Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 9/18/2009

Question
I asked a question to one of your “experts”, Clive Heath, and I really didn’t understand his answer.  I wish you would clarify what he meant in his answer.

Instead of me copying my question and his answer, please click on his name and click on the subject “Ten Commandments and 2nd coming.

At one point in his answer, he says “I agree that it appears that the Sabbath was changed by many, but the Jewish people still see the last day of the week as the Sabbath. But you have to remember that man was given free will by God, if this free will was used to change certain things then obviously God was aware of it”.

It is true that God gave humans “free will” but that does not allow sinful human beings to change God’s Law which is the Ten Commandments.

Let’s look at all of the 10 commandments which are located in Exodus 20:3-17.

1)   Thou shalt have no other gods before me.  
2)   Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything 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 showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.  
3)   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.  
4)   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.  
5)   Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.  
6)   Thou shalt not kill.  
7)   Thou shalt not commit adultery.  
8)   Thou shalt not steal.  
9)   Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.  
10)    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 ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.  
Man has no right to change God’s commandment’s to meet his/her needs or wants.  God is infinite and eternal. Man is sinful and mortal.

God wrote His commandment’s in stone so that man would know that they do not change just as God Himself does not change.

According to the previous answer given by the “expert”, man has “free will” to have other gods before God, to make graven images, to take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, to not remember the seventh-day Sabbath, to not to honor thy father and mother, to kill, to commit adultery, to steal, to bear false witness, to covet thy neighbor’s house.  This, to me, seems very strange.  The Ten Commandments were given to better man’s life.

Why does it seem like that the only commandment that people don’t keep is the one that starts with the word “Remember”?  

I’ve seen other versions of the fourth commandment which only say, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”.  Man changes it to fit his needs.  The full text is as above and was given by God Himself.  The text points out that the seventh day is the Sabbath.

A person told me once, who really knows what day is the seventh day.  God made the seven day week and I believe that He has kept a meticulous eye on the days of the week and that Saturday, the seventh day, is the Sabbath.

According to what Clive Heath said in his answer, we have “free will” to break God’s commandments.  We have to make the effort to keep His law and God asks us to strive to keep them all through His strength and grace. What do you think?  I would greatly enjoy having you input.

Sincerely,

Craig E. Latham


Answer
Hi Greg,

I am very sorry for my late response.  You have asked a myriad of questions here.  First of all, I am not here to pick apart someone else's response.  I will say that the 10 cammandments can do nothing to get us to heaven.  Their purpose was to diagnose our sin problem..... they were never intended to get us to God.  If they could... then Jesus died for nothing.

Galatians 2:21
21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

The law was written to silence every mouth that would brag that they were righteous enough to merit eternal life.

Romans 3:19-20
19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.  20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

If someone breaks any part of the law (an we all have) then we are guilty of all parts of the law.  Therefore the law cannot bring us to God.

James 2:10-11
10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.  
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Since the law cannot bring us to God, we must come to Him through Jesus Christ alone, not by any of our efforts.

Romans 3:21-25
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;   
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Now with that in mind, I do not keep the Sabbath.  No... I do not believe that it was changed from Saturday to Sunday as the Catholics do.  The Bible clearly tells us that it was nailed to the cross.

Colossians 2:14-16
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.  
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:   
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Yes, the law was written in stone, but even the 10 commandments have been done away... yes most of them are restated in the new testament, but not the Sabbath... it was nailed to the cross.

2 Corinthians 3:6-11
6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.  7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

I hope that this helps you.

In Christ
Pastor Don