Can Following Ten Commandments Keep Our Lives Successful?
Question: If you follow the 10 commandments, you are on your way to success. If you have no law, how can you know what is sin. Jesus died so that you can stop sinning too. Your sins are forgiven, so stop it when you are saved. If you continue to sin, you go to hell. That is what God expects I believe, when you are forgiven, do not do the sin that has been forgiven, or else He will burn them in hell. If a believer is sleeping with somebody or if they are a lesbian, they are going to hell. I believe God says, 'It is my heaven, I know who to let in. If you continue to sin I will burn you in hell fire.' Do you agree with what I have told just now?
Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!
Yes right....10 Commandment are the basic law...but the superstructure is the law of the Spirit...We have to achieve hundred percentage righteousness to enter heaven and none of us in our own selves have the ability to keep all the law without even doing one sin (James 2:10), thus we have only one way to receive such a righteousness and the only way is through having faith in Christ Jesus which makes us 100 percentage righteousness just like God himself and not a Pharisaical level of self-deceived righteousness which has always fallen short of the Glory of God (Matt 5:20).
When God forgives He helps us overcome sin by making us become condemnation-free in our mind, which further helps us live in liberty (John 8:11; Rom 8:1), but He never promises a sin free life, instead a sin overcoming life of faith which pleases God (1 John 1:9-10; Heb 10:38-39). Thus the main purpose for living a Christian life is not to make ourselves sin free but to live in faith that pleases God as He accounts it as righteousness before Him (Rom 4:5-6). This righteousness of God gets imputed in to our heavenly spiritual account when we become saved, but as we grow from one level of faith to another level of faith (Rom 1:16-17), God will get more and more pleased with us apart from the works of ours which is pure blessedness of God's favor to live and speak in liberty and to be judged by His mercy (Jam 2:12-13).
We need to understand that by keeping the written law by works no man can be justified forever before God, but only through believing God's promises He can inherit eternal life as a gift from God (Gal 3:11). God leaves us in to heaven not because we are good, but because He is good all the time (John 3:16).
Because we are saved, we cannot become sin free but can become a overcomer over sin which means no matter how much we struggle with sin, it will not have dominion over us because we are saved from its dominion and power by the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior (1 John 5:4-5; Rom 6:14; 1 John 1:7, 9).
God never told us to become sinless because no human can except Jesus Christ (John 1:36; 1 Pet 2:21-22; 2 Cor 5:21), but rather He has told us to maintain good works by faith after we are saved (Jam 2:24; Titus 3:8).
What does it mean to maintain good works through faith?
It means when we die to ourselves and allow God to work out His good will and purpose through our lives by carrying the God given personal cross of voluntarily giving up our will to react to circumstances working against us by praising and thanking God within us for it rather than reject it by reacting to it, then this will prove our faith that we trust in God's word rather than our feelings and egos which we have starved again and again to die a thousand death (Php 2:12-13; Matt 11:28-30; Luke 9:23-26). So that we can offer ourselves as a living and a holy sacrifice to the Lord and live for His Glory, in doing it day after day we are doing good works for eternal life (Rom 12:1-2). Faith will be seen through our works but works by itself apart from faith is of no value as it will become a dead work (Jam 2:21-22, 26).
If we follow ten commandments, we are doing our spiritual kindergarten rightly, but then the very purpose of the kindergarten school learning is to one day make us in the future a scholarly good citizen of blessing to many (Matt 5:18-19). In other words, law is our kindergarten school teacher, until we start to walk by faith in Christ Jesus after which Holy Spirit Himself becomes our tutor to walk further from faith to faith until we become a good scholarly citizen of the Kingdom of God to be blessing to many now and forevermore (Gal 3:24-25; John 14:26; Heb 10:15-18). Once we grow from one level of faith to another level of faith (Rom 1:16-17), we become God's son who will be led by the Holy Spirit who helps us live a glorifying life of truth and grace in Christ Jesus now and forever (Rom 8:14; John 16:13-15; 1:17).
I agree that if we have no law, we can have no consciousness or awareness of sin (Rom 7:9; 3:20), and this law for the Jews has been given as the 10 commandments, but for the Gentiles it has been written in their heart and conscience (Rom 2:11-13, 14-15). If we try to do the law we can either become a hypocritically legalistic to justify ourselves before God to remain in the unsaved prideful condition, or fall at the feet of God in humility knowing that we cannot do the law and ever get justified, so that we really become justified by the righteousness of faith in the sight of God (Luke 18:9-14).
