In fact, they claim God abolished His whole standard of righteousness, the Ten Commandments, that yardstick by which as Judge of all the earth He measures an action to be right or wrong.[2] They say God did this by nailing His Ten Commandment Law to the cross with His Son so that no one today need keep it ever again. They claim God abolished His Ten Commandments in favor of a "New Law of Love."

But I ask you:

"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov.14:12

Is it possible that God is actually changeable? Does He change His mind about what is right and wrong from age to age? Is God the Author of "situation ethics?" No, the New Testament teaches that sin is the same thing it was in the Old Testament. Namely, rebellion against God's righteous way of love defined by His Law. The Apostle John made this abundantly clear in the New Testament when he said:

"Whosoever commiteth sin transgresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law." 1.John 3:4

"For I am the Lord, I change not."

"...the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." Hebrews 13:8

Scripture declares that God is the Judge of all the earth. For God to do away with His Ten Commandments which are His eternal standard of right and wrong, would be to cancel the coming Judgment Day and dethrone Himself and justify the devil, who originated lawlessness in the first place. It is the devil's work to destroy obedience to God's government. (And never forget, there can be no government anywhere without a law to govern by and there can be no fair judgment by that government without a declared law to judge by.) It is God's work through the grace given us in Christ Jesus to establish His law and His government in human hearts, not destroy it. This is the point of St.Paul's very forceful statement in Romans 3:31:

"Do we then make the law void through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."

Let me illustrate. There are millions of Christians today who believe people living this side of the cross are saved by grace and grace alone. How many of you would agree? Let me see your hands. Come on, put them up high! Is that all the hands that are going to go up!? Now why didn't the rest of you put up your hands? I have taught this truth many times. Those that raised their hands just now are right! The Apostle Paul clearly states in Romans 3:28:

"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."

But you see, I had already read Romans 3:31 earlier before I asked you this question and you knew the law wasn't voided by this truth about being saved only by grace. Therefore you were either afraid you were going to be trapped by my question or you weren't sure how to answer, so you didn't raise your hand.

As I said, more Christians find themselves confused over this relationship of obedience to the law but being saved by grace without the works of the law than any other area of Christian teaching because on the surface the two truths seem contradictory. But we shall see this evening that according to Scripture you cannot need grace without a broken law which requires grace for our salvation. [50][Or see short discourse on grace]

In other words, if God did away with His law at the cross, then there have been no sinners in need of grace and forgiveness since Jesus died, because sin can only exist when there is a broken law that condemns us. So there can be no such thing as sin without law. And if law ended at the cross, so did the need of grace.

The tragic effects of dispensationalism

Foremost among concepts that have succeeded in confusing millions of Christians who would like to be honest with God and please Him, are the popular misconceptions of dispensationalism.[52] By this theory, as popularly taught, we are told that before the cross men were under the dispensation of law and were justified and saved by keeping the law. But now, after the cross, we are under the dispensation of grace so we are saved by faith in that grace and therefore the law is now abolished. Rubbish! This is not true, it is only a half truth which makes it the most dangerous kind of lie!

In an effort to excuse themselves for rejecting the fourth commandment or God's law, the popular Christian churches have developed this theory. Indeed, the only reason this lie has been published throughout Christendom is to find an excuse for disregarding the fourth commandment which invites men to rest with God on His holy Sabbath, the seventh day, or Saturday. They gladly teach all other nine principles of the law as still binding! Can we wonder then that morality is steadily declining in so-called Christian countries when Christian preachers lead in attacking God's law?

Yes, it is true, after the cross we are justified or saved as Paul said "by faith without the deeds of the law." But the lie is the teaching by some dispensationalist that before the cross men were justified or made righteous by keeping the law and this has never been true and never will be true. It ignores the whole purpose of God's grace. The result is to throw the whole Bible doctrine and instruction into hopeless confusion and contradiction. It sets the Old and New Testaments into conflict with each other instead of each enlightening the other as God intended -- the Old looking forward to the coming cross and the New looking back on the fact of its event.

If this popular dispensationalist concept were true and Old Testament people were to be saved by keeping the law, it would make the Pharisees right and Jesus wrong when He condemned them for trying to "justify" themselves by keeping the law. Even St.Paul would be wrong when he taught that no law could be given that could give "life" or "righteousness."

"Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid; for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe." Gal.3:21,22

"And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven."

"Abraham, how are you saved? Was it by faith or by the works of the law?"

According to some dispensationalist, Abraham would have to answer, "By the works of the law, of course! Why I kept the law so perfectly that God just had to accept me and let me into heaven. Haven't you read in Genesis 26:5,

`Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.'"?

"Surely Paul, you must have been saved by keeping the law too, weren't you?"

Do you think there will be that kind of confusion and contradiction in heaven? Some boasting of keeping the law and others scoffing at its importance in the name of grace? It is impossible! It absolutely cannot be so! No one in heaven from Old Testament times or New will have any grounds for glory except in the glorious gift of God's grace, given everyone from Adam on through the cross of Christ alone.

