Introduction – We have been tracing the image of God through the Bible from creation to the fall and now step by step through God’s plan to restore that image in mankind. At this point in history the Israelites are being led through the desert by God to the promised land but before they get there, God is going to give them the Ten Commandments. Today we begin to see their role in God’s plan to restore His image in us. Important things to know about the Commandments: There are two sections that deal with our with God and man. These commands are a more description of how we love God and love others (Luke 10:27). The commands are not exhaustive but are points that remind of us certain types of relationships and how we are to act to those people in those positions. The covenant of law was , based upon the performance of the people. (Jer 7:23-26) We learn that a very clear set of rules was not enough to repair the of God in man. (Gal 2:16) Obeying a list of rules does not change your and make you righteous. It revealed to us how deeply sinful we are. It also showed us the kind of person needed to save us. The only man who ever met this standard was the God-Man Jesus Christ. The law showed us what would not work, it showed us our problem and it also showed us what the genuine solution would look like in Jesus. Remember, I told you all along that God was pushing us, leading us to Jesus. So, in Gal 3:24 Paul writes, Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Do I need the law now that I have Jesus? No, I don’t need the law to be but on the other hand, the law is still truth, it still describes love and unity and how to act right before God and others. So, in that sense, the law is still a to me. #1 You shall have no other gods before Me. • There is no other God but the Lord our God. If we are to live in harmony with God we must seek no other source, divine or created, to satisfy our needs. They are the of God and God alone. To seek another is spiritual adultery. #2 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; • God is neither nor . How can we maintain harmony and unity with God as our creator and sustainer and giver of life when we lower Him and depict Him as some dead rock or piece of wood? #3 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. • God is and we must treat Him as such. How Holy is He? Even His very name is . We are to revere Him and respect Him even to the level of the use of His name.