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Living as Christ Lived
What About The "Ten Commandments"
Faith Comes By Hearing, and Hearing Comes By...
The Word Of GOD!
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We should always get started with some basic Bible study principles.
So please turn in your bible to II Timothy 3: 16, 17
NOTE 1: That the man of God may be perfect!
Now there are those who say that perfection is not to be reached here on earth.
But the bible says quite a different thing.
This text says that the entire Bible was given for that specific reason.
That the man of God may be perfect!
Not perfect in Heaven, we won’t need the Bible in Heaven.
Not perfect in body, the bible can’t change our bodies.
But be perfect in character!
The only way we can please God is by the perfection of our characters.
This is the obedience to His will.
Why else would we call ourselves Christians unless we believe we can be Christ-like?
Everything we do and say ought to be preparing us for the kingdom of Heaven!
Everything we watch, everything we listen to, everything we eat, every place we go
and everyone we hang around should be preparing us to live with our God.
For if we die today, those will be the last things written in our Heavenly books
That God the Father will see on the Day of Judgment.
Now lets move on to another basic bible study principle.
Let’s turn to Isaiah 8:20
NOTE 2: These are strong word!
Because there is no light in them.
Many people of the church today do not speak according to the truth in the Bible.
It is astonishing how much God’s people have drifted away from their life saving manual.
We as God’s people should desire to be in the light and the light be in us.
Not to be in darkness!
We find ourselves victims of the biggest oxy-moron known to mankind.
For the world we live in is extremely wicked but yet it is basically a religious world.
In our country The United States alone we have more churches, more church members
And more preachers than ever before!
Therefore a logical question ought to enter your mind
If this is basically a religious nation and if there are more churches, more church members and more preachers than ever before, then why is there so much prevailing evil in our land?
Why is it that people’s morals are getting lower and lower?
Why does it seem impossible to find anyone you can trust even in the church?
Well the Bible has an answer for us!
Let’s begin by turning in our bibles to Matthew 7:21-23
NOTE 3: Let’s quickly define Christianity
The dictionary says that a Christian is one who does as Christ did
And who thinks as Christ thought
And who believes as Christ believed.
A Christian is like Christ!
So, if a man steals, he is not a Christian!
If a man lies, he is not a Christian!
If a man practices adultery, he is not a Christian!
So we conclude with what Christ said in Matthew 7:21
That everyone that says Lord, Lord is not a Christian!
Keep in mind that these people did all these alleged wonderful works
But they still didn’t know God!
So, where did they get their power from? …Satan!
The greatest enemy to the cause of Christ is a hypocrite!
Remember that Satan has the power deceive the whole world right from the pulpit.
Our feeble minds are no match for him.
Only by following Jesus through His word are we able to discern His works from Satan’s.
Jesus said only those who do the will of His Father in heaven will enter the kingdom!
So what is the will of God?
Let’s turn to Psalm 40:8 / Romans 2:18
NOTE 4: God’s will is His Law!
Paul said we know His will being instructed out of the law.
Every government must have law!
Without it there would be chaos from everyone doing as they pleased.
That is why the great God of the universe gave us His Law
So that His people would think the same way, live the same way and teach the same way.
God wants His people to be of one mind so that there is harmony among us. I Peter 3:8
Now God is the king of this universal government!
And His great government is conducted according to law and order
And as we think about the law of God
We notice that it is the only part of the bible that God did not trust man to write for Him.
Exodus 31:18 says that God wrote it Himself with His own finger!
Even though this was the first written documentation of God’s Ten Commandments on earth, this was not its beginning!
Genesis 26:5 tells us that Abraham kept God’s law!
Note 5: Abraham lived hundreds of years before God gave it to Moses on Mt. Sinai
But let’s think back even further
God’s law could not have started with Abraham!
Way back before God formed the earth and created man
There was an angel in heaven the bible tells us
That was beautiful and talented and sat near the thrown of God.
His name was Lucifer, The Covering Cherub.
He was perfect in all his ways until iniquity was found in him.
Now because the angel Lucifer sinned he was put out of Heaven!
Keep in mind that if an angel was put out of Heaven for sinning
We can’t get into Heaven sinning!
Question: what is sin?
I John 3:4 tells us what it is!
NOTE 6: Sin is the transgression of the law! God’s Ten Commandments!
God’s government has always had law!
For how could God have put Lucifer out of Heaven unless there was a law that he was
guilty of breaking?
Romans 4:15 says without the law there is no sin!
Now you may ask which commandment did Lucifer break?
As you look at The Ten Commandments you’ll find that he broke several.
But let’s look at the very first one.
Exodus 20:3 says thou shall have no other Gods before Me!
