Jesus’ Example in Law Keeping

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. John 15:10.
The law of God is the only true standard of moral perfection. That law was practically exemplified in the life of Christ. He says of Himself, “I have kept my Father’s commandments.”
The law is an expression of the thought of God; when received in Christ, it becomes our thought…. God desires us to be happy, and He gave us the precepts of the law that in obeying them we might have joy. When at Jesus’ birth the angels sang—“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14), they were declaring the principles of the law which He had come to magnify and make honorable….
“Till heaven and earth pass,” said Jesus, “one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matthew 5:18. The sun shining in the heavens, the solid earth upon which you dwell, are God’s witnesses that His law is changeless and eternal. Though they may pass away, the divine precepts shall endure. “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17….
Since “the law of the Lord is perfect,” every variation from it must be evil. Those who disobey the commandments of God, and teach others to do so, are condemned by Christ. The Saviour’s life of obedience maintained the claims of the law, it proved that the law could be kept in humanity, and showed the excellence of character that obedience would develop. All who obey as He did are likewise declaring that the law is “holy, and just, and good.” Romans 7:12.
When, through faith in Jesus Christ, man does according to the very best of his ability, and seeks to keep the way of the Lord by obedience to the Ten Commandments, the perfection of Christ is imputed to cover the transgression of the repentant and obedient soul.
The Faith I Live By p. 85
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Esther and family as they are just miserable with the flu. Rose
—-my wife’s wrist is swollen again and she’s struggling with the load of her online classes, please pray for her. Pray also for me spiritually. David
—-Please keep Kathy and her two sons in prayer. Her precious husband whom she was his caretaker, passed and is resting in peace now. The good news is he was baptized into the SDA faith not to long ago so, the hope is a comfort to Kathy. She also came down with this flu. I breaks my heart for my sweet Sister in Christ. Connie
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Dear friends,
Many years ago when we lived by the ocean, we loved to spend time at the beach. One particular time we went to a different part of the beach to have a change in scenery and explore. It was near a jetty. As I was swimming, I noticed that I was getting farther and father from the shore. Suddenly I realized that I was caught in a riptide! This is a dangerous place to be as countless numbers of people die trying to get back to shore. Because I had read about riptides and what to do when caught in one, I knew what to do. Swimming parallel to the shore I managed to swim across the riptide and into normal waters. By that time the people on the shore looked very tiny. Floating for a bit, I rested until I had enough strength to swim back to the beach.
Praise God for His loving care! God brought to my mind what was happening and what I should do to extricate myself from a very dangerous situation.
What if I had not read that article a week or two earlier? I certainly would have perished. Just so, it is important that we fortify our mind with God’s Holy Word, that when we need its teachings to most, the very texts we need will be brought to our mind by the Holy Spirit. Our Dear Saviour promises, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26 We can claim this promise whether studying the Bible with someone or testifying as Jesus assures us in Matthew 10:18,19 “And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.”
How important it is then that we study the Scriptures daily that we may be able to “give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” 1 Peter 3:15 Timothy admonishes “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim 2:15 Then we can claim the promise, “The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.” Isa 50:4
May we spend time in God’s Holy Word each day for they are “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” 1 Tim 3:16,17
Rose