Yes, the law was back there in Abraham's day, but neither he nor anyone else have ever been saved by keeping it. The Bible teaches all men before and after the cross are saved by the same means. That one means of salvation is the grace given us through faith in Christ spilt blood when he took man's place on Calvary.[70]

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12

"What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about - but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 2.Pet.1:4

In the New testament, the word "law" is used in at least three basic ways:

1. Sometimes law refers to the moral law or the Ten Commandments (Rom.7:7.12 and James 2:10-12)
2. Often "law" has reference to the Law of Moses which formed one whole division of the Old Testament which the Jews divided into three parts:

a) The Law of Moses ( First 5 books of the Old Testament)
b) The prophets
c) The Psalms (Matthew 5:17 and Luke 24:44)

The only way a person can be sure of which "law" is spoken of in a given text is through a careful reading of that Scripture in its context keeping in mind the total Bible instruction about the separate function and purposes of the law of God, the Ten Commandments as contrasted with the law of Moses, which law contained the sacrificial ordinances.

It has always been and will be the function and purposes of God's Ten Commandment Law to teach men the difference between sin and righteousness.

It was the function of the Law of Moses in Old Testament times to teach men God's grace. It met the emergency of sin, which was their breaking of the Ten Commandment Law, by leading them to an understanding of how to be saved by faith in God's coming gift of grace, the holy gift of His Son, "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29

God's Ten Commandment Law has two basic functions:

1. To first convince us by a comparison with our past life record that we are indeed law breakers and thereby sinners in desperate need of God's gift of grace, the death of Jesus in our place, to cover our guilt [90]. Unless we recognize the greatness of our guilt, we cannot value grace.
2. To those who choose by faith to enter the privilege of God's government through receiving God's gift of grace in Jesus Christ, the law provides definite and clear direction of how to express love from the heart toward God and man. And, as lived out in the life of Jesus it is an absolute perfect standard of right action contrasted with man's wrong action, or as Scripture puts it, of righteousness and sin.

As such, the law and grace are like two airplanes in the sky both traveling to the same airport. One carries you, the other your belongings or your wife. In order not to collide, each travels a different altitude. But both are needed to accomplish getting everything/ everybody home - your salvation.

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But also looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." James 1:22-25

But what is a sinner? As we noted earlier in 1.John 3:4

"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law."

So sin is more than the wrong act, it is the inner rebellion of the mind against the known will of God as expressed by His law. Sin begins in the imagination of the mind with a rebellious desire to do the wrong act, in other words, by coveting the sin pleasure in the mind. This is why man first breaks the tenth commandment against coveting before any other. It is this attitude of rebellion that makes our minds totally unfit for loving companionship with God. In fact, it makes this fellowship impossible.

"Can two walk together unless they be agreed?" Amos 3:3

"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:13-15

"But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence (evil desire). For without the law sin was dead." Rom. 7:8

"Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression."

Because we have this rebellion against God's way of life expressed by the law, does that mean there is something wrong with the law? Is it defective or is there something about us that is defective? St. Paul makes it clear in Rom.7:7:

"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." [91]

You see, man's problem has always been the same since his fall in the Garden of Eden. That problem has been man's failure to obey God's law in the face of temptation and then to excuse himself like Adam and Eve tried to excuse themselves by blaming God and each other. Scripture declares we are all a part of the same sin problem.

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Romans 3:23

Now let us continue Paul's illustration of this inner rebellion of the mind against God called sin.

"And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." Rom. 7:10-14

"For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Rom. 8:6-9

"Look, preacher, just because I do not believe in the old law, the Ten Commandments, that doesn't mean I do not believe in any law! I'm a New Testament Christian, Besides, didn't Jesus come to fulfill the old law and put us under His new law of love?"

"And 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." Luke 24:44

The Bible is not a divided book but a total harmony, teaching salvation in only one way, the blood of Jesus. No, Jesus cannot be accused of doing away with or changing anything in the law. In Matthew 5:17-19 we read Jesus warning:

"Think not than I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever 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."

Few will argue that Jesus is not here speaking especially of the moral law, the Ten Commandments as well as the whole of Old Testament instruction, since in later verses He quotes from the Ten Commandments to illustrate His point (Mt. 5:27,33,43 quoting Ex. 20:7,14; Lev. 19:18).

The dispenstionalists interpret this text by saying, "Yes, Jesus came to fulfill the law by keeping all ten commandments perfectly for us so that now we are not "under the law" but "under grace", and therefore we are " no longer obligated to keep the law." You will never face a more subtle, dangerous or contradictory idea presented in the name of Christ!

Again I ask with the Apostle Paul:

"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Romans 3:31

does He abolish the condemning record of our infractions against it?

By covering our past sins or failures to live in harmony with the principle of the law and thereby putting us under grace, does that give us now license to disregard and break God's law in the future or does it place on us a double obligation not to rebel in sin again? Did Jesus come to condone continued lawlessness in men or to establish lawful order in our hearts and in the way that we live?

