“Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:10).
Too often we think of Christianity as a list of rules. It isn’t; that would be works, and we’re saved by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross.
“Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:28-29).
His shed blood takes away all sin, but we have to admit we are sinners, repent, and ask Jesus to forgive us. When we do that, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit and our salvation is secure.
Most people know that there’s something called the Ten Commandments but seldom can name any of them. If you can follow them, your life will be better, but they won’t bring salvation. They are moral guidance and a good road map to navigate life. Following them to the letter will never bring salvation because that’s an impossibility. You may not kill, but you really hate your neighbor whose dog digs in your flowers.
When judging your own life, you’ll probably be very forgiving of your sins, such as justifying why you told a “little white lie” or why you had every right to be angry. God loves you, but He’s an unbiased and very perfect judge. You want to be judged through the righteousness of the blood of Jesus, not on your own merit.
The first “thou shalt not” in Scripture occurs in Genesis. In no uncertain terms, God told Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17).
There isn’t any room for twisting what God said, but Satan found a way and Eve believed him. When God says not to do something, it’s for our own good. Adam found out the hard way that God gave that rule because He loved His created humans. Unfortunately, Adam listened to Eve, who had listened to the serpent and questioned God’s truth. Adam and Eve did die after eating that forbidden fruit. They didn’t drop dead immediately but were separated from God with no way to get back into fellowship with Him.
Adam’s sin has been passed on to his children through the ages, and we all have a sin nature and a death sentence upon us. God had a plan for us to get back into fellowship; that plan was through the sacrificial death of Jesus (God’s only begotten Son). Only faith in Jesus will allow sinners to live eternally with Him.
One would think that Adam’s children would have listened to their father when he spoke of the beautiful Garden that he and Eve had once inhabited, and the “thou shalt not” that he and Eve ignored. Maybe Adam didn’t make the warnings clear, or maybe children haven’t changed much over the years and rejected Adam’s warnings. Whatever the reason, the trouble for mankind just kept getting worse. Cain killed his brother, Abel, and sin was getting stronger.
As the population grew, Satan tried again to destroy humanity; the fallen angels mated with human women and genetically corrupted all of creation. It became necessary for God to destroy everything except for eight genetically pure people and some animals in order to stop Satan’s plan for destruction.
After the flood, sin continued to thrive. The population grew again, and nations were established, including Egypt, a nation steeped in the worship of mythological gods and goddesses. God chose Abraham out of another pagan, idol-worshipping country to establish the bloodline that would lead to the Messiah. Eventually, Abraham’s grandson Jacob had twelve sons, who became the patriarchs of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
When famine threatened the lives of God’s chosen people, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to seek food from the government there. Unknown to Jacob, his son Joseph, whom Jacob thought had been killed by a wild animal, was the man in charge. As it turned out, Joseph was able to bring his father, his brothers, and all of the household to Egypt, where they thrived for many years.
During that time, a new Pharaoh came to power and enslaved the Israelites. When the time was right, God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of captivity and into the land promised to Abraham. Because God’s chosen people had been captive in Egypt for so many years, they had been influenced by the false gods of Egyptian mythology, and God had to lay down some rules. That’s when He gave them the Ten Commandments, the moral law which we still need to honor today.
First, they had to understand that there is no other God, and they weren’t to worship false gods. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).
We need to pay attention to that today. The world is trying to dictate gods to us, but there is only one God. Allah is a demon god, Buddha is not a god, whoever the Mormons worship is not God Almighty as seen in Scripture, and neither are beings from outer space. Christians cannot compromise. There are many other “gods” that influence life today – materialism, the “me” generation, evolution, sex, money, and on and on. Put no other god ahead of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit…the Triune God.
Read through the rest of the chapter and see for yourself how many of the thou shalt nots you break daily. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). Remember that Jesus said even looking with lust is a sin. How many movies do you watch that are designed to make you lust? We need to pay attention to the thou shalt nots, and honor God.
The Jewish Law goes on and on about what thou shalt not do, and I want to bring a couple of these thou shalt nots to your attention. “And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is abomination” (Leviticus 18:21-22).
These are two sins that are in news headlines today: Abortion and homosexuality. Child sacrifice is an abomination to God, as is all sexual sin. If you call yourself a Christian and accept these sins, remember, God says “Thou shalt not.” God holds men to a high degree of responsibility. It was Adam who was given the command not to eat the forbidden fruit, but he stood by and watched Eve defy God. Today, women are screaming “My body, my choice.” Make the choice prior to creating an individual little person. That little person doesn’t deserve to die.
Men, be responsible even if women aren’t. The “seed” comes from the man when creating a baby, and God said not to let any of thy seed be killed. God spoke of placing children into the fiery arms of the demon god Molech, but murdering a child in the womb is still killing your seed. Thou shalt not be irresponsible, and thou shalt make sure women understand they aren’t to kill their babies. “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13).
Even though people have a sin nature, God loves us. When Adam sinned, humanity was separated from God. Sin is what makes us unclean. If we can get rid of sin, we’ll be able to spend eternity with God. But how do we do that? Following every point of Jewish Law would be a start. It’s humanly impossible to be perfect. Oh, we might be wonderful in the eyes of the world, but by God’s standards, we are sinners.
“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
When we embrace the “thou shalt nots” instead of honoring God by following the “thou shalts” in Scripture, that’s how we join the world in sin; we come way short of God’s glory. God didn’t leave us there to die eternally, but He had a perfect plan. He entered His creation and imparted His plan of salvation to anyone who believes.
“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:24-26).
Without Jesus, there’s no hope of salvation. You must put your faith in Him, repent, and ask Him to forgive you. The blood of Jesus was shed as the final sacrifice for all sin. Don’t think that your sin is so bad that it’s unforgivable. Read the history of the Apostle Paul. He was a very wicked man, but when he met Jesus, he was changed. His sin was great, but God’s love is greater. Go to Jesus now and ask Him to forgive you. Turn from your wicked ways.
When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus had an answer: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30).
Loving God means obeying Him. When you fail, He will forgive your sin if you ask in Jesus’ name.
Follow the “Thou shalts” in Scripture, and turn away from the “Thou shalt nots.” Love the Lord and draw near to Him.
God bless you all,
Nathele Graham
Recommended prophecy sites:
All original Scripture is “theopneustos,” God-breathed.
If you would like to be on my mailing list to receive the commentaries, just drop me an email and let me know.
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee” (Psalm 122:6).
The post Thou Shalt and Thou Shalt Not :: By Nathele Graham appeared first on Rapture Ready.
Leave a Reply