There are some who may say that the Ten Commandments are not relevant to Christians today. That the Ten Commandments do not apply to us who believe in Christ because we are under a new and better covenant. We are indeed under a new and better covenant, but that does not mean the Ten Commandments are past regulations from God and not necessary for the everyday Christian life. On the contrary, it is essential for the Christian life and the entire world to be subject to God’s moral law. Tell me, at any time, should any individual worship a false god? Should an individual take God’s name in vain? Christians, should we have no reverence for the sabbath day? Children, should you disrespect and dishonor your parents in any way? Should we allow ourselves to let our carnal emotions and passions overwhelm our reason to the point of murder, lust, thievery, lying and giving false information, and maliciously desiring the property and spouses of other individuals? Who in their right mind would answer yes to these questions? Some may say the Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross. We are no longer subject to them because we live under the dispensation of grace. This line of reasoning is sometimes deduced from verses like
Colossians 2:13-14. You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.
These passages present great news to us. This is gospel. Indeed, we are living in a new and better covenant. However, it is not because we are not subject to obey the Ten Commandments, but that we are free from its “legal demands.” In a literal sense, we were spiritually dead and disinclined from believing in God, but God made us alive in Him. God forgave us our sins. God canceled the record of debt that held us accountable to God’s law as our justification for salvation. God nailed our sins to the cross, and we are free from the law; praise God almighty, Son and Holy Ghost!
Let me make something very clear. We are not free from observing and obeying the Ten Commandments in any way. We are free from the curse of the law that brought condemnation to us for our inability to obey it completely.
Galatians 3:23-24 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
Listen, our obedience to the Ten Commandments is not to gain salvation in any way. We obey the Ten Commandments because of our faith in Jesus Christ. Our belief in Christ through faith is what justifies us. In other words, we are not justified to enter the kingdom of God based on our faith in the law; we are justified to enter the kingdom of God based on our faith in Christ.
And what did our Lord say about the law or Ten Commandments?
Matthew 5:17-19 Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Regarding these passages, 19th-century English Baptist Pastor Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preacher, writes, “Our King has not come to abrogate the law, but to confirm and reassert it. His commands are eternal, and if any of the teachers of it should through error, break his law and teach that its least command is nullified, they will lose rank and subside into the lowest place. The peerage of His kingdom is ordered according to obedience. Not birth, knowledge, or success will make a man great, but humble and precise obedience, both in word and deed.” Does that sound like the Ten Commandments are canceled out in any way?
Furthermore, I would like to emphasize Christ’s fulfillment of the law. Jesus said in verse 17, I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Jesus fulfilled the prophets by fulfilling the prophecies mentioned about Himself throughout the Old Testament. Jesus fulfilled the law by living an entire life of obedience to God’s law without flaw. Our LORD is totally righteous. Now, the wages of sin is death. We know that from Romans 6;23. Jesus did not sin once, yet he suffered a wage undeservingly on our behalf who sin willingly, so that we may become the righteousness of God. What do we mean we become the righteousness of God? In what way are we sinners the righteousness of God? Certainly, we’re not talking about the essential righteousness of God, or any righteousness found within us since we have none by biblical standards. Consider verse 20 of Matthew 5: For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. The Scribes were the most learned people of the law in their time. And the Pharisee was an individual who, by outward appearance, seemed to adhere to the laws of God and represented a sense of holiness. Jesus placing the two groups together as a standard made it a challenging model for them to follow. Furthermore, Jesus said they must exceed the righteousness of the Scribe and Pharisee. Not emulate them by way of at least equality, they must exceed. No one in those days understanding the culture would have been able to accomplish that imperative. No one but Jesus Christ our Lord. Chrit’s righteousness is the only righteousness that exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees. Having said that, let’s circle back to those who believe in Christ becoming the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
How is that? I think the great 18th-century English Baptist Pastor, biblical scholar, and theologian John Gill, the most significant Baptist theologian if I may say so myself, comments on this subject best as he writes, “Now to be made the righteousness of God, is to be made righteous in the sight of God, by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. Just as Christ is made sin, or a sinner, by the imputation of the sins of others to Himself; so sinners are made righteousness, or righteous persons, through the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to them; and in no other way can the one be made sin, or the other righteousness.” Listen, we become the righteousness of God because of our faith in Christ. And as a result of our faith His righteousness is imputed or accredited on our behalf, and as a result of that, God sees us as righteous in His sight. Remember now that the righteousness of Christ exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees. Since we’ve become the righteousness of God by way of our faith in Christ’s righteousness; in a real spiritual and legal sense we are justified and our righteousness now exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, and we will enter the kingdom of heaven! By grace alone, by faith alone, by Christ alone, to the glory of God alone!
Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words.
From the beginning, the author of God’s commandments is established. God is the author of His commandments, which capture his moral law. Since man’s existence, we have attempted to discover how we ought to live in this world. Many have sought to learn how we ought to treat each other ethically and morally, and for so long, many have attempted to answer these questions apart from God. And as a consequence, man has made a mockery of God’s standards of morality. What has been made clear and evident is that man has ignored God’s law in favor of a liberal society. Now, I do not mean to conjecture political rhetoric. Still, the only liberalism our country is falling into is a state of liberty from God’s moral law.
Consequently, to liberate yourself from God’s laws is to remain in the natural disposition of the sin you were born in. Failing to believe in the existence of a God who has revealed Himself as a Holy God with a moral character. God has revealed His moral character to us through his Ten Commandments. These Ten Commandments are not the ten suggestions. And we are called to live holy as God is holy, obeying His commandments.
Leviticus 19:2 Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, you shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.
Holiness is one of God’s attributes significant from the rest of His attributes. It is the only attribute He calls us to emulate. God did not say be omniscient, for I am omniscient. Certainly, no one is all knowing. He did not say be omnipresent, for I am omnipresent. Certainly, no human can be present everywhere at all times. He did not say be omnipotent, for I am omnipotent. Certainly no human has absolute power without limit. And although it is impossible for any human to perfectly emulate any of God’s attributes, all of His attributes are exclusive to God and His divinity. Yet, the attribute of Holiness is the only one chosen by God for us to follow. This directive of being Holy is critical to the entire world because it sets an absolute moral standard for all who are created in the image of God to live by.
This is a critical fact today as it was when it was given from God to Moses. Tragically, the world and, more relevant to us, our nation ignores and rebels against God’s commandments. Failing to realize the objective nature of their existence. God is a self-existing eternal being. As a result, every one of His thoughts is self-existing and eternal. Without getting too deep into the attribute of God’s omniscience, God’s thoughts are not as our own, where our thoughts are vulnerable to arbitrary and spontaneous decisions. God’s thoughts are eternal and perfect without beginning or end. It logically follows that God’s Ten Commandments are as eternal as His very existence.
Can you imagine what the world may look like if all lived with the perspective of God’s Ten Commandments as the absolute infinite moral standard for all to live by? Can you imagine the true ethical reform of our justice system if it recognized the Ten Commandments as the moral basis of the law? Furthermore, for those of us politically and constitutionally inclined, can you imagine the virtue of our country if the Ten Commandments were legislated as the moral basis of our land? Oh, if only our founding fathers were truly “enlightened” enough to think of establishing not a religion for the land, but simply setting a concrete moral basis for the land in the Constitution as the Ten Commandments. Of course, many would consider this idea as radical. Radical, really? More radical than the legislated morality we are currently subject to? You see, if we are not subject to God’s moral standards, we are subject to the state’s ethical standards. Whatever moral standards you choose to obey is your chosen God. What God will you follow? The God who sent His Son to sacrifice Himself to atone for your sins, the God who condemns murder, adultery, stealing, lying, coveting other people’s property and family members with lust and greed? Or, figuratively speaking, the legislated God of the state who promotes the slaughter of unborn babies. The legislated God of the state who promotes the mutilation of children over gender conflicts and political bias. The legislated God of the state who promotes the indoctrination of children in some public schools not all, to dishonor their parents as they motivate them to keep secrets from their parents. Who’s moral standard would you prefer? Choose today, your God.
