The Ten Commandments

“I am the Lord your God...."  Exodus 20:2-17

 

"You shall have no other gods before Me.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or 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... you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God....

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain....

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy....

“Honor your father and your mother....

“You shall not murder.

“You shall not commit adultery.

“You shall not steal.

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

“You shall not covet... .”

See  The Ten Commandments - Did you know?

Paradigm Shift: Total transformation

America's Spiritual Slide

"...the high priest asked them, saying, "Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine...."

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said:

“We ought to obey God rather than men."

 

Comment by Laura Nichols (Arkansas), homeschooling mom:

The Ten Commandments were not only for Israel. Although attempting to obey the Ten Commandments will not bring salvation, the New Testament shows the ongoing significance of God's moral law.

Though we are no longer UNDER the law, the law  SHOWS US OUR SIN. The blessed Holy Spirit brings conviction, but the law exposes our need for the cross.

"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, "Thou shalt not covet." Romans 7:7

"But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupisence. For without the law sin was dead." Romans 7:8

"For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." Romans 7:9

In presenting the gospel, the Ten Commandments are used as a "schoolmaster" to get a person to see that they have broken the law. Go up to a person and ask, "Have you ever told a lie?" They will, almost always, admit it. "Oh, yeah! Everyone has," they usually say.

      Then you ask them... "What does that make you?"  Sometimes they shrug. Sometimes they will answer... a liar.  When they then see that they have broken the law of God -- and you tell them that without faith in the blood covering of Jesus Christ they are facing the judgment and wrath of a Holy God --  this can, with the Holy Spirit's drawing, bring them to Christ.

     This is why Satan hates the Ten Commandments. They must come down off the walls because they reveal our sin to us (those who still have consciences) and just as Judge Moore has stated, God's authority, the authority of the one who spoke those Commandments into being, is under attack.

"And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death." Romans 7:10

In other words, when we realize that we have broken the law, we realize that we are DEAD in our sins. Sin has deceived (or blinded) us.

"For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me." Romans 7:11

"Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Romans 7:12

"Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." Romans 7:13

This is a key verse in understanding the Ten Commandments. When the goodness of the Ten Commandments shines through our darkness by the power of the Holy Spirit, it reveals our sinfulness. Sin works death in us.

       In other words, when we realize that we have sin in our lives and this is shown to us through the lens of the Ten Commandments, we become accountable to that standard.  Now, unintentional sin becomes intentional rebellion against His law. 

       Without being "born again" with the infilling of the presence of God, we cannot overcome sin. The law can't free us from our sinful nature, but by showing us that we are exceedingly sinful, it brings us to Jesus Christ who can set us free.

       Jesus said, " I come not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." Jesus Christ - His perfect and righteous sacrifice -- fulfils all the requirements of the law. When we choose to believe in Him, identify with His death and resurrection (Galatians 2:20) and are filled with His Spirit, we share in His fulfillment of the law.  Even though we were all lawbreakers, wretched sinners, lost and on the way to hell, we now  share His victory over sin.

       I praise Jehovah God for his unmerited favor and mercy and I love the law of God.