Exodus: Going with God #13: Going With God’s Law
Text: Exodus 19:16-20, 20:1-21
Returning from Sunday School one day, where the Ten Commandments had been the topic, our young son asked his father, "Daddy, what does it mean when it says, 'Thou shalt not commit agriculture'?"
There was hardly a beat between the question and my husband's smooth reply: "Son, that just means that you're not supposed to plow the other man's field," and that answer satisfied everybody. - Reader's Digest, July 1979, p. 87.
Are the 10 Commandments still important today?
A poll done in March of 2018 compared the viewpoints of people in the United States and people in Britain about the 10 Commandments. I was surprised at some of the result found. Honestly, I thought the results would be worse here at home than the poll showed. According to the poll a majority in both countries still believe that murder, theft, lying, adultery, coveting are still wrong, while honoring your parents is still right. The other commandants did not fare as well. Thou shalt not worship idols was rejected in the UK, though 60 still believe it is important in the US. God as the only God was upheld by 59 percent of Americans but 68% of the UK rejected such a commandment. When it comes to honoring the Lord’s day only 49% of Americans think it was important while 73% of British responders believe it is not important to be in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s day.
That is what they think of the 10 Commandments, but the real question is what do you think of God’s Ten Commandments? What do we think of the Law of God? How do we understand it in our culture, our family, our churches and our own lives? What was God’s purpose in giving the law to the Hebrews and does it have a purpose in our lives today as New Testament believers.
God’s Words - Exodus 19:16-20
And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.
The Law and Israel
The great Scotts preacher, Alexander McClaren made a statement about the uniqueness of the Law, He says “An obscure tribe of Egyptian slaves plunges into the desert to hide from pursuit, and emerges, after forty years, with a code gathered into ‘ten words,’ so brief, so complete, so intertwining morality and religion, so free from local or national peculiarities, so close fitting to fundamental duties, that it is to-day, after more than three thousand years, authoritative in the most enlightened peoples. The voice that spoke from Sinai reverberates in all lands. … Whose voice was it? The only answer explaining the supreme purity of the commandments, and their immortal freshness, is found in the first sentence of this paragraph, ‘God spake all these words.”
If those people who took part in the poll had been at Mt. Sinai that day, they would have known without a doubt that the 10 commandments were and always will be essential to us and our world.
In fact, few events in the history of the Bible have the drama and the spectacle of the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai that day.
Upward of 2 million people were in the valley below Mt. Sinai the mountain of God and they beheld what must have seemed like the eruption of a volcano. And they stood at the base of the mountain that was exploding just above their heads.
Exodus 19:1-2 In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.
It has been 3 months since the nation of Israel left Egypt and marched into the wilderness. It has been 2 months since the miracle of the water from the rock and the battle with Amalek we looked at last week. Four months to bring them to this place and time to behold the power and majesty of Jehovah God.
God tells Moses His purpose in bring the people to Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19:9 Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever.
This is the same mountain where Moses first saw the burning bush but now instead of a single bush burning it is an entire mountain summit erupting in fire, smoke, dark clouds and blinding lightning.
God wanted to reveal himself to His people in a powerful, overwhelming way. He wanted them to see that Moses was the leader He had chosen and that the Law, given to Moses, was also a revelation of Himself. As the burning mountain of God showed His power, the perfect Law of God showed His righteousness.
You can see that the law was important to God and to the Hebrew people, but should it still be important to us today. And if it has not lost its importance then how do we reconcile the unbending justice of the law with the mercy of God’s grace. It is utterly vital to us as God’s New Testament people that we know the purpose of God’s Law then and now.
The Law and the Christian
Let me give you some of the purposes of the Law of God. First, it was given as a guideline for morality. For right and wrong
The law which is summarized in the 10 commandments, was meant to be the rules by which the nation of Israel governed itself, but it goes beyond them and acts as a guideline for all morality, society and civilizations. It does not and cannot save a single soul, but it can save an entire nation.
