Ten Commandments Archives - Page 7 of 8

Honor your Parents

February 4, 2019March 9, 2018 by Michael Tucker

The Ten Commandments are not a very popular topic these days. Judges get in trouble for trying to put the Ten Commandments in the courtroom. The Ten Commandments are not extremely popular. The truth is that the Ten Commandments are not a legalistic set of regulations for us. These commandments were written by the finger of God. He wrote them as an expression of His character so that we might know Him. It is more important to view the commandments in that way than any other.

What does this tell me about the Father? What does this tell me about God? I find that God is very interested in your relationship because the first four commandments have to do with your relationship with God. The fifth Commandment is where it turns. People say that the last six commandments have to do with our relationship with others. I would like to give a third division. The first four pertain to our relationship with God. The last five involve our relationships with others. But the fifth commandment is specifically focused on the home.

The fifth commandment is concerned with your relationship with father and mother, with children, with the family, because the family is the core of society. In fact, it is good to view this as concentric circles; it begins with our love for God in the inner circle. From there we expand to another circle which is family. We need to love God; we need to love family. Then we go one more circle and that is to love everyone else as well.

We see this same pattern in the gospel commission. Jesus told His disciples they were to start at Jerusalem (The Acts of the Apostles, 32) which is where they lived, where the first church was established. Start in Jerusalem and spread the word throughout the city. Then go to Judea, which is the country in which they live, and then to Samaria, their closest neighboring country, and then to the uttermost parts of the world. We start with God and then we move out like concentric circles. The gospel begins at home and then we move out. That seems to be God’s plan.

He asks how you could love others if you don’t even love the people He gave you to live with on a day-to-day basis. We have here God’s pattern for relationships. God says that good relationships have boundaries. A relationship without boundaries is codependent and extremely unhealthy. There are boundaries in my relationship with you.

All human relationships must have boundaries. My wife has commandments that I did not realize until I got married. One commandment is, Thou shalt have no other girlfriends before me. Another commandment is, Thou shalt not take my name in vain, either in my presence or away from me—talk nice about me is what she is saying. Those commandments are not a burden to me. I have more joy keeping those commandments because I love her and they are not a burden or a legalistic requirement of me at all.

Our relationship has boundaries. She has boundaries for me and I have boundaries for her and without those boundaries we would have an unhealthy relationship. There needs to be a set of expectations that we have in relationships. That is what the Ten Commandments are all about. God tells us that the Ten Commandments are boundaries for your relationship with me. There are boundaries for your family and boundaries for the rest of the world—it would be nice if you do not kill the people you love.

Don’t take from the people you love the things that belong to them; respect their property. These are boundaries for relationships. Don’t bear false witness; don’t trash their character. Every relationship must be governed by boundaries or the relationship becomes unhealthy. When you are raising children, you have boundaries for them. There are things you are trying to teach them because you want them to grow up and become responsible human beings. You want them to understand what a healthy relationship is all about.

One of those boundaries is found in Exodus 20:12. It says, “Honour your father and your mother so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God has given you.” One of the things God does is to put men and women on the same level. This was a new thought for that time because it was a very male dominated society.

In order to understand this passage better we need to understand a concept of the Eastern mind, especially the ancient Eastern mind, and it still exists today. This commandment could also be translated as, “Be sure you don’t shame your father and your mother.” A very strong motivating force in the Eastern mind is the idea of shame avoidance—saving face. It is difficult to understand any of the parables that Jesus taught without an understanding of this basic concept of shame avoidance. We will do anything to avoid shame personally and also collectively as a society. That was a key in the Eastern thought.

Remember the parable of the man who received guests into his home late, unexpectedly, and he had nothing in the house to feed them? He goes over to his neighbor and he bangs on the door and he says, “Give me some bread so I can feed my guests.” The man says, “Leave me alone; I am in bed; I have my children in bed with me” (Luke 11:5–7). We really don’t understand that parable here in the West. We think it means that God is reluctant to answer our prayers, but if we keep knocking on the door, eventually He will answer. That is not what the parable says.

In the East, when someone came to your home, not only were they the guests in your home but they were the guests in the entire community. It would be a point of shame, not just for the man who received him into his home, but for the entire community to not meet the needs of the guests. For this man to go to his neighbor and knock on the door and say I have a guest; I have nothing to feed him; help me out, Jesus was saying, Who would not get out of bed and give him the bread? After all, he would bring shame on himself, upon his neighbor and the entire community. Of course, he is going to defend his name; he is going to honor his reputation; he is going to honor his community by getting out of bed, getting the bread so that he will have something to feed his neighbor. By the way, what the man was asking for was primarily utensils. In those days the food was put into a common pot, usually a stew, and they would take flat bread and dip in the common pot, so the bread became the utensil. So for one man to refuse to do that would bring shame upon the entire community, and no one in their right mind would do that.

The point of Jesus’ parable was when you ask for something in His name, God will always honor His name. He would not think of doing otherwise because of the concept in the Eastern mind of shame avoidance. I am going to avoid shame. That is what the fifth Commandment is based on; do not allow your parents to experience shame. Do not shame your mother and your father.

One way in which your mother or father could be shamed in their old age is especially through poverty. Poverty was seen in that mindset as a point of shame. Don’t allow your mother or father to be impoverished in their old age; you take care of their needs. Do not bring shame upon their gray heads.

Do you remember when Saddam Hussein was captured? The allies understood the importance of villages, especially in the Eastern culture. They understood the importance of shame and shame avoidance. In the photographs we saw of him being examined by a doctor and checking his hair and beard for lice, he looked old and tired and he was opening his mouth as they peered in for opium. It was to make this god-like figure experience shame in the eyes of those people he ruled over. It was a mental image they wanted to place in the Eastern mind. They were very intentional about that because they understood the concept of shame avoidance because now he looked like an old, poor, haggard man, filled with vermin. It was all about shame avoidance.

How shameful would it be for your father or mother to not have enough food to eat or to live in poverty while you have enough to eat? The commandment is telling you that you have a responsibility for your father and mother. You are to take care of them in their old age and make sure they have exactly what they need. You do not shame them. Why do you do this? The family is the core of society, so that you may live long in the land that the Lord your God has given you. That promise does not mean that if you take care of them and be respectful to them that you will live to a ripe old age. It says that your community or your society will be established and you will keep the land that God has given you as a community. I will keep the core of your community strong as long as the family values are strong.

We see the disintegration of the family today. We can see that society is crumbling and standards are melting away. Anything seems to go and it starts with the home. This is why God said that the very first commandment that deals with human relationship is, “Honor your father and your mother.” Take care of the family relationships and make sure that they are in good shape and if you will do that, your society will remain strong. Your community will remain strong.

Another way in which we are to honor our father and our mother is by the way we talk to them. When our children were small, we wanted to make sure that we did not get any back talk. I have been to the store and I have seen children smart mouthing their mother and I want to go over and take the child by the nap of the neck. When our children were small, I remember one of them saying something smart to her mother and it was my job when I heard that to intervene and my wife would intervene when they spoke that way to me. When I heard her speak that way to her mother I told her to wait just a minute, that I would not allow any man on the street to speak to her mother in that way and why on earth would I allow my own daughter to speak that way. You will not speak to your mother in that way. We had no problems after that. I also spoke to her mother with gentleness and kindness and our children were respectful. They did not grow up with mother and father screaming at each other. We wanted our children to be able to emulate our response to each other. Everybody gets irritated but we need to choose our words well. Remember that every word you say trains someone else.

I wanted my children to learn to honor their mother, so I had to honor her. I wanted them to learn to honor their grandparents so I had to honor them. I wanted my children to honor men and women who are older than they and to treat them with gentleness and respect, which means that I have to model that. What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear a word you say. If you say one thing and do another, no one spots a hypocrite faster than a child. All of our children need to learn how to honor father and mother. That does not stop when they leave the house.

I have seen people treat their parents who are in their 50s, 60s and older as if they were children. I have seen them speak disrespectfully to them as if this was just a child with no sense. I have seen them roll their eyes when they take so long to get up or to move from one place to another. There was a time when you were pretty slow too. There was a time when you messed your britches and when you drooled and someone took care of you. We have a responsibility to care for father and mother and to show them dignity and respect regardless of their age.

A man and a woman live their lives searching for some manner of dignity and respect in the world. They do business, they hold a job, they raise a family, participate hopefully in church and at the end of their lives when they should have earned all of this respect, all of a sudden their children treat them as if they do not have a lick of sense. The parents have lost all of the respect they spent their lives trying to earn. This is a society that worships youth and hates old age.

I remember hearing an actor answer a question about who his hero was. He said his son, who was four years old, was his hero. His son had not battled some dread disease and survived or was not a child prodigy. He was just a normal four year old. He spoke of that child as being his ideal and he did not want to teach his child anything because he thought he might spoil that purity. He wanted to be like that child. This is life upside down. Your boy needs a hero and that should be you, dad, because you teach him values. You show him the way to live as a man. You show your daughter what it is to have a man love her appropriately. You don’t worship youth; you train youth.

We respect our elders by recognizing that they have something of value to give us. Honor your father and your mother.

We honor our father and mother by living lives of dignity, respect, purity, truth and honesty. When you are a man or woman of integrity, you give honor to your father and mother. I met a young man who was sharp, well-spoken and he seemed to live by good values. He seemed to have his head together and he seemed to know where he was going in this life. He knew what he wanted to do and what he wanted to accomplish. He knew who he was and what life was all about.

I was so impressed with him that I made a comment to my wife that someone had taught this young man well and that he must have come from a good home. When I had an opportunity to talk with this young man, particularly about his family, I found out just the opposite was true. His father, when he was a child, had been very abusive of the boy and before he had reached his teenage years, his father had abandoned him and he had not seen him in years. His mother was a drug addict and after his father left he saw a long procession of boyfriends move into the house and move out. They had taught him nothing but yet, somewhere along the line, someone had influenced him so that he had become a young man of integrity and dignity. Do you realize that the choices this young man made honored his father and mother who really did not deserve it or may not even be aware of it? And as you have chosen to live lives that honor God this will bring honor to your father and mother.

Honor comes from a root word for heavy or weighty, giving weight to. This can be taken in a positive way. When you consider a weighty matter, it would be something of significance, some substance or value. So when you add weight to this matter you are adding significance, substance and value. That is a positive way of looking at honor. The negative way of looking at honor is when it becomes a heavy burden to carry.

If you grew up in a home where father and mother did their best to care for you and raise you right and they made their mistakes along the way just like any other parent, then this matter of adding weightiness and substance to their lives is a positive command. Now you can respect them, their wisdom, their stories and their history and that becomes a part of your story and adds credence and value to your life, weight to your life. You are honored to give significance to their life at the time of anniversaries, birthdays, retirement and by visiting them. You are there to give honor to your father and your mother.

My family used to run a nursing home and there are a lot of people who were simply placed there and abandoned until they died. You never saw son or daughter or grandchildren; nobody came by until we sent the notice that they had died and they needed to pick up their things. To treat them positively is to add weight to their life and to show up, to be there and to love them and celebrate the moments with them and to thank them for what they have done for you. That is the positive way of looking at the commandment.

There is also a negative side to this. Not everybody grew up in a loving home. Many grew up in homes that were extremely abusive; they were abandoned or molested. This happens in American homes with far too great a frequency. What about those people whose lives have been negatively impacted by a dysfunctional family, a family that told them they were not good enough or abused them? What do you do with a father and mother in that circumstance? That is when the weight of honoring father and mother becomes heavy.

The commandment does not say to honor your father and mother unless your father was a louse, worthless or abusive. How do you honor that father? A work of reconciliation has to be done in your heart first. You need to not gloss over the pain in your life as though it never happened, but to acknowledge it. The only Christian option is to forgive. Forgiveness does not mean that what they did didn’t matter, or what they did was right, or that it did not hurt you. Forgiveness means that what you did was wrong, it hurt me and destroyed my life but I have chosen not to carry the resentment or anger around with me anymore. I lay it at the foot of the cross and I extend to you the same grace that was extended to me. I choose to forgive you. Forgiveness is not an emotion but a decision.

Ephesians 6:1–4 tells us that there is a second side to this: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother (which is the first commandment with promise); That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

Do you see the principle here? God never gives privilege without responsibility. Fathers and mothers have the privilege of having God command that our children honor us. The responsibility is that we live lives of integrity and be honorable people.

Jesus will give you the strength that is necessary to honor your father and your mother and to be a father or mother of integrity that your children can honor and love. This is God’s law, not a legalistic requirement. It is a glorious privilege that He wants us to have appropriate boundaries for healthy relationships, relationships with Himself, relationships with the greater community and relationships at home.

Michael Tucker’s sermon was taken from the Ten Commandment Weekend, 2008 series aired on 3ABN. For more information contact www.3ABN.org.

Thou Shalt Not Kill

February 3, 2019March 8, 2018 by Kenneth Cox

God says that if you will obey my voice and keep my commandments you will be a special treasure to me above all of the people of the earth. He said if you would do those things, it will be well with you. He asks that you and I walk with Him, follow Him in all that we do.

The Ten Commandments are ten great eternal principles that never change. Those are principles that God gave to guide, direct and to lead your life. They must not be viewed as rules. They are laws, they are principles but they are not rules. Many people have a tendency to look upon the Law of God as rules. When you view God’s law as a rule, it causes you to become legalistic and you will always be looking at other people to see if they measure up to the rule. Jesus and the Pharisees had conflict because of their persistence in coming to Him with some rule that they had made up regarding one of the commandments. Jesus would then give a principle which made them so mad that eventually they figured out how they could kill Him.

The sixth Commandment is, “Thou shalt not kill.” Exodus 20:13.

Genesis 9:6 says, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” This tells us that God made man in His own image and that means that you are special. There is not another individual anywhere in the vast universe of God who is just like you. You are one of a kind, unique!

If the life of an individual who is not saved or does not know Jesus Christ is taken, then that person is eternally lost. Throughout eternity there will never be another person like that one. This is a tremendous loss. You should not take something that you cannot restore and you cannot restore a life.

God is not interested in cloning. He creates. Man clones because he cannot create. God is not interested in having a bunch of people running around that look alike, speak alike, or act alike. God is interested in you being a distinct, special individual just the way He made you. David talked about this in Psalm 139:16: “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed; and in your book they were all written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there was none of them.” David said that God knew you before you were ever born. Life, for that reason, is special.

The last six commandments relate to loving your neighbor, whether it be your parents or the neighbor next door. In Romans 13:9 it says, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, You shall not covet; and if there is any other commandment, it is all summed up in this, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The neighbors next door, no matter how ornery or difficult they may be, are special and there is nobody else like them. God brought them into existence and therefore you and I need to treat them with respect and love because they are special.