To interpret Matthew 5:17 as meaning that because Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law, and therefore the law ceases to be a standard and guide by which to live, is to accuse Jesus of being a fancy-two-faced double talker. It makes Jesus say, "I came not to destroy the law but to fulfill and thereby do away with it." That would make His first statement, "I come not to destroy the law " a lie. Why? Because if Jesus did away with the law by keeping it and fulfilling all the requirements by example and thereby ending its requirements on us, then He did destroy it. The Ten Commandment law is either destroyed and not a standard of sin, or not destroyed and still a standard of sin. And either Jesus destroyed it or it is not yet destroyed today.

When we are driving a car and you see a traffic light turn red in your flow of traffic, what does the law say you must do? STOP. So you stop. Now you have fulfilled the law's requirements haven't you? Does that mean that when you come to the next red traffic light you do not have to stop? Ridiculous you say? No more so than those who say that because Jesus kept the law and thereby fulfilled its requirements that the law is in that manner now fulfilled, completed and thereby destroyed and done away with! What foolishness!

You may say, Yes, but Paul says in Romans 6:14 that after I am baptized:

"For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace."

In Paul's writings, to be "under the law" is to be under the condemnation of the Ten Commandments as having broken them and under the tutorship of the law of ceremonies to learn of grace; but to be "under grace" is to be freed from the condemnation of all past sin through the covering blood of Jesus and under the tutorship of the Holy Spirit to bring us into harmony with the righteousness of the Ten Commandments as in the life of Jesus. If covered by grace, Jesus' blood, the law cannot condemn you any longer. The price of justice required by law has been paid and satisfied by the blood of Christ.

But does this freedom from condemnation now make me free to go out and willfully disregard God's law of love, the Ten Commandments? Is sin still the transgression of the law after I'm saved by grace?

Supposing I need a car. It seems preachers are always needing cars. Some of us wear them out visiting faster than a traveling salesman! So I go out car shopping and find just the one. The only problem is that I do not have the money to pay for it.

I debate the problem in my mind and finally come up with a bad solution. Succumbing to the popular idea that the end justifies the means, I decide to steal the car. Now this car I want is on the sales lot of a downtown car dealer, so I wait until about 3:00 a.m. when all is quiet and slip into the car and hot wire the ignition. Soon I'm driving off the sales lot with the car and congratulating myself on my success. I've driven about a block, when police cars seem to converge from all directions and stop me right in the middle of the street. One policeman holds a gun on me while others frisk me and handcuff me. Before I can catch my breath I'm behind bars in jail. You see, I hadn't known it, but the car dealer had a hidden camera that was monitored by the Police Department. I was caught before I started!

Now I do not know what they do to preachers in this city if they are caught stealing a car, but I can only imagine the consequences would be pretty heavy.

Surely enough when my friend, the Pastor, goes in to talk to the judge, he finds the judge feels like they should lock me up and throw away the key! But my friend explains that I do not usually steal cars and that he feels so badly for me he is willing to pay the fine to get me out. So against the judge's advice, he pays several thousand dollars and I'm freed.

But when he comes to get me out of jail I'm afraid to leave. The police haven't treated me with much respect and have been quick to tell me what they thought preachers deserved that steal cars! So my friend patiently explains that he has paid the fine required by the law so I can go free. He tells me that now it is just as though the law was dead to me. He paid my fine so that now I'm not "under the law's" condemnation, but under his "grace."

I go out on the street and pass several policemen. They hardly even look my way. "Why, this is wonderful," I think. "The law is dead to me, I'm not under it, I'm under grace! How glorious!"

But still I need a car.

Am I now free, since I'm under grace, to go out and steal that car again? Ridiculous you say? Then how tragic that Christians are taught this about the law of God and the grace of Jesus.

Paul himself makes the issues plain in the next verses, Romans 6:15,16:

"What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"

"Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever commiteth sin is the servant of sin."

"But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye become the servants of righteousness."

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk (act or live) not after the flesh (sinful desires of the unchanged man), but after the spirit (the new Holy Spirit generated mind that loves to obey God)."

"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Verses 7-9

"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Verses 13,14

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected:

hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning."

"If ye love me, keep my commandments...He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he is is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."

"If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you."

You say, "Yes, but Jesus' commandment is to love one another and isn't love the fulfilling of the law?" I quickly answer, "Yes, that's exactly what Jesus taught." But the commandment to "love" was not "new"; it had been given centuries before by God through Moses. Nor does love do away with, replace, or destroy the Ten Commandments. Love and faith, which are closely related, work together in our hearts to establish "joyful" obedience in God's law in our daily actions.

So, what is love? How do you define it? Are you really sure what love is? If you listen much to the love songs of the top ten popular ballads at any given time, and if you believe the lyrics, you may believe that love is some kind of fickle sentimental feeling of emotion that grips you from time to time. But is love just emotion and feeling or is it "principle" expressed by a loyalty that governs our actions and focuses our emotion so it can endure through every trial? It is of course the latter. As Paul says in 1.Cor.13, "Love never fails."

