Deuteronomy 5

Israel was to hear the Law and then to do the commandments of God in order to live. We have found “do and live” to be death for us because of our sin.

This does not mean that we can replace “do and live” with “do what you want.” Licentiousness will not be freedom for us, but a slavery worse than the bondage in Egypt was for the Israelites.

We need to hear the voice of the Son of God calling us to a new resurrection life. Hearing His voice, we come to life, and we follow Him. If we follow Him by the gift of the Holy Spirit, we will have the fruit of the Spirit in increasing measure, and there is no law against the fruit of the Spirit. This is how we will “do.” If we dedicate ourselves to “do and live” we will die. If we dedicate ourselves to “do what you want” we will only be conformed to the pattern of this world. But if we hear the voice of Jesus who raised Lazarus from the grave, then we will live, and even do, by the work of the Spirit who teaches us to follow Christ and to keep the law of love.

Knowing this, we use the law, not as a way to life, but to hear of our need for the voice of Christ. Our Redeemer loved the Law of God and kept the Law for us. He alone accomplished the “do and live” paradigm for our sake. Now we hear Him and rise from the grave of hopelessness, sin, and death.

He heard the Law of His Father, even all the way to the cross. He knew His Father's will to deliver us from bondage, and He accomplished that will with the fullness of divine love.

Consider how well Jesus obeyed the ten commandments:

1. He knew and perfectly followed the One God.

2. Idols had no hold on Him. He knew His Father, and heaven was His home.

3. He loved the Name of the Almighty, though those who claimed to be law-keepers dishonored His Name. He kept the Name of His Father in His heart with the perfection of the most earnest filial obedience.

4. He made a way for us to enter an eternal Sabbath rest. He became our Sabbath. When the law was first given in Exodus 20, remembering the Sabbath was grounded in God's work of creation, for God rested on the seventh day. In the second giving of the Commandments in this chapter, that rest was grounded upon God's mighty work of redemption and the mercy that we need toward those who are still enslaved. Christ has worked out our redemption, and now we are free. We begin our weekly life with His Word to us that calls us to rest in His resurrection. Then our works proceed every week from the power of His redemption and calling.

5. He obeyed His earthly parents, but much more than this, He heard the voice of His Father from heaven. He said what His Father told Him to say. He did what His Father told Him to do.

6. He was far from murder. He had the words of life.

7. He kept Himself from all adultery. He died for His bride, the church, composed of Jew and Gentile. His cross was the fullness of a husband's faithfulness and love.

8. He did not steal. He gave instead. He who had the riches of heaven for our sake became poor, that in Him we might have an eternal inheritance.

9. He gave a true witness with His life. In everything that He said and did, He was the true Word.

10. He did not covet. Nothing that this world has to offer could turn Him away from His eternal purpose.

We have violated every commandment, in thought, word, and action. But Christ has obeyed for us, and then He died to pay our debt.

Now we hear His voice and live. We do not come to Mount Sinai any more, that frightening place where we lost all hope in ourselves. We come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the company of myriads of angels, to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Our inheritance is safe in heaven, and with Jesus, we shall inherit the earth.