The law was not given to give you power to overcome or to help you. It was given to show you a direction on how you should live and which way you should go. In Hebrews 7:19 it says, “For the law made nothing perfect, on the other hand, there is a beginning of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.” There is something to help you and me because the law was not given to make anything perfect. The law is going to tell you that you are guilty. There is a better hope offered to you and to me.

In Romans 5:20 it says, “Moreover the law entered that the offence might abound (in other words, it points out sin). But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” Unfortunately, many people do not understand grace or what is involved in grace. Remember the rich young ruler who came to Jesus? He said, “Good Master, what do I have to do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him: “If you would enter into life, keep the commandments.” And the young man responded saying that he had done that from his youth, “what lacketh I yet?” Jesus said if you want to be perfect, go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor and come and follow me (Luke 18:18-22).

What would you do if the Lord told you to go home and sell everything that you have and come and follow Him? Jesus was homeless, and did not know where the next meal was coming from and He said, I am not very well liked and the establishment would like to kill me, but sell everything you have and follow Me. How many of you would? Why would Christ ask that young man to do that? Because it was the only way that this young man would understand grace. All his life he had everything he wanted. He was not dependent on anybody. He was very wealthy and he turned away because he had great possessions. The only way he could understand grace was when he was totally dependent upon God. So with you and me; we have to be in a position where we are totally dependent upon the Lord.

What does the sixth Commandment mean when it says, “Thou shalt not kill”? In the original translation it says, “Thou shalt not murder.” The Hebrew meaning for the word kill or murder also means premeditated. That means I thought about it and then took that person’s life.

There are certain emotions that you and I have and if we do not take care of them they can cause us to commit murder. Let’s look at a few of these.

Envy—This can cause you to murder somebody. Do you remember the case in the Bible of Ahab? Right beside the palace was a vineyard owned by Naboth. Ahab was envious because he wanted that vineyard. He went to Naboth and told him that he would trade another piece of land for it, but he wanted that vineyard. Naboth told him that it had been in his family for many generations and that he did not want to sell. Ahab then offered him more than the vineyard was worth, but he would not sell it. He was so envious that he went home and moped and sulked and went on about it until Jezebel asked him what the problem was and then she took care of it. They murdered Naboth. Read about it in I Kings 21. Envy can cause murder. If you have a problem with envy, you need to look at it very, very carefully.

Hatred—If you hate your neighbor, if you hate your parents, or your brother or sister, you have an emotion that can get you into trouble and cause you to commit murder. Remember the experience of King Saul? He hated David. He did everything he could think of to take his life. Even when time and time again, it was shown him clearly that David was loyal and that he was not trying to take the kingdom, but Saul hated him so much that he continually attempted to take his life. If you hate, it can cause you to commit murder.

Anger—Uncontrolled anger can put you in situations where you will take a person’s life. If you cannot control getting angry, then you need to look at it and do something with that anger because that is dangerous. Cain killed his brother Abel because he was angry because God showed respect to Abel’s sacrifice but not his own. Anger must not be permitted to rule our lives.

Revenge—Revenge is wanting to get back for something that happened to me. I am not happy when hearing something on the news about somebody killing another person because others want to take revenge. When Samson’s wife was killed by the Philistines he said that he would go out and revenge himself and went out and killed over 1,000 of them. The spirit of revenge cannot be allowed to lead or guide the life.

I will never forget a time when I was holding a meeting and a lady atttended, with her was a young man, probably in his 30s. As we got acquainted one night I asked her about him. She said, “Brother Cox, that man killed my father. I went to the prison and told him I forgave him.” She told me she studied with him and brought him to Jesus Christ. When he got out of prison, he has been like a son to me ever since. This lady did not permit revenge to rule her life.

The Scripture does not tell us to be hateful, revengeful or angry. It says that you and I are to be kind, tenderhearted, loving one another (Ephesians 4:32).

Outside of shooting them or stabbing them, there are many different ways to kill people. In 1971 there was a song written called Killing Me Softly with His Song. Over the centuries, the preferred method for killing people was to poison them. Remember Nero who poisoned his mother who died rather quickly. Napoleon was poisoned for months before he died. In fact, poison still kills today and in many cases it is self-inflicted. What would you say to the Lord if He were to ask you, “Why did you commit murder?” You would say, “I did not murder anybody.” He would say, Yes, you committed suicide by slowly poisoning yourself by using tobacco. Every cigarette that you smoked took 11 minutes from your life. You committed suicide. How are you going to answer the Lord?

What about drugs? How do you answer the Lord when you are taking poisons and putting them into your body? The average age of a drug addict is 30 years of age. The same is true with alcohol—it does not kill you quickly; it just pickles you over time.

These poisons that are being used today we find almost acceptable and that it is all right to smoke and to chew and to use alcohol. This is not acceptable with God. To say that you just cannot quit, then you are saying that the grace of our Lord is not capable. Are you trying to say that if you turn your life over to God that He can’t take care of you and take you off those things? Would you tell God that, when He is there ready to help you?

We are talking about what God wants us to be and what we ought to be. There are some people who dig their grave with their teeth. There are women who are loving, kind and sweet wives who are absolutely fantastic cooks. The foods they fix are fabulous and they do that for their husbands, day in and day out. He sits and enjoys it and eats, not realizing that it is absolutely killing him. Look at 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?” The statement is very true that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. But if you prepare a wonderful meal day in and day out, and set that before him, you are asking for real problems; you are going to kill him.

I was invited to speak at a retirees’ convention. When I got up to speak and looked out across the audience of about 200 to 300 people I couldn’t believe what I saw. Ninety percent of the people in that audience were women. All of the husbands were dead. When I went through school, I worked as an orderly in a hospital and I noticed a rather strange phenomenon because a day or two before Thanksgiving or a day or two before Christmas the patient load in that hospital was way down. You could walk down that hall and there was vacant room after vacant room. The evening of Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day when you walked back through those halls every room was full and there were patients in the halls and it is because of what we eat. There has to be limits. The sin of this age is probably the gluttony of people. We need to stop that because it is killing us.

Cannibalism—When you come home from church and you sit down at the table for dinner and you eat roasted pastor or roasted brother or sister in the church you are practicing cannibalism, which is murder. Next time you think you are going to start in criticizing a pastor or a brother or sister, write down on a little pad that you just committed murder. You are not to kill. That is like that song Killing Me Softly with His Words. Step by step I put them to death. God simply says, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has inherited eternal life” (I John 3:15). It is impossible to hate a brother or a sister and still make it into God’s kingdom.

The Bible says that hate, anger, revenge and envy and all those emotions come out from your heart. In Matthew 15:19–21 it says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” All of that comes out of the flesh. In order to keep from being that way, you cannot be on the throne. You do not have any choice about being on the throne because you were born there. Little babies can get on that throne quite easily; they are born that way. The choice to be made is whether or not you will get off it. God gave you a will so that makes it possible for you to make a decision that you will not ruin your life.

If you stay on the throne, then there are certain things that are inherited and called the works of flesh. Look in Galatians 5:19–21. It says, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like: of the which I tell you before, just as I also told you in time past, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” You are born into this world only flesh. You need to make a decision of whether you are going to stay on the throne or let Christ reign there. Each must make that decision.

God has given each person a mind that is very smart. Your mind is a big filing cabinet which takes everything in that you hear, taste, see or touch and files it away perfectly so that anytime you want to you can pull it out and think about it. There is a lot in there you have not thought about for a long time, but if the right word is said or the right thing is done, it is immediately brought forth.

I was born in Chicago and lived the first nine years of my life there. I had never been back as far as spending any time there. I wanted to go back to the community where I was raised. I just wanted to go back and see what was there. I could not believe it, but when I walked back into the community all of the sounds and smells just flooded my soul. They were there after all of these years. Your mind files everything away very carefully.

If you are on the throne and running your own life, then you will put things into your mind that should not be there. These are the works of the flesh. You will watch the television and watch programs that encourage violence, hatred, murder, pornography and all of that will be stored in your mind. Then, you can think about it any time you want to. That produces what the Scripture calls emotions. The Bible says that when it comes to the emotions, you and I have to be very careful because it says, “Out of the heart … [Mark 7:21-23].” Heart refers to the emotions. It says to, “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it springs the issues of life” [Proverbs4:23]. What does that mean? It means that your emotions cause actions—cause you to do certain things. That is why it says to watch your emotions, take care of them because that will cause you to do certain things.

If you permit envy or anger or hatred or any of those things to dwell in your life, those emotions could cause you to commit murder. The only way you can take care of this is by making the decision to put Jesus Christ on the throne.

When you make the decision to put Jesus Christ on the throne, He then makes the decision as to what goes into your mind, because He is in control. Therefore, He is the One who is calling the shots and I am going to read those things that are good and right. The Scripture says that whatsoever things are lovely, pure and of a good report, think on these things and that produces the fruits of the Spirit (Philippians 4:8). It says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law” [Galatians 5:22, 23]. Those begin to operate in my life. That is how the Holy Spirit comes in and takes control of your life and changes it.

You must make the decision whether you are going to let the Lord run your life or you are going to run your own life. If you are going to run your own life, then I will assure you that the works of the flesh will be present, but if you turn it over to Christ, then the Holy Spirit will come into your life and He will do His work in your life. The only way that takes place is at the foot of the cross. Day by day I have to come to Him at the foot of the cross and turn my life over to Him and let Him work in my life.

Are you willing to put Christ on the throne and let Him control your life and let Him do His work in your life so that the fruits of His Spirit might be manifested in you?

Kenneth Cox’s sermon was taken from the Ten Commandment Weekend, 2008 series aired on 3ABN. For more information contact www.3ABN.org.

Immorality Before Crossing the Jordan

March 7, 2018 by David Asscherick

“Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Exodus 20:14

God said in five words what others take many thousands to explain.

Martin Luther’s right hand man, Melanchthon, once said that the Bible must first be understood grammatically before it can be understood theologically. In other words, we must first determine what the words are, then determine what those words mean individually and only then can it be determined what those words mean compositely. Only after that groundwork has been done can we then deduce a theological meaning.

The word Thou is of the second person pronoun which can be either singular or plural. In other words, it is you, the second person. The word shalt, or shall, in the more familiar English, is a strong assertion or an intention, you shall.

The word not is added to any auxiliary verb in the English language and forms the negation of that verb. You will not do this. The word commit means to carry out, to accomplish.

The fifth and final word is adultery. Mr. Webster defines adultery as a violation of the marriage bed via sexual intercourse, unchastity. God therefore commands that you will not violate the marriage bed, you will not be unchaste, you will not be immoral. You will not be licentious. It is very interesting to note that the very command, you will not do this, implies that you can. What would be the purpose in God commanding something that we could not do? When we talk about the moral law of God, God is asking us either to do or not to do that which we are capable of doing.

In the Hebrew text this command is even clearer, because it is stated in just two words: no adultery. We have already modified this statement into the English, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” In the Hebrew it simply states, “No adultery.” Is that unclear? The essence of the command is, “Do not be sexually involved with anyone who is not your spouse.” Often we take a very narrow view of adultery, and I have had people say to me that they cannot break that commandment because adultery is only violating the marriage vow, so if they are not married, how can they violate the marriage vow?

The essence of this command is to prohibit any sexual involvement outside of a marriage commitment. This commandment can also be violated by those who are not married. Jesus utterly affirmed this in Matthew 5:31 where He intensified the command: “Furthermore, it has been said, Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.” “You have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery in his heart.” Verses 27, 28. Jesus does not diminish the requirement of the law; He does not take away from the letter or the spirit, but He magnifies it and says, You thought it only pertained to the literal act, but I am telling you, you can be found guilty of this command somewhere between your ears.

Immorality is widespread today and it has become a major problem even in the Christian church. Not only are there blatant affairs going on, but many are looking at magazines and computer screens depicting every imaginable thing. People’s lives are being ruined, families are shattered and children are left with little or no direction with no proper role models to follow and it is happening all within the private confines of their own perverted imagination.

Jesus says in verse 32, “I say to you, That whosoever divorces his wife for any reason except for sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery.” Our definition of adultery is the violation of that marvelous union that God has instituted. Whoever marries a woman who is divorced without proper Biblical grounds commits adultery. Jesus magnified the law when adding that if you look on a woman to lust after her, and if you divorce a woman for a non-Biblical reason, that is the proliferation of adultery. Jesus in no way diminished the command, but He intensified it.

Jesus said, “Out of the heart proceeds all these evil thoughts, murders” (Matthew 15:19), which is commandment number six. And then He says, “adulteries, fornications,” referring to the seventh commandment. Jesus used two words to encapsulate this. He then goes on to say, “thefts” referring to commandment number eight. “Thou shalt not steal” and then, “false witness,” which is commandment number nine. This is very interesting; Jesus here describes commandments six, seven, eight and nine in a single word, except in the case of “Thou shalt not commit adultery” where He uses the words, adulteries and fornications. Here again Jesus is letting us know, as He did in Matthew, chapter five, that the command, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” is not simply something a married individual can do. It involves the whole umbrella of sexual vice and impurity. He uses two words, adulteries, which is the Greek word for the violation of the marriage bed and the word fornications which is the word for porneo, pornography.

This commandment Jesus describes, is as broad and does not just refer to adultery between married people. This commandment covers all kinds of sexual perversity and immorality. I don’t think anyone would disagree with the fact that we live in a sex-crazy, sensual, seductive society. Our culture is sex consumed.

God made man to be a social creature, and not be alone. The vast majority of us are social beings with a desire for a permanent relationship in which to share the most intimate experiences of life. God gave man the institution of marriage as a haven of safety, a place of sacred trust, in which to enjoy and to satisfy this most basic longing to be one with another. The oneness that a man shares with his wife in mind, body and soul is designed to be a type of the oneness that Jesus desires of His people, giving all to that relationship and forsaking all others.

Primarily there are two groups of people that fall into sexual sin, which is plainly forbidden: the unmarried, that is to say the single, whether never married, or married and divorced, and the unhappily married. As a general rule, those who are happily married in a wonderful, mutual, godly relationship are not usually the people who fall into sexual sin. This does not mean that they are immune and cannot fall, but it does mean that the people who are generally struggling with sexual sin are either single, or they are unhappily married. A happy, contented marriage will not only solve the problem of adultery, but it also solves the problem of pornography.

This is not to say that there would not be some who would remain single. Jesus did say and Paul agreed that there were certain people who could receive the gift of celibacy and these people are in the minority, but to those who desire companionship, the Apostle Paul advises in I Corinthians 7:9, “It is better to marry than to burn.”

