It is perfectly all right to talk about the first or second commandment or the sixth or the seventh or the eighth. But don’t mention the fourth. Why? Let’s be consistent. You can see that the commandments stand or fall together. Either they are still in force or they aren’t. Either it’s wrong for me to lie and kill and steal, or it isn’t. We don’t make excuses for breaking the other commandments. Why the fourth? I have often wondered how so clear and simple a matter as our relationship to grace and the commandments of God—I say, I have often wondered how so clear and simple a matter can be made to appear so confusing. People say, “I’m saved by grace. I don’t need to keep the law.” Did you ever hear anybody reason like that? But friend, do grace and pardon release us from obedience to the very law that we have broken? If I am saved, will I pick your pocket? Will I lie? Will I steal? Will I kill? No. Commandment keeping becomes a possibility to the heart that loves his Lord. It’s love that makes all the difference. Do you see? Salvation from the power of sin is a gift from God. He cancels our sin debt of the past through no good works of our own. And then, when we are forgiven, it is our delight to do God’s will. Not to merit heaven, you understand. But because we love Him. Commandment keeping, you see, is not a means of salvation. It is an evidence of it. Keep that clear distinction in mind, and you will never have any confusion on this vital point.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 12:59:13 +0000
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