Based on Matthew 5:17

MEMORY TEXT:  “Think not that I have come to destroy the law and the prophets.  I have not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).

One day a minister from another denomination sent me an email declaring that his church believed that the Old Testament had been done away with.  He told me that he believed Christians didn't need to keep the law.

In the time of Jesus, the only part of what is now the Holy Bible was the Old Testament--the Law and the Prophets.  The law had three parts.  There was the ceremonial law, which represented the plan of salvation in types and symbols.  This law instructed Israel how they should worship God.  Then there was the judicial law, which today we would call the civil laws of the nation of Israel.  Finally there was the moral law, which is the Ten Commandments.

It never ceases to amaze me why people insist that the Ten Commandment law was nailed to the cross.  Surely they are not suggesting that we are now free to worship other gods, make graven images, or take the Lord’s name in vain.  Surely they don’t mean that we are now fee to lie, steal, and commit adultery.

Those who insist that the Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross are simply looking for an excuse not to keep the Fourth Commandment, which is“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”  Some insist that this commandment was only for the Jews.  But it was first given to Adam and Eve, and they were not Jews!

Jesus lived His life here on this earth, not to do away with the Ten Commandment law, but rather to confirm it and to show us how to not only obey the law but to fulfill its principles from the heart.

The Ten Commandments are a guide that tells us what to do, but they cannot give us a new heart.  In our own strength we cannot fulfill (obey) the law.  Jesus didn’t fulfill (obey) the law so that we don’t have to but so that, through His life, death, and resurrection, we can keep it.

Jesus wants us to obey the Commandments not just on the outside so people can see, He wants us to keep the Commandments from the heart because we know they are the right thing to do.

He is willing to help us; why not ask Him to help you today?