Pornography has grown into a multi-billion dollar per year industry, destroying morals, people and marriages along the way. Internet pornography has not gotten any worse in terms of its substance in the last twenty years, but it has just become more accessible. Previously it used to be only available in the more seedy places, in truck stops, along the wrong side of the tracks and the red light district. Some people had the victory over pornography because they were afraid of being seen in these places, but now it is readily available in the public library or right in the living room of your own home. The percentage of pornography related Internet usage is off the charts and, incidentally, the top Google search words are all porn-related.

Tragically, pornography has become too accessible, and almost impossible to escape. Regular advertising of general products now often use sexual innuendos with suggestive pictures plastered on billboards and simply going through the checkout at local grocery stores makes it difficult to ignore the numerous magazines advertising the sexual exploits of the rich and famous.

But what a blessing to be able to have victory over the curse of a sin that is completely accessible!

Just as the children of Israel were on the borders of the land of Canaan preparing to cross the Jordan River Satan attacked with one of his most effective weapons—ungodly licentious adultery. Women were brought into the camp and the men became far too familiar with them, causing many to lose sight of the Promised Land.

When Satan’s temptations are the strongest and the most accessible, that is the time when God’s people will stand the strongest. It is of no great virtue to have victory over an inaccessible temptation, but it is a tremendous honor to God when standing strong in the face of overwhelming temptation. Licentiousness is the special sin of this age. I believe that the person who is committed to the lifestyle of pornography is in an absolute violation of their marriage vow.

This is distinguished from the person who falls and makes a mistake and stubs his toe and utterly repents. If you are struggling with this sin, you need two things. You need Biblical spirituality and you need genuine accountability. The Bible says the flesh lusts against the Spirit (Galatians 5:17). You need the Spirit in your life. Jesus said in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you, Jesus said, they are spirit, and they are life.” You need to daily be filling your tank with spiritual food. If you find that you are failing and falling and fumbling, it is likely because you have not filled up your spiritual tank with true spiritual words from Jesus. His words are spirit and life. You need accountability.

The Bible says in II Corinthians 10:3–5, “For though we walk in the flesh [that means we are stuck in these bodies], we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses, the pulling down of strongholds. We are destroying speculations, and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” Spiritual food is needed to fuel the spiritual energy in your tank if you are going to get the victory over these specific temptations, which are the sin of our age. No one is immune to sexual temptation. You would need to be wiser than Solomon, more godly than David, stronger than Samson, and that seems unlikely.

It is a proven fact that men are primarily driven by their eyes and they are visually stimulated. This is why Jesus said in Matthew 5:28, “If a man looketh on a woman …” He constituted men that way. The Bible says, “God made Adam.” Genesis 1:27. But when it comes to Eve the Hebrew text says, “He built her.” The temptation for women is to build castles or have fantasies. Women are more likely to watch soap operas and read romance novels where all the characters are beautiful, rich and famous, leaving her discontented with reality. While women are castle-building, dreaming up the ideal life, and the men are looking around being driven sensually or visually, you can see what happens when a conflict arises in the marriage. The woman starts going her way, looking for that perfect man bearing flowers to come and sweep her off her feet. And the man starts to go his way and he is looking for a woman who is looking to be swept off her feet, and these two collide neither recognizing in each other what they need because they think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Men have the ability to size up a woman in one second with just a passing glance. So, the advice I have for men is simply this: Stop looking! There are way too many lookers. Make a covenant with your eyes to turn them away and stop looking! Jesus said, “Husbands, love your wives.” Ephesians 5:25. Learn the true meaning of love and you will never be happier than with your wife.

For women, stop being dissatisfied with your husband. Maybe he doesn’t have six pack abs, and maybe he doesn’t bring you roses every single night, but get over it! You are his helpmeet, the one God has chosen to help your husband meet his potential. You have the power to make your home a sanctuary where peace and love reign if you will but take seriously your God given responsibility to your husband and your children. Learn the meaning of grace; learn the meaning of forgiveness and your home will be a haven where angels love to dwell.

Beloved, I suggest to you a simple remedy for a good marriage: It is the five “Cs.”

Get converted—Figures show that the divorce rate is going down, now at about 42%, but research shows that it is because fewer people are getting married. Think about it. Marriage is a Christian institution and it is understandable not to expect unconverted people to do well in a Christian institution. So, if you want a good marriage, get converted. If two people are genuinely converted in a marriage, they cannot get a divorce. The reason for this is that God hates divorce and He would not lead two godly people, two converted people, to do something He hates.

Be committed—Not for a day, not for a year, not for a decade, but be committed for life.

Learn to compromise—You want the blue car and she wants the red car —you get the black car.

Have a little compassion—My advice to newlyweds who come into my office is, “You worry about the compassion, and the passion will take care of itself.”

Have a healthy dose of communication—Spend time talking together. There are many resources available that are excellent tools to help you develop your communication skills. e.g., Love and Respect, by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs.

Beloved, in closing, I just want to appeal to your hearts. Some of you are divorcees and God does give Biblical grounds for divorce. I believe in my heart He gives only one single ground for divorce on Biblical grounds and that is the violation of the marriage bed, adultery. In the book, The Adventist Home, 341, God sent a message through His prophet because we were mistaking the plain words of Jesus. It says, “Nothing but the violation of the marriage bed can either break or annul the marriage vow.”

Nothing, nothing, but the violation of the marriage bed can annul the marriage vow. Is that clear enough? Is there any confusion there? Now, if you have been divorced on Biblical grounds or even non-Biblical grounds, and you want to start anew, you want to start afresh, the good news about our God is that He meets you where you are. But grace is not a license to sin.

I stand before you here today as a man who has been happily married for almost ten years and I can say in the fear of God and with absolute candor, I am more in love with my wife today, ten years later, than I was the day I married her. She is more beautiful to me. She is a fantastic mother. She has put up with all of my idiosyncrasies. She is a godly woman. Perfect? Not yet—close, but not perfect yet! But I would invite you to give your marriage to God, give your struggles to God, give your sexuality to God, and I would close with five simple words: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

David Asscherick’s sermon was taken from the Ten Commandment Weekend, 2008 series aired on 3ABN. For more information contact 3ABN.org.

Be Honest!

February 4, 2019March 7, 2018 by David Shin

“We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and his teaching in our past history.”
Selected Messages, Book 3, 162

In 1844 when this great movement began, it was started with young people. At that time James White was 23, Ellen White was 17, J.N. Andrews was 15 and Uriah Smith was 12. At the age of 23, Uriah Smith became the editor of the Review and Herald. I praise the Lord that the generation that is alive before Jesus comes will not only be of older people or middle aged people, but of young people also. Ellen White tells us that before Jesus comes there will be a renaissance of primitive godliness that has been unsurpassed since the beginning of human history. With a generation of rightly trained youth, we will soon see the imminent return of Jesus.

We believe that these Ten Commandments are the golden standard for ethics and morality in this life and also for the life to come. I believe the Ten Commandments transcend culture, society and also any ethics that we present during the 21st century. There is a story titled, Of Two Thieves. In this story there were two brothers who were known about town to have decadent, immoral behavior. Through a series of events, one of the brothers suddenly died. The other brother went to the pastor and asked him to preside at the the funeral for his brother, but with one condition: “You can say anything you want under the eulogy, but sometime during the sermon I want you to call my brother a saint.”

The pastor thought for a little bit and said, “Listen, I could use that money because we need a new roof on our church. I tell you what; it is a deal. Somewhere during the eulogy I will call your brother a saint.” The day of the funeral came and the church was absolutely packed with individuals who knew the character of the man lying in that box. The pastor got up to speak. He said, “The man that you see lying in that box was the most debased, decadent person that we could ever think of because of every rotten, stinking thing he has done. But compared to his brother, he was a saint.”

If we use each other as our point of morality, that is exactly what will happen. Unless we have a transcendent, moral absolute for determining our moral ethics and behavior, we need something outside of us to show us where we stand in the moral landscape.

I praise the Lord for the Ten Commandments.

“Thou shalt not steal” [Exodus 20:15]. Stealing is defined as the illegal taking of another person’s property without that person’s freely giving consent. Have you ever wondered why stealing is a sin, because all we are dealing with is possessions? The difference between a gift and something that is stolen is that one is freely given while the other is taking without consent. When somebody steals from another, they dehumanize that individual and disregard their God-given freedom of choice. I believe everyone has in some way been affected by stealing and it causes something to happen within us.

I grew up in Washington D.C. and this is typical in every large city. One Friday night when we got home, all of the lights were on in our home and all of the doors were open. My dad turned to us and said, “Why don’t you stay in the car; I need to check this out.” Our house had been simply ransacked. Every valuable possession that we could think of had been taken. Another time we were ransacked, our television was stolen, which turned out to be a blessing. Once we came home and someone had taken a chain saw from our storage unit and sawed through a door, taking our possessions.

When you have been robbed or mugged, there is a feeling of not only anger, but a sense of having been violated. Something within you cries out that this is wrong and somebody has disregarded your freedom of choice and entered into your private space. Stealing in the 21st century has become more sophisticated with the advance of technology. There are now different types of stealing which include: embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, mugging, trespassing, shoplifting, intrusion, fraud and one that is huge right now, identity theft. This is where people take your social security number and your mother’s maiden name and then take out loans or even commit crimes in your name. Often this is not discovered until applying for a loan and being denied, then finding out that someone has done all of these things. It then sometimes takes years to clean up your record. Some individuals have had to change their name and their identity, rather than go through the hassle of cleaning up their past.

Stealing has also become more impersonalized, meaning that no longer are people just stealing from one another, but also from corporations as well as organizations.

I heard the story of a man visiting Florida from Brazil. While there, he received a parking ticket in Miami for $20. He took that ticket home to Brazil and returned the bill with $22 in cash and mailed it to the city of Miami. The clerk of the city of Miami realized that he had overpaid his bill by $2 and instead of returning that $2 in cash, he wrote a check for $2. When the man received that check in Brazil, he got a bright idea. He took that check and scanned it onto his computer, changing the $2 to $2 million dollars and deposited it into his bank account. The check cleared. He virtually swindled $2 million dollars from the city of Miami. Because there is no extraditing agreement between the United States and Brazil, he got away with it. This may be impersonal stealing, but from a biblical standpoint, whether stealing from an individual, a corporation or a city, stealing is still considered stealing.

According to some statistics, four million people each year in America are caught stealing. For every one caught, thirty five go undetected. A hundred and forty million shoplifting incidents occur each year out of a population of three hundred million people. Furthermore, seventy percent of shoplifters are in the middle income bracket, twenty percent are in the high income bracket, and only ten percent are considered poor. Thirty percent of all business failures each year are the result of internal theft. Security officials estimate that nine percent of all employees steal on a regular basis and seventy five percent of those working in retail stores steal to some degree, taking three times as much as shoplifters. Hotel managers count that one out of three guests steals something. Frank Abignail, the former infamous con artist, stated that businesses lose four hundred billion dollars per year to fraud. That is twice the budget of the U.S. military. The amount is enough to pay off Social Security for the next hundred years. A third comes from employees stealing from their employers. Stealing has become so pervasive in western society resulting in low ethics. Honesty is not being taught and stealing is not even considered stealing anymore.

So what can I do if I have stolen in the past and how do I make things right with God as well as with our fellow man? I believe Jesus is coming very soon and there is going to come a time when there is no longer intercession in the heavenly sanctuary and all of those unconfessed sins will remain and the opportunity to make right with our brothers and sisters will be gone.

What is the solution? The first step in making things right with God and our brothers in relation to stealing is found in Acts 2:37. Peter had just been converted sometime previous to this and received the Holy Spirit and he preached this glorious sermon: “Now when they heard this [the sermon], they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said unto them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.’ ” Acts 2:37, 38.

Notice that the first word out of Peter’s mouth was repent. The Biblical definition of repentance is a sorrow for sin and a turning away from it. Have you ever committed a sin in your life that you have not felt an ounce of remorse for? I remember before I came to Christ, I would commit sins and I would enjoy them, not feeling an ounce of sorrow. What are we to do if we don’t feel any remorse for what we have done? I remember growing up and getting into heated debates or in arguments with my younger sibling. My parents would try to mediate, getting us together demanding that we would say sorry to each other. I would say, “I’m sorry.” But is that true repentance?

The Bible tells us that we are to repent, have a sorrow for sin and a turning away from it. Repentance is often a barrier that keeps us from coming to Christ, thinking that we must first feel that remorse. One of the misconceptions in relation to repentance really deals with our response to the law. Luke 19:1–5 tells about a man who was a professional thief. In his relationship to Jesus you will see how this mode of repentance exactly works. “And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.” At this point Zacchaeus had not repented. Nor had Zacchaeus made full restitution. “The chief publican longed to look upon the face of Him whose words had brought hope to his heart.” The Desire of Ages, 553.

In one of my favorite books is the following statement: “Just here is a point on which many may err, and hence they fail of receiving the help that Christ desires to give them. They think that they cannot come to Christ unless they first repent, and that repentance prepares for the forgiveness of their sins. It is true that repentance does precede the forgiveness of sins; for it is only the broken and contrite heart that will feel the need of a Saviour. But must the sinner wait till he has repented before he can come to Jesus? Is repentance to be made an obstacle between the sinner and the Saviour?

“The Bible does not teach that the sinner must repent before he can heed the invitation of Christ, ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.’ Matthew 11:28. It is the virtue that goes forth from Christ, that leads to genuine repentance.” Steps to Christ, 26.

Repentance is a gift. Without the Lord, we can’t even feel sorry on our own. I can tell you there have been instances in my life where I had to come to the Lord just the way I am and say, I love the sin, I enjoy the sin, I feel absolutely no remorse for the sin, help me to be sorry because I am not sorry. Give me the gift of repentance.

“Many are inquiring, ‘How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?’ You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him.

“Desires for goodness and holiness are right as far as they go; but if you stop here, they will avail nothing. Many will be lost while hoping and desiring to be Christians. They do not come to the point of yielding the will to God. They do not now choose to be Christians.” Steps to Christ, 47, 48.

The first step is coming to Jesus just the way that we are. We may have stolen in our lives and may not even feel an ounce of remorse or repentance for what we have done, but we can come to Jesus just the way we are, give our wills to Him, believing that He will create within us a clean heart.

An illustration of how repentance works in relation to stealing is found in Luke 19:5–8: “And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, that he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.”

After Jesus had come into Zacchaeus’ life and into his heart, he stands up and says, “I want to make amends for what I have done—to make restitution for the things I have stolen.” I praise the Lord that Jesus accepts us just the way we are, because He loves us too much to leave us in that sinful condition.

Stealing not only deals with the sin between us and God, but it also deals with the sin between us and our brothers and sisters whom we have wronged. In this illustration, once Jesus had changed Zacchaeus’ heart he made restitution, giving back what he had stolen.

