Why I Believe In The Commandments Of God

WHY I BELIEVE IN THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD

Ps 119:66

66 Teach me good discernment and knowledge, for I believe in Thy commandments. (NAS)

Ted Turner has declared the Ten Commandments obsolete, "We’re living with outdated rules. The rules we’re living under are the Ten Commandments, and I bet nobody here even pays much attention to them because they’re too old. Today, the Ten Commandments wouldn’t go over. Nobody around likes to be commanded. Commandments are out!"

Turner is wrong when he declares that the Ten Commandments are outdated. As we will see in upcoming message, they are as fresh as ever.

"The Ten Commandments" were given by God on tablets of stone, Exodus 20:1: And God spake all these words, saying,

These "Commandments" are not obsolete. They are "Timeless Truths For Troubled Times".

(I BELIEVE IN GOD COMMANDMENTS BECAUSE)

I-BECAUSE THEY TEACH RECOGNITION:

Exodus 20:2: I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Keeping the commandments will not save anyone, for the only one who ever kept the commandments totally was Jesus. But the first commandment tells us we have to recognize that there can only be one God in our life, and that God revealed himself in the flesh in Jesus Christ.

ILLUSTRATON:

You may heard about the ad in a paper for a lost dog. Description: Brown, short hair, with bald spots, right leg broken from an auto accident, left hip hurt from another auth accident, rt. Eye missing from a fight with a cat, left ear bitten off from a fight with a dog answers to the name: Lucky? One thing this dog definitely is NOT, is lucky.

And one thing the 10 Commandments definitely are NOT, is a way of salvation.

We have no power to even attempt to keep the commandments outside Jesus Christ in us.

BUT THANK GOD WHEN WE RECOGNIZE AND RECEIVE HIS SON, JESUS IN SALVATION, THERE IS A NEW LIFE

ILLUSTRATION:

I love the story I heard about this fellow who had been a notorious drunk. One day he sobered up enough to go to church with his family. He heard the gospel and experienced the conviction of the Holy Spirit. At the close of the service, he went to the altar and the pastor showed him from the Bible how to be saved. He prayed and was saved. Of course he immediately lost his desire for booze, and he lost the desire to run with the guys he drank with. Several weeks later, he ran into one of his old drinking buddies. His old so called "friend" told him that he had heard that he had got religion and that he had quit drinking. The new Christian affirmed that. His friend then asked him, How do you know God is real? The man wisely replied, "I know God is real because he has turned beer and whiskey into clothes and furniture for my family."

MANY people do not want God intruding on their way of living. It is time however, for those of us who claim to be Christians to boldy SHARE HIM WITH OTHERS.

AND WE CAN’T DO THAT IF WE LUKEWARM

ILLUSTRATION;

Bro. Rick Coram shares a revival he had several years ago. The music director after his part sat on the second row with his wife, his 30 year old son, and their children. As the service continued, he would take a puzzle and start working on it, and then his 30 year old son took his puzzled out, and then, the children began pulling out paper and writing it. This father was bored with God and it influenced his children and even his grandchildren.

II-BECAUSE THEY TEACH RATIONALLY

(having reason or sanity)(they give sanity and order to our culture)

They set some boundaries for us; They teach us what is in bounds and what is out of bounds.

(can you imagine what playing a football game would be without rules?)(Would they allow you run out of bounds into the stands, or to the refreshment stand?)

Today, in America, many believe that there are no "moral absolutes." How many times have we heard statements like these: "What’s right for you may not be right for me."; "If it feels good do it."; "Anything goes."; " Nothing is right or wrong, there are just different opinions?" All of this is the result of the feeling that there is no absolute truth.

A recent poll found that 67% of Americans do not believe in moral absolutes. Among "Baby Busters", those born between 1965 and 1983, the percentage was even higher at 78%. Even 62% of professing Christians said that there was no absolute standard of right and wrong.