Second, it was giving to reveal the Holiness of God.
Through the law we see a holy, righteous and just God. The law provides us with a means of understanding the righteous character of our Creator and Judge.
As Warren Wiersbe writes, “The Law reveals God’s righteousness and demands righteousness, but it can’t give righteousness,”
Thirdly, it is a mirror of our sin. The law shows us that we can’t come to God in our righteousness. He is perfect in His holiness, and we are far from perfect in ours.
This is seen dramatically when God warns Moses in Chapter 19 about the people coming too close to Mt. Sinai.
Exodus 19:12-13 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live:
This is what the Law does, it allows us to come close enough to see His holiness but it cannot open a way for us to come near Him.
J Vernon McGee, the great radio Bible teacher, said this, “The Law reveals and shows there must be a shedding of blood for sin. Just as you have in your bathroom a mirror that represents the law with a basin underneath it. You don’t wash in the mirror. The mirror reveals what you wash in the basin. – J. Vernon McGee
Let’s take a quick look at what the New Testament says to us today about the law and its purpose.
Romans 3:19-20 19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 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.
Galatians 3:21-25 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. 22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Summary: The purpose of the Law
First, it condemns sinners of their sin, before a holy God.
Secondly, it brings us to Christ through the acknowledgement of that sin.
Thirdly, yes, it is still a guideline for ethics and morality in our society.
But finally understand that the Law is not the code you as a Christian, live by after salvation.
You do not live by the law for it was meant to show you your death not your life. You live by the grace of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit. He, dwelling in you, provides you with another code, one from heaven not from Mt. Sinai. That code is now the rule of your life by as a Child of God.
Paul shows us this heavenly code in, Galatians 5:18-26 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 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. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. …
You don’t keep the Law because as a child of God you have superseded the law through Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus fulfilled the law for us and then gave us the Holy Spirit to take us above and beyond the requirements of the Law.
Listen to Paul in Romans 8:1-4 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
What the law could not do because it was weak because of my sinful physical body and soul. What the law could not do God sent his son to earth to become a man, but a perfect man, who never sinned and He defeated and judged sin. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, the people who now walk in the power and under the guidance of the Spirit of God. Amen, Hallelujah and Praise His name!
Free From The Law, Oh Happy Condition
1 Free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus hath bled, and there is remission;
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,
Grace hath redeemed us once for all.
2 Now we are free, there's no condemnation,
Jesus provides a perfect salvation;
"Come unto Me," O hear His sweet call,
Come, and He saves us once for all.
We saw the stage that God had set for the giving of the law now let us look at the centerpiece of that event, the Law itself.
God’s Purpose - Exodus 20:3-17
Thou shalt 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 day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, 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 thy 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 neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
God And The Law
The Ten Commandments literally translated is, the Ten Words. Ten declarations from the mouth of God himself.
We think of Moses going up one time to get the stone tablets written by the hand of God and then afterward he breaks them when he sees the people sinning in the camp, doing the very things the commandments forbid. We know that he returns and this time Moses write the Law on a second set of tablets. But if you carefully count, you’ll find that Moses climbed up to the peak or near the peak between 7 and 8 times.
This time, the first time the commandments are given is directly to the people before the tablets of stone were cut. They heard the voice of God in their own ears but when Moses was too long in returning, they turn back to their old gods of gold instead of the living God on the mountain.
Moses does receive the Law from God and we can see that the law is in two division or two categories.
The first category consists of the first 4 commandments, and they deal with God’s relationship to man. The second consists of the last 6 commandments, and they deal with man’s relationship to man.
The First Table: God’s Revelation To With Man
1st vs. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2nd vs. 4 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:
3rd vs. 7 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.
4th vs. 8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
"The first commandment then guards the unity of God, the second His spirituality, and the third His deity or essence. -James Murphy, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press)
These first commandments reveal to us the true and only God. These are given so that we might look up in awe to God rather than think we can bring Him down to our level or lower.
