Exod. 20:1–17 | The Morals of the story.

You know who I miss listening to? Paul Harvey, and now you know the rest of the story! I remember when I was about 6 or 7 years old and my parents were remodeling my childhood home and one of the carpenters would listen to Paul Harvey over his lunch break and my brother and I would listen along with him. Mike Rowe does a knock off of Harvey’s show… it’s a podcast called “That’s they way I heard it.” It’s good but it’s not Paul Harvey. Anyway, if you’ve not listened to either of these radio broadcasts, essentially the 2 guys tell stories that either end with with a big reveal of something you wouldn’t expect or a good moral to the story.

Well, today, you can think of the Mosaic Covenant as the rest of the story so to speak or as I’ve entitle today’s message, the morals of the story!

You see we’ve been moving right along through the major Covenant promises of God outlined in Scripture. We started with a wide focus on humanity at large in the Noahic covenant and then narrowed the focus a bit more to a select people that God chose through a man named Abraham last week.

And as God’s focus has narrowed in terms of people with whom He’s making promises to, He’s also gotten more specific with each Covenant promise and we’ve learned a few things along the way about God and His standards and desires.

In the Noahic covenant we’ve learned that God cares deeply about how people live, so much so that the lack of good behavior from people caused God to bring about a world-wide judgement through a flood. After which He made a promise to the world and all of humanity, never to judge us in that manner again and He hung his War Bow (the rain-bow) in the sky to signify that the next time humanity fails on a world stage, He will take the judgement upon Himself rather than flood the world again.

We also learned the manner in which God brings salvation to people. We’re told in Genesis 6:9 that yes Noah was blameless and righteous but rather than works and behaviors being listed out as to what made Noah blameless and deserving of salvation, we’re told that Noah walked with God. Thus revealing that relationship with God is what saves a person.

And then last week as God narrowed His focus to Abraham, we learned once again that grace is the main driving factor of salvation. God called to Abraham, and Abraham believed God and that was credited to Him as righteousness. As we saw, it wasn’t always Abraham’s actions that made him righteous. He was a less than stellar gentleman at times.... But God choose Him and promised to bless Him by giving him a people, a place and an eternal possession, and for the most part Abraham believe that promise. And if you remember Genesis 15 God basically agreed to do all the heavy lifting in this covenant! Even if Abraham or his people failed to keep up the terms, God would become the sacrifice to make it all happen.

Which left us wondering? If salvation and God’s promise-keeping to us is all by grace, does it even matter how we live? And we learned from Genesis 17, that yes it does. God expects us, as He did for Abraham, He expects us to live in light of the promise by wearing the sign of the covenant. For them it was circumcision, for us it’s baptism.

And while that might preach well, you may be left wondering, what the hairy does that even mean? Live in light of the promises of God, how do I do that? What specifically does this look like?

Enter the Mosaic Covenant in Exodus 20 and the morals of the story!

Today, we see God get even more specific about what it looks like to be saved by grace and live in light of His promises. We’ve gone from all of humanity in Noah, to Abraham and his descendants and now God speaks in more detail to Abraham’s descendants through Moses in an attempt to take a family of tribes and fashion them into the nation of Israel which supposed to become a blessing to the whole world.

This is the purpose behind the morals of this story.

To quote Exodus 19:5–6, God tells us the reason He’s about to give this people a list of rules to live by when He says: “5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

God is cluing us in to His intent and the purpose that stands behind salvation. God graciously saves people to bring glory to Himself. That’s what this business about becoming a nation of priests and a holy nation is all about.

Now, the word holy is one we’ve probably all heard but it’s a tough one for us to define isn’t it? That’s where this business of being a priest is helpful. While you may not think of yourself as a priest, most of understand the job of a priest. At it’s simplest, priest are to make God known to others. They are supposed to help people know God and be known by God! This is also what it means to be holy. Holiness at it’s simplest means to be set apart. To be uniquely different, usually in a moral sense, to be pure and set apart unto service of God in such a way that parts or aspects of God are revealed to onlookers.

Here’s what I’m driving at and what I want you to see as we work through the Mosaic Covenant and the morals of The story: God saves us graciously to display His glory and goodness by loving Him and our neighbors! He saves us and desires for us to live in light of that salvation in such a way that shows and shines His glory and goodness to others!

These morals, these rules or commandments are not meant to steal our joy or zap our fun, nor are just a list of tasks we must perform to get saved or be happy! No God saves us and enables us to live holy lives so that our lives will shine forth with His goodness and His glory!