Once, I got involved with a group of individuals and we would steal on a regular basis. It got to the point that stealing was so common that it would not even bother me. In the beginning my conscience bothered me a little, causing me not to sleep at night, but the more I stole, the less it bothered me. That is the way the conscience works: the more you sin, the more your conscience becomes seared.

At one time I was involved in bike racing with a friend. One day we looked out in the parking lot and there parked was a vintage girl’s bike, a racing model. We eyed it for a few weeks and the bike was still there. So, we figured that since the owner did not claim it, we would. We backed up my friend’s van and put it into the van and took it to the woods, stripped it of all the components that we desired and threw the frame out into the woods to rot. We just went on our way and it did not bother me at all. As my life went on, years went by and I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus accepted me just the way I was and I began my Christian walk with Him. A few days later when I got up to have my morning devotion, the Holy Spirit came to me and reminded me of the bicycle that I had stolen many years ago. He told me that I was forgiven for that, but He wanted me to go back, and as much as is humanly possible, make it right.

I said, Lord, you have got to be kidding; that was years ago. What about forgiveness and all of these things you promise in your Word? I must go back to make that thing right! How humiliating! I fought the Lord for days. During those days my devotional life went downhill because I was resisting the Holy Spirit. I knew I had to make it right if I wanted to progress in my Christian experience. I went home and found out the name of the individual from my friend and then got out the yearbook and looked her up. I went back home and found her telephone number and called her. My heart was beating very fast. When a lady answered I said, “Hello ma’am, is _____ home?” She said, “No, but she is my daughter; can I help you?” I asked her if her daughter owned a bicycle and she said, “Yes, she did and someone stole it and it was a horrible thing. Do you know where it is, or what happened to it?” I told her about my friend and me stealing it. She asked me if there was any way I could restore it because it had so much meaning to her. I told her it was impossible, but that whatever it would cost to restore that back into her home, I would pay it. When I got off that phone I felt like a thousand pounds had been lifted from my shoulders.

The Bible tells us that being justified by faith we have peace with God. God ultimately forgives us, but because it affects another individual we are called, as much as is humanly possible, to restore the loss and make that thing right.

“If we have injured others through any unjust business transaction, if we have overreached in trade, or defrauded any man, even though it be within the pale of the law, we should confess our wrong, and make restitution as far as lies in our power. It is right for us to restore not only that which we have taken, but all that it would have accumulated if put to a right and wise use during the time it has been in our possession.” The Desire of Ages, 556.

We are living at the very end of time. If God is convicting you about something in your life that you need to make right, then do not hesitate; make it right. Soon, Jesus will cease intercession in the heavenly sanctuary and by God’s grace I want to have a clear conscience on that day.

It is the goodness of God that motivates us and drives us to repentance, not guilt or fear of judgment.

In Asia, in times past, there used to be a custom called matchmaking. The families would take two individuals and unite them in holy matrimony irrespective of the individuals’ choice. There was a story of two families who were very close to each other and they decided that if one had a boy and the other a girl they would arrange to have them married so their families would be united through holy matrimony. As fate would have it, one had a girl and the other had a boy. True to the pact, before they moved far from each other they decided that they would go ahead with their plan. The day of the wedding came, and neither the boy nor the girl had ever met each other until the night of the wedding. After the ceremony the young man was curious to see what his bride looked like, as she had been covered by a veil throughout the ceremony. He reached over and anxiously pulled the veil from her and much to his sadness she was so unattractive that he ran out of the room in a rage, angry at God and at circumstances for putting him in this predicament. He now was compelled to live with the woman because they did not believe in divorce back then. Even though her outside appearance was not the most attractive, on the inside she was beautiful. He would come home in a rage, angry at God and the world and she would respond in the most Christlike manner. She did everything she could to make a pleasant home, showing her love toward him. They had a daughter, and as time passed they got older in age. One day as he was looking outside he noticed that he was losing his vision in one of his eyes. They were quite distraught and went to the hospital. The doctors told him that if he did not receive a cornea transplant in his eye he would lose total vision. So they looked all over the country for somebody who would donate a cornea. They just about gave up all hope of finding one when suddenly they got a phone call and there was a cornea for transplant and the surgery was a complete success. They came home for a celebration, all three of them. The wife had prepared his favorite meal and before they were about to sit down the daughter said to her mother, Why don’t you tell him? He said, tell me what? At that point he turned his wife toward him and he noticed that she had a patch over her right eye. She had given a part of herself for him. This woman, whom he had abused emotionally and mistreated for years, had given a part of herself for him, unconditionally.

Did her love change his behavior? Yes it did. The Bible says that it is the goodness of God that motivates us to repentance. When we see what Christ has done for us, it motivates us to change and to make things right, not only with our brothers and sisters, but with God. God is asking us to do this right here and now.

Jesus is about to come, but before He comes He will have a people who will keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus (Revelation 12:17). We can truly thank God for the gift of His grace which leads us to repentance.

David Shin’s article was taken from the Ten Commandment Weekend, 2008 series aired on 3ABN. For more information contact www.3ABN.org.

Honor has Lost its Integrity

February 4, 2019February 23, 2018 by Frank Gonzales

We live in a world abounding in contracts, lawsuits, counter lawsuits, a world teeming with word processors, with delete buttons and faulty memory, but lacking in one crucial commodity—men, real men. By that I mean both men and women who would be true to their word like the needle to the pole. Our world has discovered the mystery of the atom but it has forgotten the Sermon on the Mount. We live in a world of both nuclear giants and moral midgets. The churches, the business world and even the Marines are looking for a few good men.

My maternal grandfather was a cattle rancher in Cuba. My grandfather was like Lorne Greene in the series Bonanza. At my grandfather’s ranch you could ride your horse a whole day and not see the end of it and there were thousands of heads of cattle. My grandfather was not a terribly educated man, except for the fact he was self-taught and very naturally intelligent. He was not a man of many words. I had precious few times with him, as I only lived a few years of my infancy in Cuba. My father was a businessman, so he liked the city and did not see the charm of the ranch and only once in awhile would he take me to see my grandfather, but I remember those times well.

The only thing I can remember my grandfather ever telling me is something that I remember still to this day. He said, “If you speak all the time, people will not remember what you say. You must be economical with your words. If you are economical, they will be memorable and if they are memorable, they are useful. If they are useful, they will do somebody some good.” I remember grandfather getting off his beautiful white horse and grabbing me and lifting me on top of those wooden fences. He looked at me as if he was going to speak and I thought, the world is going to come to an end; my grandfather is going to speak! I looked at him as I waited for the words to come. He said, “My boy, be a man of your word.” By that time the Fidel house was already dispossessing him of everything he owned and he may have been thinking of that, but he said to me, “The only thing no one can ever take away from you, the treasure that you will always possess, is your word. When you give your word, you are giving your own soul.”

My grandfather did not know the slogan save the trees, but he did, because he never used paper. He did not need paper. When it came to doing a contract with someone, there was no need for paper or a notary public or a lawyer. He only entered into deals with real men who he knew were real men. He would look them in the eye, shake their hand and the deal was sealed. We need that today. We need the power of the word. We need our word to become real. We need to be one with our word. We need to be known by what we say.

Two of the Ten Commandments speak about how we use the tongue. The third commandment says if we believe the good news of Jesus Christ, we shall never be guilty of taking the Lord’s name in vain (Exodus 20:7). The ninth commandment becomes a wonderful promise to the one who understands and believes just how good the good news is. You will never bear false witness (Exodus 20:16).

I once wrote a book on the Ten Commandments, which was published by Pacific Press. It is titled Ten Promises of Miracles and by God’s grace 150,000 copies have been sold. I believe that the Ten Commandments, rightly understood and connected with the understanding of the gospel through the New Covenant spectacles, which is how God sees them, are not harsh, impossible rules to obey. Instead, the Ten Commandments will be seen as ten promises of God to you. The problem is that the world has been taught a gospel less than Ten Commandments. It is as if somebody gave you a wonderful Cadillac, which looks great, and when you get into it, it is so plush, but there is no motor in it. There is no gas tank. There is no radiator. Other than that you will like it, it will not take you anywhere. It is like those wonderful gifts that you buy for your grandchildren that they have seen on television. They are all excited about it, but you did not read the small print which would turn what could have been a wonderful experience into the worse you can imagine. The small print says, “Batteries not included.” Without the batteries, without the power, it simply does not do what it is supposed to do.

The world has been told that the Ten Commandments do not come with the batteries included, because it is gospel-less and only the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). I am going to show you where the batteries are located.We obtained thousands of prints of the Ten Commandments and after being shown how beautiful they were I was asked, “What should we do with them?” I said, “They have to go into the trash.” They just stared at me in disbelief. I said, “You forgot the batteries. You have the Ten Commandments without the batteries. That is not going to help anybody.” Now we have a new poster of the Ten Commandments which includes the battery. The battery is already part of the commandments. Let me explain.

Look at Exodus 20:1: “And God spake all these words, saying …” From here on it is all God’s words. This is where the Ten Commandments actually start. Then God continues, “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” Those first words are the batteries. The Ten Commandments begin with an expression of the gospel and it reminds us of who the deliverer is. The Ten Commandments come with a Saviour, the One who first took little Egypt out of Egypt, and now, by His sacrifice on the cross, has taken spiritual Egypt out of Egypt becoming the Saviour of the world. That very fact is the battery power of the commandments. Do not leave the batteries out. Never start with the third verse. The Ten Commandments start after the word saying.

Here we are reminded that we have a God who is a Deliverer. It states here what God did for His people. Sometimes He went against their will and some of them wanted to go back to Egypt. He stepped in and took them out of Egypt. He physically took them out of bondage and put them where the air was pure and where the light was illuminant, where they could breathe freedom. God put the people in a free place and said to them that this is my magna carta; this is my declaration of independence. This is what I promise my citizens. This is what I will do. I pledge myself to perform this gospel work in your life. Jesus did the same thing on Calvary; God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.

He liberated us from the world, freed us from the bondage of sin. If we believe and want to be a citizen of the free kingdom of God, He will then give us the magna carta, the ruling documents of freedom and promises, the batteries so you can live your life and be free.

The Ten Commandments rightly understood are ten promises. This is good news, not bad news. God is not a stern lawgiver, dishing out the theories of impossible-to-obey rules. He is a Saviour from breaking those commandments. The only way the commandments can be kept is because of the Saviour. The only way the commandments can be obeyed is to allow Jesus to be in control of your heart. He is your battery. Christ is the Saviour of all men and especially of those who believe (1 Timothy 4:10). This country is free to everyone, but especially to those who cherish it.

Breaking the ninth commandment is a sin, unfortunately, for which many people will lose their soul. When God says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour,” Exodus 20:16, He means that we are never to tell a lie, not even one of those white lies. It commands never to give a false impression, even by a nod of the head. It forbids all gossip, including damaging the reputation of a person by remaining silent while he or she is being accused of something and you know differently and it is possible to speak up to save that person’s reputation.

We are to “speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates.” Zechariah 8:16. All false witness somehow comes from its true origin, Satan. “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:42. “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight.” Proverbs 12:22. They are His delight!

“A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.” Proverbs 19:5. We read that God actually hates “a lying tongue, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies” (Proverbs 6:17-19). But remember that even though God hates lying, He loves the liar and wants to save him. There are people who are as sincere as any of us, who bear false witness and have no idea of what they are doing. They are among those for whom Jesus prayed as He was being crucified, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34.

Sometimes parents unwittingly teach children to tell lies. Some people are color blind and cannot tell the difference between a red light and a green light, which can cause accidents. Though a judge would not be merciful in such a case, God is merciful to those who do not know the difference between right and wrong and He sends His Holy Spirit to teach the people.

Children in schools today are being taught that the universe is a random universe, that this universe, one among billions of universes, just happened to have everything lined up right, exactly the way it needed to be to sustain life. It is just an object of chance, like the roll of the dice! We just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Scientists have had to come up with a theory to explain the incredible order of our universe. But there is no mystery. The universe is the way it is today because God made it that way to suit life. God created things just the way they needed to be. Scientists call it the big bang theory. But they are running away from the real big bang. It scares them! When the big bang happened, the elements spread so quickly that it had to have been faster than the speed of light and according to Einstein, nothing goes faster than the speed of light. For the universe to be what it is, there is only one explanation, which science does not want to accept: the big bang had an author, and His name is God.

In the last few verses of the Bible there are three warnings that tell us that whosoever loveth and maketh a lie will not be able to enter the eternal kingdom (Revelation 22:15). Fiction, which makes up the subject matter of most books and movies today, is just lies. It is not only a serious thing to make a lie, but the text says it is equally serious to love a lie.

Truth, according to Biblical principles, is very clear. We are invited to turn from fables and turn to the truth and be God’s delight. He loves those who are His true witnesses. “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that … speaketh the truth in his heart.” Psalm 15:1, 2. But, “He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.” Proverbs 10:18. In other words, smiling at someone, slapping him/her on the back, shaking his/her hand and yet hiding our hatred for him or her deep in our heart is acting out a lie and breaking the commandment. Even if it means costing your job, you may need to confront that person and be honest and truthful in all your dealings to be clean and ready to live in the heavenly kingdom.

What it boils down to is that it is impossible for any of us mortals to obey this commandment unless we are truly converted deep within. This commandment goes to the core of all things. The core of God is His Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). God is one with His Word. The same is true with us. We can never escape our words. Once words are spoken they can never be unspoken and they always have either a positive or negative response. You will be remembered by what you said, even if it came out differently from what you meant to say. For that reason the counsel is to let your words be few. This reminds me of Romans 3:10. It says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.” Psalm 141:3. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me.” Psalm 139:23, 24.

When children would say bad things to me when I was a boy growing up in the south of Florida, Mom would say, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” This is such foolishness! There are times when people have said things to you that you would rather have had a broken bone that would heal far more easily than the hurt of words. Some of us are an emotional mess, having stored in our minds those words that we have heard as children, whether it be wittingly or unwittingly. The brain has a heart. When the Bible talks about the heart, it says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” Matthew 15:19.

When we say that a person has a big heart it is not referring to the physical condition of the heart, which would be a serious medical condition, but the mind wherein lies all the thoughts and feelings, which is called the hypothalamus region. Jesus says that the evil thoughts are right there. When bad words are spoken and terrible things happen to you it is stored in your subconscious, in the basement of the hypothalamus, so to speak. Sometimes things are so tragic that you have put them into the subconscious, which can be very dangerous. God wants to cleanse these inner temples, our hearts. In fact, the promise of the gospel is a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26). It is a cleansing out of the hypothalamus so you can be true and faithful. Part of the hypothalamus region controls the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system which regulates the inner organs. The pancreas and other internal organs do not depend on conscious decisions but are controlled involuntarily to do their work. This is why hanging onto stress or other negative emotions can cause physical sickness. To enjoy true health one must have a happy heart that trusts in the Lord at all times.

