The First of 10 Words

The First of 10 Words Exodus 20:1-2 Context • God brings his people to the foot of Mount Sinai. • God’s presence (pillar of smoke and fire) and God’s provision (miraculous water and morning manna) continue daily. • God and Israel formally enter a covenant. • God builds the anticipation of meeting and finally begins to speak. The 10 Words 1. Revelatory: “And God worded all these words saying …” 2. Relational: “I am Yahweh your God” (see Genesis 15:7) 3. Complete: 4 Cover our relationship with God; 6 our relationship with man (see Matthew 22:37; Psalm 19:7) 4. Internal: the presence of “you shall not covet” changes the perspective entirely; see Micah 6:8; Matthew 22:37 The 10 Words 5. Liberating: God’s law grants liberty of life and expression by limiting evil; Psalm 106:3; James 1:25 6. Convicting: the law came to increase evil (Romans 5:20) and conviction (see Romans 7) 7. Christological: the Law brings us to Christ (see Galatians 3:24-27) Applications for the Christian 1. The commands of God always spring from the relationship of redemption – the God who brought the Israelites out of slavery redeemed us from the domain of darkness (Ephesians 2:1-3) 2. Christ’s application of the Law reminds us of God’s primary goal – to rule over our hearts (Matthew 5:22ff) 3. Loving one another ultimately fulfills God’s law and testifies of God’s grace to the world (Romans 13:914)