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CONNIE: Is there something wrong with the Law God gave many years ago? Join us today as we take a journey into our own past, review God’s Ten Commandments, and consider: Is there room for improvement?

Giving God’s trumpet a Certain Sound for more than 75 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE: Hello, I’m Connie Jeffery,

LONNIE: and I’m Lonnie Melashenko. Welcome to a very special broadcast of The Voice of Prophecy, as we near the end of what has been a very special year for our ministry.

CONNIE: This is the year we’ve celebrated our Diamond Jubilee, looking back over 75 years of radio ministry, reviewing the history behind what has become truly a worldwide outreach.

LONNIE: It all began with the dream of one man back about the time that the crash on Wall Street took the world tumbling down into the Great Depression, and this week and next week we want to pause to look back to the early broadcasts, and to look forward as well.

CONNIE: I understand that your sermon today, Lonnie, is actually a sermon written by Voice of Prophecy’s founder, H. M. S. Richards.

LONNIE: That’s right. We found it in a silver jubilee book called Twenty-Five Sermons after Twenty-Five Years on the Air, and thought—how appropriate to go back to our roots at this time, and see what we were preaching in the early days. You know, I meet people all the time who say “I can remember those old broadcasts, with the King’s Heralds singing ‘Lift Up the Trumpet,’ and Pastor Richards’ poems about ‘Have Faith in God.’ There’s always a wistful look in people’s eyes when they think back to those days.

CONNIE: And if you’re one of those folks who have warm memories of the past, I know you’re going to enjoy what comes next. Hold onto your hat, we’re starting the engines on our time machine right now, going back 60+ years to May 10, 1942 . . . .

CONNIE: We’ve been listening to a classic Voice of Prophecy program, originally broadcast live from San Francisco on Mother’s Day, May 10, 1942. If you’d like to know how to receive the full broadcast, please contact us this week at 1-800-872-0055. More details about that later.

LONNIE: Connie, that really brings back some memories. I remember listening to the coast-to-coast broadcast, done live each week from a studio, wherever the broadcast team happened to be—usually from Los Angeles, but if they were on the road doing evangelism, they’d find a station nearby and use the studio there.

CONNIE: Your sermon today comes from back in the “olden days,” too, doesn’t it, Lonnie?

LONNIE: That’s right; we’ve just finished a twelve-week series of new programs focusing on the Ten Commandments, so we chose a classic HMS Richards sermon, “What’s Wrong with the Ten Commandments.”

CONNIE: Share with us Pastor Lonnie, “What’s Wrong with the Ten Commandments?”

What Is Wrong With the Ten Commandments?
HMS Richards, from the book 25 Sermons

You ask, Why such a strange subject? Is there anything wrong with the Ten Commandments? Well, I'm asking the question, what is wrong with the Ten Commandments? If there is nothing wrong with them, why don't we hear more sermons on the Ten Commandments? Why don't children learn to repeat them as they once did at home and in Sunday school? Then, too, if the Ten Commandments are all right, why don't people keep them? Why don't they obey them? Why is there such a universal disregard of them? One more question: If there is nothing wrong with the Ten Commandments, why do some Christians say that they have been abolished, or changed, or done away with? What's wrong with the Ten Commandments? Why do people want to get away from them?

Now, let’s look at the Ten Commandments fairly and squarely: in fact, let us read every one of them right now. It may be that many listening to this program have never heard all the Ten Commandments at one time. Remember, God spoke them Himself from Mount Sinai, and then He wrote them with His own finger on two tables of stone. These tables of stone were placed in the Holy Ark and kept in the sanctuary and later in the temple. We read all this in the Holy Bible. The Ten Commandments are found in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, and there is also a rehearsal of them in the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy. We read now the Ten Commandments as found in Exodus 20:3-17:

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

"Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

“Thou shalt not kill.

"Thou shalt not commit adultery.

"Thou shalt not steal.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s."

After reading these Ten Commandments, I think we'll all agree on one thing: If everybody on earth should keep them, the world would be a better place in which to live. There would be no idolatry, no false gods worshiped anywhere. All men would honor the name of God, and there would be no profane swearing. Everyone would observe the holy Sabbath day and engage in divine worship. Everyone would honor their parents, and they would live long in the land which the Lord has given them. There would be no murder, no adultery and broken families. There would be no stealing, no false witness, no lying. There would be no coveting of that which belongs to others, which leads to all kinds of evil--robbery, murder, and every known sin.

When speaking of earthly legislation, men often use the phrase, "the majesty of the law." And well they may, for the character of a government is determined by and embodied in the character of its laws. The words of divine inspiration in the Holy Bible uphold the majesty of the law of God, the Ten Commandments. It is a law of infinite perfection because God's character is revealed in it. We read in Psalm 19:7: "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul."

God is holy, God is just, God is good, and so also is His law. "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Romans 7:12.

The law of God revealed in the Ten Commandments gives knowledge of His righteousness. "Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law." Isaiah 51:7.

God's holy law marks every departure from righteousness. "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. The Ten Commandments are not a code merely for the regulation of outward acts. They constitute a law of the heart, the foundation standard of righteousness established by God, the Creator, for those He has created. There is no impulse of the human soul not reached by God's holy law. It is living "and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12.

When we come face to face with this law of God, we hear in it the voice of God saying, "Be ye holy; for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:16. Like a mighty searchlight it shines in our hearts and we must say, "Guilty," for all men "have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23.

