COMMANDMENTS

Every syllable of every statute, every clause of every commandment that ever proceeded from the mouth of God was divinely designed to bring those who would obey into the greatest imaginable happiness of heart. Don’t swallow God’s law like castor oil. For when you understand His intent, it will be like honey on your lips and sweetness to your soul.

Sam Storms

[Are we] so much in love with Jesus, so utterly enthralled with the transcendent beauties of [our] Savior, so swallowed up in the adequacy of the Son of God in all things that nothing appear[s] so sweet to [us] as obedience to His commands?

Sam Storms

God takes pleasure in your obedience because everything He commands is for your good. All of God's commands are like a doctor’s prescription or a physician’s therapy. They may not always be immediately pleasant, but they are intended and designed for your health and happiness. If occasionally there are painful side effects, it is because the disease is so bad that severe medication may be required. God, our spiritual physician, takes pleasure in our obedience to His commands because the doctor really does care whether or not we get well.

Sam Storms
Integrity, November 6, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com. Used by Permission.

The laws of God are not simply external statutes, published and passed by some congress in heaven; rather, the laws of God reflect His very character. They are an expression of God Himself. So to break any of God’s laws is to live against God. It is to live contrary to Him.

Mark Dever

Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Crossway, 2000, p. 67.

The moral absolutes rest upon God’s character. The moral commands He has given to men are an expression of His character. Men as created in His image are to live by choice on the basis of what God is. The standards of morality are determined by what conforms to His character, while those things which do not conform are immoral.

Francis Schaeffer

The difficulty of the commands is merely a reflection of the greatness of the Gospel. Jesus' expectation is built on his anticipation of what God will do in the lives of His people! Jesus demands the humanly impossible precisely because His provisions are supernatural. The magnitude of Jesus' commands must mean, therefore, that they are tied to the grandest promise of all, namely, the promise that God himself will work in every circumstance to conform us to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:28-29).

Scott Hafemann

The God of Promise and the Life of Faith. Crossway Books, 2001, p. 203.

Our obedience to God's commands is the expression of trusting Christ. It is not our words but our deeds that stand the test of Christ's gaze. Love of Jesus is measured by obedience to what he commands (John 14:15 and 15:14). "He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me" (John 14:21). Not even miracles can substitute for doing what God commands (Matt. 7:22).

Scott Hafemann

The God of Promise and the Life of Faith. Crossway Books, 2001, p. 191.

God’s commands are not arbitrary. They are grounded in His moral character, what He is like within Himself, and orientated towards His purposes for His creation.

Melvin Tinker

Wisdom to Live By, Christian Focus Publications, 1998, p. 70. Used by Permission.

The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted: precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden.

G.K. Chesterton

The word command carries the idea of authority. The most basic meaning of the word is “to direct with authority.” A command does not just give guidance that one may accept or reject; a command implies that the one giving it has the authority to require obedience and the intention of doing so. This is true of the commands of God. As the Sovereign God of the universe, He has the authority to require obedience and He does insist that we obey Him.

Jerry Bridges

Those that disobey the commandments of God do so foolishly for themselves. Sin is folly, and sinners are the greatest fools.

Matthew Henry

Commentary, 1 Samuel 13:13.

The Lord’s commands to His people are not arbitrary appointments; but that, so far as they are conscientiously complied with, they have an evident tendency and suitableness to promote our own advantage. He requires us to acknowledge Him…for our own sakes; not because He has need of our poor services, but because we have need of His blessing, and without the influence of His grace (which is promised to all who seek it) are sure to be unhappy in ourselves and in all our connections.

John Newton

John Newton’s Letters, Family Worship.