You are correct that we are “saved by grace” and NOT by keeping the Ten Commandments (see Ephesians 2:8-9 and Galatians 2:14-16). After one is “saved by grace,” he is “not under the law, but under grace.”  We read of this in Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” What does that mean? It means that the FOCUS of our life which enables us to live a holy life is “NOT the law” but “God’s grace.” If you read Romans Chapter 7 you will see what happens when a believer thinks he can live a holy life and bring forth fruit for God by “keeping the Law.” The Law was meant to convict us of sin and make us see our need of salvation through faith in Christ (Romans 3:9-20); it was never meant to be our “rule of life” after we are saved. God’s grace alone will give us the motivation and power to live a holy life. We see this in Titus 2:11-12, “For the GRACE of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, TEACHING US that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.” This is why the Apostle Paul told Timothy (and us!) in 2 Timothy 2:1, “You therefore, my son, BE STRONG IN THE GRACE that is in Christ Jesus.”

There are those (like the Seventh Day Adventists) who believe that we are “saved by grace” BUT “kept by the law.” They believe we must “keep the Ten Commandments to keep ourselves saved.” They are dead WRONG, and we should not allow them to try to teach this error to us. There were believers in the city of Colosse who were being told they must “keep the Sabbath” (and obey other “dietary laws”) and Paul told them this: “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or SABBATHS, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17). What Sabbath-keepers (who are “under the law”) fail to see is that the law had two purposes: 1) to show us that we are sinners in need of salvation, and 2) to foreshadow the death of Christ in all the offerings that were made on Jewish altars. The offerings offered under the Law could never take away sins, but they pictured the one offering that Christ would make to put away sin forever (Hebrews 10:1-18; 9:26). The book of Hebrews brings out clearly that the “Old Covenant of Law” has been replaced by the “New Covenant of Grace” (I would encourage you to read Hebrews Chapter 8).

Does this mean the Ten Commandments have no value anymore? No, for we can still use the Ten Commandments to show sinners that they are lost sinners in need of salvation through Christ. We see this in 1 Timothy 1:8-9, “But we know that the law is good IF ONE USES IT LAWFULLY, knowing this: that the law is NOT MADE FOR A RIGHTEOUS PERSON, BUT FOR THE LAWLESS and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane…” Also, it is instructive to see that “nine of the Ten Commandments are mentioned in one form or another in the New Testament” to show us God’s holy standard that He gave to His earthly people, Israel. When we are living victorious lives “by God’s GRACE and through the power of the Holy Spirit,” we will find ourselves doing what the Law had demanded. We see this truth in Romans 8:2 & 4, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin an death…that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Yet the commandment “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” is NOT mentioned at all. We are not told to observe the Sabbath (the “seventh day” of the week), rather, we acknowledge the “first day of the week” as we see in Acts 20:7, “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread.” This was the day that our Savior “rose from the dead” (Matthew 28:1-7) and thus it is fitting that we come together on that day to remember what Jesus suffered on the cross to save us and the great victory He gained for us.  (DO)  (737.5)