The Law Part 2

God’s law for His people

Play the Law Game after songs:

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Quick recap from last week:

The relationship between God and human’s is first like a Father/son or parent/child relationship.

Human’s are the only created beings who have this relationship with God.

That’s part of what being made in his image means. That we are set apart, that we bear his image, that the way we relate to God is different from all other creations.

When God gave the 10 commandments then, it was to show a framework of how we relate to God and to each other.

As Fuep said last week, it’s to show that the greatest commandment is to Love God and the second is to Love your Neighbor as yourself.

God is our vertical relationship.

Human’s are our horizontal relationship.

First 4 commandments deal with how we relate to God.

Last 6 commandments show how to relate with one another.

Lastly we discussed Romans 3:20 “20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”

The point of the law isn’t to earn God’s salvation by living these laws perfectly.

It’s the opposite. The law is to show us clearly that we can’t live up to them perfectly.

They are God’s perfect standards and we live according to them, but we do so knowing that we will break them. We cannot be perfect.

So we need God to intercede for us.

We need someone to live them perfect for us on our behalf.

We need a Savior.

Ultimately that’s what the entire Scripture is showing us over and over.

We need a Savior.

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That brings us to today and where we stopped last week.

There is a key difference between the 3 covenants we’ve seen so far in Scripture though.

Let’s examine those for a moment.

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A. Who was involved in the covenant?

Covenant with Noah involved all of creation. Mankind and nature.

Covenant with Abraham involved Abraham’s Descendants

The covenant with Moses narrowed it down further to the 12 tribes of Israel.

Really that was the descendants of the 12 sons of Jacob.

There were some excluded from the Abraham covenant which included Esau, Jacob’s brother.

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B. What were the promises of the covenants?

To Noah and Abraham the promises were all focused on God.

In other words, God promised and essentially makes no demands back from man.

God promised never to destroy the earth by flood again.

However, God doesn’t demand anything back from man.

That all changes with the Covenant with Moses.

2. In the Mosaic Covenant, God now reveals his expectations on us.

God’s covenant with Moses helps clarify:

What does it mean to be God’s son?

What are the responsibilities I have as God’s son?

How do I relate to God as my father?

How do we relate to one another as siblings in Christ?

That’s the key difference between these 3 covenants, Noah, Abraham, and Moses.

With Abraham and Noah, it was all about what God would do for mankind, with Moses, it was all about what God expects of His people.

And let me tell you, this gets overwhelming quick.

It’s why the second half of Exodus, and all of Leviticus, Numbers, and most of Deuteronomy is so boring.

It’s laws man.

But it’s important because it’s what God expects of us!

And God made it clear.

If you obey my law, you will be blessed.

It you disobey my law, you will be cursed.

Read Leviticus 18:1–4 “1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the Lord your God. 3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. 4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God.”

This guys is the foundation of the law.

Notice that last part.

“I am the Lord your God.”

Salvation from Egypt was from God…

Salvation for all of humanity is from the same source.... Salvation is only found from God.

One way we know that Salvation is from God is through His signature.

In all 3 covenants we’ve discussed so far: Noah’s, Abraham’s, and now with Moses… God signs the covenants.

With Noah God signed his covenant with a rainbow.

With Abraham, God halved animals and walked through.

With Moses, look at the signature God gave.

Read Exodus 31:12–13 “12 Then the Lord said to Moses, 13 “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.”

In ancient near eastern cultures, it would be customary to sign a document right in the middle of it.

King’s would put their dynasty seal right in the middle and that was their signature.

Interestingly, where does God place his signature of the Sabbath?

It’s the 4th commandment in the 10.

Now that may or may not be significant here. I can’t say for sure.

But I do know that the Jewish life (and our life should as well to be honest) revolved around this day of the week, the Sabbath.

Let me ask you a question.

After God created on the 6 days of creation, what did he do on the 7th day?

He rested.

Does God need rest? No.

But God as the example instituted this rhythm into human life.

We need a rest day each week.

This pattern of work and rest is to be a regular and essential part of life.

Also interesting, with all the false gods that people have conjured up over time, you know what I’ve never found in any of their idol worship?

A day of rest.

Look at any world religion, there is none that observes a Sabbath.

And yet Scientists look at Human’s in the west today and say we are overworked and under-rested.

If you go to the National Library of Medicine website, you can actually read an article that talks about how we in the west are suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes, anxiety & depression, stress, and many other ailments because we are working too much and not resting enough…

The Sabbath is not just a biblical mandate, it’s a life-giving principle that can be scientifically proven.

This is God’s signature he put on creation from Genesis 1.

God created us to rest in Him.

In fact, this is part of the law.

Again, going back to Romans 3:20 that the point of the law is to make us aware of our sin, to show us our failures.

Well, I would add another.

The Sabbath as a part of our weekly rhythm is a weekly reminder That God is our savior.

That He is the sustainer of our lives. He created us and He redeemed us.

We need that reminder every day, but certainly weekly.

Here was a problem though.

God cannot be bound to this covenant with man because we are sinners.

This covenant with man was different from the others.

With Noah and Abraham, the covenants were unconditional.

With Noah, God promised never to flood the earth again and gives Noah no conditions to that promise.

In other words, God doesn’t say “If man becomes that sinful again, then I will destroy the earth by flood...” NO

God gives no conditions, only a promise.

Same for Abraham:

God will give Abraham people, land (nation), and they will bless others.

But God never says If you don’t do this… then I will do this… There are no conditions.

Through the giving of the law and Moses, there is conditions.

Why?

Because this covenant now was about Salvation… About the deepest condition of our Spirit.

We are either dead, living in sin. Or we are alive, given new life through our faith in God.

Read Exodus 24:4–8 “4 Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.” 8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.””

Hebrews 9:22 “22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

APPLICATION:

If there’s one thing we can get from today, it’s gratitude.

How gracious God was to rescue Israel from Egypt.

Exodus 20:2–3 “2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.”

How gracious God was to give them a day of rest.

How gracious God is that despite all of our sin, He desires relationship with us.

How gracious He is that despite all the trouble that came upon Him when He came to earth, that He stayed and accomplished the goal.

God’s law is perfect, but it’s also impossible to live up to.

Again, that is the point.

God gave us a mirror to show us His standards.

Then He gave us Himself to show us that HE would live up to those standards for us.

Then He gave us new life and calls us to believe and have faith that what He did was enough.

Then as we talked about on Wednesday night, He calls us to take that same hope to the world around us.

He calls us to be His hands and feet, to give hope to a lost and dying world.

A world full of people crying out for Help.

Let’s be willing to give out that help this Christmas.

Help not found in money or wrapped and put under a tree.

But Hope found in the promise that Jesus is enough.

I pray we all can live in that hope every day.

let’s pray.