{"id":14006,"date":"2026-02-26T15:39:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/?p=14006"},"modified":"2026-02-26T15:39:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:39:29","slug":"the-ten-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/2026\/02\/the-ten-words.html","title":{"rendered":"THE TEN WORDS"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"754\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/garycombsorg.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Commandments-754x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14007\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.7363326192176466;width:317px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/garycombsorg.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Commandments-754x1024.jpg 754w, https:\/\/garycombsorg.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Commandments-221x300.jpg 221w, https:\/\/garycombsorg.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Commandments-768x1043.jpg 768w, https:\/\/garycombsorg.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Commandments.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 754px) 100vw, 754px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Have you ever tried to earn something that was meant to be received as a gift?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For many people, that\u2019s how they see the Ten Commandments, or the &#8220;Ten Words&#8221; as they are called in Jewish tradition. They see them like a ladder to climb in order to reach God. But what if the commandments were never meant to be a ladder at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This Sunday, we continue our 12-week journey through&nbsp;<strong>THE STORY: How the Bible Explains Everything<\/strong>&nbsp;with Part 5:&nbsp;<strong>\u201cThe Commandments.\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;We\u2019ll be in&nbsp;Book of Exodus&nbsp;20:1\u201321.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So far in THE STORY, we\u2019ve seen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Creation<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 God made a good world and created humanity in His image to live under His loving rule.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Catastrophe<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Sin spread, judgment came through the flood, yet God preserved a remnant in mercy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Covenant<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 God walked the blood path alone, promising Abraham that He Himself would secure redemption.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Crossing<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt, parting the Red Sea and defeating Pharaoh\u2019s army.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Now we arrive at Mount Sinai. Redemption has already happened. The people have already been rescued. And then \u2014 God speaks. Before a single command is given, God says: \u201cI am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.\u201d (Ex. 20:2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Grace precedes law. Rescue comes before rules. That changes everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Sunday\u2019s message, we\u2019ll explore three divine purposes behind the giving of God\u2019s law:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1\ufe0f\u20e3 To Remind Us of His Saving Grace<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>God did not give the law to slaves trying to earn freedom. He gave it to a redeemed people learning how to live in freedom. The Exodus (grace) came before Sinai (law).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2\ufe0f\u20e3 To Restrain Us by His Covenant Love<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The commandments are not prison bars \u2014 they are guardrails. They teach us what it looks like to love God and love neighbor. As Jesus later summarized, all the Law and the Prophets hang on those two great commands (Matthew 22:37\u201340).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3\ufe0f\u20e3 To Reveal Our Need for a Holy Advocate<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The thunder at Sinai terrified the people. They knew they could not stand before a holy God on their own. They needed a mediator. The law exposes our need for One greater than Moses \u2014 our Advocate, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sinai was never the final destination in THE STORY. The writer of Hebrews reminds us: \u201cI will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds\u201d (Hebrews 10:16). The law written on stone points forward to the law written on hearts through Christ and His Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Prepare for Sunday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83d\udcd6 Read Exodus 19\u201320 slowly and carefully.<br>\ud83d\udd0e Notice what God says about Himself before He gives commands.<br>\ud83d\ude4f Ask: Do I see God\u2019s commands as a ladder to climb \u2014 or as a covenant to cherish?<br>\ud83d\udc65 Talk about it with your family or Community Group next week after hearing the sermon.<br>\u26ea Come ready to worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The commandments do not save us \u2014 Christ does. But the Christ who saves us transforms us from the inside out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Join us Sunday as we continue THE STORY.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever tried to earn something that was meant to be received as a gift? For many people, that\u2019s how they see the Ten Commandments, or the &#8220;Ten Words&#8221; as they are called in Jewish tradition. They see them like a ladder to climb in order to reach God. But what if the commandments<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061,1],"tags":[2991,2106,2251,2987,2336,2097,2992],"location":[],"class_list":["post-14006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion","category-uncategorized","tag-commandments","tag-grace","tag-law","tag-metanarrative","tag-salvation","tag-story","tag-ten-commandments"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/garycombsorg.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Commandments.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14006"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14010,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14006\/revisions\/14010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14006"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=14006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}