Jesus did not come to save our flesh from sin or else we do not have to die but will live now and forever after we become saved in this flesh body itself (1 Cor 15:55-57), but He came so that we might receive a new life of God through the forgiveness of sin and in turn we might be saved from the penalty of sin (Rom 6:23), power of sin (Rom 6:14) and from the presence of sin in our mind now and from its presence in our body after we die and go on to be with the Lord (Rom 6:6, 9-11, 12; 8:10; 2 Cor 4:16; 5:8; Php 1:21). Jesus died to sin but He lives to God, therefore we follow Him now just like him (Rom 6:10). So we cannot stop sinning completely from every sins of thoughts and actions to become sinless, but we can become overcomers over sin now, and can day by day by the grace of God break free through faith which lead us to overcome and avoid the habitual slavery of sin which separates us from fellowshipping with God through His Presence (1 John 2:1-2; 1:3, 9, 7; 5:4, 5). In short, we cannot stop sinning completely in our thoughts and actions hundred percentage of time, but if we do take our thoughts captive always to the obedience of Christ we will live a overcoming life over sin and it will not have dominion over us (2 Cor 10:4-5), and therefore we can live a victorious Christian overcoming life over sin which pleases God more and more as we grow from faith to faith to live a better and better God Glorifying life than before. Jesus did not die for us so that we can stop sinning, but He died so that we might be free from sin to live in friendship with God and be in fellowship with Him and share our life of intimacy which we all lost due to being born in sin from our mothers womb to continue in it till the grave if not for the grace of God (Psa 51:5; Rom 5:21; John 17:3). Sin is a byproduct of the fall of man in to disobedience, the restoration of the fall of all humans again is through righteousness of obedience in Christ Jesus which comes by faith to make us experience the life of God again. Hallelujah!
If we do not stop any habitual pet sin or besetting sins by loving it, we are coming in to a danger zone where we will be chastised by God who as our loving Father will not throw us in to hell but deals with us compassionately as with a son (1 Cor 3:15; Psa 103:12, 13-14; Heb 12:6). If we endure chastening, then God deals with us as with sons, or He ends up dealing with us as immature children which will not benefit us eternally and neither will it glorify God temporally when we are present in the earth (Heb 12:7; 1 Cor 10:5, 6; John 10:10; Isa 65:1, NLT). Definitely how maturely a believer is able to understand and discern both good and evil through the Word of God, is a indication of how much life of God He is able to enjoy now on earth for the Glory of God (Heb 5:12-14).
A person who has no regrets for sins or any godly sorrow which leads to life must look to scan himself to see whether he is saved or not saved at all (2 Cor 7:10; 13:5-6). Therefore those who cannot see any kind of repentance in their life should look to the Lord to first get saved and then live a godly life to maintain their good works. First get saved with the assurance of salvation, then do the good works of the salvation to live a overcoming life over sin, sickness and death for the Glory of God.
When you get saved, even the lies you have said before salvation gets forgiven by God. Just because you got saved, have you never lied after you were saved, not even once? This shows that people who believe that during salvation only the sins up to the time we repented to God as a sinner for the first time, will get forgiven of the sins of the past, and now that they are forgiven by God for the past they have a obligation to live a sinless life before God as God will only judge the present and future sins someday only after we die. This is a false belief that has come due the false doctrine of partial salvation which takes away the honor of Christ death and gives the law keepers the credit after their salvation.
What we do see in the Bible is, we are chosen by God and when we come to accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, our past, present and future sins have all been forgiven by Him through his death, and in His burial our sins were buried and in His resurrection a new life of God has been given in to us to live a overcoming life over sin by our faith (Eph 4:32). Can our faith become works after our salvation? No, no, works follows the true faith and it will still be considered as faith and not works until we die and go on to be with the Lord (Eph 2:8-9; Rom 4:4; Jam 2:22). A changed life can be the evidence of salvation but not the reason for it. A transformed life can be the byproduct of salvation, but only receiving the life of God from Him becomes the very gifted product of salvation to us.
When you are saying, 'If a believer is sleeping with somebody or if they are a lesbian, they are going to hell.' First of all a true believer cannot practice sin as he will hate it because it destroys his fellowship with God. Even when such a believer has been weakened by the flesh desire, he will not plan to sin. Some believers get relieved of most of all their evil habits during salvation, still others God allows them to struggle through to find victory after many years, by saying such thing you are affirming that there is no excuse and forgiveness for sin from God if someone is already saved but has been still bound by a habitual and besetting sins. But you are wrong in saying such a thing as for those who are saved they are justified by God, remember apostle Paul is asking you, "1 You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. 2 And we know that God, in His justice, will punish anyone who does such things. 3 Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God's judgment when you do the same things? 4 Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that His kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? 5 But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will judge everyone according to what they have done. 7 He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. 8 But He will pour out His anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness." (Rom 2:1-5, 6-8). In other words, apostle Paul is saying, we cannot look to someone else as a sinner going to hell when we ourselves are struggling through many sins being forgiven by God daily, so that as God intended in His kindness we could be able to turn away from sins of both commission and omission, and also remain humble not to judge others to condemn them but instead show mercy to turn them towards Christ compassionately bearing with them as God bears us. Eternal life is given to the overcomers who fight against sin until the end as a child of God. Those who live for themselves in sin and refuse to obey the truth but instead habitually live lives of wickedness He will pour out His anger and wrath to send them to hell fire. In short a believer may struggle with habitual sins, but not forever if he sincerely looks to the Lord to find a way out of it through the grace of God (1 Cor 10:13).
