Some have taken it to mean that because I’ve focused on the breaking of God’s 4th Commandment in some of my writings; I am saying that one can’t be saved if it isn’t observed. That’s not true for it or any of the other nine Commandments. (I focus on the 4th Commandment quite a bit because Satan has chosen it as his main battle ground.) Let me clear. Salvation is granted as a gift of God’s grace through faith (Ephesians 2: 8, 9).
Faith in Jesus that He is God, and that He died for our sins, and that He was raised to life that we may eternally live, is our salvation. God’s grace precedes faith, and both become a saving experience for us when we invite Jesus to come live within us by virtue of the Holy Spirit. When we surrender to the faith of His presence, His virtues will manifest themselves in our lives.
As such, there will be fruit or evidence of such faith. Jesus, living through us, will transmit the character of faith that He exhibited when He walked the earth. That means, as our Example of righteousness, God’s Ten Commandment law can’t help but be shown in our thought and behavior.
What I’m saying is that, alone, the law cannot save. However, I am saying that faith in Jesus will cause one’s character to thirst for and eventually become the law.
For this to happen, we have to know the law. We should meditate on it during the day; during the night. The more we associate with it and take it in, the clearer we can identify with it as it becomes our character. That in turn will help us to avoid the counsel of the ungodly, the path of sinners, and the seat of scorners (Psalm 1: 1, 2). Knowing the law and willingly applying it is wisdom (Matthew 7: 24, 25). It also is a show of faith in the mind of Jesus.
Consequently, Jesus will tell us not to sin. That means He will naturally have to bring up the importance of keeping the law, because to break any of the law is to commit a sin (James 2: 10). Sin, as we know, leads to death.
So, while the law itself doesn’t save; at the same time, those who know it and willingly, persistently reject it, won’t be saved. This I base on Hebrews 10: 26. It says, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.”
The bottom line is that living the law in our lives is not salvation itself, but it is a fruit of salvation. To reject it shows a lack of faith in Jesus.