Can you define love in a sentence? The Bible does in Romans 13:10:

"... love is the fulfilling of the law."

In Matthew 22 a lawyer skilled in the law of Moses asked Jesus "what is the great commandment of the law?" In Matthew 22:37-38, Jesus answered him by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5:

"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Deut. 6:5

"... And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." Exodus 20:6

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Matthew 22:37-39

Furthermore, Jesus went on to say in Matthew 22:40 NASB:

"On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets."

For instance, you can hardly keep the great commandment to love God with the whole heart, soul, and mind without at least keeping the first table of the law of God, the first four commandments which express your responsibility to Him. In fact, you cannot keep this great command without also keeping the second great commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. To meet that responsibility you will at least keep the last table of the law or commandments five through ten.

"If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also." 1. John 4:20,21

This leads to the function and purpose of grace.

"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved);" Ephesians 2:1-5

The most common and classic definition of grace has been: "God's unmerited favor toward sinful man." But such a definition is inadequate to comprehend what grace is, because, while it tells us we do not deserve God's favor, it does not tell us what the favor is that is undeserved.

Never in any age of man since has it been possible for God to give sinful man any "grace" or "favor" except through the promised gift and sacrifice of Jesus. All God's graces and favors flow to us only through trusting belief in God's offered Lamb "slain from the foundation of the world." Revelation 13:8. Indeed Jesus is God's grace and God's grace is Jesus. Jesus is God's undeserved gift and favor to man personified so that God can provide all our needs to us through Him.

"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32

But love can only grow and become reciprocal as admiration, appreciation, trust, and respect are awakened in the one who's love is being courted and encouraged. In His effort to attract man's love, God left no stone unturned. He wasn't content to just give Adam and Eve "dominion" over all the earth and thereby make them king and queen of this whole world with its vast variety of all life, beauty, and bounty. No, God even planted a special and luxuriantly beautiful garden to surround them with the evidences of His own personal love and tender care. (See Genesis 2) He also gave them continuous access to Him by prayer and one seventh of His time for fellowship in His presence on His Sabbath.

It was a wonderful fellowship as it began but before admiration could bloom into trust and loyal love, Satan entered the garden with guile and deceit to arouse distrust and suspicion in man about the unselfish character of God who dared to hold back one tree as His own. This "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" provided Adam and Eve with a means by which to demonstrate their recognition of God's creative ownership of themselves and an opportunity to exercise unselfish self-denial. It also provided an opportunity to express rebellion toward God if they should choose.

On that fateful day of man's rebellion when Adam and Eve first coveted and then stole the fruit from the forbidden tree, their sin alienated them from God. Their maverick rebellious natures thus aroused have since been inherited by all their offspring. (Romans 8:7)

By this one act of rebellion and sin Adam and Eve broke every principle of God's Ten Commandment law and committed high treason against God's government by deserting to God's enemy, Satan. By this act they lost dominion over the earth and Satan became their master.

"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Romans 6:16

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Ro.5:12

"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty."

On the day of their sin, Adam and Eve hid in terror as God came walking and looking for man's love in the cool of the day. Distrust, unhappiness and fearful terror were now experienced by man for the first time. No doubt Adam and Eve expected that it was the judgment day and they were to die immediately. But like most sinners, they miscalculated the wonderful depth of God's love and mercy. Because God loved them, He desired to give man a second chance. God desired to restore the lost relationship through a glorious exhibition of His grace, but at what awful personal pain to Himself!

Justice and fairness required that God must die to let man live. God alone, as the lawgiver, was equal to the claims of His law. By offering Himself, God's own infinite love reached out to make new claims of love from the debased, carnal and alien heart of man. In Revelation 13:8 Jesus is called "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Compare 2. Tim. 1:9 and Titus 1:2) As Paul said in Romans 5:8:

"But God commandeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

There in Eden God made a wonderful but solemn covenant with Adam and Eve to restore the lost relationship through the death of His own holy and innocent Son, Jesus, the promised "seed." This covenant is first recorded in Genesis 3:15

"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." [95]

In Christ Jesus we see the glorious and thrilling proof that God earnestly desires to bring man back into joyful, loving fellowship with Himself daily, through faith and dependence in Jesus, our Heavenly High Priest. To express this purpose, the Bible word "atonement" was born, it means at-one-ment, or making the mind and nature of man one again with God's mind and nature.

Obviously then, grace must do more than just

a) "cover" our past guilt and sins, it must
b) inspire our love, loyalty, and trust in God's promised power so that
c) by faithful dependence on Jesus' ministry to us in our daily living we will experience His converting power which changes our selfish, alienated, rebellious mind, which is our natural nature or character, into an unselfish, giving, kind, loving and therefore loyal personality like God's own personality. All three aspects of grace are accomplished only through Jesus' ministry to us and for us.

