ARE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD NOT VALID ANY MORE?
Many people experience the strong sense of self-blame in their conscience when they meet a person who has, in his behavior, the works of the law. In order to calm their conscience, they accuse the person that he is a legalist and that he is looking for salvation by sticking to the commandments. And then they quote the verse:
"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:21)
By their own judgment, these lawbreakers sentence themselves because they reveal on account of which intentions they would live by the commandments, if they lived by them. In that way they reveal that they are without Christ and His love.
They would live by the law only if they had some use of it (to be justified). That is why they say:
"There is no need to live by the law in order to save myself. God's mercy is enough!"
They cannot understand that living by the law is the fruit of dedication, i.e. a fruit of accepting the mercy. They have no real love in their hearts which is in accordance with the moral law (together with The Ten Commandments).
"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." (Romans 3:31)
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you." (John 14:15- 17)
The criterion of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts is the very living by the law (Ezekiel 36:27).
In order to make excuses for their fanaticism which are not in accordance with the moral law (The Ten Commandments), many people do not know what to do with the Decalogue. Since they do not know where to put it, they claim that God gave it only to Jews, so that they would save themselves by abiding by it. However, the word of God asked the Jews to save themselves by faith (Habakkuk 2:4) in the promised Saviour who was pointed at by the whole ceremonial law (Colossians 2:16-17: John 1:29).
For example, David was justified by faith, and not by the works of the law (Romans 4:5-7, Jews 11:32-33).

It would really be ironic if God, together with the ceremonial law which dealt with Christ's sacrifice of reconciliation as the only way of salvation, asked the Jews to save themselves in some other way. It would be senseless if God asked the Jews to save themselves in an impossible way.
Due to the lack of arguments to justify this fanaticism (and thus disobeying the law of God), people are prone to accept the greatest of nonsense.
Many Christians believe that from Moses to Christ, God led his chosen people to the heavy burden of legalism and fanaticism (justified by the works). However, even at the time of the Old Testament, the Word of God asked for the approach of the heart:
"Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil." (Joel 2:12-13)
Jesus reprimanded the fanaticism and legalism by the very reference to the principles of the Old Testament:
"One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, 'Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?' And he said to them, 'Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food?' He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions." (Mark 2:23-26)
As we can see, Jesus did not come among the Jews in order to preach some new doctrine, the new way of salvation different from the one that had been revealed in the Word of God, because otherwise he would not refer to the principles of the salvation and law which existed in the time of King David. Love was the practice of the law, then and now. Sabbath was created by God only for the sake of men, not as a day of tiredness, but as a day of rest (Isaiah 58:13-14).
Jesus, of course, does not reprimand the sense of the Sabbath commandment, but a fanatical and a senseless way of celebrating it. If he disputed the sense of the Sabbath commandment, he would be reprimanding its Creator, claiming that he had given a senseless commandment to a man. Many people criticized the Christians who abode by the law of Moses, calling them fanatics and formalists. In that way they condemned themselves by their own judgment, because in that way they showed themselves what they thought about the character of God. God of their mind had severe character in the Old Testament period, from Moses to Christ, because he led his people to the formalism and fanaticism.
Whoever criticized the law had to bear in mind that by that he made an objection to its Creator, that what he had established was wrong.
When Jesus tells that God created Sabbath for the man's sake and not the man for the sake of Sabbath, He praises the character of the very God of the Old Testament who created Sabbath "for the man's sake and not the man for the sake of Sabbath". Sabbath was "created for the sake of the man" (Mark 2:27), upon the completion of the creation, before the birth of the Jewish nation, which means that it was created for all human beings and for all time. The reports from the early church authorities, writers and historians witness about that.
The church official Tertulian who is now recognized by both Eastern and Western church, claimed that Jesus, in his debates with Pharisees, did not abolish the Sabbath commandment but that he pointed out that abiding by it had to be filled with love and goodness:
"Pharisees were in the total misconception regarding the Sabbath commandment. ...In order to justify by law the healing of a man whose hand dried, Jesus asked the Pharisees:
'Is it allowed to do good deeds on Sabbath? To save one soul or to lose it?'
