How to Keep the Commandments

I have been writing articles for this magazine for ten years. I started in 2007. When Brooks asked me to try writing an article I did not know it would continue for as long as it has. I would like to thank all of you who have been praying for me and praying for this organization and for the Israel Truth movement in general. I do not know who your prayer warriors are but I believe the Lord will reward you one day for your diligence.

If you are a prayer warrior you are probably part of the company of people I am going to discuss in this article. These are the people who keep the commandments of God. They are the opposite of the people who have the mark of the beast. “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:11,12. There are various theories about what the mark of the beast is, but I believe it has to do with worshiping the creature rather than the creator. People avoid it by keeping the commandments and having faith in Jesus. Those who keep the commandments can enter the New Jerusalem when the Lord sets up his kingdom. “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.” Revelation 22:14. Who are these people and how are they able to keep the commandments of God?

Quite simply, they are people who are born again of God’s Spirit. The promise of God has been fulfilled to them. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:” Hebrews 8:10. We need to have the commandments written in our hearts. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. Without being born again of the Holy Spirit it is impossible to keep the commandments. The apostle John wrote, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” I John 3:9. This refers to the inner person, the spiritual person. Our inner person is the part of us that is born again. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:6. If a person is born again his spirit is holy and righteous and keeps the commandments of God. However, his flesh is inherited from Adam and Eve and is sinful and selfish and worldly. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Galatians 5:17. Only Jesus Christ was able to completely conquer the lusts of the flesh. The rest of us are not that strong.

However, when a person is born again of God’s Spirit, he will start to have victories over the flesh and others will see him becoming more and more Christ like in behaviour. This is a gradual process and involves the work of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Bible. That is why it is so very important for Christians to read the Bible. Jesus said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63. I believe the words of Jesus Christ are the most important parts of the Bible. We should frequently be reading them.

If you have found this discussion of being born again disturbing, then maybe the Lord is working on you and calling you to be born again. Do not ignore his calling. Ask him to give you the Holy Spirit. Do not assume that you have him already. There is nothing lost if you ask for him in a private prayer. Receive Christ into your inner most being and you will join the holy company that keep the commandments of God.