Therefore, let us consider the necessity of these three works of grace in order (First; Second; Third):

1. A. God's grace paid the penalty for man's lawbreaking which is death.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

That day in Eden when Adam and Eve sinned, the Bible says their eyes were opened and they recognized they were naked and were ashamed. Since man's fall, nakedness symbolizes the shame of sin in Scripture. (See Revelation 3:17.18)

To remedy man's problem, God promised a new covering, Jesus, the "saved." Our need is the same today as theirs. In fact, all men who will be saved in God's new kingdom, whether they lived in the Old Testament or New Testament must have the same spotless robe of Christ's righteousness given by God as a "free gift" to cover their naked sinfulness. For as the gospel prophet Isaiah put it in Isaiah 64:6:

"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;"

"And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servant. Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 22:11-13

But Cain didn't believe in the need for the blood atonement. He believed his good works should be acceptable to God. So he brought the fruit of his own labor without blood and in his jealous anger at God's rejection, slew his brother Abel who had found acceptance with God. Why did God accept Abel? Because Abel believed in the coming Jesus, "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of this world." Abel showed his faith in his Redeemer by the sacrifice of his lamb symbolizing faith in the blood of God's Lamb, Jesus Christ, Gen.4:4.

In Genesis 6:3 God says "...my Spirit shall not always strive with man..."

It was his faith in the promised "seed" and the coming blood atonement to be provided thereby that caused Abraham to offer sacrifices everywhere he went. To teach Abraham the terrible personal cost to God in fulfilling His covenant by giving "His only begotten Son of Promise," God commanded Abraham, by faith, prepared to obey God. He actually raised the knife to slay Isaac before God stopped Him. (See Genesis 22:10, Hebrews 11:17-19, James 2:21,2) Abraham's obedience demonstrated his faith and dependence on God's promises.

At Sinai God renewed this covenant with the whole nation of His people. There amidst the thick darkness and the thunder and lightning of Sinai, God first spoke His Ten Commandments in the hearing of all the people (See Deuteronomy 5:22) Then He called Moses up into the mount where Moses remained for forty days and nights receiving the plans for the earthly sanctuary and the whole ceremonial law given to govern its service and sacrifices [100]. Never before had there been such a clear and beautiful revelation of the meaning of the complete blood atonement to be given through the coming Christ as was contained in these ceremonial laws and ordinances which was separate from the civil laws instituted by Moses.

So on Mount Sinai both laws were given by God, but the moral law was given by God directly and the ceremonial was given through a mediator, Moses, indirectly. At this same time God wrote the Ten Commandments, which He had already spoken, upon tables of stone with His own finger to show their everlasting and changeless nature. But it was Moses, the mediator, who wrote down the ceremonial law in a book (See Deuteronomy 31:24) for it was only temporary and had the function of pointing forward in faith to the Christ. The Ten Commandments were put inside the "Ark of the Covenant" for they were the tables of the covenant (See Deuteronomy 4:12,13 and 9:9-11) and God judged His people concerning how they came to "know God's ways" by keeping them in faithful dependence on His promises and grace. The ceremonial law of Moses was put in the side of the ark of the covenant (See Deuteronomy 31:26) and demonstrated the way God in mercy would provide grace to cover their sin which is the breaking the Ten Commandment law.

The Law of Moses

The ceremonial law of Moses as carried out in the Old Testament sanctuary constituted the "gospel" or "Good news preached" in the Old Testament. The good news was that a promised "seed" was coming to give His life blood in man's place. God, by grace, would provide His "Lamb" for all men. Revelation 13:8 and John 1:29 and 3:16; Hebrews 4:2:

"For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."

2. This leads us to the second work of God's grace: Attracting our love to God by the life and death of His Son which melts the rebellion from our hearts against God's way. It takes away the "enmity."

"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." John 12:32

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

In Psalm 19:7 Scripture tells us this law is a perfect standard.

"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul:" first part

"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:3.4

How many of you ladies go shopping when they can. But how many of you take husbands along? Every chance you get! But I would like to say it is not healthy to take your husbands shopping with you, it is hard on a husband's health, especially his nervous system.

Here's a lady looking for cloth for a new dress and since it is for their daughter's wedding she has succeeded in talking her husband into going along. It is quite a venture! All day long it is from one shop to another until the poor husband is almost besides himself. It is bad enough to be in such strange surroundings, but what really gets him is his wife's feminine way of shopping.

She has the poor clerks dragging out this bolt of cloth and that one until there is a stack of cloth as high as your chin. All the while the husband is standing around wringing his hands and wondering who is going to help that poor clerk put all that cloth back again. He caught on after the first store what his wife would do after all that cloth was stacked up. She would just say "thank you, but I don't think I'll take any of it," and walk right out of the store! She didn't even buy a little to pay the clerk for all his trouble!

