Bible verses to build your life on

Jesus said: "… whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken
him to a wise man who built his house on the rock…" ~ Matthew 7:24

Introduction
Hello brothers and sisters in Christ, and friends,

Well, I've realized in the last couple of weeks, that I need to go through the 10
commandments again, so I cannot just quote them, but really explain them, for they are very
useful and helpful! How are they helpful? I see them as helpful in 2 main aspects.

1) The 10 Commandments, when accurately explained, show God's amazingly perfect

personality - complete, beautiful holiness! He's not swayed by any sins. He doesn't pervert
justice in any way because of some scandal... NO. God is perfect, and since He is the same
yesterday, today, and tomorrow (and His character will not change - He promised), then we
ought to understand both His character and some more about His personality so we can draw
closer to Him, building a more-intimate relationship with our Holy and Loving Creator!

And

2) As the 10 Commandments show us God's Holy character, they also are what draws us and
brings us to Jesus for salvation. How, you ask? Below, I want to show you some verses because
I think the logical progression will make a lot of sense ~ .

**

Okay, first point first ~ :

"... God shows personal favoritism to no man..." ~ Galatians 2:6

This passage gives us a little glimpse into what our response looks like in the physical
presence of an amazingly Holy God (our Creator):
"For they could not endure what was commanded: 'And if so much as a beast touches the
mountain [Mt. Sinai], it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.' And so terrifying was the
sight that Moses said, 'I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.'" ~ Hebrews 12:20,21

The description above is Moses' response to God's blazingly Holy presence, as revealed to the
people of Israel at Mount Sinai, where God gave the 10 Commandments. That is what God's
holy presence and awesome personality should cause us to do - fear Him, hate our sin and
turn from it, and turn to Him and grow in obedience to Him - while we still have our breath,
which will reduce how much shame we are storing up for judgment day, when everything will
be revealed and nothing left hidden. ~ And that is a good idea!

The 10 Commandments are so rich and deep, that from my studies (I believe), that you can
find all of the other commandments and explanations of what is right and what is wrong in
the 10 Commandments. Of course, Jesus further explained them - in very helpful living color,
and we plan to get to those passages as we look at each of the commandments.

Conclusion of point 1:
We need to know what God's Word means and explains is evil so that we can get ready to see
God now and actively work to remove that area of rebellion from our lives now, so that we
will not be ashamed there. The 10 Commandments really explain God's character, and they
are God's standard for those who are not covered by the blood of Jesus (as we should see
below, in the second point).

***

Okay, second point second ~ :

"Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in My word, you are My
disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.' They
answered Him, 'We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to
anyone. How can You say, "You will be made free"?' Jesus answered them, 'Most
assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide
in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you
shall be free indeed.'" ~ John 8:31-36

Okay, a little analysis. If we abide [dwell in, continue in, stay in] in His Word - as in growing
in obedience to His Word, then that desire and us making that a part of our lifestyle shows
that we are truly His disciples, and only then, will we know (and gain more of) His Word and
Truth. And the more of His Truth we put into practice in our lives, the more we will grow free
from slaveries to sins. Yes, sin has immediate consequences - including a long-term slavery to
it until we learn to hate it and work to remove it from our life and lifestyle! Most people don't
realize how many slaveries to sin they have or the many eternal losses they are taking. The
unsaved walk in active rebellions against God and are heaping up judgment for the Great
White Throne Judgment (Romans 2:4-11 - see below). The saved, who walk in active
rebellions against God, are heaping up shame and wood, hay and stubble that will burn in a
flash (1st Corinthians 3:12-16 - see below). We will all have some shame, even genuine
Christians (1st John 2:28,29 - see below), but our goal needs to be to reduce the amount of
shame we are storing up for ourselves, by learning to stop fighting for our wants here on
Earth! That includes throwing out our TVs, not-God-honoring music and anything else in our
lives that are twisting our perspective and helping us excuse our rebellion against God, to our
shame.