This is what ancient man did and it is still what modern man wishes to do. Paul put it this way in Romans 1:21-25 …when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator…
When once God is brought down to our level then what is left for man but to go lower than the god he has imagined. For any god, even a false god, must be higher than the one worshipping their god.
But God has shown us, through his commandments and through His word of revelation that He cannot be brought down.
Listen to Isaiah, Isaiah 6:1-4 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
In Revelation 4:2-6 behold, a throne was set in heaven, and
one sat on the throne. 3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a
sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like
unto an emerald. 4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and
upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment;
and they had on their heads crowns of gold. 5 And out of the throne proceeded
lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire
burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. 6 And before the throne there was a sea of
glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the
throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind… and they rest not day
and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and
is to come.
As it was on Mt. Sinai, in the Temple and in the throne room of Heaven, God is shown
in His glory as omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. He is righteous and
holy. He is the One who inhabits eternity. He is the Holy One who rides on the
clouds of judgment. He is revealed as He truly is, God above all others and
beside Him there is no other!
That is what the first table of the 10 words tell us.
The Second Table of the 10 is God’s Expectation Of Man
5th vs. 12 Honour thy father and thy mother. Honor in obedience and in love.
6th vs. 13 Thou shalt not kill. The word used here in Hebrew is rasah and it means murder, not just kill, for there are justified reasons for killing, but this is about the taking of an innocent life not the life of someone trying to kill you, hurt your family or by force, destroy your nation.
7th vs. 14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. This prohibition speaks against any form of sexual sin. Adultery, fornication, pornography is one of the worst kinds of theft for it take something that belongs between only to a marriage and steal that precious thing away and turns it into a selfish, hurtful sin.
8th vs. 15 Thou shalt not steal. Do I need to explain this one? I sure hope that even in this day and age we understand what thou shalt not steal means. If I was in California, Portland or Seattle I would have to explain this but not in Athens, Texas. Thank you Lord for my town.
9th vs. 16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. It includes any lying that harms or defrauds. It especially deals with false testimony and gossip.
10th vs. 17 Thou shalt not covet. The root of where sin begins. The selfish desire for something you do not have.
The first tablet of the law shows us God and the second tablet shows us ourselves. The first tablet shows us God’s holiness, the second shows our sinfulness. The first shows us God in His glory, the second show us in our fallen state.
You and the Law
If you are lost, away from God, unsaved, under the judgment of God’s holiness, then you look into the mirror of the law, see your sin and go to that fountain filled with the blood of Jesus Christ to find cleansing, as the hymn says, What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
If you are saved, then you better know the law didn’t save you nor can it now keep you saved. Nor can you keep the law in your own power even after salvation. Jesus was the only one who could and did fulfill the law and our relationship should be with Him and not with the Law.
Paul, writing to the churches in Galatia, explained how spiritually dangerous it was to try and keep the law after salvation. Look in Galatians 5:1-6 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised (in order to keep the law), Christ shall profit you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. (fallen from the way of grace) 5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
(only faith counts. The faith that God loves us and sent His Son to die for us.)
Back at Mt. Sinai, the people were cowering before the power and fury of God. This was the original shock and awe. Their reaction was to get away. How could they deal with a God who was so high above them? Exodus 20 vs 18 shows us, and it is the same need we still have today, they and we need an intercessor.
God’s Mediator- Exodus 20:18-21
And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.
Moses Goes Between
Even far away from the Mountain of God, the Hebrews cannot bear the power, fury and awe of the presence of the Holy God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They cry out Moses, You speak with us and we will hear you, but do not let God speak with us, or we will be killed.
The people directly hear the voice of the One who spoke the universe into existence from nothing. They see the power of his presence in the fire, smoke and lightning upon the mountain, and yes it terrorizes them.
They can understand first hand what Paul describes in Hebrews 10:30-31 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The Ten Words of God are spoken aloud but the people can’t bear the words because of their fear. They are rightly afraid of the voice of the holy and righteous God. And they and we also should be afraid.
