By Gary Woodall
We all should know the ten commandments given by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai and recorded for us in Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21.
Keeping commandments has always been very important to God and is emphasized heavily in the Old Testament:
If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer (Exodus 15:26).
So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time (Deuteronomy 4:40).
So you shall keep My commandments, and do them; I am the LORD (Leviticus 22:31).
In just one book in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy, we find the same sentiment to obey, keep, or follow His commandments numerous times: Deuteronomy 4:2 , 5:10, 5:29, 6:2, 6:17, 7:9, 8:2, 8:6, 10:13, 11:1, 13:4, 26:17, 26:18, 27:1, 28:9, 30:10, 30:16.
Many think that since we are under the law of grace, keeping commandments is not very important. Many act as if God doesn’t care if we keep his commands. God is still God and He expects us to keep the New Testament commands.
In Matthew 19:17 Jesus said to “keep the commandments” and when he was asked which ones, he basically listed them all except the one about keeping the Sabbath. Jesus also said:
If you love Me, you will keep My commandments (John 14:15).
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love (John 15:10)
The apostle John wrote:
By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments (1 John 2:3).
And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments (2 John 1:6).
You can see the New Testament emphasizes keeping God’s commandments. See also Matthew 22:3640, I John 3:22-24; 5:3, and Revelation 14:12.
Let’s all determine that, while we enjoy God’s grace, we will not neglect the commands of God!