Do we really need to keep the moral law of God?
God gave us many laws and people imagine that they were all done away with at the Cross because of this--
Rom_6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
And this...
Gal_5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
People will happily throw those verses in our faces and say- "See, you don't have to keep the ten commandments any longer."
Yet, I have to ask them if sin still exists. Of course they look at me kind of oddly, as if I'm asking them a trick question. I'm really not asking them a trick question at all. I repeat the question, "Does sin still exist?
And of course they have no choice but to answer truthfully, because to do otherwise would be ludicrous. They say, "Yes, it still exists."
I nod a little and then smile just a little too, because they just disproved their own belief that the moral law no longer exists. Taking it a step further I ask another question, "How do you know sin still exists?"
You can imagine they're getting a little bit exasperated at this point, but I persist with my imploring stare, I really want their answer.
"Just look around you. People sin all the time. We sin all the time, even if we don't want to and repent of that sin. We lie, and of course there are murders and people stealing all the time, the newspapers are filled with those events. Of course sin still exists."
There answer is truthful because there are murders, and robberies, and all sorts of sinning that is very apparent in our lives. Again, I nod and yet this time there is no little smile, this really isn't amusing in any sort of way. With a sigh I then ask another question. "How do you know those things are sins? Murder, lying, stealing, how do we now what sin is?"
This time they have to pause for a moment or two. The just because answer isn't something I will accept and they know this. You have to have a real reason for something being a sin, yes? I could say eating chocolate is a sin, does that make it a sin? No. But I can agree that murder is a sin and it would be truthful for a reason, not just because I said it's a sin.
Instead of waiting for them to give me their answer I supply one, it isn't about causing them to squirm. "The Bible tells us this, 1Jn_3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. The Word of God tells us that sin is the transgression of the law. So the only way for us to no longer have to keep the moral law of God is to believe that sin no longer exists. Because if the law doesn't exist sin doesn't exist, they go hand in hand with each other. If you are among those who dont' believe anything is a sin, that there is such a thing as a moral law, that people are either bad or good on their own, well I can't force anyone to believe in God. However if you lay claim to believing in God and believing in His Word then you simply cannot believe that the moral law no longer exists. Our Savior Himself magnified the moral law. He put it under a microscope and revealed its deeper meaning to those who had forgotten the heart of the moral law. Jesus said not only is it wrong to murder, it's wrong to get mad at one another without just cause. Here, read it for yourself-
Mat 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Do you see how our Savior magnified the law! He took the heart of that commandment and said, "Hey, it's not just about murder, it's about all that can lead up to murder and that stuff that leads up to that murder is sin too! Getting angry without a just cause is sin. Calling someone a fool wrongfully, is sin. Speaking out against someone calling them worthless is a sin!"
And all sin is worthy of what?
Rom_6:23 For the wages of sin is death
The penalty of sin is death.
Our Savior knew this and didn't want us to sin.
Remember this spoken to the woman found guilty of adultery yet spared by death by the Savior--
Joh_8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Go and sin no more.
Sin no more.
She was guilty, but He forgave her of that guilt and then told her to STOP sinning.
So if sin still exists that means the moral law still exists and we don't get to pick and choose which parts of the moral law we are obligated towards, we are NOT God, it's not OUR law we are following, but HIS. We can't sit back and say, "Let's keep this one, this one is okay, but hey, let's get rid of this one here because it's just silly."
The moral law is the same law that was placed in the Ark of the Covenant beneath the Mercy Seat in the Most Holy Place of the Temple. There were only TEN laws written upon those stone tablets, yet many, many ceremonial laws, dietary laws, and other laws were given to the people, but only TEN were given HOLY placement in the Ark of the Covenant. Jesus kept every single one of those Ten Moral Laws and we know this because He remained SINLESS! He could have sinned- read this--
Heb_4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus was tempted to sin just like we are, and if sin didn't exist He couldn't be tempted. If He came to do away with the law that can be transgressed to cause sin, then He couldn't have been tempted. If no law existed, no sinning exists. If sin exists the law exists to transgress. It's really logical when you look at more than just the fanciful notions of what you want to believe so you can sin without guilt. Just because man has chosen to take a few verses and twist them, rather than study the Bible as a whole and get into the heart of the matter, doesn't mean they're right.
