THE
10 COMMANDMENTS
Why
We Got it All Wrong!
I
ask, have you ever wondered why God gave these 10 rules? What was
God's purpose in giving these commandments? Did God really
think
that we could obey them?! Perhaps God just intended them as a
betterment to society in general? Then again, maybe God was bringing
down His angry fist, and saying, “You better stop sinning and do
what is good, or else I will bring down my rod on you in fierce
anger!”
Well,
I'm afraid that many well meaning, and maybe some not-so-well-meaning
folk, have made a monumental error in applying these 10 rules! We
must get to the bottom of the real
reason for the giving of these commandments!
THE
RULES
Let
us first, list the 10 rules, that we can see what they are.
- You shall have no other gods before me.
- You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I am the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
- You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
- Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.Exodus 20:3-17
CHARACTER
OF GOD
The
first reason that God gave us these rules is that we might get to
know Him. You see, these rules show us the character of God. They let
us know that He is perfectly holy. That is, He is without sin and
does that which is good without fail.
In
fact, in rule #2, we see the incredible love of God! We also see how
God protects people. Can you imagine a world were people could steal
your stuff, take your wife, daughter, mother, and use them as they
want, murder, and lie, without any repercussions whatever? I ask,
what would you think of God if He would permit such things with no
consequences? We see then, that God has people's best interest in
mind. In the end, all people will be judged fairly by God.
OBEY
THE RULES?
Now,
we must look at the question, “Did God really
think
that we could obey them?” The short answer is, no. “What?!” you
say. “Why did He give them to us then?!” That, is an excellent
question! You see, this is where most people go wrong. They think
that God wants us to keep these rules. They think that we must follow
them if we want to go to Heaven. They think that we must obey them as
Christians, either, as a “moral law” to follow, or to maintain
our salvation. Yet, both are devastatingly wrong! Both will lead to
utter failure. There will be failure to reach Heaven, and failure to
live as a Christian ought. Let me explain.
Let's
say you enter a new road. What is one of the first things you look
for? You look for a speed limit sign, right? Why? So that you can do
the right thing, by driving the correct speed, and avoid doing the
bad, because you don't want to get penalized! Now, what if God had
given no rules? How would you know what was acceptable and
unacceptable to your Creator-God? Paul the apostle, himself says
that, “Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known
sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had
not said, 'You shall not covet.'” (Romans 7:7) These rules, then,
alert us to danger: the danger of offending a holy Creator-God!
“So
then,” you ask, “What is the point in knowing what these rules
are, if we can't obey them like we should?!” I say, do you always
obey the speed limit signs? No?! Either intentionally or otherwise,
we have all broken these set limits at times. This then, makes the
point, that even though we know the rules, that they themselves don't
have the power to cause us to obey them! Neither do we in ourselves
always have the strength to listen to them!
DO
THE BEST YOU CAN?
You
say, “But surely, all God requires, is that we do the best we can,
right?” Wrong. For James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole
law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” I
ask, how many laws do you have to break in the country you live in
before you're held accountable to the authorities? Maybe ten or
twenty? “Oh no,” you say! “All you have to break is one law and
you're in deep trouble!” Then why, I ask, would God who is holy be
any different than an imperfect judicial system on Earth? You must
understand, then, that God demands 100% perfection from us all.
“What!” you exclaim, “Impossible!” If that is your
conclusion, then I am most delighted! “Why?” you say. Well,
because you have come a long way in understanding the purpose for
which God gave these 10 rules!
A
DIRTY FACE
I
wonder now, have you ever tried to convince a child, or adult
for that matter, that there was some kind of dirt on their face? Ever
have them argue that they didn't? What did you tell them when they
made that argument? “Go, look in a mirror, and then you'll see it!”
Isn't that right?! Of course, a mirror does a fantastic job in
reflecting the unwanted grime on our faces! This, then, is another
purpose for the 10 rules. They act like a mirror, they show us God's
perfect holiness, and our shortcoming of that holy standard. You see,
we tend to compare ourselves with other people, usually with those
less perfect then ourselves. However, God compares us with Himself!
