Breaking the 10 Commandments

[Guest]

I heard a preacher recently who said we all break all 10 commandments daily. In thought, word and deed. That is how sinful, wretched and appalling we are. That is why we need the grace, mercy and forgiveness of Christ's sacrifice for us. 

I am thinking and praying. I know the preacher is right. Even murder - think of the beatitudes. How many people do we 'murder' in our hateful thoughts? Adultery? How many times do we look with lust at someone, even for a second? And so on. 

I am so ashamed and know i am such a sinner. But i am joyful because i am aware of how the answer is always to follow Jesus. Our beloved wonderful merciful Shepherd. 

 

 

[Tzephanyahu]

Shalom @Melinda12

I don't know about you, but I personally sick and tired of hearing preachers say "No one can keep the 10 commandments! We all fail!" It comes under the guise of humility but ultimately the message does not serve Yahweh's plan, but the enemy's.

The Holy Spirit transforms us, a step at a time, making us into a new creation.  Paul also advises us to renew our mind as well, to compliment the work the Spirit is doing within us.  Therefore, it is possible to obey the 10 commandments in deed and mind.  People in the Bible are recorded doing so as well. I absolutely refute the idea that it's impossible as a deception.  A humble-sounding deception.

I have noticed the change in me over the years of reducing thoughts that would count as a trespass.  The closer I draw to Him, by focussing on Him and His Word, the more possible this is, by His Grace.   Yes, we will all fail from time to time and yes, we will make mistakes.  But by saying "No one can keep them! All is lost! We are utter sinners!" it's encouraging to accept failure, wallow in your sins, and giving up.  

What? Should we think that Yahweh and the Lord Jesus are just dangling the 10 commandments in front of us like a carrot on fishing line before us?  Was the Father thinking "They could never obey these commands, but I will ask them to anyway and judge them when they can't!" Or was the Messiah thinking  "I'll teach them how to correctly follow the commands by heart, but not that it matters!  None of them can do it anyway, but let's just rub their faces in it!"  I don't believe my God is the type to show us how righteous He is by giving us mock-rules that He knows we can't follow.  I believe He is merciful and wants to help and teach us how to walk righteously before Him.

The 10 commandments (actually the 10 "words" in Hebrew), is a requirement of the covenant with Israel, and the renewed covenant with the Gentiles.  As an example, literally avoiding murder is obeying in deed only, but removing hatred in your heart is the true obedience.  If Christians can't accomplish removing hatred from their heart, they are on a road heading for discipline.  But, if these preachers are correct, is it fair that Yahweh disciplines us when ultimately we have no hope of obedience?

Consider these two passages, with this in mind...

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.  He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

1 John 1:2-11

 

Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”

And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”

Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him.... [the passage continues but note the Lord did accuse him of being a liar]

Mark 10:17-21a

 

Let everyone have faith in Him, that He will work in us by His Spirit, so that we can follow the 10 naturally.  But don't defeat yourself by looking down and not up.  Or even worse, take pride in appearing as a humble sinner, like some of these preachers.  Acknowledge your failure is growth.  Accepting it as the norm is stagnating.

Love & Shalom

[Justin Adams]

The reason why they preach this is that they also preach SUN-day and not God's Sabbath. Ipso facto.

[Who me]

2 hours ago, Tzephanyahu said:

But by saying "No one can keep them! All is lost! We are utter sinners!" it's encouraging to accept failure, wallow in your sins, and giving up.  

No it encourages us to look to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith.

[Tzephanyahu]

1 minute ago, Who me said:

No it encourages us to look to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith.

And then to do what, practically? Simply look or follow? 

[GandalfTheWise]

5 hours ago, Melinda12 said:

I heard a preacher recently who said we all break all 10 commandments daily. In thought, word and deed. That is how sinful, wretched and appalling we are. That is why we need the grace, mercy and forgiveness of Christ's sacrifice for us. 

Within a larger historical perspective, this is typical of reformed theology rooted in calvinism (which is ultimately rooted in Augustine's thoughts).

These are two common and very influential theological schools of thought in Christianity that have been fighting it out for centuries (and note some Christians do not fit into either camp).  It boils down to how they answer this question: who decides if a person is saved or not?  Did God alone decide who will be saved? Or did He give this choice to each individual human being?   One side says that the Bible teaches God alone decided who will have eternal life and who will be condemned eternally.  The other side says that the Bible teaches God has given each individual that choice to choose their eternal destination.   Both sides of course believing salvation is through Christ alone.   For those who believe that God alone decides, they must face the doctrine of reprobation which means that God has chosen to create most humans to be tormented eternally in hell.  For them, grace basically means "Thank God He didn't create me to spend eternity in hell!".

