1. God Has Rules Rules for Living
Jeremiah 31:31-32

2. In the USA the crime clock shows that in 2009 there was:
One murder every 31 minutes
One violent crime every 22.8 seconds
One robbery every 1.2 minutes

3. In the USA the crime clock shows that in 2009 there was:
One assault every 7.2 seconds
One theft every 2.3 seconds
One burglary every 9.1 seconds

4. In the USA the crime clock shows that in 2009 there was:
One rape / sexual assault every 2.7 minutes
One child abused every 35 seconds
One identity theft every 8.7 seconds

5. Hostages of Fear Many people are hostages of their fear.
Many triple lock their doors, have bars on the windows.
They lock briefcase, in locked file cabinet, in locked office, in locked building.
They lock cars, desks, doors, garage, lawnmower, bicycle, computers

6. What is Wrong? Many believe that:
We can’t force people to obey the law
We can’t impose our moral values on others
Why is there no clear moral standard?

7. Back to the Bible Problem: Our self-chosen way leads to destruction.
Proverbs 14:12
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

8. Back to the Bible Solution: Get back to the Bible and obey it.
Psalm 119:172
My tongue shall speak of Your word, for all Your commandments are righteous.

9. Respect You are created in the image of God and I owe you respect.
We are all pilgrims together on our earthly journey. We need help and respect from each other.

10. God’s Law is Good But we often: Challenge God’s rules
Disobey and defy them
Breaking them is ALWAYS bad for us.

11. Sin breaks the rules
1 John 3:4 - Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12. God Has Rules
3,500 years ago God gave some rules

13. Exodus 34:27-28
27 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
28 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

14. God Has Rules 3,500 years ago God gave some rules
The specifics were temporary

15. Jeremiah 31:31-32
31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.

16. God Has Rules 3,500 years ago God gave some rules
The specifics were temporary
Jesus fulfilled them

17. Matthew 5:17
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

18. God Has Rules 3,500 years ago God gave some rules
The specifics were temporary
Jesus fulfilled them
The principles are eternal

19. We need rules. Law and Love are not opposite.
Legalism – rule keeping to earn heaven
Salvation is not based on legalism
Salvation is based on redemption through Jesus Christ.

20. John 15:10
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

21. Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.
9 Not of works, lest anyone should boast.

22. Rules for Living God has rules. We are to know and obey the rules.
Our lives would be better if we obeyed the rules of God.
Are you obeying the rules of God?