Lucifer said he would be God.
God’s Law is a transcript of His own character
It is the sum total of the righteousness we may achieve if we let the Holy Spirit
reign in us.
Since we know that sin is the transgression of the law
All we have to do is look throughout the history of the Bible and note that when sins
occurred there must have been a law to determine it!
Cain sinned and was punished by God for killing his brother Abel
Because the law says “Thou Shalt Not Kill” etc.
Now it was not necessary for the law to be written down before the flood.
The reason is people lived so long in those days.
The Ten Commandments were taught down through the generations
the same way we teach our children the things we were taught
until God gave it to Moses on Mt. Sinai .
Adam lived 930 years.
And Adam knew and lived with Methuselah for 243 years.
And Methuselah died the year of the flood.
Now Noah had a son named Shem.
Shem knew Methuselah for 100 years before the flood.
And after the flood Shem knew Abraham for 150 years.
After that the lifespan of man began to be shortened
And God saw fit to write His law on two tables of stone with His own Finger
So that we would know its importance and that it would be preserved throughout
the shortened generations of mankind.
Now what kind of law is God’s Ten Commandments?
Psalm 119:142 says God’s law is truth!
NOTE 7: why would God do away with truth?
Also Verse 172 says God’s law is righteousness!
NOTE 8: why would God do away with righteousness?
And in Proverbs 6:23 the Bible says that the law is light!
NOTE 9: friends we have to think intelligently when we’re dealing with the word of God.
Why would God get rid of truth, righteousness and light?
Where in the entire bible do we find God disregarding anything with such a description?
Let’s go on.
Romans 7:12 St. Paul said that the law is Holy, just and good!
NOTE 10: keep this in mind because some people might tell you that it is impossible
to keep the law.
But, Romans 7:12 tells us that God’s law is just (Meaning Fair).
For only an unjust God would tell you to do what you could not do.
Also that we can not keep God’s law by ourselves!
We need the Holy Ghost!
We have to allow the Holy Spirit to come into our hearts and write His law in our minds.
And He keeps the law through us and gives us the credit for it.
PRAISE GOD FOR HIS GRACE!!!
Now we have to clearly understand something before we go on.
The law CANNOT save us! Romans 3:20
It is not suppose to save us! It simply shows us what sin is!
James 1:22-25 says the law is like a looking glass (a mirror)
God is saying take my law like a mirror and if you see a problem and walk away
you cannot be blessed!
But if you look into the mirror (the perfect law of liberty) and see a problem
and continue in the law being a doer of the work, you will be blessed!
Through the blood of Jesus our sins that we see in the mirror can be washed away.
Ephesians 1:7 says we have redemption and forgiveness through his blood.
Now after we have been cleansed of our sins St. Paul tells us in Romans 8:1 that we are no longer condemned (or under the penalty of the law) because we are walking after the spirit.
Walking after the spirit means being obedient to God’s will!
And God’s will is His law, which is our mirror that shows us our sins, which is the
transgression of the law; the true righteous light of God—the Ten Commandments.
Now if we understand that God’s will is His law and His law is a transcript of His character, we can look at Hebrews 13:8 and understand that Christ stays the same.
It is hard to understand why people are down on God’s law.
People are usually down on what they’re not up on.
There are many that don’t really know what God’s Ten Commandments actually say.
Let’s take a quick look at the law and to see if there is something wrong with it. Exodus 20:3-17
The Bible says in Proverbs 3:5,6 and 16:25 that we cannot depend on our own understanding for what seems right to us will end in death.
This is why we depend on God’s Holy Scriptures to guide us.
And His holy law as a mirror that we may see His will through the Holy Spirit perfected in us.
Here are some texts that reemphasize the importance of the Ten Commandments and what they mean to God.
Let’s turn to…
John 14:23
Jesus says if we love Him we will keep His sayings.
1 John 5:3
God’s Commandment’s are not hard.
Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus says that His yoke is easy.
John 14:21
Jesus also says that He will reveal Himself to us if we keep His commandments.
Also in verse 24 identifies those who don’t love Him.
John 14:15-17
This text is very enlightening because it tells the way we can receive the Holy Spirit.
It is promised to us if we keep God’s Commandments.
1 John 2:3-7
Says this is how we know that we know Him.
James 2:10
Now this is one of the most serious texts concerning God’s law, the Ten Commandments.
James 2:19
Implies that we must do more than just believe, for even the devils believe.
NOTE 11: True belief provokes action!
James 2:12
tells us that we shall be judged by the law. For how else will God determine our faithfulness to Him but by our obedience to His will, which is His law?
James 2:14-26
There are some who believe that all we have to do is have faith. But this passage explains that faith without works is dead!
