LAWS OF GOD PART III

Matthew 19:16-23 Good master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
Luke 10:25 Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Matthew 22:35,36 A lawyer, asked him, which is the great commandment in the law?

This young man wanted to know, "which," and Jesus quoted from the Ten Commandments to identify the law he must keep. This young man was a Jew and knew very well what Jesus quoted from. Please note that Jesus had been asked definitely, "what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" Eternal life is a New Testament promise only possible through Jesus Christ. The conditions that Jesus gave were New Testament conditions. "Keep the Commandments" is just as much a command to us today as it was to that young man.

Why did Jesus command this young man to keep the commandments? Because sin is transgression of the law. Why are we, too, as Christians, to keep that law after we receive forgiveness of our sins though Christ Jesus? The Gospel makes us free from sin--we become dead to sin--free from sin and servants of righteousness (Rom.6:6, 17-18). God forbids us to continue in sin (Rom.6:1-2). From this we may learn that God's great design in giving His law to the Jews was to lead them to the expectation and enjoyment of eternal life.

To love God with all his heart one must love nothing in comparison to Him and nothing but reverence to Him who is ready to give up, do, or suffer anything in order to please and glorify Him. To love God with all one's soul, one must be ready to give up his life for His sake--to endure all sorts of torments, and be deprived of all kinds of comforts; rather than dishonor God--who employs life with all its comforts and conveniences: to glorify God in, by, and through all.

Revelation 12:17 Made war with the true Church, which keep the Commandments of God. Revelation.14:12-13 Here are they that keep the commandments of God. Ecclesiastes 4:1-2 Wherefore, I praised the dead which are already dead.

Those keeping God's commandments--those yielding themselves to God's rule, and living by every word of God--by the Bible--which is the written testimony of Jesus Christ--they are the ones the devil has persecuted and martyred through his false churches. The church caused them to be killed. When the church branded one a heretic, the state began torturing him. Unless he recanted, he was tortured until he died! Here the faith of the true Christians shall be proved; they will "follow the Lamb wheresoever He goeth;" that keep the commandments of God, and are steadfast in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. Although they died for the testimony of Jesus, yet they shall be utterly blessed. "Blessed are the dead." Happy are they. They do not see the evil that shall come upon the world. They are exempted from any further sufferings; having no more tribulation and distress. Faithfulness demands something of the martyr's courage in all ages. There have been living martyrdoms which have not ended on earth in a quick or a violent death. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord--All they need is a voice from heaven to proclaim it.

Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life.

They are happy who are obedient. That they may have authority over the tree of life; an authority founded on right, this right founded on obedience to the commandments of God, and that obedience produced by the grace of God working in them. It shows that character alone, not race, nor position, nor birth, decides men's fitness for the kingdom. To enter the gate one must precede the eating of the tree, but John may be thinking of Christ as the tree of life, and as the gate into the city. This should be very plain to you, that in repentance and in baptism the gospel of grace teaches that we must completely crucify and bury our life of transgression and then live obedient to God's holy law.

John 13:34 A New Commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.
John 14:21 He that hath my Commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his Commandments. 1 John 2:3-4 We do know that we know him, if we keep His Commandments. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 For ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

Jesus gave this New Commandment the last night of His physical life on earth. He had--by teaching and example--already shown the disciples that keeping God's Commandments was simple an expression of love. Christ had already summarized God's law into the two great principles; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matt.22:37-39).

What then was “new" about Jesus' command to love our neighbor? The principle of loving our neighbor was not new, but Jesus' magnification of that principle in His own perfect life shed a completely new light on the spiritual intent and depth of this commandment. Remember Jesus emphasis--"As I have loved you, that ye also love one another." Jesus own perfect example of love and service was the greatest and most meaningful magnification of love of neighbor as commanded by God. In His life, He demonstrated how that love actually functions in day to day life. Now Christ more than fulfilled the Mosaic precept; He not only loved His neighbor as Himself, but loved him more than Himself, for He laid down His life for men. In this He calls upon the disciples to imitate Him, to be ready on all occasions to lay down their lives for each other.

But does this Christian love "do away" or change the Ten Commandments of God? Of course not! It only emphasizes and magnifies the personal love Christians must have toward their fellow man. This love goes far beyond the letter of the Ten Commandments--but by no means replace them! John defines Christian love as keeping the Commandments!

When we examine the positive side of the "New Commandments“ we find that they simply reinforce and make more binding the old! They outline a way of love--of giving--of serving, which can only be attained though Christ Himself living in us. In perfect unselfishness, we are to learn to love our fellow man as Jesus loved us. Describing the principle of how we should love our neighbor; the apostle Paul stated: "Love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom.13:10).

TEN COMMANDMENTS
Exodus 20:1-17

1. And God spake all these words, saying,
2. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6. And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
13. Thou shalt not kill.
14. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15. Thou shalt not steal.
16. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.