Sabbath 2

II. THE TEN COMMANDMENT LAW

A. TEN COMMANDMENTS, ONLY PART OF BIBLE GIVEN BY GOD PERSONALLY

i. SPOKEN BY GOD (VERBALLY)

EXODUS 20:

1 "AND God spake all these words, saying,"

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 labor, 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 "Honor 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 neighbours house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbours."

DEUTERONOMY 4:

12 "And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice."

13 "And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone."

TEXT OF INTEREST

PSALMS 89:

34 "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips."

ii. WRITTEN BY GOD'S OWN FINGER

DEUTERONOMY 4:

13 "And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone."

EXODUS 31:

18 "And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God."

iii. HE WROTE THE LAW IN STONE, AN INDICATION OF DURABILITY

EXODUS 31:

18 "And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God."

DEUTERONOMY 4:

13 "And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone."

NOTE:

The ten commandments are the only part of the Bible that was written by God's own hand and spoken by God's own mouth. Is there some significance in this fact? Should we be so quick to assume that God would change part of this law? (see section IV. page 12 for a law which has been changed or fulfilled)

B. GOD'S COMMANDMENTS WILL STAND FOREVER

PSALMS 111:

7 "The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure."

8 "They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness."

LUKE 16:

17 "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail."

MATTHEW 5:

17 "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."

18 "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

C. DOES FAITH VOID THE LAW? (FAITH AND WORKS?)

ROMANS 3:

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

ROMANS 3:

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

REVELATION 20:

12 "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."

JOHN 14:

15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

21 "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it 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."

EPHESIANS 2:

8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:"

9 "Not of works, lest any man should boast."

JAMES 2:

20 "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?"

1 JOHN 2:

3 "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments."

4 "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

HOW DOES ALL THIS FIT TOGETHER?

How does one explain faith verses works?

No one can ever earn "grace" for it is a gift, but neither will anyone be saved without "works".

A clue can be found in 1 JOHN 2:3,4 "we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments."

"Works" are an outward evidence of an inward relationship with Christ, an inward change. We love Him and the result of this relationship is keeping His commandments.

"Works" are the evidence of faith. What a person does is demonstrating what is in their heart. If we are living a life for Christ we will be filled with the Holy Ghost and will produce fruits of the Spirit. Good works will be a natural response to our love for Christ and what He has done for us. We will want to live our life as He lived His, filled with good works.

An apple tree produces apples because it is an apple tree; it does not produce apples so it can be an apple tree. A Christian does good works because they are a Christian; they do not do good works so they can be a Christian.

FOR FURTHER STUDY SEE TEXT BELOW.

LAW IS NOT VOID

MATTHEW 5:

17 "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill."

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."

1 JOHN 3:

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

ROMANS 3:

20 "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

ROMANS 6:

15 "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid."

ROMANS 6:

1 "WHAT shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?"

2 "God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"

NOTE:

The law is the standard by which we know what sin is. Therefore, sin is the breaking of the law.

JUSTIFIED OR SAVED BY FAITH ONLY

ROMANS 6:

15 "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid."

ROMANS 3:

20 "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

JUDGED ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS

HEBREWS 5:

9 "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;"

MATTHEW 16:

27 "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works."

REVELATION 22:

12 "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."

14 "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."

NOTE:

The law is the standard by which we are judged.

IF WE LOVE HIM WE WILL KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS

1 JOHN 5:

2 "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments."

3 "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."

NOTE:

The Law is not grievous; it is not a burden.

JOHN 15:

10 "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."

NOTE:

The Bible says that salvation is a gift of God and we can receive it by faith, but this does not void the law. Works or deeds are an evidence or proof of one's faith just as our actions can show that we love someone.

D. IF YOU BREAK ONE, YOU BREAK THEM ALL

JAMES 2:

8 "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:"

9 "But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors."

10 "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."

11 "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."

12 "So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty."

NOTE:

Verses 8 and 11 show that it is the ten commandment law referred to here.

MATTHEW 5:

19 "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."

TEXT OF INTEREST

1 JOHN 3:

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

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Dwight Waterhouse is the compiler of this information. Please feel free to send your comments and questions.