My Most Precious Faith (Part 5) Living in Grace and Gratitude

Living In Grace and Gratitude

The Duty of Man

At creation Adam was given the command not to eat of the forbidden fruit, also in essence he was given the moral law of God. Adam was to love and obey God and also was to love the creation. He, in the fall broke the greatest of all commandants and did not love the Lord God and did not love his fellow man (he blamed Eve for his sin). The moral law was established not just for believers but for mankind, and Gods creation perpetually.

The moral law is the declaration of God's will that binds mankind to personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience. It is always binding, is always moral and will never go away. Also there is no mere man that has kept the law of God since the fall. However Christ the Godman did!


The moral law is of use to all mankind in that informs us of the holy nature and will of God. By it mankind is told of their duty in the way they are to worship and live. In looking at the moral law of God mankind's sinful hearts are revealed to them and therefore, if by grace God favors them, they will see their need of salvation and come to a clear knowledge of the work of Christ in his perfect obedient life and his death for sins.


In the salvation of Christ, believers are no longer obligated to keep the moral law as a way of salvation nor as a means of justification. The law does however show me how I am bound to Christ in his work of perfect obedience and salvation for me. It also is the standard of holy moral rules that we as a Christian are to obey. This obedience is not to be out of burden but out of love for my Savior. For as the elder John said, God's commands are not burdensome.

The moral law is summarized in the 10 commandments which are:

Exodus 20:1-3 And God spake all these words, saying,Ii am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:4-6 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 shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Exodus 20:7 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.

Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exodus 20:9-11 Six days shalt thou labour, 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.

Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

Exodus 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.

Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

These commandment's I like to call the rules of life. These commandments are righteous. They teach us how to worship (the first four), and how to love our fellowman (the last six).

Duty to God Duty to Our Fellow Man
1) who to worship 5) family and those in authority
2) how to worship 6) life preservation
3) honor in worship 7) chastity
4) the day to worship 8) ownership
9) integrity
10) contentment



The commandments are perfect and call for full obligation and duty to fulfill them if we are to love God with heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor. These commandments are so perfect that they not only call us to an outward duty but also to inward understanding so that it reaches the will and emotions thereby guiding our speech, works, and actions. They call the believer to a life response; for the believer to do otherwise is sin.



NEXT WE will look at the ten commandments

a. listing them in their order,

b. stating each one,

c. noting the actions required, and then

d. Note some of what is to be avoided or what is forbidden