Happy Ten Commandments Weekend to all!

Here is wishing that all had a very blessed Ten Commandments Weekend spiritual focus.

BTW - I have noticed that Sproul, D.J Kennedy, Swindoll, Stanley etc all have very positive things to say about God's Ten Commandments.

(And of course I have quoted D.L Moody's strong support for God's Ten Commandments on this board so many times - I am hesitant to do it again)

In Mark 7 we find Christ referring to them as "The Word of God"


Mark 7
6 And He said to them, ""Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: " THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS[/b], BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.
7 " BUT [b]IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'
8 ""Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.''[/b]
9 He was also saying to them, ""You are experts at setting aside the commandment of Godin order to keep your tradition.[/b]
10 ""For Moses said, " HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER[/b]'; and, " HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER, IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH';
11 but you say, "If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),'
12 you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother;
13 thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.''

In Romans 3 we see the fact that NT saints affirm them -


Rom 3
31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

So the question for the group is - did you have any special focus on this topic this weekend at your church?

In Christ,

Bob

 

Matt 5 appears to agree with the Mark 7 statement of Christ above -

Matt 5
17 ""Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets[/b]; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
18 ""For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law[/b] until all is accomplished.
19 ""[b]Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same[/b], shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them[/b], he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 ""For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Thought questions -

#1. Why point to a far distant "Until heaven and earth pass away"?
#2. When Christ argues that "your righteousness must exceed" that of the Jewish leaders - is righteousness really "conformity" to the Law of God in obedience to it -- or is it defined as "rebellion against God's Law"??
#3. When Christ argues that not the least bit of the law has changed and that those who teach such things are wrong - is He just stating that as being true in His day "pre-cross" or does He mean "until Heaven and Earth Pass Away" and all is completed?
#4. If He just means "in his day - pre-cross" then what about John 14 "IF you Love Me KEEP My Commandments" is this the same "unchanged set" that does not weaken even in one iota - that He speaks of in Matt 5??

Things to think about.

In Christ,

Bob

 

Let us say for example that "law keeping" is analagous to parenting "train up a child in the way he should go".

So that we might say "I am trying to be a perfect parent as I walk in the Spirit with Christ - dying daily and submitting to His Will. But I fail and so God makes up for my deficiency through the merits of Christ and He is Himself a loving Father to my children - far exceeding my ability to perfectly raise them".

All well and good - but what if my outward response then is to beat and abuse and neglect my children using God's role as an "excuse" to say "I need not worry about being a good parent anymore - after all God is doing that perfectly as their heavenly Father".

In 2John 2 John states that those who claim to know Christ and do not walk as He walked - do not keep His Commandments - are lying.

In Christ,

Bob

 

God does tell his people to rejoice in it and to write it on the door posts etc. :jesus:

But I would not call that a "commandment" to have a national day for the Ten Commandments.

The Chicago Tribune did an article about some SDAs opposing it - I say they got misquoted.:tear:

BTW I went to the Ten Commandments Comission website to see if I could find those dirty rotten SDAs promoting this and all I found was this --
http://www.tencommandmentsday.com/commission.php

In Christ,

Bob

 

Hmmm. So you are saying you would oppose something EVEN if SDAs were not behind it??!!

Sounds kinda suspicious to me.

Hmm - we need to "get the Word out".

We will tell them to "stop talking about the parts of God's Word that don't matter".

It is a good thing to ignore the parts of God's Word that defame the name of Christ -- I agree!!:sleeping_2:


In Christ,

Bob

 

To summ up all the statements on this page - I think the Words of the Apostle Paul say it best --


Rom 3
31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

 

More NT to ignore --

Matt 19:17 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

Christ condemns those who would break “the Commandments” of God for the sake of man-made tradition – and this is done while speaking to Jewish leaders and referencing the 5th commandment!

Christ’s followers continue to keep the Sabbath commandment and so we can see that they were obeying His command that they should “Love Me and Keep My Commandments” John 14:15 (which in fact is quoting from the 3rd commandment in Exodus 20)

Why do the Gospel writers take such care to teach us what Christ commanded them?

Here again we see the NT writers doing that very thing – as they tell us PRIMARILY of the Words and Teaching of Christ PRE-Cross!

 

In fact when it comes to the NT writers and the Commandments of God - you have to ask yourself if you are really "ignoring enough of the NT"!

Here are more candidates to be ignored

I Jn 5:2-3
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Rev 12:17
17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Rev 14:12
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Rev 22:14
14[b] Blessed are they that do his commandments,[/b] that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

I Jn 2:3-4
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1 Corinthians 7:19
Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.


Ok - well then go ahead and read the WHOLE Bible "if you must".

In Christ,

Bob