To the unsaved - those who refused to embrace and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, they are
doing this:
"Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing
that the goodness of God [His patience in not swiftly judging our rebellion] leads you to
repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are
treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God, who 'will render to each one according to his deeds': eternal life to
those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;
but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness--
indignation and wrath, fearful eternal judgment and anguish, on every soul of man who
does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek [includes Gentiles]. But glory, honor, and
peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For
there is no partiality with God." ~ Romans 2:4-11
"Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and
the Heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small
and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened,
which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the
things which were written in the books... And anyone not found written in the Book of
Life was cast into the eternal Lake of Fire." ~ Revelation 11,12, 15

But, genuine to Christians:

"Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be
revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work
which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he
will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that
you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" ~ 1st Corinthians 2:12-
16

"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit,
soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." ~ 1st
Thessalonians 5:23

"And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence
and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know
that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. " ~ 1st John 2:28-29

"And these [unrepentant rebellious] will go away into everlasting punishment, but the
righteous into eternal life." ~ Matthew 25:46

**

>>> Okay, so what is God's standard? The 10 Commandments, right? Not sure? Let me show a
few verses on it.

First, what is the purpose of God's law?

"For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
For He who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' Now if you do not
commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law." ~ James
2:10-11
>> One reason is to show that we have broken His law and are guilty, deserving judgment.
(Also notice the 2 commandments referenced here: the 6th and 7th of the 10
Commandments. Hmm... interesting )

"But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful
hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does." ~ James 1:25

"Therefore the law was our tutor [to bring us] to Christ, that we might be justified by
faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God
through faith in Christ Jesus [said to those whose obedience showed they believed in
Jesus]." ~ Galatians 3:24-26.
>> And, the law of God is what brings us to repentance and obedient faith in Jesus.
So, the next question would be: 'What is the law?' I'm glad you asked! ~ "For when we were
in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our
members [physical body] to bear fruit to eternal death. But now we have been delivered
from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the
newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter [God's law]. What shall we say
then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except
through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You
shall not covet.'" ~ Romans 7:5-7

Fascinating! Did you catch it? "You shall not covet." ~ I recognize that! That's from the... 10
Commandments.

The Holy Spirit also uses God's law and holy character to bring conviction, and so should we:
"Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go
away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when
He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment [to
come]..." ~ John 16:7-8

"Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, 'The Spirit who dwells in us yearns
jealously?' But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: 'God resists the proud, But gives
grace to the humble.' Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and
purify your hearts, you double-minded... Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and
He will lift you up." ~ James 4:5-10

"Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your
hearts as in the rebellion [of the people of Israel in the wilderness]... Beware, brethren,
lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but
exhort one another daily, while it is called 'Today', lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin." ~ Hebrews 3:7-13

Conclusion of point 2:
And there we have our answer (and I'm hoping I laid it out clearly). I hope tying those verses
together makes sense to you and helps us all realize how important the 10 Commandments
are to all of us! The 10 Commandments are the concise representation of God's law that God
uses to convict men's hearts of their rebellion against Him, and show them their need for
repentance - to turn from their rebellion and turn to and daily grow in humble obedience to
Him and His Word.

Also, I would add:

Too often here in America, we hear passages of God's Word that should jump out in living
color, and yet we think 'I've already heard this and I'm already doing that!' Instead we should
be correcting our prideful hearts and thinking, 'I need to grow in this area, I'm sure. What
area(s) of my life am I not putting this into practice?' ~ One response is pride, and one is
humility. We need to keep our hearts tender toward God and His Word. Wherever you and I
go, we need to always stay in God's Word - letting the toughest parts continue to convict &
convince us to leave behind our more of our rebellious ways.

>>>
So, now I'm off to go work on the first installment on this somewhat in-depth study of the 10
Commandments ~ # 10 - 'Do not Covet'. ~ I'm hoping to send out soon!

Let's keep growing in hunger and thirst for His Word and humble obedience to Him! ~ your
brother in Christ and a growing servant/life-slave of Jesus, SH

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