Joshua 24:15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
What God’s will we choose over the service of God. How about the idols that make up our sins. Do we choose our lusts and carnal desires over obedience and service to God? Listen to the words of John Wesley, the 18th-century English theologian, and Evangelist: “But know this, if you should all be so base and brutish, as to prefer senseless and impotent idols, before the true and living God, it is my firm purpose, that I will, and my children, and servants (as far as I can influence them) shall be constant and faithful to the Lord. And that, whatever others do. They that resolve to serve God, must not start at being singular in it. They that are bound for heaven must be willing to swim against the stream, and must do, not as most do, but as the best do.”
Exodus 20:2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“I am the LORD your God” serves as the preface and authority to establish His moral laws for His people. Israel belongs to God by right, redemption, and covenant. God has rescued His people from bondage and has the right to enact whatever moral law He chooses, and Israel is obligated to obey them with reverence and pleasure. The same applies to all of God’s people today. Rest assured that God’s people today are not Israel alone, but all who believe in Jesus Christ are the people of God.
Romans 3:29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also.
Romans 10:12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on Him.
As miraculously as God delivered Israel from Egypt and the house of slavery, God has provided a savior to deliver us from Egypt and the house of slavery. Just as the Israelites were born into slavery as babies. We were also born into the bondage of sin as babies.
Psalms 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
Just as the Israelites struggled daily with rigorous labor before being delivered to the promised land. We struggle daily with the rigors of a sinful nature, wrestling with our flesh as we try to walk in obedience toward the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Who can keep all of God’s commandments? No one but the Son of God who lived a full life of pure obedience to God’s law and the Father’s will. The wages of sin is death. Death is not what the Son of God deserved, but torture, pain, and death are what He suffered on the cross on our behalf. In a real miraculous way, Jesus bore our sins on Himself just as it was written in
Isaiah 53: 4-6 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions: He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one to his own way: and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
My friends, if you truly believe those words through faith, you believe the gospel.
Just as the Israelites were encouraged to believe in God by faith in a coming savior to deliver them from Egypt.
We are called to believe in the Gospel of Christ. Blessed are we who believe in faith without the necessity of empirical evidence. We do not need to see miracles or the physical wounds of the LORD to believe in Him. We do not need to depend on our sensory perceptions to believe in the gospel of Christ. But by faith, we are justified to enter the kingdom of God. By your faith, and never forget that even the faith you carry was a gift from God given to you by His grace for you to believe. Without that free gift from God, you would not have believed in the Gospel of Christ. Or were you under the impression that you were somehow the originator of your faith? Have you never read
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Or
Hebrews 12:2 Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
The Apostles were well aware that faith comes from God and not from themselves. That is why the Apostles begged Jesus in
Luke 17:5 LORD, give us more faith. Or Philippians 1:6, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Psalm 138:8 The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
My friends, that is biblical faith. Believing that your faith was given to you from God, and that God began it in you, and will complete the work of faith He began in you. Trust in the LORD your God. If you lack biblical faith, pray for faith from Jesus as the Apostles did. Pray that the LORD never removes the work of His hands from your life. Without God’s gift of faith, we all would have remained in the proverbial land of Egypt in bondage to our sin and serving a master who seeks only to destroy us.
In closing, remember that the sum of the Ten Commandments is obedience to God’s moral law resulting from our love for God.