Now, in a minuted we’re going to read Exodus 20:1-21 but before we do, I want to give you a road map of where we’re going. As we read I want you to notice 5 things:

The Mosaic Covenant and the morals of The Story are rooted in grace. v. 1-2

The most important rule is love God. vv. 3-11

You practice loving God by learning to honor parental authority. v. 12

If you love God and honor authority you will love your neighbor as yourself! vv. 13-17

The Morals of The Story and the God who stands behind them cause fear in people and require a mediator to stand in place for us! v. 18-21

Alright lets read Exodus 20:1-21 together:

Exodus 20:1–21 (NIV)

1 And God spoke all these words:

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. (Grace)

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Love God, Worship God and learn to honor your parents)

12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. (learn to honor your parents and if do this and love God then you’ll love your neighbor by not…)

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

21 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.(And there’s the fear and need for a mediator).

Ok now lets walk it back points 1-5 a bit more slowly and just so you know we don’t have the time to unpack everyone of these commands today. We did a series on them though a few summers back that are all online, I encourage all of you to go check them out at some point. Each command so so rich and full of meaning! That said, we’re going to be dealing with the Morals of the Story in broad brush strokes this morning, starting with the first and perhaps the most important thing to remember when dealing with the Mosaic Covenant: The root of this covenant and the Morals of The Story is, always has been and always will be grace!

Look at v. 1-2

Exodus 20:1–2 NIV

1 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

First thing you’ll notice is that God is the one speaking. He initiatives contact with us! Without God stooping down, we could never get up to Him! So He stoops downing grace and pursue us and He is the only one who can save. He saved the Israelites from slavery to the Egyptians. He’s save me from my slavery to sin and in you’re in Jesus, He’s saved you from yours!

And let me ask you, why did God save Israel? Was it because of all their grumbling! You better not say amen! Ha! One of Exodus’ themes is that God saves to get glory, but another one is that God hates grumbling. The Israelites were grumblers. They grumbled about their slavery and God’s silence. The grumbled about God leading them to the edge of the Red Sea. They grumbled about their leaders and their food and their drink. Grumble. Grumble. Grumble! God did not save these people because of their grumbling… in fact God killed many grumblers in Exodus, with snakes, and fire, and pestilence! God hates grumbling, which can I just say to all of you and to my own sinful heart… check your heart bro!

How’s your grumbling? We are meant to be a royal priesthood that shines forth the joy of Jesus, not a crotchety bunch of grumblers that leaks out darkness! Grumbling is the cough of a sick heart, so loved one, how’s your heart? Is it quick to give grace and gratitude or does it strange praise with a low growl of grumble whispered under your breath? Check your heart friends! Check your heart!

Did God save Israel because of their grumbling… as Pete the cat would say… Goodness no! God’s got grace for our grumbles but salvation does not come to us because of our grumbles, it comes to us in spite of them by grace through faith alone in Jesus!

Grace is the root of our salvation, nor our works or efforts! Don’t miss this! Grace is the root which produces the fruit of good works. Good works… good moral living it is the fruit, not the root of being saved by God’s grace!

If you miss this, you will miss the gospel and salvation! Why, well because as we’ll see at the end, these morals of The story, they reveal to us 2 things, 1 that God cares how we live and 2 none of us can meet His expectations! We need a gracious mediator to stand in our place!

The Morals of The story are rooted in grace.. vv. 1-2.

Understanding this, the grace of God, that should compel us to love Him! I mean who else would save a messed up, imperfect, grumbling and motley crew like us!? Who else would put up with all our shortcomings and failures? Who else but the God of Heaven?

There’s none like Him Church, none more gracious and none more worthy of our praise!

This is what vvs. 3-11 are all about, the most important moral or rule is one concerning or vertical relation with God. The rule or moral is: Have a loving relationship with God.

If you read through this section, there are rules in here about worshipping God alone and we can summarize them like this: put God at the center of your life and make your life as a person, as a parent, as an employee and employer revolve around Him and His desires!

The word worship is used in this section which helps us understand what love for God looks like. Worship means to ascribe worth. To treat something or someone as immensely worthy. And in the next section, we’re told to honor our parents. That word honor is also instructive. It means to give special weight or authority to a something or someone.

Essentially what God is saying to the people He saves is, let me grace change you so that you love me that you live in such a way that gives worth or weight to me over and above everything else!

Morals 1 & 2 of the story: Receive God’s grace and love Him alone for it!

Moral #3.

Practice loving God and living under His authority by learning to live with honor under your parent’s authority v. 12

Here we see the lynch pin between our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationships with our neighbors. It rests in the family unit!

Church, do you know the penalty that existed in the morals of the story for breaking this commandment. Dishonoring your parents? Death, by stoning. God said, kill children who repeatedly and unrepentantly dishonor and disobey their parents.