On their own they cannot face God. They plead with Moses to go for them. He will go up, into the dark clouds, the fire, and the smoke. Moses will go into God’s presence and bring back the Law of God.
Without Moses the people have no one to act on their behalf. No one who can intercede with God. No one who can speak directly to God. Only Moses, God’s chosen servant, can act as a go-between. In Moses they have hope.
Jesus Our Intercessor
Like the people at Mt Sinai, we stand today before a holy and righteous God. No, we can’t experience Him as they did. To be honest with you I wouldn’t want to, any more than I would want to stand below a volcano as it erupts in fire or a tornado as it falls from above and destroys everything in it’s path. But I can experience the power, the fury, the holiness, the judgment of God here in this Book which contains not only the 10 words of the commandments, but all the words of God given to us throughout the ages.
In this Book, the Word of God, I find that just as there was a barrier to keep the people from the Mountain of God, there is also a barrier that prevents me from going to where God is, a barrier that the law shows me.
Isaiah 59:2 puts it this way, But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Like the angel’s sword that kept Adam and Eve from reentering the garden, like the gulf that Jesus described in the story of the beggar Lazarus there is a separation between us and God, the vast gulf of our sin.
Like the children of Israel we hear the Ten Commandments. We hear and know that we are guilty and that guilt means I cannot approach the Holy and righteous God. What hope then can we have? Where is our Moses, our mediator? Who is worthy enough to ascend to God? Who is loving enough to bring down grace and forgiveness instead of judgment and wrath?
There is One, who declared Himself mightier than Moses. One who came down to earth from the Father’s throne, One who lived with us and showed love, mercy and grace. That one is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Very God of Very God, God in the flesh.
John wrote in his Gospel, John 1:14 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John calls Jesus the Word because like the revelation of God on Mt Sinai that day, Jesus is the revealed God to us.
He also is our mediator. Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 2:4-6 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
In Jesus we have hope. God knew that we could not keep the law. He knew that we could not come up to him, and so He come down to us through Jesus Christ. God’s own Son took on human flesh became a man and lived a life without sin. He fulfilled the law that we could not keep. He then laid that sinless life upon a cross to be crucified for us. He paid the price for our sin, our failure to live up the standard of God’s holiness. Only He could do that. He died on Calvary that we might live.
The same prophet Isaiah who saw God high and lifted up in the Temple also saw the One who would make us able to be with God. Isaiah 53:3-6 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
We must go to our mediator, Jesus. We must see our sin, so clearly made visible by the unmerciful law, our sin laid up the sinless shoulders of Jesus and there in our sorrow and shame, our fear and our failure, there find the mercy of God only the Son can bring to us.
Illustration: One Great Day remains.
We said that the day God gave the law on Mt. Sinai was one of the greatest events of all time and history, but there is one day that will outshine even that day. A day when the glory of God will be seen not just in the valley below a mountain in the wilderness, but a day when God’s glory will be seen worldwide. The day when Jesus returns as the King to claim this world as His rightful kingdom. What a Day that will be.
Jesus prophesied it in Matthew 24:27-30 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. …. 29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
John who saw Jesus in His earthly glory, saw the Day of Jesus’s heavenly glory. Revelation 19:11-16 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 -- His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Conclusion
We weren’t there the day God’s glory and judgment came down upon Mt. Sinai,
but if you are a child of God, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you and I and all believers will be there on the Day Jesus, in all His glory comes down upon this world when He as King.
I don’t mind that I missed the Law when it came down to Mt. Sinai, but I am so glad, I will not miss the Lord when he comes down to the Mount of Olives. I won’t miss that day because I will be with Him, riding somewhere in that army. I don’t care if they only give me a mule or a donkey to ride, I’ll be right there as King Jesus takes the throne of earth.
As we leave here this morning can you say you’ll also be there on that day? How eternally sad it will be if you miss that day because you missed the purpose of God’s law and the forgiveness of God’s grace.
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