Toward evening they enter a store where the clerk is an old hand at this sort of thing. The clerk watches this man's wife carefully and notices that she keeps going back to one piece of cloth and comparing it with all the others. Just as the wife says "thank you, but I don't think I'll take any of it," the clerk stops her and says, "One moment please. I've noticed you looking at this one piece of cloth more than any other, don't you think it is beautiful?"

"Oh, yes," says the wife, "but I'm not sure I want it for the dress." The clerk responds, "would you like to see it made up into a dress?"

Now what woman would turn down an opportunity like that? Of course she would like to see it made up into a dress! So the clerk goes into a back room and comes back with a beautifully made dress of that very material. It does the trick! "Oh," exclaims the wife, "it was beautiful in the yardage, but it is thousand times more beautiful made into a dress!" She buys the cloth on the spot.

The Ten Commandments are like that. They are beautiful principles, "holy, just, and good," as written out on tables of stone, but they have no power to help us be like them. But how infinitely more beautiful the commandments are when lived out perfectly in the life of a man, the life of Jesus! Then the law becomes glorious, honorable, and a thousand times more attractive.

The Gift of God

Having now fashioned this perfect robe of righteousness by His perfect way of life, Jesus now tells us to wear it as His gift to us before the Judge of the universe. In this way only can we stand uncondemned in God's kingdom. Why? Because the life of Jesus is found perfect before God's law and forms a flawless covering for us. But having given us His robe of righteousness, Jesus hangs stripped in the filthy nakedness of our sins and takes our punishment by dying on our cross! But the grave could not hold Jesus. And as we behold Him coming forth from Joseph's rent tomb, we joyfully proclaim Jesus the "Lord" of our lives. We beg Him daily to rule in us through love that inspires loyalty so that we will never again by future rebellion of sin stain and tear that beautiful robe of righteousness He has provided for us. We do not want to stain our robe by willful sin as Adam and Eve lost their's.

"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." Rev. 16:15

But didn't the people in Old Testament times before Christ's coming need this revelation of God's character and inspiration of God's power as much as we do? Indeed they did, and to inspire their faith God gave them rich revelations by His marvelous protection and care of Israel and by a symbolic picture pageant of the coming Christ. God gave them the "passion play" of Christ in the sanctuary service in which sanctuary God's presence was to dwell with them in their midst. (See Exodus 25:8) Especially was God's coming grace revealed in the six yearly festival feastday pageants enacted at this sanctuary or temple.

It was while on Mount Sinai forty days and nights receiving the ceremonial law and writing it in a book that God instructed Moses in detail concerning the observance of these six yearly feast days with their seven annual Sabbaths. These Sabbaths were set on the basis of calendar date which allowed them to fall on any day of the week from year to year like our birthday. All of this was given as a part of the ceremonial law of Moses and was tied directly to the temple or sanctuary service.

Each of these feast days and their Sabbaths taught a major lesson about the work of "Messiah," Jesus, when He would come. Therefore, they were festival feast day Sabbaths on which to rejoice in the promise of Grace. Indeed, these festivals were to teach the people the whole plan of salvation from the blood atonement to the final harvest of the world and the earth made new.

Only as the people faithfully and thoughtfully followed every shadowy provision of this ceremonial law of grace and studied their meaning from the holy scriptures could they be led by God to a saving faith in and discernment of the cleansing sacrifice of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

It is plain from Scripture that God had before instructed His people about the meaning of the animal blood sacrifices pointing to the coming seed. Patriarchs like faithful Abraham had been much in communion with God through faith in the blood atonement promised through the "seed" and symbolized by the animal sacrifices. But never before Sinai had there been a sanctuary or temple with its precise codification of laws governing these symbolic services and sacrifices. Every aspect, even the furniture, symbolized Jesus. Jesus was the "lamb" sacrificed, the "priest" ministering for the people, the "table of shewbread" as the bread of life that would come down from Heaven, the "candlesticks" as the light of the world, the "altar of incense" representing Jesus as our intercessor for forgiveness of sin through His blood atonement.

THE NEW TESTAMENT PROBLEM

In Jesus' day, man had perverted the purpose of the law of ceremonies. The Church of Moses was an apostate church that refused to be revived through the ministry of John the Baptist. This is why, in the days of Jesus and the Apostles many of the Jewish people believed they were "justified before God" or made righteous and "saved" by the rituals of this law. Instead of allowing the lessons of faith contained in these ceremonies to accomplish their purpose to inspire saving dependence on what God promised to do for them in sending His Lamb, they made the rituals an end in themselves. But this was hopeless. Hebrews 10:14 says:

"For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins."

"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor un-circumcision; but faith which worketh by love." Galatians 5:4-6

"But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbligstone and rock of offence and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." Romans 9:31-33

"Wherefore then serveth the law?" What is its purpose? Paul answers, "It was added because of transgression.," [124] What transgression? The transgressions of Adam and Eve and their descendants against the principles of God's moral Ten Commandment law. It was given because of sin. What is sin? "The transgression of the law." 1.John 3:4

Even a casual reading of the Book of Genesis makes it plain that the people knew the principles of the Ten Commandment law of God because every principle of the Ten Commandments is illustrated in different passages. In Genesis 26:5 it reads:

"Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

"These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me." Deut. 5:22.