The question is not, how do I compare with so-and-so, but how do I
compare with the perfectly holy Creator-God?! The simple answer is,
that we have miserably failed! The mirror of the law has shown us
that we are filthy! It shows us that we need a good scrubbing!
Sadly,
many people think that the rules are to be used to try scrub
ourselves clean, either as Christians, or otherwise. Yet, I ask, have
you ever tried to wash yourself with a mirror? “Oh,no!” you say,
“That would never work!” You're right! The truth is, that it
would make an even bigger mess than what you had in the first place!
That is why it is written,
“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his
sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
(Romans 3:20) So, if the 10 rules can't make me clean: if I can't
make myself clean, then what or who can?!
I
GIVE UP!
Well,
at long last, we have finally come down to the core purpose for God
giving us these 10 commandments! For the law is “Not laid down for
the just but for...sinners, for the unholy.” (1 Timothy 1:9) These
rules then, not only show us that, “All have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God,” but that we need someone to save us, because
we can't save ourselves!
It
can be extremely difficult for us to admit that we have failed, and
that we can never be good enough on our own to become acceptable to
God! Yet, it absolutely critical that we “give up”! That is, that
we stop trying to make ourselves good enough for Heaven! God simply
says that by “The law no human being will be justified in his
sight.” (Romans 3:20) Look, even if you get a grade of 99%, it is
not good enough! The reality is that you are still a sinner! Neither
can our good outweigh the bad! For God says, “All our righteousness
are as filthy rags.” (**Isaiah 64:6)
Look,
God gave the 10 rules that we might know that we can do nothing to
save ourselves! He gave us these laws, that we might know that we are
in an utterly hopelessly lost condition! The real point is that we
need HELP! We need to recognize that we are in quicksand up to our
armpits and we can do absolutely nothing to help ourselves get out of
our predicament and into Heaven! Listen! Just as a drowning man needs
a lifeguard, so we need someone to save us from our sins! Also, just
as a criminal needs a pardon, so we need someone to pardon us! Yet,
God says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness
[or pardon] of sins.” (Hebrews 9:22)
This
then, totally puts salvation beyond our reach! For can I die for my
sins? Well, yes, you can, but the price is extraordinarily steep! It
means spending eternity in the Lake of Fire! For we read, “The Lord
Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,
inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do
not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the
punishment of eternal
destruction,
away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
when he comes on that day.” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10) This then,
brings self to a “dead-end”! This then, is the reason that God
Himself, has given us the remedy! He has shown us the way that we can
be forgiven our sin and have our friendship with our Creator-God
restored! This is why we read, “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.” (**John 3:16) Jesus Himself,
also said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes
to the Father except
through me.”
(John 14:6)
A
GIFT TO BE RECEIVED
How
does Jesus save us? Is it by his birth or good life He lived? No.
Rather, it is written that we, “Are justified by grace as a gift,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward
as a propitiation [or satisfaction] by
his blood,
to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:24-25) Another scripture puts
it like this, “God shows his love for us in that while we were
sinners, Christ
died for us.”
(Romans 5:8) Look, Jesus took the full punishment of God for 100% of
your sin! He in turn gives you His righteousness! This, my dear
reader, is your only hope! The Bible says that “The LORD has laid
on him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)
Listen,
the only real question remaining is, will you trust Him as your
Savior? Do you truly believe that Jesus took the full wrath of His
Father for all of your sin? Will you rest fully in Jesus as your own
Savior? And yes, he did make full “satisfaction” for your sin,
for God the Father raised His Son back to life on the third day,
showing that He was fully satisfied with what had taken place on that
cruel cross!
Listen, God promises,
“Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”
(Romans 10:13)
I say, take a look in the
“mirror,” and you'll know that you are indeed a sinner – just
admit i!. For the Bible says, “A broken and contrite heart, O God,
you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17b) Again, “This saying is
trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came
into this world to save sinners.” (1 Timothy 1:15)
I
repeat, “Everyone
who
calls upon the name of the Lord will
be saved.”
(Romans 10:13) Please! Don't chose to go to Hell. Cry out to God
right now to save you! This that you might “know that you have
eternal life”! (1 John 5:13)
Victor J. Reimer
*Scripture
quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV),
copyrighted © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights
reserved.
**KJV
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