If a believer continues to sin habitually, even after continually resisting God's chastisement to turn him from it, he may end up without repentance to lose eternal reward that God has for him in the future like Esau who sold his birthright and lost his great spiritual blessing of the first born which he had been entitled to (Heb 6:4-8; 12:17). Such believers might get judged by God severely now further even to death physically and waste their God given life on earth and the blessing of reward in heaven to be squandered for shame at His coming on the day of rapture (Heb 10:26-30, 39; 1 Cor 11:30-31; 1 John 2:28).
In other words, the way you show mercy to others who are suffering from sin's clutches will show whether you are saved or not (Matt 5:7). To those who have received the abundant mercy of God as a sinner can only show mercy to the sinners around them. The unsaved usually have a very judgmental attitude towards others to see all the sins of all others around them except themselves which is very dangerous before God to bring his rebuke and wrath on such attitudes which are like a stench in God's nostrils (Jam 2:13). These unsaved people will always be ready to project God as the hard task master who never sows but expects great harvest from them (Matt 25:24-27). I do not condone sin by advocating to show mercy to other sinners around us, but God always measures and gives back to each of us according to the measure we use for others to point out their mistakes without mercy and forgiveness (Matt 7:1-5; Luke 6:37-38; Gal 6:7-10).
When you say, "I believe God says, 'It is my heaven, I know who to let in. If you continue to sin I will burn you in hell fire.'", you are misrepresenting God by giving out such statement on assumption. In fact, God sent Jesus to die for the sinners, because all sinners were not able to live without sin and were bound towards hell fire. Jesus Christ who had no sin nature and did no sin became the embodiment of sin before God on behalf of us humans to sacrifice Himself for our justification, so that we could become embodiment of the righteousness of God through believing in Him (2 Cor 5:21; Rom 5:8-9). God saved us because of His love, if love creates fear after salvation then it must be the spirit of fear and not love which drives away fear of judgment but at the same time makes us revere God for His awesome salvation to us (2 Tim 1:7; 1 John 4:18). Man made fear in us brings us in to the snare of religiosity and not allow us to spread our wings to fly to greater heights in God spiritually (Isa 29:13; Prov 29:25). So your perception of God as a hard task master is based on the teachings of men and not based on the Word of God, I believe you need to experience the grace and mercies of God in a new way according to the His eternal unending mercies that never ceases to renew us and fill us with His life. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance (Rom 2:4), the long suffering of the Lord towards his erring sinful child who have become His is salvation (2 Pet 3:15). Legalism kills, but love edifies us completely by filling us with God's very heavenly eternal life (2 Cor 3:6; 1 Cor 8:1).
I would like to end this by saying, if we are saved it is the grace of God, if we are alive it is the mercy of God and if we can be joyful it is because of the one and only reason of the unconditional love of God towards us. So we who are saved, let us live to love people, forgive them and show mercy to them when they are unrepentant and are forceful in their evil way to fulfill their sin. Let us learn to judge our sin first because we have a sin nature that feeds us with lustful thoughts all the time, if we let it get conceived in our mind it becomes sinful thoughts and then if we allow it continue and linger within then soon it becomes an evil action (Gen 4:7). Once we have learned to judge rightfully our own sin, then let us learn to show the same forgiveness and mercy that God has shown for us in spite to others around us who sin in one way or the others differently than us. If not for the grace of God, there you go in the boots of the sinners. Praise God for His mercies! In other words, if we can understand God's love, mercy and forgiveness towards us, it will be easy for us to disperse the same towards others who are sinful like us, some saved and others unsaved. If we can show love, grace and mercy to others without expecting anything in return, then we can better represent the true God of the Bible whom we Christians believe better than anyone else around us in the world because He is our loving Father. Hallelujah!
If it is only for our earthly life, keeping the Law of Moses might give us success and great success (1 Cor 4:8; 2 Cor 6:10), but if we are speaking about eternal heavenly success, it cannot be of any use except lead us towards Christ, to take hold of His grace and truth to lean on Him to get saved (Gal 3:19, 21, 24-25). Keeping Ten Commandments is just a foundation kindergarten class in our spirituality, but the more important things of faith, love and mercy are the superstructure that are to be kept mandatory along with the basics to build ourselves to greater and greater heights for the Glory of God in our spiritual lives, without which law keeping is just a formality as it never pleases God to pour out His favor eternally upon our lives (Matt 23:23).
Much Blessings...
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