Why to Not Sin

While many have heard or read of the "ten commandments", it is important to know that they are not only ancient laws given by God that have ceased to have any bearing in the lives of people of the modern society.

While the laws were given a long time ago, there is much to be learned of the wisdom from the One who gave them - God alone. Why? Simply: Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:25).

1 Corinthians 10:6-10
Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.  
Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.  
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. 	
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

We are not to lust after evil things as others have. The Lord does not tell us to go with the flow of what the people did, He is telling us to follow Him.

James 1:14-15  
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

We can be tempted to sin, but like a bad seed that is thrown into the soil, we must choose to discard it so it will not grow into lust, then sin which will bring the condemnation of death on our soul.

Do not be idolaters then say “let's feast to the LORD!” or “it's for the LORD” as they did in Exodus 32:5-6,

And when Aaron saw it [the idol they made of gold in the form of a calf], he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the Lord. 
And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.  

To worship any thing / image above or in the place of GOD is idolatry. GOD through Jesus must take preeminence above everything. What the Israelites did, in making an idol and worshiping it, was not service to GOD; although they said it was, it was in reality, idolatry.

Later on, they did the same thing again, and kings stood for the worship of false gods, even encouraging it in the lands of Israel and of Judah. This was the Lord God's response to them:

Jeremiah 19:4-5, 11-13  
Because they have forsaken Me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into My mind:

Jeremiah 19:11-13  
[God instructed Jeremiah to] say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury. 
Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet: 
And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods. 
(Tophet was a place that was used to offer up children as a burnt sacrifice to Molech).

The innocent blood that was shed included that of the prophets who were sent to warn the people, the people who would not worship idols, and innocent children who were sacrificed to the idols.

Children are a heritage from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward (Psalm 127:3). Therefore it is an abomination to the Lord to murder these innocent children for the sake of the idols of self-gratification, selfishness, and ungodly lusts.

I am writing about these things, because the LORD does not want HIS people to be ignorant. He wants HIS people to know, to understand what sin is and why HE can't abide with sin. HE wants to teach us so we can learn to hate it as HE does, to abstain from it - as JESUS did when HE walked the face of the earth – and to be able to teach others the same.

Neither commit fornication (1 Corinthians 10:8)

What is fornication, why is it wrong? I looked it up in the dictionary and believe the definition of this word will explain for itself.

The origin of this word comes from a Latin term which means to have intercourse with prostitutes, the synonyms are, to name a few: debauchery, depravity, infidelity, incontinence, indulgence, intemperance, lust, prostitution, harlotry, whoring.

God said, "Be ye holy for I AM HOLY".

Fornication or whoring are also terms GOD uses when HIS people have removed themselves away from HIM to go and serve other gods. The reason is that, in fornication is also lack of care for true faithfulness or dedication in a relationship; it carries with it a willingness to go along with someone or something so long as no real commitment is required, thus making it disposable. However, just as God is faithful and dedicated in all things, so we must also be. God does not make empty promises, He will be true to His word; He expects those who make a commitment to Him to keep their word of promise as well. In a relationship with little to no commitment, the “promises” have no real bearing, because a person, without having made a vow, has no commitment to fulfill. Vows are made in front of witnesses, so that in the presence of God and man (2 or more witnesses), the man and his bride are bound to keep their promise to one another until death.

Neither let us tempt Christ (1 Corinthians 10:9) 

Tempt in this case means to risk provoking.

Exodus 17:2 and 7 
Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?”
And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the 	children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?”

Deuteronomy 6:16  
Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted Him in Massah.”

What happened at Massah?

Numbers 21:5-9
And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.  
And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.  
Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us. 
And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

The serpent is sin, and Jesus was offered up as a sacrifice for sin. Once that sin is on the cross we cannot go back to it again, because the Bible tells us that it is the same as crucifying the Son of GOD afresh and putting Him to an open shame (see Hebrews 6:4-6).

Neither murmur ye, as the people of Israel did many times in the wilderness and were destroyed (1 Corinthians 10:10) 

They were not able to enter the Promised Land because of their murmurings and disputings before the LORD (see Numbers 14:26-30).

Philippians 2:14-15  
Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.

Matthew 5:16  
	Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father 
	which is in heaven.

This was shared so the name of our LORD JESUS CHRIST can be glorified both now and forevermore.

May many souls be saved by the preaching of this gospel as it is written in GOD'S Holy Word, because our God is merciful and He wants the world to be taught so that they will know to eschew (keep away from) evil (1 Thessalonians 5:12) and therefore be under His covering in the day of trouble.

Psalm 91:14
	Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, 	because he hath known My name.  

Amen and Amen.