By that He, approving the deed, which He did for the salvation of the soul, taught the Pharisees which deeds were forbidden by the Sabbath commandment, i.e. the human one, and which were approved of by God's, the ones that had been done for the salvation of the soul. ..." (Tertulian, Aduersus Marcionem IV, 9-11)
A contemporary of Tertulian and the church writer Origen writes:
"Let us leave the Jewish Sabbath regulations on the side and look how a Christian should think about Sabbath. No one should do any secular work on Sabbath. No secular work should be done on Sabbath. If that is why one keeps away from secular work and does nothing secular on that day, but have the time only for he the spiritual work, for going to church, listening to sermons and teachings, for thinking only about the secret godly things, taking care of one's hope, have the upcoming judgment day in front of your eyes, and not direct your look towards the contemporary and visible things but to the invisible and future ones, - that is abiding by Sabbath for a Christian. But the Jews could abide by it too. ...
On Sabbath, everyone sits on their own place and does not leave it. But what is the spiritual place of one soul? Justice is its place, just like the truth, wisdom, holiness and everything what is Jesus himself, is the place of the soul. No one should leave t his place in order to abide by Sabbath in the right way and in order to complete the holy day of Sabbath by sacrifices; as the Lord said: Who remains in me, I shall remain in him too." (Origen, Towoi XII)
Euzebius, the father of the church history (339 AD), wrote:
"It is necessary to see the meaning of Sabbath. ... According to it, if the people of God break away from the work that tires the soul and give themselves away to God totally, as well to research and observation of the godly and the spiritually recognizable, then, of course, they are celebrating Sabbath too, in a way God approves of. About these Sabbaths the Holy Bible teaches us the following:
'Therefore, yet another Sabbath remains among the people of God to rest.', and further:
'Let us make sure we enter that peace.'...
We, who died in this worthless and mortal life enjoy the God-pleasing and spiritual peace which frees us from the work and slavery of our bodies in which we celebrate Sabbath and have rest." (Euzebius Caesareensis, Commentaria in psal. 91)
EMOTIONS AS THE AUTHORITY OF TRUTH
As it can be supposed, a fanatic out of emotions puts his own emotions ("the voice of the heart") above the authority of the word of God. To him, the criterion of truth is in himself, and not in God, and that is why he is prone, unintentionally and sometimes, to utter a confession:
"But, I feel and understand it in this way! ... The Spirit tells me so!"
Of course, the truth does not depend on what we think of it. It is not important what we think or feel, but what the truth is!
A fanatic does not submit his feelings to the authority of the Holy Bible but he interprets the Holy Bible on the basis of his experiences and feelings and calls it the inspired interpretation.
He often speaks of his inspiration as if he wanted to say:
"Maybe what I think does not seem reasonable and as if it were not according to the Bible, but that inspiration leads me in such a way and I am following that way!"
In that way he takes up the attitude of acting irresponsibly towards the power that possessed him, as if he were privileged so that he could not be led by any power but the one of God.
He simply passes the Biblical verses which reprimand his spiritual state as if such passages did not exist. He denies any of their importance because, from the point of view of the fanatical forces of his own heart, he cannot explain them in a sensible way and not disagree with them at the same time. "As soon as something disturbs me, I know that it is the demon" he comments and in that way calms his conscience.
In order to justify his state before his conscience, he often disputes the role of reason and in that way gets into conflict with the fundamental points of the Biblical teaching. Let us remember the role of reason:
"And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." (1 John 5:20)
Without the revelation of the Word of God and His law which is directed to our reason, we ourselves are in the position to become aware neither of the love of God nor of the weight of our own sinfulness. If the voice of human heart were reliable, the apostle Paul would not have to emphasize the necessity of the law as the mirror of our state and our spiritual needs:
"I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." (Romans 7:7)
Without our reason we are not able to understand the demands of the law of God, and act correctly in temptation, making the distinction between good and evil:
"The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." (Job 28:28)
Taking our feelings and the voice of our heart as the criterion of truth, we discover our insanity:
"He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered." (Proverbs 28:26)
"A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself." (Proverbs 18:2)
When the apostle Paul reprimands the religious zeal of the Jews, he reveals that the sincerity itself is not sufficient:
"For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." (Romans 10:2-3)
The Word of God calls us to admit our insanity and start following our reason:
"Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding." (Proverbs 9:1.3-6)
If we do not take into account these Biblical principles in the role of reason, then we are not really Christians.