"O that there were such an heart in them (the people), that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!" said Yahweh, as recorded in Deuteronomy 5:29.

I think all Christians would agree that the Old Covenant has been supplanted by the New. But to the majority of Christians, this means that the Law, the Ten Commandments, has been "done away," and is no longer relevant to us. Or, the 10 Commandments were "nailed to the stake" and later nine were brought back (leaving out "that old Jewish Sabbath").

Are these scenarios correct? Did Yahshua come to do away with His Father’s Law? Well, as always, we can find reliable answers, NOT in the minds of men, nor in their books about the Bible, but in the Bible itself. All we have to do is believe what we read in the Scriptures themselves. Simple, isn’t it? Well, maybe. But most of us have been so indoctrinated for all of our lives with other people’s ideas about religion that those beliefs, many of which are false, have become so ingrained in us that we simply cannot comprehend anything else. Not without help from the Holy Spirit, that is!

The Israelites that Yahweh led out of Egypt had been in slavery for about the same length of time that the United States has been a sovereign nation. They were not spiritually inclined. In fact, they were quite carnal, worldly minded. When Yahweh re-stated His 10 Commandments to them (His law is like the laws of science, the physical laws, it is eternal and immutable, and had been in force since creation), they were not able to keep them properly. That is why Yahweh said what He did, quoted at the beginning of this article. They did not have the "heart" for it.

But He made provision to correct that problem. Notice what He said in Jeremiah 31:31-33, Behold, the days come, saith Yahweh, that I will make a NEW covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, saith Yahweh:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith Yahweh, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their Almighty One, and they shall be my people.

Is He talking about us, today, or some then-future generations of physical Israelites yet to be born? Does the New Testament have anything to say about this matter? Yes, as a matter of fact, it does! There are many New Testament verses that explain Yahweh’s plan of salvation, of which this is an integral part. Let’s examine a place where this very scripture is repeated, showing that it is for us today.

It is found in Hebrews 8:8-10 (read this yourself. It is almost word-for-word as written in Jer. 31:31-33, quoted above). Note that He says His law will be written "in our hearts." Does this sound like it is to be "done away?"

Then there are the words of Yahshua Himself as recorded in Matthew 5:17, "Think NOT that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill."

Actually, as I mentioned in a previous article, "destroy" as used here means to misinterpret, not to literally abolish; and "fulfill" means to rightly interpret and restore, not to perform or "keep" it in our stead. No one in Yahshua’s day even entertained the ludicrous idea that the law itself would ever be abolished.

The 10 Commandments are from Yahweh Himself (Exodus 20:1-2 and Deuteronomy 5:1-7). We must not only keep His Commandments under the New Covenant, but we must also have the "testimony of Yahshua the Messiah." Revelation 12:17, And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of Yahweh, and have the testimony of Yahshua.

What is that testimony? Matthew 19:17 (Yahshua speaking): "If you will enter into life, keep the Commandments."

It is through this testimony, through accepting His sacrifice to pay for our sins, and putting our trust in Him, that we can have His law written in our hearts. Revelation 14:12, Here is the patience of the Saints: here are they that keep the commandments of Yahweh, and the faith of Yahshua.

The law is written in our hearts through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Peter, in Acts 2:38, told the people to "repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Yahshua the Messiah for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

If we do not have His Spirit, we are none of His (Romans 8:1-9). And we can have His Spirit only if we obey Him (Acts 5:32). His Spirit dwelling in our hearts and minds is one of the great mysteries the New Testament speaks of, and is our only hope of eternal life.

Colossians 1:26-27, ...the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints to whom Yah would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Messiah in you, the hope of glory.

Yes, He is our hope of glory - of eternal life at the future resurrection. We must have His mind in us (Phil. 2:5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Messiah Yahshua). If we don’t have this Spirit, we are still carnal, and yet in our sins.

Heb. 5:8-9, Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him..;

Clearly, if we don’t obey Him, if we don’t keep the Commandments and have faith in His sacrifice to pay for our past sins, then we are "none of His."

Romans 7:5-6, For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

When Paul says we are delivered from the law, does he mean we are free to break the law? No, the next verse explains: (v.7) What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Yah forbid! Nay, I had not known sin but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet (the 10th Commandment).

Paul means we are delivered from the penalty of the law. You see, sin is the breaking of the law. 1 John 3:4 says, "Whosoever commits sin transgresses (breaks) also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law."

Romans 6:23 tells us that "the wages of sin (the penalty for breaking the law) is death; but the gift of Yahweh is eternal life through Yahshua the Messiah our Master."

Paul explains in Romans 7:1 that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives. But when he is dead, he is freed from the requirements of the law.

