By this question, I'm not talking about God's love for us. What is the proof, according to the Bible, that we love God? The answer may surprise you as we don't hear it mentioned in our churches very often any more. In 1 John 5:3 (NKJV) it says, "For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome." What are the commandments that John is referring to? Jesus said in John 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments." What are the commandments that Jesus is referring to? 2 John verse 6 says, "This is love, that we walk according to His commandments." Since the New Testament had not been written yet, both Jesus (Who is God in the flesh) and John had to be referring back to the Old Testament commandments - in particular, the Ten Commandments. God knows we love Him when we are obedient to His commandments!
I know as "New Testament Christians" we've been taught that there are only two commandments that we must obey: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." And, "Love your neighbor as yourself." However, if you look at Matt. 22:40, Jesus says - "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." I call this the "Curtain Rod of Love".
Remember my title to this post is "What is the Love of God?" On this "Curtain Rod of Love", I see a divider in the middle. On the left side of this divider "hang" the four commandments out of the Ten Commandments which refer to "Loving the Lord Your God with all your heart, etc." These four are as follows: 1) You shall have no other gods before Me; 2) You shall not make a carved image or bow down to it; 3) You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; and 4) Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.
On the right side of the divider "hang" the other six commandments out of the Ten Commandments which refer to "Loving your neighbor as yourself." These six are: 5) Honor your father and your mother; 6) You shall not murder; 7) You shall not commit adultery; 8) You shall not steal; 9) You shall not lie; and 10) You shall not covet.
If you notice, Jesus (Who is God in the flesh and Who wrote the Ten Commandments in stone with His finger) in no way whatever "did away with" the Ten Commandments. He just confirmed that they were ALL still in effect and we are still required to obey them today! He put them into two categories: Love your God and Love your Neighbor.
So, let me ask you - how are you doing in showing your love for God? We need to remember that God is a Holy God. (Lev. 19:2) God has a Holy Name. (Isa. 57:15) God has a Holy Place. (Psa. 47:8; 48:1) God has a Holy People (Deut. 7:6; I Pet. 1:15,16), and God has a Holy Day - the Sabbath Day. (Ex. 20:8-11) A couple of years ago, God showed me that He never moved His rest day to the first day of the week. In fact, He was resting on His Sabbath Day in the grave, the day before His resurrection!! So if God never moved the Sabbath Day to the first day of the week, by what authority do we have to be moving it to Sunday or any other day of the week? God is a Holy God and expects His Holy People to honor His Holy Day - the Sabbath Day. Exodus 20:10 makes it very clear exactly what day that is: "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work;"
Jesus (God in the flesh) is coming back very soon. He's coming back for His Holy People who show their love for Him by obeying His Ten Commandments - all of them! Isa. 66:23 tells us that we will be keeping His Sabbath when He comes and sets up His kingdom on earth. "Lawless Grace" tries to tell us we can be disobedient because these laws don't apply to us today. However, if we love Him as we claim we do - why would we not want to obey Him by honoring His Sabbath as a holy day and a day of rest?
2 comments:
Just trying to get the discussion going here;-)
So how important is it to ones salvation to not work and rest on Saturday?
That is a very good question. I think what you are really asking is how important is obedience to one's salvation? James 2:14 says "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works (obedience)? Can faith save him?" In verse 24 is says, "You see then that a man is justified (salvation) by works (obedience) and not by faith only."
Romans 6:18 says "And having been set free from sin (lawlessness; a law-breaker), you became slaves of righteousness (obedience; a law-keeper)." It seems that we don't understand that once saved we are never totally "free". God says either we are a slave to sin (lawlessness)or we are a slave to righteousness (obedience). God has no "gray areas" as He does not compromise. I know this is hard when we live in a society that says it's OK to compromise or we want to leave room for discussion, etc. But when it comes to obedience to His commandments, I can't find anywhere in the Bible where He leaves room for discussion. What do you think?
Post a Comment