Covenant and Commandments
Notes
Transcript
what are some of the events that we have seen so far?
Adam and Eve
The fall
Noah
Abraham
Joseph
Exodus
Today, we are looking at what is called the Mosaic covenant and when God gave the 10 commandments
So they have evaded the Egyptians, they crossed the Red Sea, they have received manna from heaven, they have seen Moses strike the rock and water come out, they have went to war with Amalek and defeated them. And now, they are at a place called Sinai.
1 On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.
It is here that God makes a covenant with Moses. Do you remember what a covenant is?
He begins this covenant with a reminder. We need to be reminded sometimes of what God has done for us. So, what is something that God has done for you lately?(calmed my temper)
4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
There is a reason behind this covenant. That is the sanctification of the Israelites. He wanted them to be set apart from all of the other nations, not by race, but by spirit. This is sort of a continuation of the Abrahamic covenant with regards as to who the covenant is for. But that is the extent of it.
Do you remember the Abrahamic covenant? (make you a great nation) It was to establish a people through whom the Messiah would come. That has happened. The Abrahamic covenant was unconditional. Abraham and his descendants did not have to do anything to partake in this covenant. It all fell on the shoulders of God.
The purpose behind the Mosaic covenant was not to set them aside, but to take the people who have already been set aside and to define what it means to live a holy life.
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.”
We go back to a conditional covenant. If you do this, then I will do this. Kind of like I do with Peighton and her allowance, but on a greater scale. If she does the things on her cleaning list every week, I give her a reward for being obedient. It is a covenant that I have made with her.
The covenant between God and Israel here is if you will obey me and keep this covenant, then you will be my treasured possession and a holy people. What a wonderful promise that is to the people.
So God has told Moses this covenant. Moses took these words to the people. God showed them a sign of the promise by coming in a cloud of smoke so that the people would believe that it truly was God who spoke to Moses.
7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.
8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
They said okay, we will obey the Lord. The blessing of the covenant depends upon the obedience of the people. Not just the promise of obedience, but obedience itself. What happens if they do not obey?
I am not going to read all of it but we can find that in Deut. 28 and Lev. 26.
14 “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments,
15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant,
16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you.
18 And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins,
19 and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.
20 And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.
That sounds really harsh. And it continues and it is all bad things. All because of what? Disobedience. But, is there hope even in disobedience? Absolutely.
40 “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me,
41 so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity,
42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
Repentance is always the solution to sin and disobedience. It was with the people of Israel then and it still is today. Repentance and humility before the Lord. But for this to be unquestionable, they needed a guide.
God was going to give the people a standard to live by. To do that, the people had to stay at the bottom of Mount Sinai while Moses went to the top and God gave him laws and commandments.
He gave them 10 commandments to live by that would ensure that they were living lives that were set apart. He gave them other laws as well. Over the next few chapters, we read about the laws dealing with altars, slavery, restitution, social justice, festivals, and the sabbath. But I want us to focus in on the 10 commandments.
We can break them into 2 groups. There are 4 that deal with our relationship with God and 6 that deal with our relationship with others.
No other Gods, 2. No carved images, 3. Do not take the Lord’s name in vein, 4. Keep the sabbath holy
5. Honor mother and father, 6. no murder, 7. no adultery, 8. no stealing, 9. no false witness, 10. no coveting
This is a quick summary.
1 And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
So when we think of the 2 categories dealing with God and others, and we go to the New Testament and the teaching of Jesus, what can we see that Jesus taught? The Great Commandment.
Can anyone tell me what the great commandment is? Matthew 22:37–39 “37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus has given us a summary of how to keep the 10 commandments. Love God and love others. And if we think about all that the people of Israel has went through, and we think about how God has provided for them, if there was ever a people who may have the ability to keep the law, it was them. They even promised God that they would keep it. But is that what happens?
No. Even before Moses makes it down the mountain from receiving the law and commandments, the people build a golden calf(idol), and break the first 2 commandments. Moses is so upset that he shatters the tablets that the commandments were written on to signify the breaking of the covenant.
Have you ever had someone break a promise against you?
Have you ever broken a promise?
This just shows us that no one is able to keep the law perfectly. Was Jesus able to keep the law perfectly? Yes, he was. And we must keep looking to him as our standard.
Romans 3:23 “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 10:13 “13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””
We must keep calling on to Jesus. We ask him to give us help when we need it. We tell him when we screw up. And we know that he will forgive us.
How do we see Jesus in what we looked at tonight?
Moses acts as the mediator between the people and God. The people speak to Moses, Moses goes to God. God speaks to Moses and he takes the words of God to the people. He is a picture of Jesus being our mediator.
But it also points us to Jesus because of what the law requires. What does the law require? Perfection. We have to keep the law perfectly to be made holy. But are we able to do that? This is why we are pointed to Jesus. He came and he did keep the law perfectly because he was fully God and fully man. He had no sin in him. But he still went to the mountain on our behalf. He took our offering, which was himself to Mount Calvary. He gave it to God and God gave him what was supposed to be given to us. God’s wrath. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and prophets.
- Why did God give Israel the law?
- How do the Ten Commandments reveal God’s holiness?
- Which commandment stands out to you most and why?
- How are the commandments fulfilled in Christ?
Life Application: Examine your life in light of God’s commands. Ask the Spirit to shape you into Christ’s likeness.
