Commandment or Demandment

“And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.”

Exodus 20:1-20 KJV

These are the Ten Commandments that God himself wrote in stone. They were meant not only to be written in natural stone, but also in the tablets of our hearts. There were 613 commandments in the Mosaic law which were designed for the outward man to obey. The word “commandment” means a divine rule. But the word “demandment” means an insistent and peremptory request made as if by right. The difference between commandments and demandments is that a commandment is set up of will, desiring the needs and wants of God more than your own. A demandment, however, is when you’re upset because your will can’t be done. God never instructed us to keep “demandments”, but he instructs us to keep his commandments, emphasizing the importance of putting his will above ours without being forced to do so. These things are not demanded of us. God does not force us to serve him. When something is a demandment, free will is not there. It is something you feel made to do. But when we have the revelation that God loves us and we get a thankfulness in our hearts, it isn’t difficult to keep his commandments. Thankful people do things willingly and because they love to. And when we follow his commandments, we are following a charge, a precept, a statute or a measure out of love and of our own free will. 

“We love him, because he first loved us.”

1 John 4:19 KJV

“And I will delight myself In thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; And I will meditate in thy statutes.”

Psalm 119:47-48 KJV

How we view the word of God has everything to do with where we’re at with God. How we see the word of God is everything, and it will determine whether we look at these statutes as commandments or as demandments. 

Sermon preached by Pastor J. Davidson and summarized by Sister Hannah Wilson.