We can earnestly try, and make heartfelt, valiant attempts because we want to please Our Redeemer, but can we be completely successful?
It is not possible for the corrupt flesh of man to "sin no more"
The flesh is to be stifled while we pursue righteousness, and conform more to being Christ like, until the one day we will see Him as He is, because we will be like Him.
The book of John also says that if one says he has no sin, or does not sin, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. If we had the capability within us to "stop" sinning, then Christ's sacrifice would not have been required. The Eternal God would not have had to leave His Throne in Heaven and become flesh as Jesus Christ, to save man from the sin and corruption that came upon him as a result of the Fall while in the Garden of Eden.
God's Plan for the salvation of man would be nothing but a lesson in futility if man could "stop sinning" whenever he wanted.
The Ten Commandments were given to mankind as God's Standard. If I may be permitted to paraphrase God: "You want to be Holy like me? Do these..".
He knew man was incapable of keeping them and thus, would sin, because man is not perfect, and he cannot keep himself from breaking at least one of the commandments. Thus, as the wages of sin is death, man was condemned.
The problem was, and still is... that man believes he has the power to do as he pleases, there is no sin, no moral code, no eternity, no accountability and thus, does not need God.
All God asks is that we believe in Him and in Christ. Believing in Him that sent Him. To believe that Christ died to pay the penalty for the wages of sin, and that He conquered death by raising Himself from the grave.
"No man has power to take my life, I give it willingly and I have power to take it back again" - Jesus' words.God does not change but He also doesn't bind us to the law, or to any other commandments.
The law is dead... because it served its purpose of showing man he is worthy of death, and that he needs a Savior. Paul states this plainly in Roman's... We are dead to the law.
Christ: "If you love Me, you will keep my commandments"Yes He said this, but He stated it teaching His disciples Perfect Love, the Love which only He could give, and that which would become abundantly clear to the Apostles after His Death and Resurrection, as He relayed to them all that was written concerning Himself in Moses and the Prophets.
The scriptural revelations He was making to them revealed how God was working through out time to restore mankind back to the fellowship they had experienced with Him in the beginning, all the foreshadowing and prophesying of events which would lead to His Death on the Cross, and His subsequent Resurrection at His First Coming, and the future of His Return to complete His repossession of His creation from the current sovereignty of Lucifer. The Scroll with 7 Seals, the title dead to earth and creation to be served, and then consummated with the Word of His Power. The Ultimate Holy Expression of God's Love, the complete Redemption of man and all of creation. An Eternity of Fellowship with Him if we believe in Him and the One that sent Him.
And if, all of a sudden, you really do believe in the existence of God, and His Son, The Son's Death and Resurrection.... don't you think you would want to please Him? Knowing that He first loved us, before we loved Him? You would live to OBEY His commandments which He had given in the beginning, knowing that they reflect His Divine Nature, and that you are walking in the Spirit, LEARNING to be more like Him, everyday growing, conforming to His Nature? thus... "If you love Me, you will keep my commandments" takes on a little different appearance then that of a direct warning... "Do this or you will be condemned to eternal separation from Me"
Don't be legalistic, or try to make people conform to something which Christ had not commanded.
Love and Honor the Lord your God, and Love thy neighbor as thyself, all the other commandments are summarized in these two, as taught and relayed to us by the Eternal Creator, Alpha and Omega...
I think I will believe Jesus and not another set of man's false doctrines.
Maybe we all need to listen to God more, and grasp what He relayed to us in scripture when He said through Paul, "Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him as Righteousness. God said to Abraham: (paraphrased) "now I know that you love me because you did not spare your son, your only begotten son from Me"
"Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ" - Romans 5:1
Perfect Love, Peace With God. His Grace is sufficient for me... thank you....
Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. With His death and resurrection paying the penalty for all of mankind's sin, and His resurrection, destroying the binds which death had upon us as sinners, His New Covenant was established with those who believe in Him and His Work. For those who do not, they are judged by the Law given to Moses by the Eternal, by Jesus, if you will, and He, as the Judge of the World, will judge all the non-believers by the Law, and all will be condemned, because none can stand up as fulfilling ALL of God's PERFECT Nature, as displayed by His Eternal Law.
Believers will NEVER be judged by this Perfect Law, as the PERFECT Sacrifice, God HIMSELF, Gave Himself as a RANSOM to pay the penalty outlined for breaking His Own Perfect Law. He redeemed those who believe in Him, and He places all of the their transgressions of the law, as far as the East is from the West, to be remembered, no more.
Hallelujah, What a Savior. Thank you Lord Jesus!
