Now, imagine a society without ethical boundaries, a moral law.  Imagine what would happen if there were not the slightest sense of right and wrong in the human conscience. Life would be continuously chaotic. Safety and trust would be nonexistent. Every conscious moment would be dedicated to survival. The modus operandi would be "exploit or be exploited," "kill or get killed." In other words "do unto others before they do it unto you." Society would be a jungle.  Life would be a nightmare.  Is it hard to imagine such? Not really. We are on the edge of "that jungle" already.  Just listen to the news. Internationally and locally the headlines are continuously filled with reports of abuse, dishonesty, exploitation, robbery, greed, evil, killing . . . the list goes on. In fact, if we are honest there are times we tend to act more like animals rather than humans. 

But if the universe and our planet appear to exist on the basis of natural law, does not such evidence point to the probability of a Designer who crafted moral principles (laws) intended to protect and enrich the quality of human experience? No laws lay the foundation for the protection of human life and its enrichment more effectively than the Ten Commandments God gave to Moses found in Exodus 20:3-17.  They are timeless in their application to any society. 

Though the Ten Commandments were articulated by God to Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelite Nation, they are timeless in their application to any society. The biblical record indicates that the principles of the Ten Commandments were well known by generations thousands of years before the Sinai proclamation. Murder (Genesis 4:8-11), adultery (Genesis 20:3-6), rape (Genesis 34), bearing false witness (Genesis 27:5-45), and theft (Genesis 30:31-33) were generally recognized violations of moral principles. God spoke approvingly of Abraham because he was obedient to divine commands (Genesis 26:4). The unique designation of the seventh-day Sabbath instituted at creation (Genesis 2:1-3) is assumed to have been continuously applicable (Exodus 16) even before God declared “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it Holy” from the top of Sinai. (Exodus 20:8). The term “remember” implies that the Sabbath was already a stated reality for previous generations. Thus, the Ten Commandments were not just for the Jews. Moses gave a number of additional decrees and regulations specifically applicable to the Israelite people. But, the Ten Commandments were issued personally by the voice (Exodus 20:1,19)  and finger of God (Exodus 32:16). 

Though framed mostly in negative terms-Thou shalt not-the goal of the Ten Commandments is to effect peace, joy, contentment, and love in one's inner life, in all relationships, and in one's experience with God. The first four commandments describe how we are to honor, respect, and worship God as the Creator, the Giver of life. The remaining six define the boundaries and principles for dynamic, healthy relationships. Understood as the definition of morality, they will assist humans to be more humane with each other, to be the kind of people that God originally designed us to be-creatures who reflect His likeness (Genesis 1:27).

Jesus Christ, whose life and teachings are credible due to His resurrection, summarized this dual purpose of the Ten Commandments with these words: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39). Also, Jesus affirmed the applicability of the commandments for all time when He said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law . . . I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will be any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished" (Matthew 5:17,18). 

The apostle Paul stated “The law is holy, the commandment is holy, righteous and good” (Romans 7:12). From our hearts we concur. But we also recognize another reality about our hearts.  Jesus voiced it in the following words: “For from within, out of men's hearts come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly" (Mark 7:20,22). The truth is this: our hearts are not naturally in compliance with the law! Therefore, the law makes us uncomfortable. In our supposed autonomy we have repeatedly failed to honor God as He directs in the first four commands, and we have failed to love each other unselfishly as instructed in the remaining six. Such a course ultimately ends in futility and self-destruction (Romans 1:21-32).

Through grace God forgives when with a change of mind (repentance) we come to Him acknowledging (confessing) how we have dishonored Him and dehumanized others. But then God provides more than forgiveness. "I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts," He says, "I will be their God and they will be my people" (Hebrews 8:10). The elderly disciple John wrote about the law with these words: “This is love for God: to obey his commands, and his commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). Through the grace of forgiveness and the grace of a new way of thinking and living (pursuing obedience), hearts find themselves finally at home—resting at peace with God and growing in peace with others. Forgiveness melts bitterness. Purity replaces lust. Truthfulness grows trust.  Contentment overrides envy. The heart becomes secure in worshipping a sovereign God of love.

Echoing the declaration of Jesus concerning the unchanging status of the law, we find another divinely issued announcement in the concluding document of the Bible. "Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship Him who has made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water." (Revelation 14:7). Worship Him, the architect and giver of life. Worship Him by aligning your life with His principles, His Ten Commandments. It's the most important decision you will ever make.

He whom they had already known as their Guide and Deliverer, who had brought them forth from Egypt, making a way for them through the sea, and overthrowing Pharaoh and his hosts, who had thus shown Himself to be above all the gods of Egypt—He it was who now spoke His law. 
The law was not spoken at this time exclusively for the benefit of the Hebrews. God honored them by making them the guardians and keepers of His law, but it was to be held as a sacred trust for the whole world. The precepts of the Decalogue are adapted to all mankind, and they were given for the instruction and government of all. Ten precepts, brief, comprehensive, and authoritative, cover the duty of man to God and to his fellow man; and all based upon the great fundamental principle of love. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” Luke 10:27. See also Deuteronomy 6:4, 5; Leviticus 19:18. In the Ten Commandments these principles are carried out in detail, and made applicable to the condition and circumstances of man. 
“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”
Jehovah, the eternal, self-existent, uncreated One, Himself the Source and Sustainer of all, is alone entitled to supreme reverence and worship. Man is forbidden to give to any other object the first place in his affections or his service. Whatever we cherish that tends to lessen our love for God or to interfere with the service due Him, of that do we make a god. 