I visit a health center every so often where I have seen people go in terribly sick, in wheelchairs, etc., and come out running in a few weeks. I finally turned to the doctor one day and asked him, “Is there anybody who does not heal or get well here?” He said, “Oh yes, the people who cannot forgive. One of the things we teach those who come here is to write letters to the people with whom they have a problem, because that is often the reason for their sickness.” When God says to forgive, He not only is doing it for the benefit of the person who hurt you, He is doing it for your own sake, to help you.

This commandment is a promise from God to make you a true witness. It is impossible for you to be a true and faithful witness and also a false witness. It is a promise from God to make you a person of integrity, one who is always true to your word. It is a promise to make you one who will reflect the character of Christ and be a witness and a light wherever you are.

Frank Gonzales’ sermon was taken from the Ten Commandment Weekend, 2008 series aired on 3ABN. For more information contact www.3ABN.org.

The Number Ten – How Significant!

February 4, 2019February 21, 2018 by John Lomacang

The number ten appears to be very significant in our society as well as in the Bible. Here are several secular examples. In baseball there are at least ten players on the field all the time including the batter. In basketball there are always ten players on the court, five on each side. In the world of blackjack the ten, queen, king and jack are all worth ten points. In bowling a strike means you knock down all ten pins. In the Olympics, ten is the highest score that you can get. In math, ten is the base of the decimal and metric system of measurement. Ten is the atomic number of neon. The glow of a neon light and the atomic blast are similar but just smaller and less potential. Interstate 10 in the United States is the longest interstate from California to Florida. The smallest coin in the United States is a dime and it is worth ten cents.

Let’s now look at Bible examples. The flood covered the earth until the first day of the tenth month after which the mountains became visible. Abram had given a tenth of his possessions to Melchizedek as gratitude for all of God’s blessings to his life; thus the tithing system which is also one-tenth. After being in Canaan, Sarai became impatient with God and gave Hagar to Abraham in an attempt to fulfill God’s promise, and it happened when they were in Canaan in the tenth year. From Abraham back to Noah, are ten generations. From Noah back to Adam are ten generations. God would have saved Sodom if only there had been found ten righteous there. Ten plagues fell upon Egypt. Laban changed Jacob’s wages ten times when he labored for Rachel. Joseph sent back ten male and ten female donkeys to his father in Canaan with provisions from Egypt during the time of the famine. Joseph died when he was 110 years old. The Jews observe an annual ten days of repentance beginning with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur. In Judaism, ten adults are required for a prayer service. Naaman took ten pounds of silver and ten changes of clothing when he went to be healed of his leprosy. God took ten tribes from Solomon and gave them to Jeroboam.

The number ten is very significant. Hezekiah prayed for a sign and the Lord made the shadow go back ten degrees as evidence that He would prolong Hezekiah’s life. The number ten appears only once in the entire book of Job. Jesus taught about the ten virgins, ten talents, ten coins and ten lepers. There were ten curtains in the tabernacle held up by boards that were ten cubits in height supported by ten bases. In the sanctuary there were two cherubim that were ten cubits tall and the distance from one wing to the other was ten cubits. Under the cherubim was the ethical Decalogue of the Ten Commandments of God. To remember the law, God gave everybody ten toes and ten fingers.

Ten is a very significant number, which brings me to my first point. If God did not think that we needed Ten Commandments, He would not have given us ten. If you do not believe that we need ten, cut off one of your fingers or one of your toes. When somebody tells you that we don’t have to keep the Ten Commandments, just take your scissors and give me a finger or a toe. I believe that God intended for all ten to stay intact.

Ten Commandments are very significant. That is why Moses, the faithful servant of God, said in Deuteronomy 4:13, “And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” The following are three very important facts that come to the forefront about the Ten Commandments:

God declared the Ten Commandments, which simply means that they did not come from the lips of man; therefore they cannot be modified by the lips of man. We may not like what God said, but we do not have the authority to change what He says.
God commanded; He did not suggest the Ten Commandments. They did not come from man’s mind; therefore they cannot be modified to fit man’s thinking. We may think that the word command is too strong, but God’s law is not ten suggestions, ten opinions, ten options or ten menu items. It is the Ten Commandments.
God wrote the Ten Commandments. They were not e-mailed, faxed, borrowed, photocopied or plagiarized. In other words, God wrote them with His finger. He did not inspire them; He wrote them.

My mother gave me a book many years ago that I still read to this very day. It is not so much the content of the book that is important to me but that my mother’s signature is there. She passed away in 1991, and every time I lend that book out to somebody, I tell them not to keep it, because I cannot buy another one like it. It is not the content, but the inscription of the giver that makes that book special. So it is not just the commandments, not just ten laws, but the fact that God took the time to write them with His own finger. I would suggest to you that they are a lot more valuable than baseball cards or signed pictures. People always ask me for my autograph on my CDs, and I always tell them to forget my signature and read the Bible verse under it, because if you forget me, you have lost nothing, but if you forget God, you have lost everything.

The inscription of God is there to let us know that when God takes the time to autograph something, it has to be important. It is suggested by eBay that to determine the value of a document four things need to be done:

You must determine how long the person who signed it has been around. How does that tend to make the Ten Commandments valuable? David says that, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God [Psalm 90:21].” God has been around for as long as long can be. On that basis alone, eBay could not even price the Ten Commandments to sell. There is not enough money on earth to buy the commandments of God, because based on the longevity of the One who wrote them and signed them, they are valuable beyond our ability to buy.
You must determine the value of an item. Is it historical? The commandments are as old as time. Is it personal? Paul said they are the law of God (Romans 7). The commandments of God are very personal.
You must assess the integrity of the document—What was it signed with, pen or ink that can fade? If the inscription is faded, the document begins to lose its value. God took care of that when He wrote His law on stone and signed it with His own finger. To this day it is signed with His own blood. As a matter of fact, there is one original on the table of stone, and everybody has a copy of it. He wrote it in your mind and put it in your heart. You cannot sell it. You can be irreligious, and the commandments of God will remind you in your darkest moments that what you are about to do is not right. What commandment are we talking about? “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” Exodus 20:17 (NKJV).
You must establish the present condition of the document. To arrive at its dollar value, eBay suggests that you must determine how much it has changed since it was written. God says, in Psalm 89:34, “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.” God does not change, and His commandments do not change.

You can shift them around and make them appear to change, but as far as God’s copy is concerned, they are the same. Regarding the copy in your heart, no matter in what order you put them they are still the same.

God made sure that no matter where you are, whether you want to turn your ears or close your eyes, the commandments of God are with you.

At the very outset of the tenth commandment the law reveals its age. The word covet lets you know that it is not a contemporary commandment. How many times have you talked to somebody, and they have said, “Well, I covet that tie” or “I covet that job”? We don’t use the word covet very much. That is why in the newer Bible translations, the word covet is substituted with the word greed. Don’t be greedy; be satisfied.

The truth of the matter is that the tenth commandment is not exclusive, because if you just take the beginning and the end, it reads as follows: “Thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbor’s.” If there is something that somebody else has and you cannot afford it, just get it out of your mind. Coveting what is not yours is how the commandment begins.

Sometimes the tenth commandment seems to supplement the eighth commandment, which says, “Thou shalt not steal [Exodus 20:15].” The fact of the matter is that the tenth commandment is the door that leads to the violation of the other nine. I believe that is what Jesus meant when He said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:31 (NKJV). Paul says, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” Galatians 5:14 (NKJV). If you love your neighbor as yourself and you don’t want him/her to steal from you and you won’t steal from him/her. If you love your neighbor as yourself, you won’t covet his wife or her husband and you won’t want him to covet your wife or you. If you love your neighbor as yourself, you don’t want him/her taking your house, and you won’t take his/her house.

Paul brings out another overlooked truth about the tenth commandment. He refers to those seven words, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” as one word. In other words, the Ten Commandments are also known as the Ten Words. The tenth commandment is not only the tenth precept of the Ten Commandments; it is the last Word of the Ten Words.

To summarize commandments one through nine, I believe that the reason God put the tenth one there is so the tenth commandment could be the last Word of the nine Words that went before. It is as though God is saying, “If you have any doubt about anything I have said, I place this one here as the last Word.”

The tenth commandment is a sin detector. If you are labeled by society as a criminal or a transgressor of any law, the transgression or the crime has to be obvious. Somebody has to see it. How can you declare me guilty of something you cannot detect or see? Like an inconspicuous carbon dioxide smoke detector, the tenth commandment monitors the silent activities of the mind, going way down to the subculture of human thought. It does not say you have to do the deed and that is the only way you are guilty; it goes down to the point where the motive begins to be born. It is like a divine MRI; it detects the hidden sins of the human heart before they become obvious to everybody else.

It is the stealthy operation of this commandment that I believe gives birth to these verses in Scripture. The wise man said, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV). It says, “as he thinks”—not as he does. Before it becomes an act of stealing somebody’s car, wife, money or house, it is born in your thoughts. Jesus said, in Matthew 15:8, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.” It is detecting what is below the surface, not just what is being seen by everybody else. In other words, you can go to church and pray to God all you want, but the Lord He sees what is happening on the inside. This commandment goes way beyond what people see.

Paul says, in Romans 7:25, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” Let’s put that in proper context. There may be some people who cannot break free from a habit or a sin, but they are saying that in their minds they are in harmony with God’s law but need to be delivered from the very act. Then, in reverse, there are people who appear to be delivered from the very act, but in their minds they are serving the law of sin. You cannot judge anyone solely on what you see. When you meet people, they always put their best foot forward, but I am always concerned what they are going to do with that other foot. The tenth commandment is not only a sin detector, it is a character detector as well.

Remember when Saul fell as king and God called the sons of Jesse to be consecrated? The ones who looked qualified were not qualified. The one who did not look qualified, was the one who was qualified, and Samuel said that we look at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart. See 1 Samuel 16:7. This means that people who look righteous are not always righteous. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart.” Jeremiah 17:9, 10, first part. Sometimes you can put on your Christian costume when you go to church, but God knows what you are thinking and why you are there.

The tenth commandment suggests that ungodly thoughts will eventually become ungodly actions. When we lived in New York City, my wife and I were involved with people who liked to go roller-skating. At that time there were random shootings in the city. We noticed a very unassuming guy who looked the part—you have to be careful with people who just look the part, because one of the deceptions in the last days is that Satan is going to show up, and he is going to look the part. Ministers preaching from pulpits all over the world look the part, but they are not living the part. One of our sisters in the faith said that anybody can preach a good sermon, but it takes somebody else to live a good one.

At a seminar I gave on family life, one person who attended said to me, “Do you know why I enjoyed this seminar? It was not what you said; it was what I saw between you and your wife. It was not what you said about valuing older people, but you brought your 81-year-old mother-in-law with you on your vacation. So when you said to me, ‘Don’t wait until they get older to tell them that you love them,’ you are doing it by example. How often does she travel with you?” I told him that whenever she is not sick, we take her with us, because the day is going to come when she can’t go, and I do not want to be standing there at the funeral saying, “Oh, if I had only, had only, had only.” I believe people cry hard at funerals because they did not work hard before the funeral. We would rather send flowers than carry them ourselves. So when people look godly, it really does not mean a whole lot to me.

Some of the meanest e-mails I have received are from people who are religious. It was religious people who screamed for Jesus to be crucified. It was the secular power that tried to get Him out of it. When church and state unite, there is no greater persecution than when religious people get involved. So to appear to be religious is of no value whatsoever in the sight of God, but to live a righteous life is. This does not begin on the outside; it begins on the inside.

This commandment goes way, way down. That is why the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of body and soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12). The Bible says it “is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of man’s heart.” Hebrews 4:12. I believe that is why people sometimes do not read their Bible, because when they read their Bible, it tells them about themselves. Even now people are challenging ministers whether or not they can preach it straight. I preach straight sermons, and people ask me why. I tell them that my job is not to get them comfortable but to get them into the kingdom.

People nowadays want those sermons about portfolios and how many stock options they have. But their stocks cannot get them into heaven, not even being religious on the outside with all of their possessions. I knew somebody who was very wealthy and I called this person on something on the way he was living. He took me to task saying to me, “How dare you talk to me that way.” I told him the way he was living was sin, whether he was rich or poor.

The Lord says, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” Luke 6:45.

The tenth commandment reminds us that we may not always be under the jurisdiction of man, but we are always under the jurisdiction of God.

The tenth commandment is a dissatisfaction detector. This commandment detects discontent. Paul tells us, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Philippians 4:12 (NIV). Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 (NIV). If you have God, you have all that you need.

You must be content. The definition of godliness has been misrepresented by the church. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” 1 Timothy 6:6. Notice what it does not say. It does not say, “Great gain with contentment is godliness,” and it does not say, “Great gain with godliness is contentment.” It says, “Godliness with contentment.” Be content to be godly for from that comes great gain. Our lives do not consist in all the abundance we possess, and when Jesus comes, we cannot take it with us.

Nobody has ever been put in jail for what he has thought, but many will be kept out of heaven because of what they think. The problem with the antediluvian world was that every intent of the thoughts of their heart was only evil continually (Geneses 6:5). It was their thoughts that led them to sin. It was what they thought and then what they did.

Wrong thoughts entertained promote a wrong desire, which in time gives birth to a wrong action. We may refrain from sin because the social and civil penalties are heavy, but in heaven’s sight we may be as guilty as if we actually committed it ourselves, because the tenth commandment goes way down deep. What is the prescription? David tells us in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

The tenth commandment is about discontent. It is having an inordinate desire for something that does not belong to you. That is why the Bible says that God will not just work on the outside, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13 (NKJV). This basic commandment, the tenth, reveals the profound truth that we are not the helpless slaves of our natural desires and passions. It sums up the Decalogue by affirming that man is essentially a free moral agent. So the next time you see something you want, think about the real cost. The next time you see someone you want, think about the real cause. The next time it begins to boil up in your heart that you are just not happy, think about the fact that Jesus did not die for your stuff, He died for you.

“Thou shalt not covet.” I want to go home to heaven. We need to get to the place where we are tired of sin. We need to get to the place where we know that with all of this covetousness we have wasted many precious years. We must get our eyes fixed on going home to be with Jesus. We must get to the place where we realize that we need His cleansing blood. The only answer to the violation of any of the Ten Commandments is the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ.