Our Savior did NOT come to do away with the law, but to show it can be kept, that is it holy, it is just, it is all things good. What He came to do away with was the need for man to offer animal sacrifices thinking those sacrifices offered them forgiveness without any real need for repentance. They'd turned sinning and sacrificing into a business, and the heart of the message had been lost. Our Savior came and He became the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE for our sins. He did NOT come and say sin no longer exists, but offered a way to overcome through HIM. Read the following and tell me if the Apostle Paul thought sin no longer existed-
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 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.
Our Savior delivers us! Our Savior makes forgiveness possible! Forgiveness for transgressing the moral law He gave us, because sin is all about transgressing that law! And our SAVIOR came to tell us that the LAW means to LOVE GOD and to LOVE OUR FELLOW MAN. Anything that is not done from that love, anything that is done to God or others that is NOT loving is SIN. Jesus MAGNIFIED the law, He took the law and revealed its TRUTH. Not only are we not to murder we are not to do ANYTHING selfishly against another person, not even call them a fool. So if you think it's fine to harm someone just because there is not- Thou shalt not pinch your neighbor- or abuse your wife- or disrespect your husband- think again. Jesus covered it all when He took the moral law, the Ten Commandments and magnified them- revealed them in their fullness. He did not do away with a single commandment. Even the Sabbath commandment He said this--
Mar_2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath
He revealed that it is STILL a moral commandment, just not one that was twisted by mankind into something it was never meant to be.
Doing good on the Sabbath is a wonderful thing, and when the priests put such strictures on the Sabbath that even doing good was forbidden, Jesus knew He had to magnify the truth of the Sabbath as well, HE DID NOT DO AWAY WITH THE SABBATH!
So, do we live under a law? We live under a moral law by the GRACE of our SAVIOR, the same moral law HE lived under and kept while He walked the earth admonishing others to sin no more. He didn't tell them sin would no longer exist, but that they were to sin no more, and the only way they could sin was if there was a law to transgress.
Please LORD help us to fully comprehend YOUR truth.
We know that Satan would have us follow HIS truth, not YOURS. Satan wants us to follow his twisted, distorted ways that so closely resemble the truth we can scarcely tell the difference. But the differences become apparent through the grace and mercy of the Holy Spirit enlightening us to Your Will. Please, let us always want to know and do YOUR will, not our own, not anyone else's.
Help us to know Your Way and follow in the Way.
Without You we can do NOTHING.
In YOUR love SAVIOR, may we live all by YOUR grace and mercy!
God gave us many laws and people imagine that they were all done away with at the Cross because of this--
Rom_6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
And this...
Gal_5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
People will happily throw those verses in our faces and say- "See, you don't have to keep the ten commandments any longer."
Yet, I have to ask them if sin still exists. Of course they look at me kind of oddly, as if I'm asking them a trick question. I'm really not asking them a trick question at all. I repeat the question, "Does sin still exist?
And of course they have no choice but to answer truthfully, because to do otherwise would be ludicrous. They say, "Yes, it still exists."
I nod a little and then smile just a little too, because they just disproved their own belief that the moral law no longer exists. Taking it a step further I ask another question, "How do you know sin still exists?"
You can imagine they're getting a little bit exasperated at this point, but I persist with my imploring stare, I really want their answer.
"Just look around you. People sin all the time. We sin all the time, even if we don't want to and repent of that sin. We lie, and of course there are murders and people stealing all the time, the newspapers are filled with those events. Of course sin still exists."
There answer is truthful because there are murders, and robberies, and all sorts of sinning that is very apparent in our lives. Again, I nod and yet this time there is no little smile, this really isn't amusing in any sort of way. With a sigh I then ask another question. "How do you know those things are sins? Murder, lying, stealing, how do we now what sin is?"
This time they have to pause for a moment or two. The just because answer isn't something I will accept and they know this. You have to have a real reason for something being a sin, yes? I could say eating chocolate is a sin, does that make it a sin? No. But I can agree that murder is a sin and it would be truthful for a reason, not just because I said it's a sin.
Instead of waiting for them to give me their answer I supply one, it isn't about causing them to squirm. "The Bible tells us this, 1Jn_3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. The Word of God tells us that sin is the transgression of the law. So the only way for us to no longer have to keep the moral law of God is to believe that sin no longer exists. Because if the law doesn't exist sin doesn't exist, they go hand in hand with each other. If you are among those who dont' believe anything is a sin, that there is such a thing as a moral law, that people are either bad or good on their own, well I can't force anyone to believe in God. However if you lay claim to believing in God and believing in His Word then you simply cannot believe that the moral law no longer exists. Our Savior Himself magnified the moral law. He put it under a microscope and revealed its deeper meaning to those who had forgotten the heart of the moral law. Jesus said not only is it wrong to murder, it's wrong to get mad at one another without just cause. Here, read it for yourself-
Mat 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Do you see how our Savior magnified the law! He took the heart of that commandment and said, "Hey, it's not just about murder, it's about all that can lead up to murder and that stuff that leads up to that murder is sin too! Getting angry without a just cause is sin. Calling someone a fool wrongfully, is sin. Speaking out against someone calling them worthless is a sin!"
