From the first day of the fall of mankind we have continued on a downward spiral. We all have fallen from our original image and glory, of which we were created. The Ten Commandments are a reflection of that image. That image that it reflects is holy and righteous and we’re not. So what does the Ten Commandments do to one who is unholy? It kills them…
The Ten Commandments were meant to bring life, but because of sin, it brought death.
Romans 7:8-13 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
Once we understand and accept the fact that we are sinners and we can’t escape from this condition we are able to die to ourselves. Though the law was meant to bring life, it brings death because of sin.
No one can keep the law of God the way God requires it to be kept and God know this but the problem is, we don’t.
Jesus magnified the law when He raised the bar to it’s true meaning in that the law is spiritual.
Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
In other words, you may be keeping the law outwardly but God looks at the heart.
Matthew 5:27-28 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, `You shall not commit adultery.' "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Now tell me, who is without sin?
Even today whether SDA, Catholic, Jehovah Witness or pagan, who is without sin?
Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Once we are able to come to this understanding and God is able to bring death to the old man. Then and only then can we truly come alive and see the law in it's true light.
This death releases us from the law’s ministry of death and condemnation to serve in newness of life. The grace of God is seen in the fact that He is not counting our sin against us. Do we now sin because God is not counting our sin against us?
Romans 6:1-16 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?
Shall we continue to sin now that we are no longer under the law but under grace? No way. In other words, we have been released from that aspect of the law that reveals our hopeless condition so that we may keep the law without fear of guilt and condemnation for past sins done in the old man. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
God does all this because He loves us. He knows that in our present condition we are without hope in the world. He knows we are but dust. We are dead in our trespasses and sins we just don’t know it. The law points this out but it doesn’t stop there. The law also points us to Christ because it reveals our hopeless need.
What we see in Christ is righteousness of which the law requires. When we come to realize our need for righteousness, Christ is able to give it to us freely. Until then He can not.
The righteousness of Christ brings an end to the law as a means to be made right before God, which is something we could never do ourselves.
Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
The end of the law for righteousness, not the end of the law as an expression of love.
We will always have sin dwelling in us until that great and glorious day. There is nothing we can do about that. But thanks be to Christ.
Romans 7:15-25 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 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. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 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.
We will always struggle with sin, this is a good thing because sin is part of our nature so where there is no struggle, there is no Spirit of God working.
In my mind I love the law of God and try to keep it because of this love but in my flesh I struggle to do this and at times I fall. But thanks be to Jesus who is my Advocate and my Savior I can give it to God and He is faithful to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
So you see, the law has not been done away with but our relationship to the law has changed. It went from a ministry of death and condemnation, regarding the old man, to becoming a delight to the inward man. So blessed is the man who God does not count his sins against him.
Psalms 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered.
So where is our confidence? Where is our hope? Is it in the keeping of the law?
Romans 8:29-39 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ho shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.'' Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Where is our hope and where is our life? Where is our love?
1 John 5:1-3 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
Love is the only thing that makes an unpleasant thing not a burden. We are a sinful people so the law of God will be unpleasant.
Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
But not for those who have been born of God, through Jesus the Christ, and who love God. This is the new covenant and the new living way. God forgives our sin and writes His law in our heart.
The Ten Commandments were meant to bring life, but because of sin, it brought death.
Romans 7:8-13 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
Once we understand and accept the fact that we are sinners and we can’t escape from this condition we are able to die to ourselves. Though the law was meant to bring life, it brings death because of sin.
No one can keep the law of God the way God requires it to be kept and God know this but the problem is, we don’t.
Jesus magnified the law when He raised the bar to it’s true meaning in that the law is spiritual.
Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
In other words, you may be keeping the law outwardly but God looks at the heart.
Matthew 5:27-28 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, `You shall not commit adultery.' "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Now tell me, who is without sin?
Even today whether SDA, Catholic, Jehovah Witness or pagan, who is without sin?
Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Once we are able to come to this understanding and God is able to bring death to the old man. Then and only then can we truly come alive and see the law in it's true light.
This death releases us from the law’s ministry of death and condemnation to serve in newness of life. The grace of God is seen in the fact that He is not counting our sin against us. Do we now sin because God is not counting our sin against us?
Romans 6:1-16 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?
Shall we continue to sin now that we are no longer under the law but under grace? No way. In other words, we have been released from that aspect of the law that reveals our hopeless condition so that we may keep the law without fear of guilt and condemnation for past sins done in the old man. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
God does all this because He loves us. He knows that in our present condition we are without hope in the world. He knows we are but dust. We are dead in our trespasses and sins we just don’t know it. The law points this out but it doesn’t stop there. The law also points us to Christ because it reveals our hopeless need.
What we see in Christ is righteousness of which the law requires. When we come to realize our need for righteousness, Christ is able to give it to us freely. Until then He can not.
The righteousness of Christ brings an end to the law as a means to be made right before God, which is something we could never do ourselves.
Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
The end of the law for righteousness, not the end of the law as an expression of love.
We will always have sin dwelling in us until that great and glorious day. There is nothing we can do about that. But thanks be to Christ.
Romans 7:15-25 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 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. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 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.
We will always struggle with sin, this is a good thing because sin is part of our nature so where there is no struggle, there is no Spirit of God working.
In my mind I love the law of God and try to keep it because of this love but in my flesh I struggle to do this and at times I fall. But thanks be to Jesus who is my Advocate and my Savior I can give it to God and He is faithful to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
So you see, the law has not been done away with but our relationship to the law has changed. It went from a ministry of death and condemnation, regarding the old man, to becoming a delight to the inward man. So blessed is the man who God does not count his sins against him.
Psalms 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered.
So where is our confidence? Where is our hope? Is it in the keeping of the law?
Romans 8:29-39 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ho shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.'' Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Where is our hope and where is our life? Where is our love?
1 John 5:1-3 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
Love is the only thing that makes an unpleasant thing not a burden. We are a sinful people so the law of God will be unpleasant.
Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
But not for those who have been born of God, through Jesus the Christ, and who love God. This is the new covenant and the new living way. God forgives our sin and writes His law in our heart.
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