Deuteronomy 6: 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Do you realize the type of strength and sacrifice required to express such love for God? Certainly, this must be a supernatural love. This is not a love natural to the human being without God’s grace. Otherwise, why is the commandment necessary to love God with such great measure? It serves as our reminder to love God in good times, in hard times, and when the temptations of sin to break one of His commandments are slithering at your feet. It is relatively simple to believe you love God with all your heart, soul, and strength when you’re in church worshipping with Christians. When you’re worshiping God with music at home or in your car on your way to work. By the way, this is a great way to start your morning. When you’re in prayer or giving time to study the Word of God. But once we are face-to-face with the serpent tempting us to disobey God, our measure of love for God suddenly may not seem as simple or robust as we thought. At that moment, you will know, oh you will know, your measure of love for God. Never become overconfident or arrogant to believe you will not fall into sin. Stay on constant guard. Remember 1Coritnthians 10:12. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
Hebrews 3:12,13 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. I am reminded of the two prostitutes of 1 Kings 3:16-28 who bore two babies in the same home. One died, and both women claimed the remaining baby as their own. When King Solomon declared to cut the baby in half and give each portion to the two women, the true mother cried out and said in verse 26, “oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “he shall be neither mine nor yours: divide him.” Look at what sin does in the mind. The false mother was willing to see the baby slaughtered to conceal her sin. Such a slippery slope on the edge of a razor blade we walk when we are in sin. Isn’t that right? My casing point is, that the true mother was so motivated with such an immense love for her baby that she was willing to sacrifice her claim as mother so that her baby may have life. That is the measure of sacrifice and love we need for God when tempted to disobey God’s commandments. Pray that God gives us the faith to surrender all for obedience to His laws. Furthermore, realize that the hand of King Solomon was restrained from cutting that baby down. But nothing, there was nothing to hold back the hand of the one true Sovereign King of Kings from cutting down His only Son for the sins of the world. For God so loved the world, if you believe and love the LORD, then He held nothing back for you. There was no one to plea for the life of Jesus but Jesus Himself as He prayed in Gethsemane in Matthrew 26:36-42 where Jesus said, “my soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” And as He walked a little further, he fell on His face and prayed. “Fell on His face.” Christian have you ever experienced such suffering where you fell on your face and prayed regarding the circumstance? If not, I would never pray that no one experiences such suffering, but instead, I would pray that God gives you the grace and faith to endure it until the end. Jesus then said, “my Father, if it be possible,” if it be possible? Look at the humility of the Son of God. “Let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” He then said in verse 42, “my Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” Evidently, the Father said no. Listen, God the Father displayed His wrath for sin on His Son in a display of love, grace, and mercy for us who believe in Jesus Christ. That is amazing grace. There is one more thing that Jesus said between these verses in 40 and 41. He found Peter and the two sons of Zebedee sleeping when Jesus asked them to keep watch. Jesus then said, “watch (Jesus already told them to watch, now he adds to watch and pray) and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” The spirit of God has already captured your conscious, but the flesh, our carnal nature, still desires the pleasures of sin. If you think about it, doesn’t it seem just a little random, that Jesus, while in the context of praying for an alternative method of atoning for the sins of the world and nearing His betrayal, Jesus said to watch and pray that you don’t fall into temptation. Christian! Do not fall asleep on your sins. Stay vigilant and look for the signs of temptations around you. Stay in constant prayer regarding obedience to God’s laws just as Jesus told them. I don’t know your sins. I don’t know what your walk with the LORD is currently like. But if you know you are not living according to God’s laws. If you know what you need to do to correct it. If you know what you need to repent from. Then repent now while you have air in your lungs and the grace of God is available for you. Repent now for tomorrow is not promised to anyone. Let Luke 12:20 resonate through your mind, “But God said to him, Fool! This night your soul is required of you. Repent of your sins, believe in Jesus Christ, and be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Something that resonates in my mind over and over again are the words of the great 17th-century Puritan Thomas Watson, “a cup of pleasure, is not worth a sea of wrath.”
Descendants of Grace Monergistic Agora 