We live in a world full of iniquity. Today, we are desensitized to any moral thing. Human life seems to have no value today. Everywhere I look we are killing each other, even our kids are killing kids. In the beginning God gave 1o simple commandments. I wonder how many know what they are today. When we remove God from our lives, we open the door to the enemy who fills our lives with inequity. We are called to live like Jesus. We are called to be His disciples and to love our enemies. I have to say today’s culture makes this very, very hard to do. We lack morality.
Heading home today, a car full of teenagers made a left hand turn directly in front of my Silverado. As the driver did this, they all laughed about it. It wasn’t funny, not in the least. I just missed a car load of teenagers who clearly had no value for human life, not ours and not theirs. My truck likely weighed 2 times their vehicle. It is not speed that kills but the difference in speed that kills. In the heat of that moment, it was very difficult to say “forgive them Lord”. I slammed on my brakes and just missed them. It wasn’t until later I asked that they be forgiven, and that the Lord bless them.
Had I hit them, I may very easily have killed the driver and severely injured the 3 others in the vehicle. I really wanted to jump out of my truck and give them a life lesson. Because there was no one behind us (so no reason for what they did), I did linger there for a moment before I continued on. It was only by the spirit of my God that I remained in my vehicle. I could literally feel the power of God keeping me in my truck. There is a battle within me. I am struggling to love in the world we live in today. The struggle is real but being obedient to His word is worth it. He blesses me time and time again.
1 Blessed [is] the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight [is] in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
Psalm 1:1-3 NKJV
The 10 Commandments List, Short Form
Credit Life Hope and Truth Website for the list and the associated videos. Each link below will take you to an educational video regarding these commandments.
- You shall have no other gods before Me.
- You shall not make idols.
- You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
- Honor your father and your mother.
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- You shall not covet.
All you have to do is look at the list to see how far we have walked away from God.
Not Under The Law Mindset
34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:34-35 NKJV
It has always bothered me to hear people say “we are not under the law, that is Old Testament”. The other is when I hear “Jesus only gave us one commandment and that is to love one another.”
Well, okay while Jesus came to fulfill the law He did so to keep us all from the second death. His redeeming us with His blood doesn’t negate the fact that we should live holy. What He did was cover our sin with His blood so that we would be able to stand righteous before God. The truth is we were NEVER under the law, because the law was written for the Israelites not the Gentiles. Unless you are of Jewish decent, you are a Gentile.
11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh–who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:11-13 NKJV
See, without Jesus we have no promises, no blessings, no hope and no covenant with God. Without Jesus, there is no doubt in my mind I would have gotten out of my vehicle today.
Jesus fulfilled the law at the cross so now we All fall under the New covenant. It is true, we are not under the law and we are covered by the grace of God. However, 9 of the 10 commandments have been repeated in the New Testament and the 4th commandment is implied (Mark 2:27-28), which means we are still required to live as God spoke on Mt Sinai. So don’t kid yourselves, you can’t live like the devil and not be subject to what those who would like to make excuses for their behavior would call “the law”.
YES, Jesus abolished the law given to the Israelites (this was much more then the Ten Commandments), but He also gave us those same commandments, either spoken of by Him or given to the apostles through His Holy Spirit to give us to live by, not to be judged by, but to live by. He is our advocate who stands before God making intercession for us. We should strive to hit the mark every day. — Here’s a little bit of trivia for you to sin in both the Hebrew and the Greek means to miss the mark.
If you study and summarize the Ten Commandments what you will come to realize is that the first four are related to Loving God and the last six are relating to loving people.
36 “Teacher, which [is] the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 “This is [the] first and great commandment. 39 “And [the] second [is] like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Mat 22:36-40 NKJV
Jesus didn’t say “ I give you One Commandment”, He said “A “new” commandment, I give you, that you love one another…”. But this was always a commandment, now He adds, “as I have loved you”. So While Love is a commandment He gave, what He gave us here is a new kind of Love when He said “as I have loved you”. What He is saying is we should be willing to lay down our lives to keep people from going to hell, because that is exactly what He did for us!
34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
John 13:34 NKJV
10 Commandments Old Testament to New Testament Scriptures:
If we love Jesus we will keep these commandments and that love becomes the driving force that gives us the ability to keep those commandments. That love gives us the desire to decrease so that He can increase. If we strive to love like Jesus our sin will disappoint us and drive us and drive us to repentance. If we didn’t have these commandments what would convict us of our sin? These commandments kept me in my vehicle today.
