God's Covenant with Moses
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
As you continue the walk through the OT, what we find is the Israelites, on the other side of the Red Sea.
God had just single handedly destroyed the strongest army in the world, and rescued His people from slavery.
And so the Israelites set out following Moses into the wilderness of Shur as tells us
Aaaannnndddd they don’t get very far before they start complaining about food and water.
Which is remarkable to us because we’re like, “You literally just saw God do things that we will never see! How can you be so stupid!”
And so God provides for the Israelites, he gives them fresh water, he makes it rain bread and quail.
“Kentucky Fried Quail”
And they’re happy, for a minute, until then they complain about the fact that they only have bread and quail to eat.
And the pattern is developing
Mt. Sinai
Mt. Sinai
However, when they finally arrived at Mt. Sinai after a couple month long journey, God called Moses up onto the mountain and gave him a commandment to tell the people of Israel.
, “ “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
And what we see here is the people of Israel kind of being defined as a nation:
Firstly, they were a people that existed because God rescued them
In Egypt, they were slaves, but now they were God’s rescued people
For instance, if someone would ask you, “Why does America exist?”
You would respond by probably giving a bit of history, explaining that the Pilgrim’s came over from England, took claim of the land in America, and go from there right?
Same thing here. Anytime the Israelites would talk about their history, they’d have to come back to the fact that they existed because of God’s miraculous work.
But secondly, they were a people that God had brought to Himself as verse 4 says.
They couldn’t save themselves, God had brought them out and to Himself as His treasured possession.
So I guess you could say, it was at the base of Mt. Sinai, in this first declaration from God to the people, that they were given their new identity:
God’s rescued people that He had brought to Himself
If you keep reading through , you’ll also discover that in order for this relationship to officially begin, the Israelites had to consecrate themselves
Read it with me:
Pretty much, they had to set themselves apart for a specific purpose. Physically, they did this by washing themselves and their clothes and preparing for an encounter with God
Why? Because God is a holy God (which we already know), and the Israelites are a sinful people.
A Holy God & A Sinful People
A Holy God & A Sinful People
So think back with me to two lessons ago, when God made a covenant with Abraham.
What was the covenant?
Make his descendents a great nation, give them the land of Canaan, and to ultimately bless all the nations of earth through him.
And so, the covenant that God was making with Moses was going to build upon that covenant.
See, as the base of Mt. Sinai, Israel learned that they themselves were the great nation that God had promised Abraham!
They would get the land of Canaan, and ultimately, they were to carry the blessing to all nations!!!!
But there is one problem, as we’ve already seen tonight....the Israelites were a sinful people, prone to wandering from God and prone to complaining against God.
And so this is the point of the story in the OT, where the Israelites received the law, starting in Genesis chapter 20
See, unlike the covenant with Abraham where there was nothing given, the covenant with Moses was going to include quite an extensive list of rules, or a code of conduct if you will
Why? Because in order to be God’s people, they needed guidance, they needed a way to be made right, and the law, with it’s sacrificial system (which we’ll talk about next session), did that, albeit temporarily.
But the law really just shows us, and showed the Israelites, how far off they were from what God required.
Level and wood example
It starts out with the Ten Commandments:
Can you list them?
And then continued with more than 100 specific laws....civil laws, ritual laws, and moral laws.
These laws were never intended as a means for “salvation”, but as we find in the NT when Jesus is in the middle of His ministry, that was very much the case.
The jews were relying on the law as their total means of salvation
There were laws about sacrifices and offerings
Some of you, who are OCD, would prob love this idea.
But it’s impossible
Which pretty much point to this fact: God knew the Israelites wouldn’t be able to keep the law, so He provided a way for them to offer sacrifices for forgiveness of those sins
The law was given in order to maintain a relationship with God.
There were laws about food
There were laws about civil government
And then there were moral laws, laws about how one should live
The Law
The Law
Now, when we talk about the law as believers today, we don’t necessarily fall under the law anymore?