God's law is from the beginning, because it is the expression of God's character. When Adam sinned, he transgressed this holy law, for "sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. God's law was not committed to writing until the days of Moses; then the Lord began to make His written revelation to men. Where there is no law, there is no transgression (Romans 4:15); and, since there was sin back there, God's law was there. We read in Romans 5:12-14: "Wherefore, as by one man [that is, Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: for until the law [that is, the giving of the law at Sinai] sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses."

This scripture makes it plain that without the law there can be no sin, but since sin and death were from Adam to Moses, in whose day the law was spoken on Mount Sinai, it is perfectly clear that the law of God was in force from the beginning. Its holy precepts were recognized and witnessed to by every creature of righteousness raised up by God in the days before the Flood and in the patriarchal age that followed. Of Abraham the Lord says in Genesis 26:5: "Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

God brought His people out of Egypt so they might keep His law. He delivered them from bondage and cleft the Red Sea and led them forth to obedience, as we read in Psalm 105:43, 45: "And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness: . . . that they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws."

He tested them at the giving of the manna, as He said, "That I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no." Exodus 16:4.

God expects obedience to His holy law from every human being. On Mount Sinai it was proclaimed anew by the voice of God Himself. There "he made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel." Psalm 103:7.

There was begun the written revelation which grew into "the volume of the book," the Holy Scripture. ( Psalm 40:7. ) But there was one portion of the Book that was not left for man to write--the Ten Commandments. God wrote them Himself. They were "written with the finger of God." Exodus 31:18. Let us read Deuteronomy 4:12, 13: "The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even Ten Commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone."

We must not let our minds be confused with the idea that it was only for the ancient Israelites that the Ten Commandments were given. They were to teach the truth to others. The New Testament says that it was greatly to their advantage that "unto them were committed the oracles of God." Romans 3:2. But they "received the lively oracles to give unto us." Acts 7:38. They were to be a light to the other nations, as we read in Deuteronomy 4:6, 7: "Keep therefore and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely, this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them?"

There is only one true lawgiver, and that is God. In James 4:12 we read: "There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy."

And He is ever the same. His standard of righteousness is for all mankind. There was not one standard before the time of Christ and another after. Christ's death upon the cross because man had broken the law is God's divine testimony to the entire universe that His law can never be set aside, nor its force suspended. Jesus opened His public teaching with this declaration: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:17-19.

And remember this: The law of Ten Commandments is one code, every precept of which is equally sacred, equally binding. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, do not commit adultery, said also, do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." James 2:10-12.

It is clear from this statement that the apostle James is speaking of the Ten Commandments. The law of God still speaks with all the force of that divine voice from Sinai and it speaks to every soul on earth. "Now we know that what things so ever the law saith, it' saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and the entire world may become guilty before God." Romans 3:19.

So, let us not argue against God; let us not deny His commandments; let us not say that they are done away, abolished, abrogated. The time will come when every mouth will be stopped and the entire world will stand guilty before Him. ( Romans 3:19. ) The law of God convicts men of sin and it will drive everyone to Christ for pardon, the divine gift of grace, and the power to obey, if they will but accept the Word of God.

The Ten Commandments are not to be confused with the ceremonial precepts and ordinances of sacrifices which pointed forward to the cross and ceased with the sacrifice of Calvary. Theologians have understood this for many years, and many of the great church creeds take this fact into recognition. These laws of types and shadows would never have been needed had God's holy law, the Ten Commandments, not been violated. It was sin that made necessary the ceremonial sacrifices and offerings to point forward to God's free grace which would deliver man from sin, which is the transgression of the law. Now in New Testament times, in the new dispensation, we have certain ceremonial rites-baptism and the Lord's Supper which point back to the cross.

The law of God as revealed in Christ will be the standard in the great judgment day. The Holy Scriptures sum up human obligations in these words: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." Ecclesiastes 12:13.

So I ask, what is the matter with the Ten Commandments? Nothing is the matter with the Ten Commandments. The matter is with us. "Sin is the transgression of the law." It is sin in the human heart that brings all the woe and trouble in this old world, not God's holy law.

Someone may ask, are you trying to teach legalism? Are you trying to teach that we will get to heaven by keeping the law? No, not for one moment, not for one instant, not for one second. The Scripture says, "By the law is the knowledge of sin." Romans 3:20. But it takes more than knowledge to be saved, to live in harmony with the perfect, holy, divine, spiritual law. The apostle says: "The law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." Romans 7:14.

It is because we are not naturally spiritual that we cannot keep a spiritual law. That is the trouble. Our lives, our hearts, have been defiled by sin. Man does not have the power in himself to live the perfect life. He looks into the mirror of God's holy law and sees there his mistakes, his faults, his sins. The mirror will not wash his faults; the mirror will not cleanse him. He must go somewhere else for that. According to justice he is to die, "for the wages of sin is death." Romans 6:23. But, through the great gift of Christ who died for us on Calvary, God is able to be a just God and still "the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Romans 3:26. Jesus met the full price of our condemnation. He gave His life for our sins, and His perfect life is put to our account, His righteousness is counted as ours.

My friend, Christ is your only hope. The only way to keep the Ten Commandments is for Christ to keep them in your heart and in mine. What's the matter with the Ten Commandments? Nothing! What's the matter with us? Everything! Let us not try to do away with the Ten Commandments, but let us uphold them as they are the holy spiritual law of God.

Do you accept His grace? Do you accept His justification? Do it today. Yes, learn the Ten Commandments. And, as you look into that holy mirror and see your faults, turn to God in Christ. "Do we then make void the law through faith?" asks the apostle. Then he answers his own question: "God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Romans 3:31. And truly we do. The law is established in the heart of every believer who sees it perfect in Christ.

“Jesus My Friend Forever”, King’s Heralds.