roadmap to national restoration index
2 chr 7:14, if my people 2012 nov 07
2 chr 7:14, humbling ourselves 2012 nov 08
2 chr 7:14, humbling ourselves part two 2012 nov 09
2 chr 7:14, praying 2012 nov 12
2 chr 7:14, seeking His face 2012 nov 13
2 chr 7:14, seeking His face part two 2012 nov 14
2 chr 7:14, turning from wicked ways 2012 nov 15
“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chr 7:14
When we embrace Torah to learn God’s righteous judgments, and to learn what defines wickedness so that we might turn from it, we find that God has kindly given us an easy summary in the Ten Commandments.
| Commandments 1-5 (Love God) | Commandments 6-10 (Love your neighbor) |
| 1. Have no other gods before God; | 6. You shall not murder; |
| 2. You shall not make idols to worship; | 7. You shall not commit adultery; |
| 3. You shall not profane the name of YHVH; | 8. You shall not steal; |
| 4. You shall honor the Sabbath day to keep it holy; | 9. You shall not bear false witness; |
| 5. Honor your father and mother; | 10. You shall not covet. |
The entire Torah explains what it means to keep these Ten. The Ten can be further condensed to the Two, Love God, and Love your neighbor (Mat 22:37-40), and the Two can be further condensed to one verb: Love (Rom 13:8-10). This is the Law of Love.
The written record of the Ten (and the Torah) are like a mirror, and looking into it explains to us what walking in love looks like. Likewise, the love of God is like a mirror, and looking into it explains what keeping the Ten (and the Torah) looks like. We need both of them, and they will always agree and uphold each other. Some are unbalanced on the side of the Word as the Pharisees often were, who exacted tithes of mint, dill, and cumin while neglecting mercy; and some are unbalanced on the side of the Spirit as many modern evangelicals are, who indulge the flesh while neglecting truth, holiness, or obedience. The Word and the Spirit always agree.
If we are truly walking in the love of God, we will not transgress the Ten (and by extension, the Torah). If we are transgressing the Ten (and by extension, the Torah), we are not truly walking in the love of God or man, no matter how loudly some voice of man is proclaiming that we are. We have instead left the path of God’s love, His ways, and His righteous judgments, and have embraced wickedness.
But, someone will say, I heard that if we keep the Law, we have made the grace of Christ null and void. Yes, if we obey the Law in order to try to earn our salvation, then we have made Christ, the agent of grace, null and void. But that is not what we are doing. We completely acknowledge our dependence on God’s grace made available to us by the blood of Christ Jesus, for salvation — justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ — through faith. We are obeying Him, rather, as Moses, the Prophets, Jesus, and the apostles taught us, because we love Him and desire to do as He has asked (Joh 14:15 for starters, and here for much more)! Please see the righteousness that is of faith for the complete Scriptural study.
It is from that wickedness of turning away from His righteous judgments that God is calling His people – not the atheists, unbelievers, and unrighteous – to repent of and turn from. We are going to look at each of the Ten in turn.
learning righteousness and wickedness from the ten commandments 2012 nov 19
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