Romans 6:3-4, know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Yahshua Messiah were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as the Messiah was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life.

Colossians 2:12, Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of Yahweh, who hath raised him from the dead.

So what have we seen here? What have our Savior Yahshua the Messiah and the Apostle Paul and others been telling us? That the law (the 10 Commandments) is abolished, and we are freed from the requirement to keep or obey them? No, the exact opposite is true. Contrary to the teachings of most churches, the Ten Commandments are alive and well, even though they have been trampled underfoot and declared null and void by many teachers of religion.

When we repent of our sins (repent of our law-breaking), then we are commanded to be baptized as an outward confession of our faith in Yahshua’s shed blood to pay the penalty for that law-breaking in our stead. And then we begin to keep the commandments, to walk by faith in Yahshua day by day. And when we trip up and commit a sin, we have an advocate with the Father, so that when we confess our sin, He intercedes with the Father on our behalf.

First John 1:4-10 and 2:1-4, And these things we write unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that Yah is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Yahshua Messiah His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

My little children these things I write unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Yahshua the Messiah the Righteous. And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know Him, IF we keep His Commandments. He that saith I know Him, and keeps not His Commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in Him.

After conversion, we are no longer our own. We belong to Him. He bought us with a high price - His life. His blood was poured out to pay that death penalty so we don’t have to die. So we can have life eternal.

First Corinthians 6:19-20, What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of Yah, and ye are not your own?

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify Yah in your body, and in your Spirit, which are Yahweh’s.

We are to live a life of overcoming from the moment of conversion until our death, or until Yahshua returns. We are called to serve Him. We serve Him by keeping His Commandments, by serving our fellow man, by teaching others the WAY of Life that He taught.

In His prayer the night before He died, He asked the Father to sanctify His disciples through His truth. "Thy Word is Truth," He said. He also prayed for those who "shall believe on me through their word." (John 17:17-20). That is you and me, brethren. We believe on Him because these faithful disciples went forth and preached and taught the true Gospel, the Good News of the Kingdom of Yah, and how we can have a part in it.

There has been an unbroken succession of faithful teachers generation after generation willing to give their lives if necessary (and many did just that) to see that His word was preached to the world. In spite of Satan’s best efforts to pervert the truth (2 Cor. 11:13-15), Yahweh has inspired His faithful followers to proclaim boldly His message of salvation.

If you have been or are now in a religious organization that does not teach obedience to the Ten Commandments, and does not take the Bible seriously, remember that your Bible is the only safe and reliable guide there is to what should be your life-goal,: your eternal life. Maybe you ought to do as the Apostle Peter told some of his persecutors: We ought to obey Yahweh rather than men (Acts 5:29).

We are told to "Work out our own salvation with fear and trembling," (Phil. 2:12). No, Paul did not mean we can literally "work" for our salvation. It is a free gift that cannot be earned. And, no, law-keeping, or legalism, as some term it, will not earn salvation, either. But on the other hand, we cannot be saved unless we obey AND accept Yahshua’s freely given grace.

Grace simply means "undeserved pardon." We have sinned (sin is breaking the law, remember), and the penalty for sin is death. But because He, Yahshua, was willing to die in our stead, we, by accepting that sacrifice and stopping our sinning, don’t have to die to pay for our own sins. He made a way for us to escape death, not by abolishing the law, but by paying the penalty for our having broken the law.

Therefore, brethren, let us heed what Jude wrote in verses 3 and 4 of his short letter:

"I...exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, unrighteous men, turning the grace of our Elohim into lasciviousness, and denying the only Sovereign, Yahweh, and our King, Yahshua the Messiah.

It seems that nothing polarizes people more than religion and religious teaching or discussion. Everyone seems to think that their particular view or understanding is OK, and that there are no absolute standards that we have to adhere to. I have been told many times that "We are all bound for the same place, just taking different roads to get there. One religion is just as good as another."

A nice sentiment maybe, but the Bible teaches just exactly the opposite of this. We are told that there is only one way to be saved, and that is through faith in our Savior, the One who died for us, was resurrected after 3 days, and now sits at the right hand of Yahweh.

John 14:6: Yahshua said unto him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."

The only way we can be saved is to repent of our sins, ask Yahweh to forgive us, be baptized and accept Yahshua’s sacrifice for the remission of our sins, then have faith in Yahshua that He will raise us up at the last day. By doing this He will send His Spirit to abide with us, making it possible for us to keep His eternal, holy, perfect Law. Then, and only then, will we truly "have the heart" for the obedience that is necessary for salvation.

May Yahweh bless you, as you study His Word!