Within reformed thought, a prevalent theme is often the total and unremitting depravity and sinfulness of humanity which proves that every human being solely merits eternal torment and condemnation because of how terrible they are.  God is not only justified but obligated to declare eternal torment and punishment as what every human being deserves.   And on and on... you probably get the point.   For many in this school of theology, Christians can do nothing to merit anything from God (and can only try very hard to do good deeds to express our love and thankfulness for not going to hell).  

As far as I can tell, some Christians are so indoctrinated into this way of thinking that they do not think being a new creation in Christ or having the Holy Spirit within us does anything tangible to change us in any fundamental manner and that we are all in a constant state of sinning.  Some seem to teach some version of a belief that the only difference between being saved and unsaved is that God has already chosen who is eternally saved and eternally damned and that being saved does not always lead to an obviously changed life.   Hence, you get some people in this camp teaching that sin is an inevitable and dominating feature of every Christian's life and that any Christian who believes otherwise is being deceived by sin into pridefully thinking too highly of themselves.

Not all Christians believe this way.

[other one]

I have one question.     Which of the ten commandments did any of these people break (the ones who Jesus says will definitely go to hell)?

Quote

Matt 25:31-46

31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 "And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 38 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 'And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' 41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' 44 "Then they themselves also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' 45 "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." 
NASB
 

 

[unworthyservant]

7 hours ago, Justin Adams said:

The reason why they preach this is that they also preach SUN-day and not God's Sabbath. Ipso facto.

I don't really know the reason but you're right that many preach both. In Matthew 5:48 KJV Christ says:

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect."

Now I don't mean to suggest any one of us can successfully live a "perfect" life but it does stand to reason that being perfect would certainly include honoring and following ALL the commandments of God (not just 10 of them). God commanded us to remember the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy. Christ honored the Sabbath (although He did clarify what is allowable due to the fact that Jewish leaders of His day had completely misused the Commandment for purposes of condemning folks unfairly and underpinning their own piety). So, if Christ never told us to abandon the Honoring of the Sabbath,(and He didn't) then who are we to have the authority to usurp any Commandment of God?  I've often said to folks who stubbornly hold on to the notion of worship on Sunday (the first day) to honor the Resurrection of Christ, what's wrong with both honoring the Sabbath and then worshiping on Sunday? Are they somehow mutually exclusive?

[missmuffet]

10 hours ago, Melinda12 said:

I heard a preacher recently who said we all break all 10 commandments daily. In thought, word and deed. That is how sinful, wretched and appalling we are. That is why we need the grace, mercy and forgiveness of Christ's sacrifice for us. 

I am thinking and praying. I know the preacher is right. Even murder - think of the beatitudes. How many people do we 'murder' in our hateful thoughts? Adultery? How many times do we look with lust at someone, even for a second? And so on. 

I am so ashamed and know i am such a sinner. But i am joyful because i am aware of how the answer is always to follow Jesus. Our beloved wonderful merciful Shepherd. 

 

 

Born again Christians should not willfully sin. But we do sin everyday without even realizing it. We are sinful human beings. That is why we need to ask for forgiveness everyday. 

[Justin Adams]

47 minutes ago, unworthyservant said:

I don't really know the reason but you're right that many preach both. In Matthew 5:48 KJV Christ says:

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect."

Now I don't mean to suggest any one of us can successfully live a "perfect" life but it does stand to reason that being perfect would certainly include honoring and following ALL the commandments of God (not just 10 of them). God commanded us to remember the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy. Christ honored the Sabbath (although He did clarify what is allowable due to the fact that Jewish leaders of His day had completely misused the Commandment for purposes of condemning folks unfairly and underpinning their own piety). So, if Christ never told us to abandon the Honoring of the Sabbath,(and He didn't) then who are we to have the authority to usurp any Commandment of God?  I've often said to folks who stubbornly hold on to the notion of worship on Sunday (the first day) to honor the Resurrection of Christ, what's wrong with both honoring the Sabbath and then worshiping on Sunday? Are they somehow mutually exclusive?

Good comments. They are linked since Yeshua arose on the Sabbath of that week in 32 or 31 ad. There is much precedent for this, so put on your thinking cap and go study it. Start by Nisan 14 on thru Passover to the Sabbath of that week. Mistranslations have messed this up with the "mia ton sabbaton" thing. Only means 'one of the Sabbaths' and not first day of the week. It is quite plain that Yeshau was indeed dead for the 72 hours. The sign of Jonah, as He stated. So on the eve of the Sabbath (seventh day) He arose and was already out of there when the women came to the tomb. The SUN-day thing was antisemitic and was intended to be thus. In the first and second century the jew was despised and anything that was Hebraic was quickly put down. Yes, most importantly the Passion of our Lord and His resurrection.

Look up Ishtar and its pagan connotations and you will see an evil theme running thru the so-called easter stuff (Ishtar etc). All SUN stuff and pagan up to the hilt.

 

Edited August 24, 2019 by Justin Adams
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