Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy (Ex. 20:3-8). Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's (Ex. 20:12-17).

The Ten Commandments were first spoken by God to Moses and the entire population of the Israelites as they gathered at the base of Mt. Sinai (19 - 20). Later, they were written on tablets of stone by the finger of God (31:18). They were given to us by our Creator, the One True God, as essential, basic principles for the spiritual and moral conduct of mankind. Without them we would have no reliable standard of right and wrong, as there is no inherent goodness to mankind. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it (Jer. 17:9)? Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning (James 1:17).

There are those today that teach that we are to regard the Ten Commandments only as history, a document that is no longer legally binding under the terms of the New Covenant established by God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. Yet Jesus Himself taught the importance of God's Law. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets (Matt. 22:37- 40). In other words, if we follow the teachings of Jesus, then by extension we must follow the Ten Commandments.

As sacred and perfect as the Ten Commandments are, however, they have no saving power. Even if a person were able to perfectly keep all of the Commandments from birth to death (something that no one but Jesus has ever been able to do) they would still lack the necessary credentials to be granted eternal life. The grace of God must be obtained through a personal relationship with Jesus. There is no other way.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me (John 14:6).

Thought for Today:

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