Life Ministries

Key Verses of the Bible
Exodus 20:1-17

This is of course, the Ten Commandments. However, Scripture actually reveals three forms of God’s Law:

A. The law of conscience;  ( Romans 1:20 ) – “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
 ( Romans 2:12-16 ) –  “All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.”)
Conscience - A moral sense of right and wrong that affects one’s behavior. Conscience tells us that we ought to do right, and it tells us what we ought not to do.
    God gave every person an innate sense of good and evil, but what is wrong about just living according to the conscience? …
( Sin clouds the pure conscience of all mankind. Eph. 4:18 says that the non-Christian’s conscience has been darkened and dulled and blinded by the deceitfulness of sin.) Someone once said; “Once we defend our conscience by calling something a "necessary evil," it begins to look more and more necessary and less and less evil.”  The scripture also says that the conscience can become “seared”… Titus 1:15 says that those who are not completely living under the control of the Holy Spirit can have consciences that are “defiled, polluted, and corrupt.”
B. The Law ( Ten Commandments) given at Sinai.
     Given in written form – written by God himself – in the form of a covenant or agreement that God made with Israel. They were placed in the Ark of the covenant – under the mercy seat. The first four deal with the relationship between God and man; the last six deal with our rela-tionship to one another. The purpose for the giving of the Ten Commandments is found in Romans 3:20 which says “it is through the law that we become conscious of sin”.
    As we have seen, the conscience is fallible and easily dulled and seared.  But, when we compare our lives to the rigid demands of law, we can see that our lives are exceedingly sinful. ( see Romans 7:13 )
    What is the problem with the Law or the Commandments? ( They only tell us what is wrong, they make our conscience aware of sin, but are unable to empower us to do what is right. They are unattainable perfection. Why? ( Because of the sinful nature.)
C. The Law of Christ.  ( Romans 8:1-4 ) – “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ²because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. ³For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, ⁴in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”
    Christ elevated the moral principles of the law to a higher plane. ( See Matthew 5:17-48 ) What was Jesus saying or demanding of the people when he says things like verse 20? He was saying that a man’s heart attitude, not just his actions must be righteous.
    The Law of Christ says to us that the requirements of God demand more than just outward appearance or actions, for God sees the heart …And, because God is love, as John tells us, He wants everything we say and do to be motivated by love! Whether it concerns our relationship to Him or our relationship with one another. This is why Jesus said “This is my command; that you love one another.” This is why he summed up the Ten Commandments into just two – both beginning with “love”… “Love the Lord your God, with all your heart mind and soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” This is why the Apostle Paul told us that without love we are nothing but “clanging cymbals.”
    So, which of the three forms of God’s laws should we follow today?
(All of them.) The purpose of the Ten Commandments has not changed…we still need to know what sin is…and the Ten Commandments still make us conscious of sin.
    Although we may not be able to depend on our conscience, we must believe that God’s Holy Spirit will use our conscience to convict us of wrong and unrighteousness. There are too many things in life today that are what we call “grey areas” that the Bible is not specific about… And, in those cases, we must obey our conscience. 
    This is why Paul explained in Romans 14 - “If one man thinks something is unclean, then for him it is!” …But, he also says it is not for us to judge, ultimately it is up to God to convict if it is wrong.
In the end, it is obedience that comes from a heart motivated by love that we – as Christians – will be judged…and rewarded. The law of Christ, which calls us to a higher, deeper standard.