"I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."
These are the Lord's very last words just before He gives us the First of His Ten Commandments. But note how significant these words are. Faithful churchmen are to keep the Commandments of God--not to earn God's favor, nor to merit heaven--but because this is the way that redeemed children live. In other words, those who have been freed from sin do not worship other gods, etc.
Those who *never* have been "brought out of Egypt," and/or "the house of bondage," continue to use the Ten Commandments to perpet-
uate their slavery, (by works-righteousness). But those who are liber-
ated believers recognize that walking by faith has the blessed by-pro-
duct of living in harmony with God and our new natures--and hence they keep (though imperfectly) the Commandments.
[Puritan quote of the day: "Every man is as his God is. If you would know whether a man is a godly man or not, you must inquire what his god is like." --Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon entitled, "A truly Godly man prefers God before all others"]