Now is the time we need to unload the world and put on Jesus Christ in every aspect of our lives and covet nothing that will keep us out of the kingdom of God. Let each of us pray for a heart of contentment—content to be godly, content to be loving, content to be kind and content to support one another in this final, trying hour of this earth’s history.

Pastor John Lomacang’s sermon was taken from the Ten Commandment Weekend, 2008 series aired on 3ABN. For more information contact www.3ABN.org.

Why Do You Believe What You Believe?

January 26, 2018 by John J. Grosboll

We are living in a time when every position of truth is going to be attacked. The most dangerous are those in which people do not know they are being attacked. Attacks are made against the law of God. Some believe that the law of God, as well as the whole law of Moses, is just one law; therefore, it is necessary to keep the feast days and other ceremonial commands. Others believe also that the law of God and the law of Moses are just one law, and because Jesus fulfilled it and we are now under grace, there is no need to keep it. All that is necessary is to love God and love your neighbor. This position, spearheaded by Desmond Ford, is one taken by many former Adventists and former Adventist ministers.

This teaching, started by the denial of the investigative judgment, has caused much confusion. True Seventh-day Adventist belief is neither one of these positions. We believe that there are two laws—one which is unchangeable and eternal; the other being temporary and nailed to the cross when Jesus died. Adventism is caught in the crossfire of those who want to keep the feasts and others suggesting that Sabbath is optional—you can keep it if you want; however, many do not because it is not convenient. It is more convenient to go to church on Sunday, which is customary and common. Sadly, there are many former Adventist ministers who also hold this position.

If the Sabbath is optional and a future law is made prohibiting you from keeping it and being penalized by not being able to buy or sell, or forced into prison or even losing your life, would you keep it then? It is necessary to have Biblical evidence for why we believe what we believe, because attacks come from both sides accusing us of error. Many Protestant theologians, in discussing their reasons for Sunday keeping, have had some influence on Seventh-day Adventist ministers. Many have spent years doing research on this subject and can show lots of Bible texts and historical documents to support their position, so it is necessary to know why you believe what you believe.

In the book, Patriarchs and Prophets, 363, it says, “Adam and Eve, at their creation, had a knowledge of the law of God; they were acquainted with its claims upon them; its precepts were written upon their hearts. When man fell by transgression the law was not changed, but a remedial system was established to bring him back to obedience. The promise of a Saviour was given, and sacrificial offerings pointing forward to the death of Christ as the great sin offering were established. But had the law of God never been transgressed, there would have been no death, and no need of a Saviour; consequently there would have been no need of sacrifices.

“Adam taught his descendants the law of God, and it was handed down from father to son through successive generations. But notwithstanding the gracious provision for man’s redemption, there were few who accepted it and rendered obedience. By transgression the world became so vile that it was necessary to cleanse it by the Flood from its corruption. The law was preserved by Noah and his family, and Noah taught his descendants the Ten Commandments. As men again departed from God, the Lord chose Abraham, of whom He declared, ‘Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.’ Genesis 26:5. To him was given the rite of circumcision, which was a sign that those who received it were devoted to the service of God—a pledge that they would remain separate from idolatry, and would obey the law of God. The failure of Abraham’s descendants to keep this pledge, as shown in their disposition to form alliances with the heathen and adopt their practices, was the cause of their sojourn and bondage in Egypt.”

Notice that disobedience was the cause of the bondage in Egypt and the continual rejection of God’s law made it necessary for the written law to be given at Sinai. “But in their intercourse with idolaters, and their forced submission to the Egyptians, the divine precepts became still further corrupted with the vile and cruel teachings of heathenism. Therefore when the Lord brought them forth from Egypt, He came down upon Sinai, enshrouded in glory and surrounded by His angels, and in awful majesty spoke His law in the hearing of all the people.

“He did not even then trust His precepts to the memory of a people who were prone to forget His requirements, but wrote them upon tables of stone. He would remove from Israel all possibility of mingling heathen traditions with His holy precepts, or of confounding His requirements with human ordinances or customs. But He did not stop with giving them the precepts of the Decalogue. The people had shown themselves so easily led astray that He would leave no door of temptation unguarded. Moses was commanded to write, as God should bid him, judgments and laws giving minute instruction as to what was required.” Ibid., 363, 364.

Many Adventists are not aware that most of what Moses wrote was actually the Ten Commandments spelled out in more detail. For example, Leviticus 18 is simply an amplified explanation of the seventh commandment, leaving the people with no excuse. Moses also explained all of the other commandments in detail. These writings are not ceremonial laws and are just as much a part of the moral law as that written by God Himself.

“Moses was commanded to write, as God should bid him, judgments and laws giving minute instruction as to what was required. These directions relating to the duty of the people to God, to one another, and to the stranger were only the principles of the Ten Commandments amplified … .” Ibid., 364.

The Ten Commandments were amplified, explained and made simple so that everyone would understand the principles.

In Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 are laws in regard to clean and unclean foods—foods to eat and foods not to eat. This instruction directly relates to the sixth commandment. Killing yourself slowly by unhealthy life practices is just as much breaking that commandment as taking a gun and putting it to your head to kill yourself. If a person lit a cigarette and instantly dropped dead, nobody would smoke. But on the average, for every cigarette smoked, life is shortened between six and ten minutes. Cigarettes slowly kill! This same principle applies to all other unclean foods that are eaten and which shorten life. Disobedience is a violation of the sixth commandment.

“These directions relating to the duty of the people to God, to one another, and to the stranger were only the principles of the Ten Commandments amplified and given in a specific manner, that none need err. They were designed to guard the sacredness of the ten precepts engraved on the tables of stone.” Ibid.

Most of what Moses wrote was simply the principles of the Ten Commandments amplified, so nobody would need to make a mistake. Commandment keepers need to be in harmony with what Moses wrote explaining each of the Ten Commandments.

“If man had kept the law of God, as given to Adam after his fall, preserved by Noah, and observed by Abraham, there would have been no necessity for the ordinance of circumcision. And if the descendants of Abraham had kept the covenant, of which circumcision was a sign, they would never have been seduced into idolatry, nor would it have been necessary for them to suffer a life of bondage in Egypt; they would have kept God’s law in mind, and there would have been no necessity for it to be proclaimed from Sinai or engraved upon the tables of stone. And had the people practiced the principles of the Ten Commandments, there would have been no need of the additional directions given to Moses.” Ibid., 364.

Since the beginning of time there has been a lot of knowledge lost. The Bible talks about two laws—the moral law, which is eternal, and the ceremonial law, which was temporary. There are many Protestants who are confused on this point, believing that the law was given for the first time at Mt. Sinai, but the fact is that the law has been in existence ever since Adam and Eve were created.

Romans 4:15 says, “Because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law, there is no transgression.” Even children can understand that, but some theologians do not. Sin is simply the transgression of the law, so if there is no law there is no transgression, there is no sin.

Isaiah 43:27 says, “Your first father sinned, And your mediators have transgressed against Me.” Who was the first father? It was Adam. How could Adam have sinned if there was no law before Sinai? There had to be a law in the Garden of Eden or Adam could not have sinned. The penalty for sin is death. Here the confusion gets worse, because our Protestant friends say the law was to just love the Lord and not eat the forbidden fruit.

At one time my father was testing out the first muscle car he had ever owned, a 1956 Oldsmobile, Super 88 with a 4-barrel carburetor and a big 394 cubic inch V-8 engine. Our family was on vacation in Montana, and my father said, “This is wonderful! Montana does not have any speed limits.” Soon there was a little red light flashing behind us, and we pulled over. My father said to the officer, “I thought there was no speed limit in Montana.”

The officer replied, “Yes, there is no speed limit in Montana in the daytime. But at night time the speed limit is 55.” If it had been daytime, the officer could not stop my father, as there was no law to govern his speed, but we were traveling in the night hours, there was a law, and we had broken it.

Before the law was ever given at Mt. Sinai, there is much evidence that all ten of the commandments were in existence. Genesis 2:1-3 says, “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

This passage contains a lot of information. The first point in this passage to notice is that there was no sin in the Garden of Eden at this time; Adam and Eve were innocent. Adam and Eve were not in need of a Saviour, as no transgression had yet occurred. The Sabbath was created and given to mankind as a memorial of creation; it was not added because of transgression.

We talk about the laws of types and shadows, but when we read Genesis 2, does it sound like a shadow of something that is going to come in the future? No, it is a memorial of something that has already happened, the creation of the world. There is nothing shadowy about the seventh day Sabbath. It is not a type of something but a memorial of something that has already happened.

Notice three separate qualities about the Sabbath:

It specifies that on that day, God rested. God does not rest like a human being rests. The Bible says that God never slumbers or sleeps. He does not need to take physical rest.
In addition to resting, God blessed that day. The Sabbath is a day that God has blessed. When you read the record in Genesis 1 and 2, you will find that the Sabbath is the only day that God blessed. He did not bless any other day. The wise man (Solomon) said, in Ecclesiastes 3:14, “I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever: Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.”

There are several questions that need to be considered by those wanting to keep another day. Is there any other day besides the Sabbath in the Bible that God has blessed? If some day other than the Sabbath is kept, where does the Bible say that God removed His blessing from the Sabbath?

God did not only rest on the Sabbath, He blessed it and sanctified that day. The word sanctify simply means to make something holy. Holiness is a quality of God; it is something that is God-like. The Sabbath was sanctified or made into a holy day.

Not only is the Sabbath a rest day, a blessed day, but it is a holy day, because God sanctified it. The Sabbath is a holy day. We cannot make anything holy, because we do not have any holiness of our own. The only way we can become holy, and we do have to become holy, is if God makes us holy. God says, “I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” Exodus 20:12. The Sabbath is a sign to God’s people that He will make you holy, and those He makes holy He will take to heaven.

In Genesis 4:3 is recorded the story about Cain and Abel. “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.” In the margin, the literal Hebrew text says, “At the end of the day Cain brought an offering.” Was it the end of the day, the end of the year, the end of the season, the end of the days of the month or the end of the days of the week? Many theologians believe that this was the Sabbath when Cain brought his offering. That was the end of the days of the week.

Ellen White says that Adam and Eve came to the edge of the Garden of Eden to worship every Sabbath. “The Garden of Eden remained upon the earth long after man had become an outcast from its pleasant paths. The fallen race were long permitted to gaze upon the home of innocence, their entrance barred only by the watching angels. At the cherubim-guarded gate of Paradise the divine glory was revealed. Hither came Adam and his sons to worship God.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 62.

In Exodus 5:4 it says, “And the king of Egypt said to them, Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor.“ While slaves in Egypt, the Egyptians forced the Israelites to work seven days a week. Moses told the people that the Lord was going to deliver them, but they would have to keep His law. When the Israelites began to keep the Sabbath again, Pharaoh did not like it.

Have you ever thought about the logistics of supplying water, food, restroom facilities, bathing and laundry facilities for over a million people out in the desert? The Israelites looked around and wondered how in the world they would survive in a place like that. They knew they would run out of the food they had brought with them, but they were instructed not to worry, because God was going to rain bread from heaven for them.

In this act they would understand clearly what was involved with keeping the Sabbath. In Exodus 16:4, 5 it says, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law, or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.’ ”

Every day the people gathered what they needed for that day. Jesus said in the Lord’s prayer, “Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). God has not promised food for the next month. Gathering food six days was to teach them to trust in the Lord. Anything kept over until the next day spoiled. On the sixth day they were to gather twice as much as they did every other day and then on the Sabbath it did not spoil. Some went out and gathered more than they needed and found that on the next day it had bred worms. Then on the sixth day (Friday), some people gathered only what they needed for that day, not making any preparation for the Sabbath. When they went out to gather on the Sabbath, there was not any.

“And Moses said, ‘Let no man leave any of it till the morning.’ Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted. And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, ‘This is what the Lord has said: “Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.” ’ So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. Then Moses said, ‘Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, there will be none.’ Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.’ So the people rested on the seventh day.” Verses 19–30.

The children of Israel knew about the Sabbath. This was not something new that was introduced to them at Sinai. They had just been given specific instructions about their food supply and the Sabbath. In fact, when the Ten Commandments were given, the very first word of the fourth commandment was “Remember.” You cannot remember something if you have never heard about it beforehand.

As we have just seen, there is plenty of evidence that the Sabbath existed from creation. It was kept by Adam and Eve; it was also kept by Abel, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In the first part of the Bible we have also seen that all of the commandments existed before they were given on tables at Sinai.

For example, Eve was the first one to break the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). She made the serpent her god—she listened to the serpent instead of God. Adam listened to and obeyed his wife, causing him also to break this commandment.

The second commandment is a prohibition against the use of idols of any kind (Exodus 20:4). “Then God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.’ And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments.’ ” Genesis 35:1, 2. Verse 4 tells that they gave Jacob all of their foreign gods and all of their jewelry, and he buried it. Jacob knew that it was wrong to worship these idols.

The third commandment is, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Exodus 20:7). There is a lot of swearing that is reported in the book of Genesis. Genesis 25:32, 33 says: “Esau said, ‘Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?’ Then Jacob said, ‘Swear to me as of this day.’ So he swore to him …” that day and sold his birthright, the right to become the progenitor of the Messiah. Referring to this it says, in Hebrews 12:16, 17, “Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.” By the way, you do not need to repent if you have not sinned. Esau sinned because he took the name of the Lord God in vain by considering his birthright something that was not worth very much.

There are several references to the fifth commandment in the book of Genesis. In Genesis 9:22–25, it says, “Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. Then he said, ‘Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.’ ”

Noah and his sons knew the principle of the fifth commandment to honor your father and your mother (Exodus 20:12). A curse was put on the son who did not obey this commandment.

When Cain killed his brother, the Lord called that sin (Genesis 4:7). When Levi and Simeon killed a whole city full of people, they brought the curse of their father on them (Genesis 49). Those are not the only references to the sixth commandment.

There are many references to the seventh commandment (Exodus 20:14) in the book of Genesis, showing that it had validity and the people knew that it was wrong to break it. God burned Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sexual immorality (Genesis 19). The story recorded in Genesis 38 about Judah and Tamar reveals that they knew what they did was wrong and that it deserved the death penalty. In Genesis 21:12–14 Abraham understood when God told him to send Hagar away, that she did not have a right to stay there because Sarah was his wife.

Jacob knew it was wrong to steal (the eighth commandment, Exodus 20:15). When Laban came looking for the gods that Rachel had stolen, Jacob said that if anybody in his camp had stolen the idols, to let him die (Genesis 31:30–34).

When the sons of Jacob answered Hamor and his son Shechem deceitfully, Jacob pronounced a curse on Simeon and Levi for lying to those people in Genesis 34:13 and Genesis 49:5–7. Jacob understood the principle of the ninth commandment (Exodus 20:16) that it was wrong to lie.

