The Ten Commandments: God's Perfect Law of Liberty

By Dr. Peter Hammond

"Never before in Church history has there been such a need to return to the basics of Biblical evangelism. Our churches are filled with false converts, simply because we have abandoned doing what Jesus did when it comes to reaching out to the lost. The disease must be diagnosed before the cure is offered to the patient, or it will, understandably, never be appreciated or appropriated. I thank God for my friend Peter Hammond, and pray that God’s blessing will be on his book, The Ten Commandments--God's Perfect Law of Liberty."

Ray Comfort

Way of the Master

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dr. Peter Hammond
• Release date: Feb 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301645886

Book preview

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

- God's Perfect Law of Liberty

Peter Hammond

Copyright 2012 by Peter Hammond

Published by Frontline Fellowship Publishing at Smashwords

Permission is hereby granted to any church, mission, magazine or periodical to reprint, or quote from, any portion of this publication on condition that the passage is quoted in context, and that due acknowledgement of source be given. Please also mail a copy of any article to: Livingstone Fellowship P.O. Box 74, Newlands, 7725 Cape Town, South Africa

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version © copyright by Thomas Nelson Used with permission.

Typesetting: Colin Newman

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my youngest son, Calvin Peter Hammond, who has demonstrated extraordinary initiative in using God's Law in evangelism. By age five Calvin was presenting Evangelism Explosion Gospel presentations to large audiences. From age seven Calvin has proven to be an invaluable member of numerous Frontline mission teams, engaging in evangelism as far afield as Zululand and Zambia. From age eight Calvin has been training school assemblies in Way of the Master Evangelism, using the Ten Commandments as the schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. May God continue to bless, guide, protect and use you for the extension of His Kingdom.

CONTENTS

Foreword by Rev. Bill Bathman

Introduction - The Law of God

Chapter 1: The First Commandment - Putting God First

Chapter 2: The Second Commandment - Idols for Destruction

Chapter 3: The Third Commandment - Honour the Lord's Name

Chapter 4: The Fourth Commandment - Honour the Lord's Day

Chapter 5: The Fifth Commandment - Honour Your Parents

Chapter 6: The Sixth Commandment - You Shall Not Murder

Chapter 7: The Seventh Commandment - You Shall Not Commit Adultery

Chapter 8: The Eighth Commandment - You Shall Not Steal

Chapter 9: The Ninth Commandment - You Shall Not Bear False Witness

Chapter 10: The Tenth Commandment - Do Not Covet

Chapter 11: The Law of God and the Gospel of Christ

Bibliography and Recommended Books

But he who looks into the perfect Law of Liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the Word, this one will be blessed in what he does. James 1:25

Foreword

By Rev. Bill Bathman

As I listened to this series of messages at Livingstone Fellowship, I kept thinking how practical, down to earth and relevant these eternal truths are for us today. Each Sunday, after the message, I thanked the LORD for how He spoke to my heart through His Word and longed that Dr. Hammond might have a wider audience. I rejoice now to see the entire series in this one book.

The Ten Commandments are God's meterstick by which He measures us and whereby we realize how far short we have fallen of His glory. It is God's plumb line to measure our moral straightness. As our young people would say, The Ten Commandments are God's 'text message' to keep us in line.

In today's man-centred culture, God (when He is considered at all) has become our Buddy; an eternal Blessing Machine, to be called on whenever we're in trouble or need a Friend.

One who turns away his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer is an abomination. Proverbs 28:9

Many today worship before the idolatrous altar of pluralism, multiculturalism and the inter-faith movement. These false gods are skilfully exposed in this hard-hitting, practical and easy-to- read volume. These gods must go.

The new thoughts and inspiration from the Fifth Commandment were a special blessing to me. You'll find a whole treasure-trove of them yourself between the covers of this modest tome.

The Eighth Commandment brilliantly exposes Muhammad's support of theft. Jihad is one of the most meritorious acts in the eyes of Islam and it is the best source of earnings. (Mishkat II, Page 340) Muhammad saw theft as a win-win situation. If you won the battle you got the booty. If you lost the battle you got paradise and all those virgins. Muhammad: desert bandit, robber, thief, murderer and paedophile, was a breaker of all Ten Commandments. These are undisputed, well-documented attributes of the founder of the world's second largest religion as measured by God's Laws.

Most everyone has heard of, and many have read, the Ten Commandments in the Bible. Having read them many times, I thought I knew just about everything God's Law requires of believers. This book brings each Commandment to life and makes them relevant to our contemporary culture. Each chapter is a wellspring of delightful surprises with useful information, spiritual inspiration and Christian challenge.

