09/03/2024
Can we actually obey all of God's commandments? Man has been struggling to answer this question since Adam and Eve were first told not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And although they failed at keeping that one command God did not abandon them, but clothed them instead, and continued to love and teach them. Later, Moses came down from the mountain with even more commandments… And we all know what happened then; man continued to fail. So are we doomed to lives of failure? Is it any different today than it was then? Not really, but God has made provision for us. Are we ready to receive it?
“But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”
Genesis 3:3 KJV
So in the Garden of Eden the serpent tempted Eve and she plucked a piece of fruit from the tree and lo and behold, she didn't immediately die, so she thought that God had not told them the truth... and she ate of it. Realizing, in that instant, what she had done, she felt alone, and wanted company (after all, misery loves company), so she convinced Adam that the fruit was good to eat, and he too touched and ate of it... so this was the downfall and failure of mankind, and demonstrated man's inability to keep God's commandments. This failure had a ripple effect throughout their lives and created a need for such things as fig leaves. Adam and Eve were naked and ashamed. We see the evidence of how sin rippled through their lives in man’s desire to hide and clothe himself, and this eventually led to the creation of Sach's Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and a proliferation of other clothing stores.
Since that very first failure, we have wrestled with keeping God's commandments. We fail and then make excuses for ourselves as we argued that the rules are just too hard, and that no man can possibly adhere to them. What we are actually doing is making excuses for ourselves, and attempting to shift the blame for our failures to God. We are painting Him as unreasonable and His commandments as being snares set to entrap us, but that couldn't be further from the truth. So we continue to live out this lie to this very day. But God, even though He knows the truth, still loves us. Listen to how we know this is true…
“O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!”
Deuteronomy 5:29 KJV
God loves us and desires that we succeed in keeping His ordinances, and in obeying His will.
Seeing our shortcomings He sent His Son Jesus to be born unto a virgin, suffer, die, and be raised from the dead to redeem us. He did this to give us hope, salvation, redemption, and to overcome our inabilities by transforming us. This demonstrated our Father’s goodness, mercy, and grace towards us, and we have looked to Jesus to not only help us, but to erase the commandments altogether, yet He came to fulfil them, and sin lived on in the world. He told us time and again to go and sin no more, but though our spirit is willing our flesh was weak, and we continued to struggle with it...
“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:18-20 KJV
So we have come full circle and we are back to our original question; can we actually keep all of God's commandments? ... Jesus says “YES!” and men of God also answer with a resounding "YES!". Pastor E.M. Bounds offered us the solution to this dilemma when he wrote these words:
"Does God give commandments that we cannot obey? No. In all of scripture, not a single instance is recorded of God having commanded any man to do a thing that was beyond his power." – E. M. Bounds
Then Pastor Bounds went on to comment on how we could receive God’s help.
"Can a believer receive help to obey every one of them? Of course. All that a person needs to do is pray." – E. M. Bounds
So rather than failing and then pointing fingers at God in an attempt to feel better about ourselves, we should pray before we are tempted and fail, and let God strengthen our wills when they are weakening.
“He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.”
Isaiah 40:29 KJV
God not only gives us commandments, but then He helps us to succeed in keeping them. The help is in His Word, our prayers, and in His direct and continuous involvement in our lives through Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. Do we recognize His desire, and give Him free reign over us?
This morning I pray a special prayer for us. I pray one of Paul’s most wonderful and strengthening prayers as it is recorded in scripture... listen, and pray this with me…
Prayer:
Father,
“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:14-21 KJV
Rich Forbes