Recently I heard someone say that in order to go to Heaven, one must have kept and obeyed the Ten Commandments. Obviously, that is not what the Bible says. Nor is it possible. (A person breaks 9 out of 10 of the commandments before they reach the age of 10 years old!) Having said that, are the Ten Commandments important? Should we try to obey them? Is our hope for Heaven really predicated on a person keeping them? And does one have to keep all 10, or just 8, or 6, or less?

   God gave Moses the Ten Commandments as a way of exposing man's sins. In order to have a relationship with God who is holy, man must first recognize that he/she is a sinner in need of a Savior. The God-given Old Testament Law accomplished that. All of the commandments... as well as the Old Testament prophets...pointed mankind to Jesus. Then, when Jesus the Messiah arrived on Earth, He proclaimed that He came to fulfill the Law. Jesus, our "New Covenant" replaced the Old Covenant Law with sacrificial death on the cross and His glorious resurrection from the grave. Instead of trying to keep the Ten Commandments and the Law, Jesus is not the Way, the Truth, and the Life to the Heavenly Father.

Pastor Randy