There are some who say, O the Ten Commandments were just for Old Testament times, they're not applicable to us today. This book is written from God's perspective and has some eye-opening response to that assertion. Jesus said, Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17

The candor of the author in sharing his testimony of when and where he has failed to obey and how the Lord dealt with him is richly refreshing. It is also very reassuring to know that our Heavenly Father is in the business of restoration. This book will give you an expanded appreciation of His grace and of the awful price He paid for our sins as we, who are truly guilty, have broken most if not all of the Ten Commandments.

Rev. Bill Bathman -

Chairman, Frontline Fellowship, Arizona USA

August 2009

Exodus 20:1-17

1 And God spoke all these words, saying:

2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.

4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image—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; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

7 "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.

8 " Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

12 " Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

13 "You shall not murder.

14 "You shall not commit adultery.

15 "You shall not steal.

16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

17 You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbour's.

Introduction

THE LAW OF GOD

Therefore the Law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Romans 7:12

God spoke the Ten Commandments with His own voice. He wrote them with His own finger upon tablets of stone.

It was after the Lord God had delivered the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. They had seen the incredible power of God poured out in the ten plagues upon Egypt. They had watched in awe as God rolled back the waters of the Red Sea to allow them to cross through on dry land. On the other side of the Red Sea they had seen the Lord close the waters over the pursuing Egyptian charioteers.

They had tasted the manna that God had sent from Heaven to feed them in the desert. They had quenched their thirst with water that had flowed from the rock at His command. They had seen the mighty power of God to save and to heal. They had also seen His power to punish, to judge, to kill and to destroy.

Now, as they stood before the mountain of God, it was covered with smoke as the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace and the whole mountain trembled violently.

This was the context in which God revealed His Ten Commandments.

The Law's remarkable origin reveals its Holy character. The Ten Commandments flow directly from the Eternal character of our Holy Creator and Eternal Judge. They are the standard by which the world will be judged. The Ten Commandments provide a permanent rule of life for all people. The Law defines sin (...sin is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4).

Converting the Soul

The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Psalm 19:7

But he who looks into the perfect Law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. James 1:25

The Law of God convicts of sin (Romans 7:7-11).

The Law condemns transgression (Romans 4:15; James 2:10; Galatians 3:10; Deut. 11:26-28).

The Law restrains evil (But we know that the Law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the Law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and for murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.) 1 Timothy 1:8-11; Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Psalm 119:11).

The Law drives people to Christ. (Therefore the Law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by Faith. Galatians 3:24; The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Psalm 19:7).

The Law of God guides our sanctification. (That the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:4).

The Law of God lies at the very heart of the new Covenant. (Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new Covenant with the House of Israel...I will put My Law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Jeremiah 31:31-33).

The Law of God Remains in Force

Our Lord Jesus Christ expressly affirmed the eternal validity of God's Law. (Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till Heaven and Earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the Law until all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these Commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 5:17-20)

Throughout the Gospels, Christ emphatically taught the relevance of the Law (Matthew 22:36¬40; Matthew 23:23; Mark 7:1-13).

Christ Jesus upheld the civil function of the Law (Matthew 15:3-6).

Christ Himself perfectly obeyed the Law during His life and ministry on earth (Psalm 40:7-8; Matthew 8:4; 17:24-27; Mark 11:16-17; John 8:46; John 15:10; 1 John 2:4-6).

Christ Jesus saved us in terms of the Law. (But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4-5; And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the Cross. Colossians 2:13-14.

While the Ten Commandments are binding on all mankind, they are especially binding to Christian people. They reflect the character of God and keep their full authority today. You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am Holy. Leviticus 19:2.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Our First Priority

When pioneer missionary, John Eliot, first translated the Scriptures into the Algorquim language of the Indians in Massachusetts he started with the Ten Commandments. His first sermons to them were also on the Ten Commandments. Of course, John Eliot did not think that the Indians could be saved by the Ten Commandments. However they needed to understand the Law of God before they could understand their need of salvation in Christ.

In the same way, John Paton, missionary to the cannibals in the South Pacific, began his ministry by teaching the Ten Commandments. The sharp needle of the Law needs to make way for the scarlet thread of the Gospel. Until people understand the Law of God they will not be able to understand the holiness of God. Until people understand the holiness of God, they will not understand their own sinfulness and their need for Salvation in and through Christ