The world in which we live is an extremely wicked world, and yet it is basically a religious world. In America we have more churches, members and pastors than ever. Therefore, a logical question should come to your mind: If we have more churches, and preachers, then why do we have all the prevailing corruption in our land? Why are our morals so low? U.S. News and World Report said, "Crime is increasing nine times as fast as our population." Less than every hour there is a murder in the United States. A rape occurs every 26 minutes, a burglary every five minutes and there are over 400,000 illegitimate births every year. Why?

The Bible suggests an answer in 2Timothy 4:2-4, "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching hears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." "They shall turn from the truth." The greatest enemy of the Christian church is not the atheist, or the out-right sinner - it's the hypocrite who prays and sings and yet will not do the will of God! It is this situation that has caused the Christian church to look so weak in the world. Today people laugh at Christianity. Our young people are disgusted, the reason being, they hear the "truth" but don't see it demonstrated. The church elder piously reads Scripture, but at the dance hall there he is partying with the rest of the world. The Sunday school teacher teaches the Bible, but later he sits at the tavern drinking and laughing at dirty jokes, and Christianity is made a mockery.

To preachers, God says to preach the Word. It's not easy! Everyone loves a preacher who says "it's all right." But the Bible says woe to the preacher who compromises truth to please people! We're not to bring God's standard down to fit our lives. The standards of God remains high! The Bible does not need changing - people do! Let's turn to Matthew 7:21-23 to establish this. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

You see, most people are going to be lost. Why? They did not do the will of God the Father. What is the will of God? In Psalm 40:8 David answers, "I delight to do your will, your law is in my heart," God's will is His law. Now in the New Testament Paul said the same. Romans 2:18, "And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law." God's will is being instructed out of the law. God's law is His will. Now let's turn to a text that may startle you. Hosea 4:1-2, "Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood." God has a controversy. Why? Verse 6, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." Because we have forgotten the law of God! I would suggest that the reason for the prevailing corruption today is because we have forgotten God's law, and are no longer doing the will of the Father.

Now all government has law. It's the will of government that you obey the laws. Without law you have anarchy and everyone doing his own thing. So God gives law also, so there will be harmony among His people.

When we think of the law of God, we discover it is the only part of Scripture God did not trust man to write. Exodus 31:18, "And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." That ought to make it important. Now friends, the devil hates God's law and since he first broke it, it has been his work to destroy God's law and today he has almost done that. In the early 1900's every church, regardless of its name, had within it a picture of the ten commandments. These principles were taught to our children and all society, but not any more. Today people are saying, "The law is not binding" or "We're under grace and don't have to keep it" or "The law was nailed to the cross," et cetera. In this lesson we want to know what God says, and understand what He means when He says most people will be lost because they did not do His will.

God's law has always existed, even before He wrote it on stone at Mt. Sinai. Genesis 26:5, "Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." Abraham, kept God's law, and before Abraham there was Lucifer himself. He broke at least three commandments. 1. The first commandment, because he wanted to be like God. 2. The ninth commandment, because he lied to the angels. 3. The tenth commandment, because he coveted God's throne. If Lucifer was put out of heaven for breaking the law, we're not going in breaking it! Let's see what the Bible says in Psalm 119:142, "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth." The law is the truth. Why would God want to do away with the truth? Verse 172, "My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness." The law is righteousness. Now the New Testament says in Romans 7:12, "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Paul says the law is holy, just, (fair) and good! Now let's see what Jesus says in Matthew 5:17-19, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 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." "Till heaven and earth pass." If you think the law is done away with just look into the heavens and then stomp your foot on the ground. If both are there, so is the law! Psalm 111:7-8, "The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness." God's law is forever and ever!

Why do we have God's law? Let's ask another question. Do we have sin today? Yes! Then law also must exist. First John 3:4, "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW." Sin is the transgression of the law! If there is no law, there is no transgression! Romans 4:15, "Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression." So the very fact that we have sin tells us there must be law. Now, what is the purpose of the law? Romans 3:20, "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." That's the purpose of the law. It cannot justify or save you. If you could be justified by obeying the law, you would not need Jesus. The law cannot save you! That is not its purpose. What is it for? It gives the knowledge of sin. The law simply tells you what you ought to do. It's like a red light. The red light won't stop your car, but it tells you, you ought to stop! What further purpose does the law serve? James 1:23-25, "For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." The law is like a mirror. God says take my law like a mirror, look in it. If you have dirt or sin, the mirror reveals it! Now, can the mirror clean up the dirt? No. The purpose of the mirror is to make me aware that I have dirt and need to wash it away. If I want to be clean, I need a cleansing from Jesus! Really the mirror does me a favour! So I get cleansed by the blood of Christ, and I come back to the same mirror. The same mirror now says, "Your face is clean! God said, "Look into my law" (the mirror). The law says, "You've got dirt" (Romans 3:20 : Law gives the knowledge of sin). But if you want to get clean, you have to lay aside the law, and got to that "fountain filled with blood" that cleanses all sin - the blood of Jesus Christ.

Let's make it practical. Here's a man who is cheating on his wife. He looks in the mirror, it says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." It tells him he's got dirt in his life. What does he do then? He goes to Jesus, he is cleansed, forgiven, and justified. When he comes back and looks in the mirror it says," You are clean!" Romans 8:1 says there is no condemnation! "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." That's the purpose of the law.

The Bible proposition is simply that those who hate God's law, love sin. In fact most people who condemn the law don't even know what it says. People are down on what they're not up on. Let's look at all the ten commandments and see.

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 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."
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, not 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 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."

If these principles were kept, think what a wonderful world it would be!

Now let's quickly establish the law in the New Testament. Jesus said in John 14:15, 16, 21, "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." Jesus says, "Do you love me? Then keep my commandments!" John said the same thing in 1John 5:2-3, "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." Love is keeping the commandments, they're not hard! A minister once told me, "You can't keep the ten commandments." I said "Oh? Then which one are you breaking?" The next time a preacher tells you the law is done away with, just go and steal from his offering that day and see if it is!

Now a very solemn text. First John 2:3,4, "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." If people say they know God and don't keep His commandments they are liars and do not have the truth!

Some people say, "All you have to do is believe." James 2:19 answers this. "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." The devil believes it too! True belief has within it the germ of action. If you believe you will do. Revelation 14:12, "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." God has just destroyed the wicked, (Verses 9-11), and who is left? Commandment keepers! Let's read on in Revelation 22:14, "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Commandment keepers are the ones going into the holy city.

Now that we have the broad picture, I'm sure you're wondering, "Why is there so little of the ten commandments being taught today? Why are the ten commandments said to be done away with?" Let's turn back to the prophecy about the Beast power in Daniel 7:25. "And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." Here is the real issue. The two sides warring for the control of your will. On one side is Antichrist - the other Jesus Christ. Antichrist has changed and done away with God's laws, and our world is filled with its results: war, crime, immorality, profanity, a generation gap, stealing , and lying. Most of the world is following the Antichrist. Jesus Christ stands on the other side, inviting us, "If you love me keep my commandments." Those who follow live a life of peace, with happy, stable, homes. Honesty and purity are taught, regard for the sanctity of life is upheld, speech is cultured, and good solid citizens are made who make a contribution to society and who are fit for heaven. Love for Christ makes commandment keeping a joy! And as we conform to this standard, we become more like the One it reflects - Jesus Christ.

David prayed in Psalm 119:97, "O how I love thy law." And Solomon the wise man summed it all up in Ecclesiastes 12:13, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."

Will you make the decision today to say, "Yes Jesus, I love you and want to keep your commandments"?