The second commandment forbids the worship of the true God by images or similitudes. Many heathen nations claimed that their images were mere figures or symbols by which the Deity was worshiped, but God has declared such worship to be sin. The attempt to represent the Eternal One by material objects would lower man’s conception of God. The mind, turned away from the infinite perfection of Jehovah, would be attracted to the creature rather than to the Creator. And as his conceptions of God were lowered, so would man become degraded. 

The Sabbath is not introduced as a new institution but as having been founded at creation. It is to be remembered and observed as the memorial of the Creator’s work. Pointing to God as the Maker of the heavens and the earth, it distinguishes the true God from all false gods. All who keep the seventh day signify by this act that they are worshipers of Jehovah. Thus the Sabbath is the sign of man’s allegiance to God as long as there are any upon the earth to serve Him. The fourth commandment is the only one of all the ten in which are found both the name and the title of the Lawgiver. It is the only one that shows by whose authority the law is given. Thus it contains the seal of God, affixed to His law as evidence of its authenticity and binding force. 
God has given me six days wherein to labor, and He requires that their own work be done in the six working days. Acts of necessity and mercy are permitted on the Sabbath, the sick and suffering are at all times to be cared for; but unnecessary labor is to be strictly avoided. “Turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and . . . honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure.” Isaiah 58:13. Nor does the prohibition end here. “Nor speaking thine own words,” says the prophet. Those who discuss business matters or lay plans on the Sabbath are regarded by God as though engaged in the actual transaction of business. To keep the Sabbath holy, we should not even allow our minds to dwell upon things of a worldly character. And the commandment includes all within our gates. The inmates of the house are to lay aside their worldly business during the sacred hours. All should unite to honor God by willing service upon His holy day. 

Parents are entitled to a degree of love and respect which is due to no other person. God Himself, who has placed upon them a responsibility for the souls committed to their charge, has ordained that during the earlier years of life, parents shall stand in the place of God to their children. And he who rejects the rightful authority of his parents is rejecting the authority of God. The fifth commandment requires children not only to yield respect, submission, and obedience to their parents, but also to give them love and tenderness, to lighten their cares, to guard their reputation, and to succor and comfort them in old age. It also enjoins respect for ministers and rulers and for all others to whom God has delegated authority. This, says the apostle, “is the first commandment with promise.” Ephesians 6:2. To Israel, expecting soon to enter Canaan, it was a pledge to the obedient, of long life in that good, land; but it has a wider meaning, including all the Israel of God, and promising eternal life upon the earth when it shall be freed from the curse of sin. 

All acts of injustice that tend to shorten life; the spirit of hatred and revenge, or the indulgence of any passion that leads to injurious acts toward (oneself or) others, or causes us even to wish them harm (for “whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer” 1 John 3:15 ); a selfish neglect of caring for the needy or suffering; all self-indulgence or unnecessary deprivation or excessive labor that tends to injure health—all these are, to a greater or less degree, violations of the sixth commandment. 

This commandment forbids not only acts of impurity, but sensual thoughts and desires, or any practice that tends to excite them. Purity is demanded not only in the outward life but in the secret intents and emotions of the heart. Christ, who taught the far-reaching obligation of the law of God, declared the evil thought or look to be as truly sin as is the unlawful deed. 

Both public and private sins are included in this prohibition. The eighth commandment condemns manstealing and slave dealing, and forbids wars of conquest. It condemns theft and robbery. It demands strict integrity in the minutest details of the affairs of life. It forbids overreaching in trade, and requires the payment of just debts or wages. It declares that every attempt to advantage oneself by the ignorance, weakness, or misfortune of another is registered as fraud in the books of heaven. 

False speaking in any matter, every attempt or purpose to deceive our neighbor, is here included. An intention to deceive is what constitutes falsehood. By a glance of the eye, a motion of the hand, an expression of the countenance, a falsehood may be told as effectually as by words. All intentional overstatement, every hint or insinuation calculated to convey an erroneous or exaggerated impression, even the statement of facts in such a manner as to mislead, is falsehood. This precept forbids every effort to injure our neighbor’s reputation by misrepresentation or evil surmising, by slander or tale bearing.  Even the intentional suppression of truth, by which injury may result to others, is a violation of the ninth commandment. 

The tenth commandment strikes at the very root of all sins, prohibiting the selfish desire, from which springs the sinful act. He who in obedience to God’s law refrains from indulging even a sinful desire for that which belongs to another will not be guilty of an act of wrong toward his fellow creatures.