January 21, 2005
Newsletter Archives

What never seems to be clear to most people is the the Ten Commandments were never given to guarantee a ticket to heaven. Never! Salvation is by the grace of God alone.
Strange isn’t it that one of the best-known Christian hymns, Amazing Grace, tells us that….and we sing it and just don’t get it. Some of the words are:

“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound; That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see.
Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home”

We can’t help but notice that it is all about grace. It is grace that saves us and grace that will lead us home to heaven. If earning a place in heaven were by the Ten Commandments, it would not be all about grace, it would be all about me.
Commenting on the death of Christ, every single writer in the New Testament points back to it as the only guarantee of an entrance to heaven. Futhermore, all the writers negate any hope of heaven through keeping the Ten Commandments.
Take, for example, the apostle Paul. He writes of “…knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” Galatians 2:16. Could anything be clearer?
This raises a question, however. People will ask, Then why did God give the Ten Commandments? The answer? God gave the Ten Commandments to prove to us that we were sinners who needed to be saved by grace. We can never be saved until we face the fact that we are lost.
Hence every person who discovers his lost condition and accepts God’s free gift of salvation sings “Amazing Grace” with heartfelt appreciation. A great question for each of us would be, Have I ever thanked God for His amazing grace?

Jim Beattie

Submitted by Russ Nesbit