, that's just ridiculous. I believe that what I'm saying is an accurate description of where Christianity is today. And we're going to talk about one of those situations. When you read your Bible and you come to the Book of Exodus, you will read these words.

3:09 The Book of Exodus. I'm turning there. You will read these words. You're very familiar with these words, very familiar. You probably know them. Some of you may even have them memorized. 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 bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves a carved image any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on 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. That's Exodus, chapter twenty, and those are the beginning words of what we reference we refer to as the Ten Commandments. Now, Christians for a very long time have made this a very important issue. The Ten Commandments need to be placed in public places. They need to be in courtrooms. They need to be in public schools, they need to be in a monument and a public park.

4:23 Christians have had this like their agenda. We've got to get the Ten Commandments everywhere. We got to put it in school, we got to put it in the court, we got to put it anywhere and everywhere, because the people need to see the Ten Commandments, because they perceive the Ten Commandments in a very specific way. And I am making the argument that many Christians look to the Ten Commandments, want to promote the Ten Commandments, want their placement to be put in public places because they listen to me carefully, don't see the Ten Commandments from a theological perspective. They only see it from a moral and political I will argue that how many churches teach the Ten Commandments absolutely is incorrect, and it actually does more damage to the young people who are being taught the Ten Commandments. I will argue many kids would be better off never going to church and never hearing the Ten Commandments because they are so mistaught and the kids walk out utterly confused about what the Ten Commandments are actually supposed to be about. Now, I mention this because just a little while ago I picked up my iPad, I did a refresh on one of the podcast apps, and American Family News. We just talked about the American Family Association and they have the American Family Radio. Well, they also have the American Family News Right, which produces their podcast,

5:55 which is a news broadcast that happens four or five times a day. It's about five minutes long. So I'm like, oh, here's the noon update, all right? Hit play of course? Politics politics, politics, Trump is good, Biden is evil, Trump is great, Harris is a communist. You're the typical like Fox News sounding stuff. And then. They got to this report at the very end, with just like a little over a minute left. You want to hear it. I think you have an idea what it's about. Here we go. The Ten Commandments have been a big topic this year, and not just in churches. Chris Woodward has prepared this report.

6:37 God gave us the commandment so that we can follow him and obey him and love him and trust him and follow him the way that he wants us to live. That is, did you hear that God gave us the Ten Commandments so that we can follow them, so that we can obey them? God gave us the Ten Commandments so we. Can be good little boys and girls. God gave us the ten Commandments so we can be good mommies and daddies. God gave us the ten Commandments so we can be good everything. They see that right there is the perfect example of how the church sees the Ten Commandments simply as a system of morality which we are to take, we are to memorize, and then we are to do so. They see the Ten Commandments as a way to morally change the country. If we give everyone the Ten Commandments, then they will obey the ten Commandments, and then morally the world will be better off.

7:39 I will argue that is an absolute misrepresentation and a total, utterly fraudulent way of looking at the Ten Commandments. I'm going to back this up one more time. I'm gonna back this up. Well, you can hear this again, all right, can back this up? All right, here we go. Let's listen to this again. The Ten Commandments have been a big topic this year, and not just in churches. Chris Woodward has prepared this report. God gave us the commandment so that we can follow him and obey him and love him and trust him and follow him the way that he wants us to live. That is an excerpt from one of the speeches given by a participant in American Family Radios Ten Commandments Speech Challenge.

8:23 This year's challenge coincided with the state of Louisiana passing a law that requires a display of the Ten Commandments and public school classrooms from kindergarten to state funded universities. While that rule won't be implemented until at least November as a lawsuit makes its way through the courts, people are still saying it is important for children and adults around the world to learn and live by the Ten Commandments. Joseph Parker of American Family Association. The Ten Commandments are what one might call a curriculum God gave us in his word that is foundational to the laws and the needs of human beings all over the world for all time. The Ten Commandments are the moral of of God. They're just as relevant today as they ever were, and they're important, and so it's important for us as adults to know them and to live by them, and it's important for us to teach and pass them on to our children as well.

9:19 According to Way of Far's Ten Commandments Project. Parker calls it a distinct discipleship project, one that helps children learn how to honor God and understand the principles in which our laws are based. I really thank God for all of that every day. I'm Chris wood word for American Family News. I'm must dp. Utterly ridiculous that, ladies and gentlemen, that is not biblical Christianity. That is an utter complete misunderstanding of God's law. God did not give us the law so that we can keep it and be good. God gave us the law to demonstrate that we cannot keep it. The law is to show you your inability.

10:03 It's to show you your sin. It is to condemn you so that you seek refuge. And only the one person who can keep the law, and that is the one who gave the law, and God himself in Christ, Jesus, who obeyed the law for you, and by putting your faith in him, his obedience to the law is imputed to your account. So you stand before God as someone who's obeyed the law, even though you have it. The law was not given so that we can keep it. The law was given so that we would see that we cannot keep it. We cannot keep the law. We never can.

10:43 You've got the entire Old Testament to show you, over and over and over the law that was given to Israel they did not keep. They broke it. Over and over and over and over and over again. When you get to the New Testament, Jesus to try to demonstrate to them you didn't even understand the law. The law was more than just an external obedience. It requires an internal obedience. So he goes in Matthew five, six and seven and the Sermon on the Mount to expound the law, so we'll see just how far we have fallen short of it. And then we have the story of the rich young ruler. Hey, what must I do to have eternal life? We'll keep the law. Well, I've kept it since I was young. Well, the didn't go sell everything you have and give it to the poor.

