Being Identified By the Ten Commandments

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Pariah

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Nov 10, 2007
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One must bring the topic to bear as the Ten Commandments are toted as something to follow by. Was the law done away with? No. But it is HOW we are IDENTIFIED as His. So let us look at the scriptures regarding the Law.Matthew 5: 17Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Luke 24: 44And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48And ye are witnesses of these things. 49And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. 50And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. 52And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law so the Ten Commandments are replaced by two commandments for the believers.1 John 3: 22And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 23And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.Love one another is the fulfillment of the law for the believer to live by as Christ has fulfilled all obligations of the Law for us in saving us.Romans 13: 7Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. 8Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.Make no mistake. To seek to obtain righteousness by the deeds of the Law, that is not submitting to the righteousness of God by faith.Romans 10: 2For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. 5For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. Romans 10: 19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 27Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Since no flesh shall glory in His presence, no one should be identified by the works of the Law; not even the Ten Commandments for that is a boast in the flesh of man. It is His righteousness that justifies us and the just shall live by faith; not by the Ten Commandments; but by faith in Him and all His promises to us.Philippians 3: 1Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. 2Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 3For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. 4Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: 5Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; So believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ for He fulfilled the law in saving us thus we are identified as His by faith as well as in living our christian life in loving one another thus to love one another is the fulfilling of the Law as Christ enables us by faith also. We are no longer identified as His by the Ten Commandments. We are identified as His by faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.
 

Dunamite

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Nov 15, 2007
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Law keeping results in legalism and pride. Yes, the law is good and perfect, but we are not. When we seek to keep the law then sin is inevitable.Hebrews 8:7For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8But God found fault with the people and said: "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 9It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. 10This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." 13By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.Ezekiel 36: 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.We live under a new covenant. The old one has been made obsolete as the passage in Hebrews states. It isn't a question of the two covenant's living alongside one another. The second has replaced the first.Tablets of stone have been replaced by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. By obeying the Holy Spirit we obey God. We keep his laws without having to learn the Ten Commandments. Otherwise the early Gentiles would have had to learn Hebrew and the Torah to be obedient. They didn't. God had a new plan and a better way.Paul tells us not to let anyone condemn you for what day you worship God. Is Paul counseling us to break one of the Ten Commandments? No. He is saying that we need to obey the Holy Spirit, not memorize laws. He says these things are now a matter of conscience between the believer and God.Romans 12: 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.Romans 14: 5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. Colossians 2: 16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Most people believe in the new covenant and our new relationship we have in Christ. But some mistakenly also believe that they can make God love them more by keeping his statutes. Many people see this as only the Mosaic dietary laws and ritual cleansing. But Paul is lumping the Sabbath law which is found in the Ten Commandments with dietary laws. It is all the same to him.Paul knows better to try to keep laws. He knows that in trying to keep them we only bring disappointment to us and God because we will break them. The law exists to show sin. Legalists see the Holy Spirit as a mere adjunct, an add-on to make us stronger so that we can bee law keepers. They forget who the Holy Spirit is. He is God. If we think that listening to him is insufficient then we are judging God and saying that he is not enough.The law has lots of nuances to it. Jesus made fun of the teachers of the law for their spiritual blindness. The law blinded them. They took it so literally that they had no heart. They in turn condemned Jesus and his disciples for breaking the law. This is because they missed to point of the law which was to make us better people, to glorify God through our actions. To this end Jesus repeatedly broke the letter of the Sabbath law to keep the spirit of God's intentions. Why? Because he knew the heart of God.And we can know the heart of God by listening to the Holy Spirit. We can never know the heart of God by keeping external statutes written in stone.Paul's letter to the Galatians is very good on this subject. The Galatians were being manipulated by Judasizers who wanted to turn the Christian church back to its Jewish roots. This is also the theme of the book of Hebrews.Galatians 3: 1You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? 5Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?10All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.24So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.Read that last sentence twice.Blessings,Dunamite