The Ten Commandments .......please take the time to read these and then the follow up underneath.
And God spake all these words, saying,
I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his , nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
I can remember sharing a message based souly on the above scripture, not to condemn but to convict, not to blame but to open the heart to the truth. What I did may sound harsh to some, but if you realize how important it is to be ready for the Lord's return, prayerfully you will understand why I did what I did.
I asked everyone in the sanctuary to stand, and listen as I read the ten commandments from the book of Exodus, as I read each commandment if you felt like you had broken that commandment please sit down, sad but true, as I continued to read, one by one people began to sit, again I reminded them this was not to bring about embarrassment, but to make a simple point, these commandments were written by God as a moral guide, for man to live by, by the time I got to the end, no-one was standing, and then I read the following verse....
1 John 2: 1,2
My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world...
I am certain that if you or I were honest, we would recognize then need for an advocate, Our Lord Jesus, as I believe no-one can pass the test I asked the church to do, but isn't it wonderful, to have Christ on your side, when you have no other way, to stand before God sinless....when the time comes.