And all sin is worthy of what?
Rom_6:23 For the wages of sin is death
The penalty of sin is death.
Our Savior knew this and didn't want us to sin.
Remember this spoken to the woman found guilty of adultery yet spared by death by the Savior--
Joh_8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Go and sin no more.
Sin no more.
She was guilty, but He forgave her of that guilt and then told her to STOP sinning.
So if sin still exists that means the moral law still exists and we don't get to pick and choose which parts of the moral law we are obligated towards, we are NOT God, it's not OUR law we are following, but HIS. We can't sit back and say, "Let's keep this one, this one is okay, but hey, let's get rid of this one here because it's just silly."
The moral law is the same law that was placed in the Ark of the Covenant beneath the Mercy Seat in the Most Holy Place of the Temple. There were only TEN laws written upon those stone tablets, yet many, many ceremonial laws, dietary laws, and other laws were given to the people, but only TEN were given HOLY placement in the Ark of the Covenant. Jesus kept every single one of those Ten Moral Laws and we know this because He remained SINLESS! He could have sinned- read this--
Heb_4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus was tempted to sin just like we are, and if sin didn't exist He couldn't be tempted. If He came to do away with the law that can be transgressed to cause sin, then He couldn't have been tempted. If no law existed, no sinning exists. If sin exists the law exists to transgress. It's really logical when you look at more than just the fanciful notions of what you want to believe so you can sin without guilt. Just because man has chosen to take a few verses and twist them, rather than study the Bible as a whole and get into the heart of the matter, doesn't mean they're right.
Our Savior did NOT come to do away with the law, but to show it can be kept, that is it holy, it is just, it is all things good. What He came to do away with was the need for man to offer animal sacrifices thinking those sacrifices offered them forgiveness without any real need for repentance. They'd turned sinning and sacrificing into a business, and the heart of the message had been lost. Our Savior came and He became the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE for our sins. He did NOT come and say sin no longer exists, but offered a way to overcome through HIM. Read the following and tell me if the Apostle Paul thought sin no longer existed-
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 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.
Our Savior delivers us! Our Savior makes forgiveness possible! Forgiveness for transgressing the moral law He gave us, because sin is all about transgressing that law! And our SAVIOR came to tell us that the LAW means to LOVE GOD and to LOVE OUR FELLOW MAN. Anything that is not done from that love, anything that is done to God or others that is NOT loving is SIN. Jesus MAGNIFIED the law, He took the law and revealed its TRUTH. Not only are we not to murder we are not to do ANYTHING selfishly against another person, not even call them a fool. So if you think it's fine to harm someone just because there is not- Thou shalt not pinch your neighbor- or abuse your wife- or disrespect your husband- think again. Jesus covered it all when He took the moral law, the Ten Commandments and magnified them- revealed them in their fullness. He did not do away with a single commandment. Even the Sabbath commandment He said this--
Mar_2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath
He revealed that it is STILL a moral commandment, just not one that was twisted by mankind into something it was never meant to be.
Doing good on the Sabbath is a wonderful thing, and when the priests put such strictures on the Sabbath that even doing good was forbidden, Jesus knew He had to magnify the truth of the Sabbath as well, HE DID NOT DO AWAY WITH THE SABBATH!
So, do we live under a law? We live under a moral law by the GRACE of our SAVIOR, the same moral law HE lived under and kept while He walked the earth admonishing others to sin no more. He didn't tell them sin would no longer exist, but that they were to sin no more, and the only way they could sin was if there was a law to transgress.
Please LORD help us to fully comprehend YOUR truth.
We know that Satan would have us follow HIS truth, not YOURS. Satan wants us to follow his twisted, distorted ways that so closely resemble the truth we can scarcely tell the difference. But the differences become apparent through the grace and mercy of the Holy Spirit enlightening us to Your Will. Please, let us always want to know and do YOUR will, not our own, not anyone else's.
Help us to know Your Way and follow in the Way.
Without You we can do NOTHING.
In YOUR love SAVIOR, may we live all by YOUR grace and mercy!
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