Hello Everyone,<\/p>\n
Well, over the past 10 weeks we\u2019ve taken a deeper look into the 10 Commandments given\u00a0 by God to Moses at Mount Sinai a few thousand years ago. (Messages are archived on the group\u2019s site.) And though these Commandments are ancient in one sense, they are very much relevant to our day and age now. The reason for this is because God and His moral laws are transcendent. God is eternal and outside of time, thus His word is eternal and from out of this world! (Pun intended.)<\/p>\n
The Apostle Paul said the following regarding God\u2019s law:<\/p>\n
Romans 7:7b
\n\u2026I would have not known sin except through the law. For I would have not known\u00a0 covetousness unless the law had said, \u201cYou shall not covet.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what have I endeavored to help you realize (if you didn\u2019t know it already) is if you read this all this stuff and think about it, the law is a teacher to us. It teaches us that we are violators of the law. For who had kept God\u2019s law? Answer: No one.<\/p>\n
In fact, this is true of all mankind; we all have violated God\u2019s law. To disobey even one law is to not keep the whole law perfectly. And to disobey God is to sin. Sin is falling short of God\u2019s standard of thought, word and deed.<\/p>\n
Press the \u201cPause\u201d button now. If I have ever stolen something (for example)\u2026 then I have violated God\u2019s law. I have sinned. I have disobeyed. And consequently, I owe God something in return for my transgressing of His holy and perfect standard. In fact, the very act of disobeying God means that I am putting my own will before His\u2026 I am putting myself before Him and thus I am committing idolatry, for I am worshipping myself over and above Almighty God. I am counting my own will more worthy to be followed than the Eternal God of the Universe\u2019s will. Yeeouch!<\/p>\n
I have incurred a debt of sorts for my lifetime of violating God\u2019s law. I have to pay for my sins somehow. Remember, all this is a spiritual issue. It is not like I can burn $100 and the smoke goes up to God in heaven. I have to make some sort of atonement for my sins. My sins are an offense to Holy God. How do most people ultimately pay for their sins?<\/p>\n
Romans 6:23a
\n\u2026the wages of sin is death\u2026<\/p>\n
This is why everything eventually wears out, runs down and dies. Sin causes death. But this is the death of the physical body. There is also a second death\u2026 the death of the spirit in hell.<\/p>\n
Revelation 21:8
\n\u201cBut the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eww Jim, you\u2019re morbid today! Sin is morbid! Sin is serious business\u2026 and the 10 Commandments show us we are sinful. So we\u2019ve got a problem don\u2019t we?<\/p>\n
Ahh\u2026 here\u2019s the good part: God is merciful and gracious too.<\/p>\n
2nd Peter 3:9
\nThe Lord is\u2026longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish (in the 2nd death) but that all should come to repentance.<\/p>\n
And that most familiar verse\u2026<\/p>\n
John 3:16
\nFor God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish (in the 2nd death) but have everlasting life.<\/p>\n
God\u2019s so loves that even His law speaks to love: (Paraphrasing)<\/p>\n
1. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0No other gods = Love is loyal
\n2. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0No making idols = Love is faithful
\n3. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0No Lord\u2019s name in vain = Love is reverent
\n4. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Observe Sabbath = Love is set apart to
\n5. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Honor parents = Love is respectful
\n6. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0No murder = Love is humane
\n7. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0No adultery = Love is pure
\n8. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0No stealing = Love is unselfish
\n9. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0No false witnessing = Love is truthful
\n10. \u00a0 \u00a0 No coveting = Love is content<\/p>\n
God has made a way for us sinners to be reconciled to Him\u2026 to be forgiven our massive sin debt. The two key words from 2nd Peter 3:9 and John 3:16 are \u201crepentance\u201d and\u00a0believes\u201d. Check this out\u2026<\/p>\n
Mark 1:15
\n[Jesus said]\u2026 \u201cRepent and believe in the gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Again, God is Holy, Righteous, and Just\u2026 but He\u2019s equally merciful, loving, gracious and forgiving too. Wow! How great is God! (Contact me anytime to talk about this!)<\/p>\n
And read the next message to see how we can know more about this great
\nGod\u2026<\/p>\n
Peace,
\nJim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hello Everyone, Well, over the past 10 weeks we\u2019ve taken a deeper look into the 10 Commandments given\u00a0 by God to Moses at Mount Sinai a few thousand years ago. (Messages are archived on the group\u2019s site.) And though these Commandments are ancient in one sense, they are very much relevant to our day and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[59,60,57,13,61,62,47,63,58],"class_list":["post-82","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-study","tag-59","tag-exodus","tag-gods-law","tag-gospel","tag-moses","tag-mount-sinai","tag-old-testament","tag-tablets","tag-ten-commandments"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions\/349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}