"And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more." Hebr. 12:19.

"Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Rom. 5:20.

So the 10 laws (Ex. 19:3-12; Dt. 4:13) were spoken to Moses and the people, while the ceremonial laws were spoken only to Moses (Lev. 1:1-3.). However, one was written by God Himself on tables of stone, while the other was written by Moses in a book (Dt. 31:24; 2.Chr. 35:12). - Moses handwritten ordinances and laws, then, once written in a book - we might perhaps say, the book was added to the ark of the covenant by placing it in an outside pocket for safe keeping (Dt. 31:24ff), with the Law of God inside. - Now we may continue (We became aware of this after more study.) and ask, for how long was this special temporary law to be added or emphasized? Paul continues in verse 19:

"...till the seed should come to whom the promise was made;"

But "How" was this law given? Paul continues in verse 19:

"...and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator."

"Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid; for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." Galatians 3:21-25 [128]

Both laws worked together as a schoolmaster or teacher of men. The Ten Commandments teach all men they are sinners, for "all have sinned." Therefore all need grace to cover their sin.

The law of ceremonies taught grace in the Old Testament by leading men to believe in the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, the only one who could save.

"And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." Hebrews 9:15 NASB.

It is this covenant made with the nation of Israel at Sinai that is referred to in the New Testament as the "Old Covenant." (Hebrews 7-10 and Galatians 4) There are two basic differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

A. Under the Old Covenant the Ten Commandment Law of God is written on stone, showing the unchangeable and uneraseable nature of its moral precepts. Moses then underscores the final, divine authorship of the law by saying of God, ... and He added no more." (Deut. 5:22) Under the New Covenant these same moral principles are now to be written on the mind and heart through the power of the Holy Spirit within us. By this means, they become living character principles of love by which our lives are governed.

Hebrews 10:16,17:

"This is the covenant that I will make them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."

"Ye are our epistle in our hearts. known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshy tables of the heart." 2.Cor.3:2,3

"Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying. This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.

Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." Hebrews 9:18-23

B. Under the New Covenant these shadowy symbols are eliminated by the glory radiating in brilliant splendor from the cross of Christ, being the actual fulfillment of the ancient promises. Now to be saved, under the New Covenant we are to believe and accept that all this was really done by Christ to save us personally. We accept that Jesus is the divine blood sacrifice, the better sacrifice, which ratified the New Covenant, and brought in a better hope. That hope is that Jesus is now our High Priest intercessor in the Heavenly Sanctuary of God cleansing with His own blood the record of our sin in the Heavenly Sanctuary.

"And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering often-times the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever than that are sanctified." Hebrews 10:11-14

"If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchesidec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law... Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life... For there is verily a disannuling of the commandment going before for the weakness of unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself." Hebrews 7:11,12,16,18,19, 26,27

"Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation." Hebrews 9:9,10

Note also Hebrews 10:1:

"For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect."

"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming - not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeatedly endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship." Hebr. 10:1 (NIV).

At the death of Jesus on the cross, God fulfilled His promise and thereby abolished the shadowy ordinances, and took away the enmity as Paul forcefully states in Ephesians 2:15:

"Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;"

This background now prepares us to understand a scripture that has been used by the enemies of the Ten Commandments to get people to think God nailed the Ten Commandments, especially the seventh-day Sabbath, to the cross with Jesus, and it doesn't say that at all.[130] Preachers do not understand themselves this topic or are taking advantage of people's ignorance of the Scriptural issues and background. In Colossians 2:14 we read:

"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;"

No, what was taken away was the temporary law that was "added." As the above Scriptures have shown, the law taken away was the law of carnal ordinances that could not atone for sin but only promise and symbolize the future atonement Christ would make. It was the "shadow" of the cross that was taken away by the appearance of the body of Christ on the cross itself. Therefore in verse 16 and 17 Paul declares:

"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holiday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." Colossians 2:16,17

But is the seventh-day Sabbath a "shaddow of things to come" or a memorial of God's original purpose in creating man and now to redeem him for continuous fellowship with Himself? It is of course the latter, as shown by the fact that God rested the seventh-day of creation before man sinned and then invited man into that fellowship of rest with Him. (See Genesis 2:1-3, Exodus 20:8-11, and Hebrews 4:4-11) [140]

Then to what is Paul referring in verse 16? He speaks of the "meat offerings", "the drink offerings", the "Holy feast days", the "New Moon feast", and the seven "ceremonial sabbath days" which were all a part of the law of ordinances imposed on them "until the time of reformation". Hebrews 9:10 [150]

(Click here for a brief explanation of the feast day Sabbaths).

But Paul is not implying an end to the Ten Commandments at the cross as the standard of right and wrong. As we read before in Romans 7:7:

"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet."