Throughout Genesis 37 over and over is recorded a violation of the tenth commandment (Exodus 20:17) referring to coveting. Jacob made a bad mistake in loving Joseph more than his other sons, and as a result, the other brothers became covetous of the love and attention that he received from their father. It says they envied him so much that they decided they would kill him.

Every one of the principles of the Ten Commandments existed during the time of Genesis, clear from creation. It was commonly known that it was wrong to break any of those principles.

When Adam and Eve were created the moral law was written in their hearts. “Though this covenant was made with Adam and renewed to Abraham, it could not be ratified until the death of Christ. It had existed by the promise of God since the first intimation of redemption had been given; it had been accepted by faith; yet when ratified by Christ, it is called a new covenant.” God’s Amazing Grace, 133.

It is the promise of the New Covenant to write the law which existed in the Garden of Eden that was written by God’s own finger on the tablets of stone, and that is the foundation of God’s government in both heaven and earth, in each heart. Then, man will be restored into harmony with his Maker.

[Bible texts quoted are NKJV translation.]

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Free Seventh-day Adventist Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Law and Judgment

January 15, 2018 by Bismark Emali

The inhabitants of the world are worried; there is so much confusion everywhere and no safety. People do not understand the course of all this political instability and are afraid. There are wars, famine in some places and the whole world is suffering under the financial crisis. Earthquakes are more frequent, tsunamis, floods and forest fires are blazing, and the list is endless recording disasters worldwide. Really, world news today describes the last days as highlighted by Christ in Mathew 24. These events are corrupting the minds of many living today. Where is the safety? Should the elect also be led astray? But the Bible says, “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (verse 13).

Jesus, the true Shepherd is calling upon us to follow Him. He says, “I have kept My Father’s commandments” (John 15:10). He leads His sheep in the path of humble obedience to the Law of God. He never encourages any to transgress the law, which is as sacred as His throne, and by it, everyone who comes into the world is to be judged. Our characters are to be weighed in the balance of God’s law, which is the only standard by which to test character.

A pretended holiness allows one to devise his own standard, judging himself, other than the true standard—God’s law. Making a self-judgment will not sanctify, because when personal standards are set, the law of God is trampled underfoot.

The subject dealt with here is pretentious holiness and its effects on a person’s character and to understand how God watches all from His throne.

Is keeping the commandments a half duty of man?

God should not be taken lightly. It is not for man to set his own standards and feel secure thinking he is on the right side. This is a deception that will end in destruction. The law of God is the standard by which the characters and lives of men are to be tested in the judgment. “Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment.” Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14. The books of record in heaven, in which the names and deeds of men are registered, are to determine the decisions made in the judgment. In pretending, many often commit numerous secret sins with an argument that they are not revealed. This is very dangerous, for such sins are rarely confessed and repented of. The secret purposes and motives appear in an unerring register for God “bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.” I Corinthians 4:5.

This calls for total faith. “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12. He who has not sufficient faith in Christ to believe that He can keep him from sinning does not have the faith that will result in an entrance into the kingdom of God. The faith of Jesus calls for keeping the law of God. The Word should not be just a lifeless theory, but a living force that changes the life. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8–10.

Man’s devised laws only result in boasting and self-righteousness, thus revealing weakness. The great change that is seen in the life of a sinner after his conversion is miraculous and not brought about through any human goodness, thereby eliminating any human boasting. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Proverbs 14:12.

Keeping the law is the key to eternal life. Those who set their own standards are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. Have you taken time to examine yourself? The Lord is speaking to you to be careful. Take time to understand the condition in which you find yourself. The hot have experienced the new birth and know the necessity of daily living by the Spirit. We are living in the time of judgment, and as the Lord looks at His people, He finds that the majority of them are lukewarm. The cold know they are not in a saving relationship and realize their lost condition: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15, 16), says the Lord.

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” Psalm 1. All who seek to be an evergreen tree planted by the river will produce fruits.

Sin is the transgression of the law. “Whosoever hath sinned [transgressed the law] against Me, him will I blot out of My book.” Exodus 32:33. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.” James 2:10–12. Any unrepented of iniquity makes of no effect all previous righteousness. Through Christ we have been accepted into the family of God, and as children of God, we are to uphold His honor, His character. It will be great joy to do any act that will keep you in the family of God in conformity with the law of God. “There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.” Job 34:22.

We have been saved by grace, but grace does not abolish the law of God. All who bear the name Christian are to reflect the character, actions, and words of Christ Jesus, Who is meek, lowly and tender in heart. We must keep ourselves worthy to be in the family of God here on this earth to prepare for the life to come. To be saved by grace and not under the law means to stop sinning, as it is by the law that we know sin. Jesus Christ is coming again to receive those who are ready to welcome Him at His second advent. This will take place immediately after the work of the investigative judgment has been accomplished. The reward He brings with Him is to give to every man according to his work. How important then should our minds contemplate the reward and whether the judgment shall place us on the right side of the controversy. Satan should never be given the opportunity to exult over his conquests.

Make haste to confess every known sin and decide today to put them away. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Proverbs 28:13. Do not allow Satan to corrupt your mind through defects in your character, but shun him and hold on to Jesus in order to have your character perfected as probation time nears its end. The many issues that are taking place in the world today should not be a source of confusion but give hope that our Lord is at the door and inspire us to be ready to receive Him. Will you receive Him or will you hide? “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.” Revelation 1:7.

Father, I am not worthy even to stand before You.

Thank you for saving me by the grace of Christ Jesus.

Help me Lord to value your advocacy from sin.

I yearn to love You more in my heart and do Your will.

Give me Your Spirit to be my guide each day of my life, Amen.

Bismark Nobert Emali (see testimony in LandMarks, October 2010) is a student working on his Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Kenya. His life is a testimony to many. He is a keen Bible student. During school breaks he writes numerous articles as well as helping out at Three Angels’ Messages Evangelistic Ministry in Bunyore, Kenya. His mission is to evangelize in Africa. He may be contacted by email at: emalinobert@yahoo.com.

Bible Study Guides – Two Laws

January 9, 2018 by Reformation Herald Publishing

July 29, 2012 – August 4, 2012

The People of the Ark

Key Text

“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Galatians 3:24.

Study Help: Patriarchs and Prophets, 363–373.

Introduction

“[Galatians 3:24 quoted.] … The Holy Spirit through the apostle [Paul] is speaking especially of the moral law. The law reveals sin to us, and causes us to feel our need of Christ and to flee unto Him for pardon and peace by exercising repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 234.

1 THE ETERNAL MORAL LAW

What was one of the purposes for which Jesus came into the world? From what does He save us? Matthew 1:21. How can we recognize sin in our life? Romans 3:20; 7:7, 12; Psalm 19:7.

Note: “It was because the law was changeless, because man could be saved only through obedience to its precepts, that Jesus was lifted up on the cross.” The Desire of Ages, 763.

“By His [Christ’s] perfect obedience He has made it possible for every human being to obey God’s commandments.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 312.

“Without the law, men have no just conception of the purity and holiness of God or of their own guilt and uncleanness. They have no true conviction of sin and feel no need of repentance.” The Great Controversy, 468.

How did Christ relate to the moral law? Isaiah 42:21; Matthew 5:17–20, 27, 28; Luke 16:17, 18. What did Paul write about the moral law? Romans 2:12, 13, 17, 21–27; 3:31; 8:7.

Note: “Satan is seeking to destroy the force of the Ten Commandments, urging his agents to declare that Christ nailed them to His cross. The cross is an immutable argument of the unchangeable character of the law of God. Christ died in order that a way might be provided for saving the sinner, in meeting the demands of the broken law.” The Signs of the Times, March 12, 1896.

2 WHICH IS WHICH?

Which law is called “a schoolmaster,” and why? Galatians 3:24.

Note: “When the mind is drawn to the cross of Calvary, Christ by imperfect sight is discerned on the shameful cross. Why did He die? In consequence of sin. What is sin? The transgression of the law. Then the eyes are open to see the character of sin. The law is broken but cannot pardon the transgressor. It is our schoolmaster, condemning to punishment. Where is the remedy? The law drives us to Christ, who was hanged upon the cross that He might be able to impart His righteousness to fallen, sinful man.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 341.

“What law is the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ? I answer: Both the ceremonial and the moral code of ten commandments.

“Christ was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy. The death of Abel was in consequence of Cain’s refusing to accept God’s plan in the school of obedience to be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ typified by the sacrificial offerings pointing to Christ. Cain refused the shedding of blood which symbolized the blood of Christ to be shed for the world. This whole ceremony was prepared by God, and Christ became the foundation of the whole system. This is the beginning of its work as the schoolmaster to bring sinful human agents to a consideration of Christ the Foundation of the whole Jewish economy.

“All who did service in connection with the sanctuary were being educated constantly in regard to the intervention of Christ in behalf of the human race. This service was designed to create in every heart a love for the law of God, which is the law of His kingdom. The sacrificial offering was to be an object lesson of the love of God revealed in Christ—in the suffering, dying victim, who took upon Himself the sin of which man was guilty, the innocent being made sin for us.” Ibid., 233.

What does the Bible say about the ceremonial law? Ephesians 2:15; Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 10:1.

Note: “The ceremonial law was to answer a particular purpose in Christ’s plan for the salvation of the race. The typical system of sacrifices and offerings was established that through these services the sinner might discern the great offering, Christ.” The Faith I Live By, 106.

3 SHADOWS OF THINGS TO COME

Why did the ceremonial law—the shadow of future things—come to an end? Colossians 2:16, 17, 20; Hebrews 10:4; 9:11, 12, 15.

Note: “There are many who try to blend these two [legal] systems, using the texts that speak of the ceremonial law to prove that the moral law has been abolished; but this is a perversion of the Scriptures. The distinction between the two systems is broad and clear. The ceremonial system was made up of symbols pointing to Christ, to His sacrifice and His priesthood. This ritual law, with its sacrifices and ordinances, was to be performed by the Hebrews until type met antitype in the death of Christ, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Then all the sacrificial offerings were to cease. It is this law that Christ ‘took … out of the way, nailing it to His cross.’ Colossians 2:14.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 365.

“God’s people, whom He calls His peculiar treasure, were privileged with a two fold system of law; the moral and the ceremonial. The one, pointing back to creation to keep in remembrance the living God who made the world, whose claims are binding upon all men in every dispensation, and which will exist through all time and eternity. The other, given because of man’s transgression of the moral law, the obedience to which consisted in sacrifices and offerings pointing to the future redemption. Each is clear and distinct from the other.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 1094.

Who was among the first to offer an animal sacrifice, and what did this represent? Hebrews 11:4; John 1:29; Hebrews 9:28.

Note: “The typical service and the ceremonies connected with it were abolished at the cross. The great antitypical Lamb of God had become an offering for guilty man, and the shadow ceased in the substance.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 1061.

“Our Saviour, in His life and death, fulfilled all the prophecies pointing to Himself, and was the substance of all the types and shadows signified.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 231.

4 THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IN SYMBOLS

Why were animal sacrifices required? Hebrews 9:22; 10:10–14.

Note: “In the plan of redemption there must be the shedding of blood, for death must come in consequence of man’s sin. The beasts for sacrificial offerings were to prefigure Christ. In the slain victim, man was to see the fulfillment for the time being of God’s word, ‘Ye shall surely die’ [Genesis 2:17]. And the flowing of the blood from the victim would also signify an atonement.” The Review and Herald, March 3, 1874.

“The sacrificial offerings were ordained by God to be to man a perpetual reminder and a penitential acknowledgment of his sin and a confession of his faith in the promised Redeemer. They were intended to impress upon the fallen race the solemn truth that it was sin that caused death.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 68.

After the children of Israel had suffered under bondage in Egypt, what special service was introduced to be more specific in the representation of Jesus Christ? Leviticus 23:5; I Corinthians 5:7, 8.

Note: “It was Christ’s desire to leave to His disciples an ordinance that would do for them the very thing they needed—that would serve to disentangle them from the rites and ceremonies which they had hitherto engaged in as essential, and which the reception of the gospel made no longer of any force. To continue these rites would be an insult to Jehovah.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1139, 1140.

“He [Christ] kept the moral law, and exalted it by answering its claims as man’s representative. Those of Israel who turned to the Lord, and accepted Christ as the reality shadowed forth by the typical sacrifices, discerned the end of that which was to be abolished.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 231.

What was the blood of animals unable to accomplish? Hebrews 7:19; 10:4. How only is complete cleansing obtained? Acts 4:12.

5 DONE AWAY

On many occasions in the history of the Jewish nation, what was so very difficult for them to understand? Isaiah 1:11–15. Why? Isaiah 1:6. What did the early Christians therefore understand?

Note: “The Jews had prided themselves upon their divinely appointed services; and they concluded that as God once specified the Hebrew manner of worship, it was impossible that He should ever authorize a change in any of its specifications. They decided that Christianity must connect itself with the Jewish laws and ceremonies. They were slow to discern to the end of that which had been abolished by the death of Christ, and to perceive that all their sacrificial offerings had but prefigured the death of the Son of God, in which type had met its antitype rendering valueless the divinely appointed ceremonies and sacrifices of the Jewish religion. …

“He [Paul] knew that the typical ceremonies must soon altogether cease, since that which they had shadowed forth had come to pass, and the light of the gospel was shedding its glory upon the Jewish religion, giving a new significance to its ancient rites.” Sketches from the Life of Paul, 64, 65.

“[In Acts 15:13–29]. It was his [the apostle James’] sentence that the ceremonial law, and especially the ordinance of circumcision, be not in any wise urged upon the Gentiles, or even recommended to them.” Ibid., 69.

While the Jews used the sacrificial system as a license to sin, what type of sacrifices was God really seeking? Psalm 51:17–19; Isaiah 1:16–18.

Note: “Paul did not bind himself nor his converts to the ceremonies and customs of the Jews, with their varied forms, types, and sacrifices; for he recognized that the perfect and final offering had been made in the death of the Son of God. The age of clearer light and knowledge had now come. And although the early education of Paul had blinded his eyes to this light, and led him to bitterly oppose the work of God, yet the revelation of Christ to him while on his way to Damascus had changed the whole current of his life. His character and works had now become a remarkable illustration of those of his divine Lord. His teaching led the mind to a more active spiritual life, that carried the believer above mere ceremonies. …

“He preached the cross of Christ.” Sketches from the Life of Paul, 105.

REVIEW AND THOUGHT QUESTIONS

1 Why do we need to have a clear understanding of the principles of the Ten Commandments?

2 Why did the death of Christ make the entire ceremonial law no longer valid?

3 What are we actually doing if we continue to keep the ceremonial law—including the Passover—after the crucifixion?

4 Whose blood do we need in order to have actual cleansing from sin?

5 Because there are statutes directly connected to the ceremonial law, as well as to the moral law, which ones are we to study and implement today?