This seems like a harsh penalty doesn’t it, but just think about this with me for a second. How will any child learn to live under God’s authority and love God if they can’t learn to live under their parent’s authority and love them?

Answer: they can’t and they won’t barring a gracious miracle from God!

I believe we are currently as a culture reaping what parent’s of the past generation have sown into their children! They’ve instructed their intellect but not disciplined their emotions and now we are living with a generation of people who despise all authority from government to God. We have a generation of selfish people who could give a rats beyond about how they treat their neighbor because they’ve been raised to believe they are the center of the universe and their glory is all that matters rather than God and His glory!

Parents, bring your children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, children honor your parents that it may go well with you in the land!

And if you do, if you love God and honor your parents you will love your neighbor well by not doing things you wouldn’t want others to do to you! vv. 13-17

You won’t murder or be murderous in your thoughts towards others.

You won’t cheat on your spouse psychically, spiritually, emotionally or mentally.

You won’t steal.

You won’t lie.

You won’t be discontent or greedy to gain what others have!

Now let’s just pause for a minute and let me ask you a question. What if we lived in a world where people actually followed these morals?

Just take one of them. (thief)

I remember in college, I went to a Christian college that had an awesome sense of community. I lived with 80 guys on my dorm floor and we had an amazing time with one another. We pranked each other and had a ton of fun, until one of the fellows on a floor below us decided to start stealing peoples stuff and reselling it on eBay. All the doors on my floor went from being open and raucous to closed and quiet in the matter of a week! This one selfish dude was just stealing stuff, he was stealing community! My blood pressure still boils when I think about it! If you’ve ever been stolen from, you know the feeling, I don’t know if their is a more righteous sense of anger and injustice one can feel than when someone takes something from you that is no theirs!!!! AAAHHH… Imagine if people just kept this one commandment! Imagine a world where spouses didn’t cheat and where greed wasn’t a thing, people were content and generous!

To anyone who says, God’s Morals of The Story are meant to steal joy I would just simply ask, would the world be better or worse if folks actually lived in line with the Morals of The Story? Can you even imagine… come Lord Jesus right?

Now, you probably know where I’m going… we don’t live like this!

We could go through every one of these 10 line by line and I would bet you a million dollars I could show you how I and you break each one of them on a weekly basis.

Which should induce a level of fear in all of our hearts! If these are the standards of God, the question we’re left with is who can stand before God.

And that’s precisely the question that Israel poses after they see God’s glory from the moment and hear the thunderous pronouncement of His morals for The story!

These morals are good and beautiful, the problem is ain’t none of us can live up to them. So what are we going to do? What do we need? We need precisely what the people of Israel ask for. We need a mediator, someone to stand in our place and make a case before God for us on why He should continue to be be gracious to us.

For the people of Israel, God appointed Moses to be that mediator and for all people and all time on, Jesus is the new and better Moses for you and for me! Jesus is our mediator. He lives up to God’s morals for us and pleads our case before the Father as well. His atonement, His shed blood covers our sins and now because Jesus mediates for us before the Father in a way that Moses never could, Israel was prevented from going to the mountain, but you and I, you and I are now permitted the thrown of grace with confidence, not fear but confidently we can stand before the father because Jesus met the standards of the Father on our behalf!

And if this grace friends isn’t change you… it’s not saving you! To say it another way? How could you hear the goodness of this story and live as if it meant nothing? Answer, the only way you could do that is if you didn’t get it. If you don’t understand and receive God’s grace you won’t change and you won’t live conformed to the Morals of The Story imaged now for us in Christ Jesus, but if you do receive the love of the Father, if you understand what He’s done for you, you will be forever changed…your life will bare the fruit of salvation, not perfectly, but progressively so. You’ll love God and worship Him alone. You’ll honor your parents and you’ll love your neighbor as yourself… and you’ll do it all without fear because you know that Jesus is in your corner, mediating on your behalf.

Well, there you have, and know you know the morals of the story.

I can’t think of no better way to conclude this reality then to participate in one of the signs of the promise Christ gave to us before He paid the ultimate price to stand in our place. I’m talking of communion.

We practice open communion here at Crossroads and what that means is if you love and worship God alone in relationship by grace through faith n Jesus Christ alone, you can participate in the table with us.

No one is obligated to participate and honestly the Bible encourages us not to if we have unforgiveness, bitterness or grumbling in our heart towards a brother or sister. Rather than celebrate communion, you are encouraged to go make peace and then take communion at another time.

If you desire to participate all we as is that whatever table you come to your go from left to right to receive the elements and then head back to your seats.

With all that said, I will pray for us and then the band will play and you can come as you feel led. When the band feels as though it’s time to transition, we’ll stand and sing a concluding song.

Pray with me.