11:29 He walks away because he's rich, because he thought he was keeping the law. He was not keeping the law. We do not keep the law. Christians want the Ten Commandments everywhere? For what if you want the ten Commandments everywhere so that people will be shown that they can't keep it, and then they will come to Christ but Christians don't want the law to be shown that will. Drive people to christ. Christians want the law because somehow we think this will make everyone act like good boys and girls. Hey, this is the way we can make the world act better. Show them the law. The law won't make them act better. The law. I know this is gonna come shocking. It actually provokes sin, It actually provokes it. It provokes rebellion, it provokes disobedience, It actually.

12:17 Spurs it on. It doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't push it down. It creates more disobedience because our sinful nature is in constant rebellion to it. And you're this little kid, I'm so thankful God gave me the law so that I can keep it. No, God give you the law, little girl, little boy, so that you will see that you can't. And you're gonna learn really quick how quickly you don't keep it. Because God, God gives you these commandments, and you've got to keep them, not only externally, you've got to keep them internally. And if you violate one, you're guilty of all. You're in a perpetual state of failure.

13:01 So what do I do You come to Jesus who kept it for you who obeyed it. For you, the law is to drive us to Christ. The law is not to be The law is not there for moral reformation. The law is there for you to come to a revelation of your sin. We just kind of talked about this in the last broadcast. The law of God is to bring about not moral reformation. It is to bring about a total revelation of your sin. It's for you to see the Law of God reflects God's holiness and man's sinfulness. When you look to the law, you then see how sinful you are. Then you know you must come to Christ. It's not about you correcting your behavior.

13:55 It's not about moral reformation. It's about coming to Christ for salvage. And how are you saved? Not buy an infused righteousness, but buy an imputed righteousness by the obedience of the Law of Christ being imputed to your account. He keeps the law for you. Now, after we become Christians, the law does serve as a moral guideline. But even as a Christian, you're constantly whenever you look to the Law, you're going to realize how far you fall short, how far and which will constantly humble you and break you will make you run back to Christ, be grateful for the imputed righteousness and find peace and hope and rest in. That, not in what you do.

14:41 So many kids are raised in churches where they're just given the law as a moral code, and then they try to keep it, and then they grow up to be basically self righteous phariseical thinking everyone else is less than them. What they need to see is the law Ah is to show you that you can't keep it. We've talked about this so many times. This is why I said my series on Law and Gospel, over one hundred hours of teaching on it, is one of the most important series I've ever done, because the modern day church Christianity is utterly completely incapable, it seems, of understanding the proper use of the law. The law condemns, the law reveals, the law exposes, The law drives you to Christ.

15:44 The law will provoke sin. I just wanted you to hear that because I was just like unbelievable, unbelievable, and they're acting like. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. We gotta get the law, O. We got to get the law into all the classrooms. We got to get the law everywhere. We gotta get God's law everywhere. This is going to somehow do what didn't do anything for Israel, did it? No, they violated it and violated it and violated it and violated it and violated it and violated it and violated it. That's why Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount says, your righteousness must be greater than the Pharisees. That's why Jesus in the Sermon of the Mount says you must be perfect as your heavenly Father.

16:34 Isn't perfect because it's perfect. Because what he was trying to demonstrate is that the law is to show you well a righteousness that you need, and it's a righteousness that you cannot achieve because even as a Christian, you can't achieve that righteousness and what you do because you will never keep it. What it's the law is to demonstrate. I need, Jesus, I need a righteousness outside of myself. I need a foreign righteousness. I need an alien righteousnes and I obtain this foreign, an alien righteousness by faith alone. Christ righteousness is imputed. I stand before him as someone who obeys every single commandment in my position and my practice, I never will.

17:18 How is your church teaching the Ten Commandments? Go just just take a just walk around church. Ask the kids, ask the young people, ask the teenagers. So tell me about the ten Commandments? What are they for? What's the purpose of the ten Commandments? What do you think about the Ten Commandments? And listen to them one after another. They'll just rattle off a complete misunderstanding, a complete misunderstanding, a complete misunderstanding. And then go to your pastors and say what's the deal they and you'll be shocked for many of the pastors that go, no, that's what the Ten Commandments before, and you'll be like, no, it's not because your church is probably obliterated the proper distinction between long and gospel. Do you have a correct understanding of the law or do you believe the law is the means to moral reformation. If you think the law of God is the means to moral reformation, then you completely misunderstand the law. The law is not a means to moral reformation. The law is to spiritual revelation, and that spiritual revelation is that you can't keep it. You are a sinner, you are condemned by it, and you need someone who will keep them for you, and that is Jesus Christ. Now I'm going to stop right there. We could go through all the teaching on it, but I've already done. I mean, I've got over one hundred hours of teaching on this. So I just wanted to bring

18:51 that to your attention because I heard it a few minutes ago and I was just an utter, like, You've got to be kidding me. You've got to be kidding me that the church does and understand the Ten command While the church is so worried about putting the Ten Commandments in the classroom, the church doesn't even understand, Like the church has no philological understanding of the Ten Commandments? What we want the Ten Commandments to be put wherever we can in public to I don't know what, Like maybe instead of worrying about putting the Ten Commandments in the public spaces, maybe we should put them up in our churches and ask if anyone in our church actually understands what they're there for. If the church doesn't even understand the Ten Commandments, why are we worried about everyone else being.

19:34 Being shown them? Because we're going to teach that we want them taught. We want them seen in the public space so that they can be taught as a means to moral reformation, which means we've lost the plot. We're no longer looking at things theologically. We're looking at things from a moralistic political perspective, meaning, slowly but surely, biblical Christianity is being written out of existence by the very peace bull who profess to be Christian. Thanks for listening, everyone, have a great day. God bless