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  Question 115: If no one can keep the Ten Commandments in this life, why does God so strictly command them? Answer: First, because the longer we live, the more we become aware of our sinfulness, and the more we become aware of our sinfulness, the more we seek Christ for forgiveness and justification. Second, so that we may implore the grace of the Holy Spirit to be more and more renewed in the image of God, until we attain perfect obedience, which is our goal after this life.   There may be times when you wonder why God requires believers to keep laws they cannot keep. We must analyze each of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and consider the meaning of God's words. Therefore, we must realize how elementary and base the dichotomy between those who must keep the law and those who do not is. The Law consists of a whopping 613 rules. Among them, the people were required to observe numerous other rules, including the Ten Commandments, the moral law, ceremonial laws, and civ...

  Question 114: Can those who repent and turn to God keep all these commandments perfectly? Answer: No. Even the holiest people in this world cannot achieve perfect obedience. Nevertheless, they should make every effort to keep all of God's commandments, not just some. Few people can accurately answer the question: Are the Ten Commandments absolutely necessary or optional? Why? It stems from a lack of understanding of the relationship between legalism and the gospel. In the Old Testament, keeping the law meant acting according to its letter. Then, after realizing that keeping the law was impossible, one discovered Christ through the sacrifice. Entering the New Testament era, those who discovered Christ, died with Him, and were resurrected with Him, inscribed the precepts of the law in their hearts. "Keeping" doesn't mean literally following the law, but rather engraving it in their hearts, and then, when the time comes, acting under the guidance of the Holy Sp...

  (4) Fiery Serpents and Bronze serpent Numbers 21:5-9 『 And the people spake against God and against Moses, saying, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water, and we loathe this worthless food.' So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD to take the serpents away from us.' So Moses prayed for the people. Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent, and put it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.' So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.'" When the Israelites left Egypt, they disobeyed God, so God sent fiery serpents to kill them. But when Moses...

  Question 113: What does the Tenth Commandment teach us about God? Answer: We are to refrain from harboring even the slightest thought or desire contrary to God's commandments. We are to always and wholeheartedly hate sin and rejoice in goodness. The 10th Commandment: You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male or female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Colossians 3:5 says, "Covetousness is an idol." It means that those who covet are idolaters. In Luke 4, we see Satan boldly tempting Jesus, tempting him to covet God's place. This is because Satan is fundamentally at the heart of covetousness, the desire to be like God. Covetousness is a matter of conscience before law. It defiles the conscience and leads to sin. Therefore, God tells us to put covetousness to death. Covetousness is the love of the world. Therefore, it tells us to die to the world. 1 John 2...

  Question 112: What does God require of us in the Ninth Commandment? Answer: God requires us not to bear false witness against anyone, not to twist what another has said, not to gossip or slander, not to condemn anyone without a just cause or hearing. We must also reject lying and all perjury, whether in court or elsewhere. Such practices are the devil's devices and bring down God's terrible wrath. We must love the truth, speak it, and publicly acknowledge it. We must do our utmost to protect and uphold our neighbor's good name. The Ninth Commandment: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. The nature of lying stems from greed in the heart. We lie to fulfill the desires of our hearts, which are greed. John 8:44 says, "You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his...

  Question 111: What does God require of you in this commandment?   Answer: To do my best for the good of my neighbor, to treat others as I would have them treat me, and to work diligently to help the poor. The falsehoods spread by false prophets steal from God. The Israelites need to eat the true bread of truth, but they preach falsehoods, preventing them from doing so. Many false pastors today preach such falsehoods. This is why false pastors rob them of their very lifeblood. For example, they say, "Just believe in Jesus and you will be saved." But it's not about believing, it's about entering into the faith of Christ. I, as an individual, cannot be the subject of faith; only Christ's faith can. Faith is the death and resurrection of the cross. Therefore, salvation is only possible if one's faith presupposes dying with Jesus Christ. Beyond faith, they also spread various falsehoods about repentance, resurrection, and the second coming. Believers must...