Now we need to see the content of the law. The content of the law mainly is the Ten Commandments. We need to analyze the Ten Commandments in a proper way. The first three commandments require man to have only God and not have any idols (Exo. 20:3-7). The first commandment says that we should not have another god, the second is that we should not make idols, and the third is that we should not worship idols.
The fourth commandment is concerning keeping the Sabbath (vv. 8-11). To keep the Sabbath is to take God and all He has created for us as our satisfaction and rest. The fourth commandment requires man to have satisfaction and rest only in God and all that God has accomplished for man. God created the heavens and the earth with billions of items for us. On the sixth day, the last day of God's creating work, God created man. Man came out of the creating hand of God with everything ready. The universe was just like a wedding room. Before the bride comes, the wedding room is fully prepared. Man came out of God's creating hand, and everything was ready for man. God worked for six days, and the seventh day was the day of rest, the Sabbath, for man to enjoy God and God's work as his rest and satisfaction.
The fifth commandment requires man to honor his parents that man might trace back to man's source—God who created man (v. 12). If we trace our genealogy back to the beginning of creation, we come to the first pair of parents, Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve came from God. When we honor our parents, we trace back to God.
We should have a heart to honor our parents, but quite often, we fallen people do not honor our parents as we should. Today in this evil age many people want to put away their parents when their parents become old. To lose our parents, though, is a big loss. If we honor our parents, we realize something of God as our source. The fifth commandment concerning honoring our parents goes with the foregoing commandments. The Ten Commandments were written on two tablets. The first tablet covers the first five commandments, from having only God to honoring our parents.
The last five commandments were on another tablet as a group. These commandments are concerning the prohibition of murder, fornication, stealing, lying, and covetousness (vv. 13-17). These five commandments may not seem so sweet, but they are very good for mankind. The sixth through the tenth commandments require man to live out the virtues that express God according to God's attributes.
The law of most major countries today is based on Roman law, and Roman law was based upon and written according to the Mosaic law, the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are so brief, yet they are so complete and all-embracing. They cover our relationship with God, our relationship with our parents, and our relationship with others. If a man did not kill people, did not commit fornication, did not steal and rob, did not tell lies, and did not covet, he would be the top ethical person.
However, we need to ask ourselves whether or not we have been successful in keeping these commandments. Actually, according to the Lord's word in Matthew, we have broken these commandments. The Lord said that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to the judgment (5:21-22). Eventually, the Lord Jesus, in interpreting the Ten Commandments, did not deal merely with the act of murder, but with anger, the motive of murder. To be angry and to hate others is equal to killing in the Lord's higher law of the kingdom of the heavens. This is logical. If you are not angry and do not hate, you could never kill anyone. Killing comes out of anger and hating. The Lord Jesus also went deeper in His teaching concerning the outward act of adultery. Again, He dealt with the inward motive of the heart (Matt. 5:27-28). When Paul was in the Jewish religion, he endeavored to keep every item of the Ten Commandments, but later he testified that he had no way to keep the last commandment—"You shall not covet" (Rom. 7:7-8). This commandment is not related to outward conduct, but rather to the sin within man.
In order to illustrate this, I would like to relate a story about a missionary speaking to his cook about man's sinfulness. This Chinese cook was a proud, ethical person. He had the attitude that the foreigners who came to China did many things wrong, but he did not do anything wrong. The missionary knew this. One day he asked the cook if he was sinful. Then the missionary said, "Of course, I know you would say that you are not sinful. But, let me know what you are thinking about right now. Right now, tell me the truth. What are you thinking within?" This cook then confessed to the missionary that he was jealous of the missionary's having a big horse and that he was thinking about how he could get this horse. Then the missionary replied, "This is coveting. Are you not sinful?" The cook had to admit that he was sinful.
Even as you are reading this message, perhaps there is something in your heart right now which is violating the law. If a certain sister were to tell me right now what is in her heart, she might say, "This morning a sister offended me, and I cannot forgive her. I am still thinking about how she offended me!" This is evil. The law exposes our sinful nature and evil deeds. The law is holy, righteous, good, and spiritual in its nature, but the function of the law is another matter.