Ten Commandments

Today is a day of lawlessness. The spirit of our times is one of unbounded "freedom," one of casting off all restraints, despising all authority. Since God Himself is no longer feared by the majority, many no longer respect the God-ordained authority of governments, parents, church leaders, and educators. Because of abounding iniquity on every hand, the love of many professing Christians for their God and His Law has grown cold, just as Christ prophesied (Matthew 24:12) . Yet we see in Holy Scripture that the only true freedom is freedom from sin. Concerning the purpose of Christ's coming into the world, God's angel Gabriel said to Joseph, "And thou shalt call His name JESUS (that is, `JEHOVAH is Savior') : for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21) . The Lord Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32) . Free from what? Free from sin! Jesus Christ Himself is the Truth, and to know Him is to be free both from the power of reigning sin and from sin's soul-destroying consequences, not simply in the world to come but in this present life as well. The Lord Jesus Himself was well acquainted with the supreme joy of the Godward life of obedience to God's Law and freedom from sin. During His earthly walk, He was a Lawkeeper par excellence. To think, that the Second Person of the holy Trinity, Jehovah the eternal Word, the Lawgiver of Israel, was "made of a woman, made under the Law" (Galatians 4:4) for our redemption! Think on this: the salvation that has been freely given to you, simply by your having trusted in Christ's blood and righteousness, was procured by Him, your substitute, at the highest possible cost. The salvation that is ''all of grace'' to you was earned, ''all of works,'' by your Savior! And yet He obeyed every commandment with the purest delight, saying, ''My meat (food) is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work'' (John 4:34). Christ could say in the words of Job (23:12), yet w