Why? Because Jesus fulfilled the Law -
Notice, he came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.
I remember when I worked for the government, and I got a new boss.
Jerry Hill
and talk about that as well.
The law was given to the Israelites for a couple of reasons:
Set them apart from other nations
Provide governance for them as a people
Provide ways to be made right with God
What does this mean for us?
Meaning - we don’t read the law and then have to do everything it told the Israelites to do.
We can eat pork (
We can plant two different types of seeds in a field (Lev 19:19)
We can wear clothing with two different types of material (Lev 19)
We can eat shrimp if we want to ()
Thank goodness!
We can trim the hair around our ears ()
So, this creates a problem for us as believers, if we are trying to explain the law to a new believer. If you come to the law, and if you would actually read through it, as I’ve highlighted a couple of the strange ones, how do we handle these laws?
If Christ really fulfilled it, then does that mean that we no longer have to listen to it? I mean, we don’t listen to some of them, so why do we listen to others?
For example: many people will use this exact argument to make a case for homosexuality in our culture today, and it sounds like this:
“You eat bacon, which the law prohibits, but you are against homosexuality. You just pick and choose what to believe.”
So, let me ask you tonight, how do you explain this idea to a non-believer, or to someone new to the faith? Why do we obey some of the laws, like do not murder, no other idols, against homosexuality, but then ignore some of the other ones?
Couldn’t we just cut out Exodus, Leviticus, etc?
What’s the point?
And this is huge, because, most likely, if you are ever talking to someone, you’ll get questions just like the one I just mentioned.
If Jesus fulfilled the law, why do we still listen to it? Why do we still follow the Ten Commandments?
There are different types of laws in the OT
Ritual Laws
Which pretty much point to this fact: God knew the Israelites wouldn’t be able to keep the law, so He provided a way for them to offer sacrifices for forgiveness of those sins
By way of sacrifice, priests, and the temple
There were laws about food
If
Which were some of the weird ones we looked at
Civil laws
There were laws about civil government that applied generally to people, and specifically to the Israelites.
And then there were moral laws, laws about how one should live
And so, here’s a good way to look at it.
Yes, Christ fulfilled the law, but it doesn’t mean the law is entirely worthless:
1. Any law that is still applicable to our lives is re-mentioned in the New Testament
Christ fulfilled the law and brought a New Covenant.
Food laws - , “ 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)”
Moral Laws - Christ speaks about murder, and adultery, and sexual immorality, and theft, and slander, and homosexuality.
But, that doesn’t mean the rest of the law doesn’t serve a purpose for us today!
The law provides us insight into the character of God, and His intention for us as people
Example: , “ 19 “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 22 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.
Okay, so here is a law that we don’t necessarily have to follow. My brother in law is a farmer. And if he harvested corn, he wouldn’t leave some of the outside rows standing.
But, if you read this law specifically, what you see is God’s desire for us as believers, as His people to care for the poor.
That’s essentially the motive of God behind this law.
The law also provides and serves as a reminder to us that we don’t make the rules, God does!!!
What we see Christians trying to do today is to accept God’s grace, totally believe that He fulfilled the law, and think we can live however we want.
We still fall under God’s teaching. We fall under Christ’s teaching as well. He determines the rules for His people.
Recap
And so, what we see from the whole giving of the law was God setting apart His people, giving them guidelines to live by, sacrificial systems to be cleansed by, moral laws to govern by, etc.
It points to the fact that mankind is inherently evil, and God is completely holy. God had to make a way for His people to be able to commune with Him.
But, in the grand redemptive scheme of God, Christ came with a new covenant, fulfilling the OT law
He provides the guidelines for us to live by, many of which are also found in the OT, He provides for us the blueprint of what a Christian should be, and how a Christian should live
He was our final authoritative sacrifice, so we no longer live under having to kill a sheep when we sin, He has covered our sin as the perfect sacrifice.
The coming of Christ changed how we worship, but not how we live.