Before Jesus came God's law had been dishonored and broken continually by even the best of men, but Isaiah and other prophets taught that far from destroying the law, the Messiah would build it up and make it honorable by right doing.

"The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable." Isaiah 42:21

In a daily work of grace God will empower us and change us to be just like Jesus in character and action, but only as we yield our minds to Him, Paul said he "died daily." 1.Corinthians 15:31. As Paul put it to a young preacher, Titus, in Titus 2:11-15:

"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee." [160]

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

"But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4

"For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted." Hebrews 2:16-18

"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." Hebrews 4:15

"If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love."

"Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;" Hebrews 5:7-9

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:1,2

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;" Romans 12:1,2

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;" Titus 3:5

"That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Ephesians 4:22-24

But God does not force this upon us. Ours is a real freedom. God only invites and pleads for us to let go of ourselves and let Jesus have His wonderful spiritual way.

It Could Never Save Us But...

So, as we have seen from this study, even though the Ten Commandment law could never save us it has an important purpose. The law was to define clearly the principles of righteousness which Jesus kept perfectly as our example of how to live. It is by this comparison of the life of Jesus with the law of God that we know He was sinless. If He had broken the law even once, He could never have been our Saviour, for He would have been a sinner like us. But we see from Scripture that His life was a perfect spiritual illustration of all the spiritual principles contained in the law of God His Father. Jesus, though tempted, never partook of the attitude of hostility and rebellion against the known will of his Father, even when His inner self recoiled from His own death.

So, the Ten Commandment law teaches us our need of Jesus' grace and power and if we follow Jesus, He leads us to overcome sin by keeping the law in us as He always has done. Scripture teaches that God's people will still be clinging to Jesus and the Commandments of God at the second coming of Christ.

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

"And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives." Hebrews 9:15-17 NASB

"Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations; even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it." Galatians 3:15 NASB [190]

It seems to be there can be only one possible explanation for such loyalty and unselfishness as demonstrated by Jesus' life. Jesus learned to love His Father totally and boundlessly from childhood. His greatest joy was to please His Father and He trusted His Father's wisdom totally above His own. Therefore, He lived "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4) He kept His Father's commandments. (John 15:10) He was obedient always. It was His habit to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath and read the Scripture to the people. (Luke 4:16) He taught that "the Sabbath was made for man." (Mark 2:27) It is a day of fellowship with God. It was made for "man", not the Jews or the Israelites only.

You see, there can be no reciprocal love relationship without trust or faith and there can be no intelligent trust without spending the time necessary with the person to be loved, in this case, God, to truly know that person's trustworthiness. Jesus did all these things with His Father by prayer and the study of Scripture, and obedience by faith as no other man ever has, so He loved as no other man has ever loved.

"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." 1.John 4:7,8

To deny that the Holy Spirit can produce a character in fallen humanity that is acceptable before God is approaching dangerously close to the commission of the unpardonable sin! It is throwing into the face of God that the redemption provided in and through Jesus Christ is really inadequate to meet the sin problem. It is saying that God misnamed His Son, when He instructed through the angel that He be called, Jesus - One who was to save His people from - not in - their sins. It is saying that when Paul set forth Jesus in the book of Hebrews (7:25) as One who is able to save to the uttermost he was presenting to the Hebrew believers an inadequate Messiah, and thus deceiving them. It is saying that when Jude prayed - "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever" (Jude 24-25) - he was praying amiss. It is saying that when Heaven declares - "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" (Rev. 14:12) - that heaven is the center of falsehood, and after all the devil was right, - man cannot keep the commandments. It is saying that Jesus who "was to complete His work, and fulfill His pledge 'to make man more precious than gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir'" [400], is unable to fulfill the conditions of the Everlasting Covenant. (Heb . 10:15-18). It is saying that when Christ asks - "I will that they also, whom Thou has given Me, be with Me where I am," and a "voice" is heard to say - "They come! they come! holy, harmless, and undefiled" [500], God is setting forth propaganda to deceive the universe, and that these will be the seed to start a rebellion the second time.

No! Absolutely not! God IS ABLE to keep us from falling; Jesus does save to the UTTERMOST all that come unto God by Him. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" Hebrew 2:3.

Therefore the statement, `Any believer who really has the Holy Spirit will know that even his new obedience cannot stand before the Law of God and satisfy its divine standard.' [600] is not true.

Paul the expositor of "New Testament Christianity," if there is really a contrast between it and the Old Testament teaching of the prophets, wrote: "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled [filled-full] in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:3-4.

Friend, does your life show that you really love Jesus or is your heart still lawless? Are you hung up with lawless thoughts about God's Sabbath? If it is all right to break the Sabbath it is all right to break the other nine commandments. They all stand or fall as a unit together as a part of God's one law. If you would love God in action and not just in shallow word and lip service, won't you bow your head just now and ask Jesus to come into your heart and bring with Him the power of His Holy Spirit to make you "willing" and "able" to keep all God's Commandments, including His seventh-day Sabbath?

"Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Revelations 22:14

Notes & References