Exodus 20:3-17 - Thou shalt not have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me: and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the sabbath to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor the maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, or his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.

These commandments that we find here is what we call the ten commandments - or the moral law. This law lays down the moral standard of life God expects of each and every one of us - and the punishment if we fail. That is - an eternity in a place the Bible calls hell. You should take the time to study each one of them and set in your own mind what God sees as sin and not your own opinion of right and wrong.
 

There are other laws, there are other rules, there are other commandments - every one is meant to be obeyed and must be obeyed - or else we can expect some sort of retribution from God - as mentioned - an eternity in hell will be the ultimate punishment for failure to obey God's every command.
 

What kind of tolerance will God have for us in keeping/disobeying his laws and commandments? Will he just give a knowing wink at our disobedience and pass it off as "boys must be boys" - or better still - "humans will be humans?" Or does He take sin - any sin very seriously so that only one sin ruins our chances of getting to heaven by our own obedience disappear with that first sin?
 

In this life we have certain laws and rules to live by and is accepted by most of us recognizing that they are a must to make life a much better experience for us all. They recognize that people cannot just do everything they feel like doing no matter how immoral it may be, but especially when it affects others about them.
 

But there is one problem. All too many do not obey most of these laws all or even most of the time. The whole philosophy of mankind is - "laws are made to be broken." So these people live as they please not caring it makes other peoples lives unpleasant as long as they themselves are gratified or not interfered with in what they want to do.
 

So they live with that attitude - obeying the laws and regulations when it suits them but when it is more convenient each person just ignores those laws and they go about doing as they wish. This is especially true if he is sure of not getting caught.

And the enforcers of the laws (such as the police) are just about as bad in many cases. If they see a crime being committed and no harm or injury occurs too often the police will turn a blind eye and pretend he did not see the crime being committed. Hence there is no enforcement of the laws. And of course that just encourages more breaking of the law by them and maybe others as well who see the first have gotten away with what they did wrong.
 

But does God work that way? What tolerance does God have of His laws being ignored?
 

NO HE DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!! God has absolutely 0 tolerance of His laws being broken.
 

11. Lets go to James 2:10 to see about how God deals with even the minutest breaking of the law.

James 2:10 - For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
 

Note that God will not tolerate the minutest (the smallest) breaking of the law. If one breaks even in one small point then as far as God is concerned you are guilty of them all - and if guilty you are a person on the way to eternal punishment in hell. 
 

It only takes one sin committed by you to disqualify you from getting to heaven by your own efforts. Why? Because even one sin makes you guilty of sin - a law breaker. It is that fact that you are guilty lawbreaker that disqualifies you from getting to sin. Your status before you sinned was innocent of sin. Once you sin - no matter how insignificant or how many sins you commit changes your status from innocent to guilty of sin. And that status disqualifies you from ever getting to heaven by your own efforts.
 

Note that sin is the breaking of God's laws. In other words - sin occurs whenever we fail to keep God's laid down standard of conduct as laid out in His laws in the Bible.
 

Can any one of us live our whole life from the moment we were born until the moment we die without breaking one or more of these demands of God as James 2:10 clearly states we must?
 

Unfortunately not. And this is exactly what God want us to understand - you must under stand if you are to ever get into position as a child of God on the way to heaven. Let's take a look at:
 

Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
 

If it was possible for humans to live a life free of sin at least some would- those of us who care - that love the Lord would. But we can't - it is totally impossible for our human nature to live such a righteous life. Even if we could after we become born anew of God's Holy nature in us - what about the many years before this event when we sinned and no remorse about it? Those sins must be punished - ourselves or have a substitute take punishment in our place. 
 

Why can't we humans live such a righteous life? Well - The kind of life our human nature loves is clearly explained in verses such as:
 

Galatians 5:19-21 - Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God
 

There are other verses such as in Ephesians 2:1-3 but we won't read that today.
 

Can anyone past infant stage of life deny that that is the kind of life style loved by this world. Take a look around you and see and for that matter take a look at your own lifestyle - especially if you have not been born of God's Spirit yet - do you like that kind of life style as mentioned above?

We find out quickly enough when we compare our human capabilities in trying to live a righteous life as demanded by God that no one can live the kind of perfect life God demands of us.
 

18. You are probably by now to saying - " this is all so silly - so pointless!! Here on one side God is saying He demands I live my whole life free of sin then turns right around and says that I can't possibly do what He demands. If I can't - why try? It is such a hopeless position I am in there is no way out!
 

But hold on - there is something else you must know - you have not heard it all yet!!
 

You see God knows your hopeless position so He has provided the means by which you can get around this hopeless situation. But first God wants you to see this hopeless state of affairs so you will be more willing to grasp onto to the substitute God has prepared for you in order to get you out of the trap you find yourself in. You see man is a very proud creature. He will not call upon anyone for help unless he sees he absolutely needs it. For example - a man in the water is not going to ask for help unless he sees he is not going to get out of that water under his own power. Once he sees his situation is hopeless - drowning in other words - then he will throw is pride to the wind and start screaming for help and grasping at straws in order to save his life. Same as salvation and God knows this. Unless one is brought to see this hopeless situation he is in he will never grasp onto the substitute God supplied to get us out of this hopeless situation. 

As I mentioned, God has provided a substitute for you. This substitute has ALREADY kept the laws and all other demands of God FOR you. This substitute is Jesus Christ.
 

Jesus Christ lived 33 years on this earth living the kind of sin free - perfect life God demands of everyone. He did not do this for His own sake - He is God - perfect in every sense. He kept those laws FOR those of us that will trust in those works of Christ and forget our own works.
 

But Jesus did something else for us too. As we read in Romans 3 everyone sins at one time or another all through life. Those sins we commit have to be punished. God cannot let us go scot free - our sins must be punished either by ourselves or a substitute who will take our punishment on himself on our behalf. 
 

Again, the Lord Jesus Christ did this. All His suffering - not just the cross itself - but everything He suffered at the hands of His enemies all His life including the crown of thorns was in order to take our the punishment of our sins on Himself that He may free us of any fear of punishment for our own sins.
 

If we believe on Jesus and His work of taking our punishment then now we are free of any worries of spending eternity in this place called hell if we have turned to Christ for this substitute rather than try to get to heaven by our own feeble, useless efforts. 
 

This is what we call "believing on" the Lord Jesus Christ. To "believe on" Christ means to trust absolutely. Not just to believe about Jesus like most of the world does. But to put your trust in what Jesus has done FOR YOU - believe on. Let's read: 
 

Acts 16:30-31 - And brought them out, and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
 

Another scripture: Acts 8:35:37 - Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said - If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said - I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.
 

Note he says in each case that he believes on Jesus - not that he accepts Jesus as his personal Saviour as some people say. That is an unscriptural phrase. Jesus calls on us to Believe on Him. TRUST HIM.
 

Do you understand this now? I sure hope you do - that you must "Believe ON" Jesus Christ. Trust with all your heart that Jesus lived a perfect life - kept all the laws and demands of God for ME That He died and took upon Himself the punishment I should receive for my sins - for ME? Not someone else - for ME. It does no good if you talk about suffering and dying for some else - it must be for ME that He did it for. Each person says - FOR ME He died to pay for my sins that I may go to heaven.
 

If you have this faith that Jesus has done these 2 things FOR ME then it is good evidence that God is in you and that indeed God has opened your eyes to see this great truth and that you are now on the road to heaven - free of any fear of going to that awful place - hell.