Now there are many who say that we are not under the law, but under grace. This is true.
However, before we conclude with that statement, let’s explore what it means to be under grace.
First we have to consider what grace is.
Grace is unmerited favor!
Grace is pardon that we do not deserve!
If we deserved it, it would not be pardon it would be justice! For example, if you are called into court for something you did not do, and the judge says “I find you not guilty! You may go,” he did not give you grace, he gave you justice!
NOTE 12: We don’t need grace when we are not guilty!
Grace is the unbounded love of God expressed in the gift of Jesus Christ!
Grace is Christ!
Ephesians 2:8
Says we are saved by grace!
We are indeed saved by grace. And yet Revelation 22:14 says that those who will be saved will be the ones who keep the Commandments of God.
Also, Revelation 14:12 describes God’s people in the end time.
There is no contradiction here.
Being under grace does not exempt us from keeping the law.
Romans 6:1,2
Paul said God forbid that we should sin because we are under grace.
Romans 6:11-16
States that we are under the law when sin has dominion over us, meaning that we are subject to its (the laws) penalties.
When we repent for the sins we allowed dominion over us, we then receive pardon we don’t deserve, which is grace.
Now being under grace, we begin walking in the obedience to God’s will, which is His law by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Remember that it is by grace that we have the opportunity to obey and have salvation through Jesus Christ and not be under the penalty of the law.
Grace is not giving so that we may continue sinning.
Romans 6:15-18
Paul said that God forbid that we should sin because we are under grace.
We fall back under the penalty of the law when we become willful sinners.
There are 3 basic steps to becoming a Christian.
Some refer to them as the A, B, C method.
A. Excepting Christ as your personal Savior
John 3:16, 17
John 4:41, 42
Acts 4:10, 12
B. Believe that Christ is the Son of God
1 John 5:13
John 20:31
Acts 16:31
C. Confess your sins
1 John 1:9
Psalm 32:5
Once we have done this, we believe by faith that we are saved.
It is then that the will of God (His law) is manifested in us by our obedience.
We began to walk as He walked because we are Christians.
NOTE 13: An apple tree produces apples because it is an apple tree. It doesn’t try to produce apples to prove itself. It simply does because it is what it is….An apple tree!
Likewise, we produce obedience to God’s will, which is His law because we are Christians. So whosoever, or whatsoever has a title must be a producer of that which he or it is titled.
Therefore, Christians produce Christ-like characteristics, which are defined in His law—The Ten Commandments.
John 15:10
Says Christ kept His Father’s Commandments.
Deuteronomy 5:29
Says God wants us to keep His commandments forever!
Matthew 5:17-19
Christ came to fulfill the law, not to destroy it.
1 John 2:3-6
States that we do not know Him if we don’t keep His commandments. And if we say we know Him, and don’t keep His commandments, we are liars and the truth is not in us.
NOTE 14: If we are liars it means that we lie by habit and it is a part of our character. This text also explains that keeping God’s law is walking as He walked.
Acts 5:32
Says the Holy Ghost is given to those that obey Him.
Psalm 19:7,8
Says the law is perfect, right and pure. Therefore, what reason would there be to nullify it?
Matthew 22:40
On these two hang all the law.
This does not abolish or cancel out the Ten Commandments but rather reaffirms them. It is simply stating that these two great Commandments are the principles on which the law is based.
The first four tells us how to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. The last six tells us how to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Finally, Revelation 22:14 tells us who will be saved in the end.
QUESTION…
Why did Jesus die?
ANSWER…
Because man had committed sin.
Sin is the breaking of God’s law.
But where there is no law, there is no sin
So when man sinned, it seemed that the easiest thing for God to have done was to change the law, right?
Because if God could change the law against a thing, then it wouldn’t be wrong, which would also mean that Christ would not have had to die.
So if God was going to change or do away with His law, it surely would have been when man first sinned.
Now Christ had a choice.
Either change the standard of righteousness by changing or doing away with His law….
Or DIE!
JESUS CHOSE TO DIE!!!
NOTE 15: Because it was so important to maintain His standard of righteousness for the stability of all creation, He gave his life on a cruel cross.
This should be an example to us that we should be willing to die before we forsake the standards by which we are to live by.
All praises honor and glory be to the God of righteousness for he truly does not change!
Malachi 3:6
Hosea 4:6
Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14
1 Peter 3:8
There is hope for you who want to see His face!
There is hope for you; in death He took your place!
There is hope for you through His amazing grace!
There is hope for you in Christ!
There is hope for you when His will seems hard to do!
There is hope for you; His power is available too!
There is hope I say; His grace can carry you through!
There is hope in Christ for you!
MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU. AMEN!
Crumbling Authority