Extra Reading

“The Jews had become familiar with the offering of blood, and had almost lost sight of the fact that it was sin which made necessary all this shedding of the blood of beasts. They did not discern that it prefigured the blood of God’s dear Son, which was to be shed for the life of the world.” The Desire of Ages, 589, 590.

“The moral law was never a type or a shadow. It existed before man’s creation, and will endure as long as God’s throne remains. God could not change nor alter one precept of His law in order to save man; for the law is the foundation of His government. It is unchangeable, unalterable, infinite, and eternal. In order for man to be saved, and for the honor of the law to be maintained, it was necessary for the Son of God to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin. He who knew no sin became sin for us. He died for us on Calvary. His death shows the wonderful love of God for man, and the immutability of His law.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 239, 240.

“The Sabbath commandment was not nailed to the cross. If it was, the other nine commandments were; and we are at liberty to break them all, as well as to break the fourth. I saw that God had not changed the Sabbath, for He never changes.” Early Writings, 33.

“After Christ died on the cross as a sin offering, the ceremonial law could have no force. Yet it was connected with the moral law, and was glorious. The whole bore the stamp of divinity, and expressed the holiness, justice, and righteousness of God. And if the ministration of the dispensation to be done away was glorious, how much more must the reality be glorious, when Christ was revealed, giving His life-giving sanctifying Spirit to all who believe?” Lift Him Up, 147.

The Two Laws

November 27, 2017 by J.N. Andrews

“There is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things.” I Corinthians 8:6. From Him all beings derive their existence. He who creates and uphold has certainly the right to govern and control. Hence it is that He is represented in the Scriptures as the one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. (See James 4:23.) Existence being derived from the benevolence of the Creator, all intelligent creatures are amenable to His just government. Of all the creatures made by God to inhabit the earth, man alone is capable of learning the distinction of right and wrong; and he alone is placed under the control of moral law. Deriving his existence from a Being of infinite purity, he was himself once innocent, pure, and upright. He was the creature and the loyal subject of God, and God was the Author of his existence and his rightful Sovereign. But God did not present Himself to man in the position of a Saviour and redeemer; for man needed not pardon.

As a creature owing all to God, the author of his existence, it is self-evident that he was under the highest obligation to love Him with all of his heart. The existence of other human beings originates a second great obligation; viz., to love our neighbors as ourselves. This precept is also one of self-evident obligation; for others are equally the creatures of God with ourselves and have the same right that we also have. These two precepts are the sum of all moral law. They grow out of the fact that we owe all to God and that others are the creatures of God as well as ourselves.

In rendering obedience to the first of these two precepts, man could have no other god before the Lord; nor could he worship idols; neither could he speak the name of God in an irreverent manner; nor could he neglect the hallowed rest day of the Lord, which was set apart at Creation in memory of the Creator’s rest.

Equally evident is it that our duty toward our fellowmen comprehends our duty to our parents and the strictest regard to the life, chastity, property, character, and interests of others.

The moral Law, thus divided into two parts and drawn out and expressed in ten precepts, is of necessity unchangeable in its character. Its existence grows out of immutable relations which man sustains toward God and toward his fellowman. It is God’s great standard of right and, after man’s rebellion, the great test by which sin is shown.

Where shall we look for the record of such a moral code as we have noticed? In the earliest possible place in the Bible, certainly. And yet the book of Genesis contains no moral code whatever. How can this mystery be explained? A few facts will remove the difficulty. The book of Genesis was not written until about 2,500 years after the Creation. As it was written long after the patriarchs were dead, it could not have been a rule of life for them. It is a brief record of events that occurred during that period and contains several allusions to an existing moral code. But the book of Exodus, which brings the narrative down to the author’s own time, introduces this code under circumstances of the greatest solemnity. In this book is found the Law of God as given by Himself in person and written with His own finger on stone. Indeed, the evidence indicates that no part of the Bible was written until after the Ten Commandments had been spoken and written by God; consequently, that code is the earliest writing in existence.

Such was the origin of the moral Law, and such the character of its precepts. Its proclamation by god Himself, prior to His causing any part of the Bible to be written, sufficiently attests the estimate which he placed upon it. From its very nature, it exists as early as the principles of morality; indeed it is nothing but those principles expressed or written out. These principles do not owe their existence to the fall of man but to relations which existed prior to the fall.

But there is a system of laws that does owe its origin to sin, a system that could have had no existence had not man become a transgressor. The violation of moral law was that which gave existence to the law of rites and ceremonies, the shadow of good things to come. There could be no sacrifices for sin until man became a sinner. In Eden, there could be no types and shadows pointing forward to future redemption through the death of Christ; for man in his uprightness needed no such redemption. Nor did God place upon man before his fall the obligation of carnal ordinances, which look forward to the time of reformation; for man was innocent and free from guile. That it was the violation of moral Law that caused the fall of man, may be seen at a glance.

The motive set before Eve by Satan was that they should become as gods if they ate of that tree (see Genesis 3); and as Adam was not deceived (see I Timothy 2:13), it is evident that he chose to follow his wife rather than to obey the Lord; an open violation of the first commandment in each case.

A Second Law Introduced

When man had thus become a sinner and God had promised the means of his redemption, a second relation toward God was brought into existence. Man was a sinner, needing forgiveness; and God was a Saviour, offering pardon. It is plain, therefore, that the typical law, pointing forward to redemption through Christ, owes its origin to man’s rebellion and to God’s infinite benevolence. If man had not sinned, he would have needed no types of future redemption; and if God had not determined to give His Son to die, He would have instituted no typical system pointing forward to that great event. The existence of such a code, therefore, is in consequence of sin; its precepts are of a ceremonial nature, and its duration is necessarily limited by the great offering that could take away sin. From the fall of Adam till the tie of Moses, the typical system was gradually developed and matured; and from Moses’ time until the death of our Lord, it existed as the shadow of good things to come.

At Mount Sinai, as we have seen, God proclaimed the moral Law, speaking it with His own voice and writing it with His own finger. By His direction, the two tables on which the Law was written were placed in the Ark of the Covenant, which was made for the purpose of receiving it. (See Exodus 25:10–22; Deuteronomy 10:1–5.) This ark, containing the Law of God, was placed in the second apartment of the earthly sanctuary—the most holy place. (See Exodus 40; Hebrews 9.) The top of the ark was called the mercy seat, because man, who had broken the Law contained in the ark beneath the mercy seat, could find pardon by the sprinkling of the blood of atonement upon this place. The whole system of ceremonial law was ordained to enable man to approach again to this broken Law and to typify the restitution of the pardoned to their inheritance, and the destruction of the impenitent.

The Law within the ark was that which demanded an atonement; the ceremonial law, which ordained the Levitical priesthood and the sacrifices for sin, was that which taught men how the atonement could be made. The broken Law was beneath the mercy seat, the blood of sin offering was sprinkled upon its top, and pardon was extended to the penitent sinner. There was actual sin, hence a real Law which man had broken; but there was not a real atonement, hence the need of the great antitype of the Levitical sacrifices. The real atonement, when it is made, must relate to the Law respecting which an atonement had been shadowed forth. In other words, the shadowy atonement related to that Law which was shut up in the ark, indicating that a real atonement was demanded by the Law. It is necessary that the Law which demands atonement in order that its transgressor may be spared should itself be perfect, else the fault would in part, at least, rest on the Lawgiver and not wholly with the sinner. Hence the atonement, when made, does not take away the broken Law—for that is perfect—but is expressly designed to take away the guilt of the transgressor.

In the New Testament, we find the great antitype of all the offerings and sacrifices—the real atonement—as contrasted with the Levitical one. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the great sacrifice for sin, was the antitype of all the Levitical sacrifices. The priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the heavenly sanctuary is the great antitype of the Levitical priesthood. (See Hebrews 8.) The heavenly sanctuary itself is the great original after which the earthly one was patterned. (See Hebrews 9:23; Exodus 25:6, 9.) And the ark of God’s testament in the temple in Heaven (see Revelation 11:19) contains the great original of this Law. Thus we see under the new dispensation a real atonement instead of a shadowy one, a High Priest who needs not to offer for Himself a sacrifice which can avail before God, and that Law, which was broken by man, magnified and made honorable at the same time that God pardons the penitent sinner.

We shall find the New Testament to abound with references to the essential difference between these two codes and that the distinction in the New Testament is made as clear and obvious as it is made by the facts already noticed in the Old Testament.

Thus the one code is termed “the law of a carnal commandment” (Hebrews 7:16); and of the other, it is affirmed, “We know that the law is spiritual.” Romans 7:14. The one code is termed “the handwriting of ordinances” “which was contrary to us,” which was nailed to the cross and taken out of the way. (See Colossians 2:14.) The other code is “the Royal Law” which James affirms is a sin to transgress. (See Colossians 2:8–12.)

The first is a code of which “there was made of necessity a change.” Hebrews 7:12. The second is that Law of which Christ says, “Till heaven and earth pass; one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled.” Matthew 5:18. The one law was a “shadow of good things to come” (Hebrews 10:1), and was only imposed “until the time of reformation.” Hebrews 9:10. But the other was a moral code, of which it is said by John, “Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the Law; for sin is the transgression of the Law.” I John 3:4. The one is a yoke not able to be borne (see Acts 15:10); the other is that “Law of liberty” by which we shall be judged. (See James 2:8–12.) The one is that law which Christ abolished in His flesh (see Ephesians 2:15); the other is that Law which he did not come to destroy. (See Matthew 5:17.) The one is that law which He took out of the way at His death (See Colossians 2:14); the other is that Law which he came to magnify and make honorable. (See Isaiah 42:21.) The one was a law which was disannulled “for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof” (See Hebrews 7:18); the other is a Law respecting which He inquires; “Do we then make void the Law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the Law.” Romans 8:31. The one is that law which was the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles (see Ephesians 2:14); the other is that Law, the work of which even the Gentiles are said to have written in their hearts. (See Romans 2:12–15), and to which all mankind are amenable. (See Romans 8:19.)

The one is the law of commandments contained in ordinances (see Ephesians 2:15); the other Law is the commandments of God, which it is the whole duty of man to keep (see Ecclesiastes 12:13), which are brought to view by the Third Angel (see Revelation 14:12), which the remnant of the seed of the woman were keeping when the dragon made war upon them (see Revelation 12:17), and which will ensure, to those who observe them, access to the tree of life. (See Revelation 22:14.)

No Cause for Confusion

Surely, these two codes should not be confounded. The one was magnified, made honorable, established, and is holy, just, spiritual, good, and royal; the other was carnal, shadowy, burdensome, and was abolished, broken down, taken out of the way, nailed to the cross, changed, and disannulled on account of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

Those who rightly divide the word of truth will never confound these essentially different codes, nor will they apply to God’s royal Law the language employed respecting the handwriting of ordinances.

That the Ten Commandments are a perfect code of themselves, appears from several facts:

God spake them with His own voice; and it is said, “He added no more” (see Deuteronomy 5:22), as evincing that He had given a complete code.
He wrote them alone on two tables with His own finger, another incidental proof that this was a complete moral code.
He caused these alone to be placed under the mercy seat, an evident proof that this was the code that made an atonement necessary.
He expressly calls what He thus wrote on the tables of stone, a law and commandments. (See Exodus 24:12.)

The precepts of this Law are variously interspersed through the books of Moses and mingled with the precepts of the ceremonial law. The sum of the first table is given in Deuteronomy 6:5 and that of the second in Leviticus 19:18, but there is only one place in which the moral Law is drawn out in particulars and given by itself with no ceremonial law mixed with it; that is in the Ten Commandments.

An examination of the royal Law in James 2 and of the handwriting of ordinances in Colossians 2 will further illustrate this subject; the one is in force in every respect, while the other is abolished.

“If ye fulfill the royal Law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well; but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the Law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the Law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the Law of liberty.” James 2:8–12.

Both Laws had Sabbaths

The Law here brought to view is an unabolished Law; for it convinces men of sin who transgress it.
It is an Old Testament Law—it is taken from the Scriptures.
The second division of the Law is quoted because he was reproving sin committed toward our fellowmen; hence he takes the second of the two great commandments, the sum of the second table (see Matthew 23:36, 40; Romans 13:9), and cites his illustration from the second table of stone.
His language shows that the Ten Commandments are the precepts of the Royal Law, for he cites them in illustrating the statement that he who violates one precept becomes guilty of all. This is a most solemn warning against the violation of any one of the Ten Commandments.
He testifies that whoever violates one of the precepts of this code becomes guilty of breaking the whole code.
Last of all, he testifies that this Law of liberty shall be the rule in the Judgment. The unabolished Law of James is therefore that code which God gave in person and wrote with His own finger.

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.” “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Colossians 2:14, 16, 17. If this handwriting of ordinances is the same as the Royal Law of James, then Paul and James directly contradict each other. But they wrote by inspiration, and each wrote the truth of God. We have seen that James’ unabolished Law refers directly to the Ten Commandments. Hence it is certain that the law which Paul shows to be abolished does not refer to that which was written with the finger of God. It is to be noticed that the code which is done away with was a shadow extending only to the death of Christ. But we have already seen that the Law shut up in the ark was not a shadow but the very code that made it necessary that the Saviour should die. Not one of the things abolished in this chapter can be claimed as referring to the Ten Commandments, except the term Sabbaths; for the term holyday is, literally, feast day, and there were three feasts appointed by God in each year. (See Exodus 23:14.) The term Sabbath is plural in the original. To refer this to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is to make Paul contradict James. What are the facts in this case?

The ceremonial law did ordain at least four annual Sabbaths; viz., the 1st, 10th, 16th, and 23rd days of the seventh month. These were besides the Sabbath of the Lord and were associated with the new moons and feast days. (See Leviticus 23:23–39.) These exactly assure Paul’s language. Hence it is not necessary to make Paul contradict James.
But the Sabbath of the Lord was “set apart to a holy use” (this being the literal meaning of sanctify) in Eden. It was “made for man” before he had fallen. Hence it is not one of the things against him and contrary to him, taken out of the way at Christ’s death.
The Sabbath of the Lord was not a shadow pointing forward to the death of Christ; for it was ordained before the Fall. On the contrary, it stands as a memorial pointing backward to Creation, not as a shadow pointing forward to redemption.

It is plain, therefore, that the abrogation of the handwriting of ordinances leaves in full force every precept of the Royal Law, and also that the law of shadows pointing forward to the death of Christ must expire when that event should occur. The moral Law was that which caused the Saviour to lay down His life for us. Its sacredness may be judged by the fact that God gave His only Son to take its curse upon Himself and to die for our transgressions.