Good Morning and welcome to this edition of the Berean Break.  My name is George A. Sinkie and I am so glad that you have joined me this morning.  I hope that you have come seeking the truth from the Word of God because that is what this program is about.  We do not use creeds and catechisms written by men because there is no authority from the word of God to have these writings.  We encourage each of you to pick up your Bible and check out what is presented on this program.  Then you need to take the truth and apply it into your life.  If you find out that error is presented, please let me know so that I can correct it.  Let’s go to God in prayer.

Great God and Father, We thank You for this day in our lives, We thank You for this time today, When we can share Your word.  Be with us that we will open our minds to Your will.  Thank You for Your Word that gives us all truth.  Thank You also for Your Son, Jesus.  Who died for us that we can be saved.  Help us to obey Your will so we can obtain that salvation.  In Jesus’ Name, we pray !!  AMEN !!

     Today’s program is going to deal with a question I was asked one time in one of our regular classes.  We always welcome sincere questions from the Bible and this is one that is a common concern of many people in the world today.  The question was:  “shouldn’t we keep the Ten Commandments today?”  Many people would simply answer yes, because these are good basic moral instructions.  But God wants us to be more than just moral people, He wants us to be righteous people.  So let’s consider this question from this point of view.
     Let’s suppose for a moment that a person kept the Ten Commandments better than anyone has ever kept them ever before.  With the exception of Jesus, no one has ever kept the Ten Commandments completely and absolutely.  But let’s say for now that this person only broke one commandment just one time.  This would be a very moral person but they would not be completely righteous because they broke the Law.  When we break the Law of God we are a sinner under that law, but listen to what Paul writes in Romans 6:23

  23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

     Notice that Paul uses the singular for “sin.”  The very first time we are held accountable for a sin, we die spiritually and we are separated from God.  There is no amount of goodness or morality that a person may do that will make up for that one sin.  So this person that we are using as an example would now be a good moral lost person.  But God has provided a way by which this lost person can be saved.  Under the covenant of God that the Ten Commandments were a part of, this person would have to bring some type of animal sacrifice to the Levitical priest and have that priest offer that blood sacrifice as an atonement for his sins.  There was the exception that if the man was very, very poor he could offer a meal or flour offering for atonement but this was still mixed with blood of other offerings for his atonement.  This was the way of salvation under the Old Law or Mosaic Law.  But how does this apply today?  Are we still under the Mosaic Law?  Is the Ten Commandment Law still in effect today?  These are the questions that we need to find the Bible answers to and then apply that truth into our lives.
     Some say that we are under the Ten Commandments but that we don’t need to offer the animal sacrifices because of the death of Jesus on the cross.  They argue that Jesus Himself kept the Ten Commandments and so we should as well.  But consider this:  What Law or Covenant of God did Jesus live under while here on this earth?  Paul answers that question for us in Galatians 4:4-5

  4 But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,
  5 in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

     Jesus was born under the Law that is the Old Mosaic Law and so for Him to be right with God He had to keep that Law because He was a Jew.  Does this prove that we are under that Law?  No it does not.  Because a very significant event has taken place between the time that Jesus lived here in this world and now.  God also inspires Paul to write of this event in Ephesians 2:13-16

  13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
  14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
  15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,
  16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

     Now let’s look a little closer here at these verses.  The “you” that Paul is referring to in these verse are the Gentiles.  You see the Gentiles were not under the Law, that is the Ten Commandments, even when Jesus was on this earth.  Then Paul talks of a “dividing wall” and an “enmity,” this was something that caused a division between men.  What was this enmity?  Look at what it says in the context here in verse 15.  The enmity is “the Law of commandments contained in ordinances.”  This is the Mosaic Law, of which the Ten Commandments are a part.  These verses show that the Ten Commandment Law that God gave only to the Jewish nation was done away with, when Jesus died on the cross.
     Another way that we know from the Bible that we are not under the Ten Commandments today is found in the book of Hebrews.  Throughout the first century there were those false teachers who tried to combine the Old Law with the New Covenant and God inspired His prophets to write the truth on this matter.  Turn with me over to Hebrews chapter 7.  All through Hebrews 7, God is talking about two different priesthoods.  There is the Levitical priesthood, which is sometimes called the Aaronic priesthood, because is comes through the house of Aaron, which is part of the tribe of Levi.  This was the priesthood that God gave along with the Old Law so that when a Jew sinned he could offer the sacrifice that God instructed him to through the priest that God wanted him to use.  Now keep Hebrews 7 marked but turn back with me to Hebrews 4:14-15, there God speaks of the high priest and priesthood that are acceptable to God under the New Covenant,

  14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
  15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

     Now keep in mind that the high priest in Christianity is Jesus Christ and read with me Hebrews 7:11-14

  11 Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?
  12 For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.
  13 For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar.
  14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.

     If Jesus is the High Priest under the New Covenant, and He is, then we cannot be under the Old Law which includes the Ten Commandments.  No New Testament writer ever wrote that Christians are to live under the Ten Commandments, as a matter of fact most of them wrote to refute that very false teaching.  Those who believe and teach that a person must live by the Ten Commandments, cannot and do not really appeal to Jesus as their High Priest.  In fact they reject that Jesus really was and is the Christ.  Listen to how God says this in His word, Galatians 5:1-4

  1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
  2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.
  3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.
  4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

     The freedom that Paul speaks of is from the Law and he shows that if we try to keep part of that Law then we must keep all of that Law and we have no right to appeal to God because of what Christ did.  And if we cannot take advantage of what Christ did then there is no way of salvation available.

     We have seen from God’s word that we are not under the Ten Commandments, or any other part of the Old Law.  But this does not mean that we can go out and kill and steal and covet and commit adultery.  God’s will concerning these things is regulated and recorded for us in the New Covenant.  And just like under the Old Law, God has told us what we need to do to receive forgiveness of our sins.  God has said that if we want to receive forgiveness based on the blood Jesus shed on the cross, which is the only way we can be forgiven, then we need to hear the word and develop faith based on that word, Then based on our faith, we need to repent, which means to turn away from our sins.  We need to confess Jesus because of our faith and based on our faith we need to be immersed in water for the forgiveness of our sins.  This is the new birth or being born again and as we come up out of the water, we arise to walk in newness of life.  God’s desire and my prayer is that you will obey the will of God and be saved.