The Covenant Renewed (Part 1)

Introduction

In 1976 a book entitled “How Should We Then Live?” was written by Francis Schaffer that started with a concept given to him by his son in 1974. The idea behind the book was as Schaffer writes:

How Should We Then Live?: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture Acknowledgments

Using my study, over the past forty years, of Western thought and culture as a base, we could attempt to present the flow and development which have led to twentieth-century thinking, and by so doing hope to show the essential answers.

The title of this book is taken from a passage in Ezekiel, specifically chapter 33 verses 1-11 which deals with God’s call on Ezekiel to be the “a watchman for the house of Israel” for the purpose of hearing the Word of God and give the people the warning of God. Leading up to verse 10, God explains to Ezekiel that his purpose is to warn the people so that if they do not turn from their wicked ways destruction will follow. We read the following in verses 10-11 and then in verse 19: Ezekiel 33:10-11

Ezekiel 33:10–11 LSB

“Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have spoken, saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them; how then can we live?” ’ “Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares Lord Yahweh, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’

Ezekiel 33:19 LSB

“But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does justice and righteousness, he will live by them.

Both Ezekiel and Peter confront God’s people with the same question—how shall we live in light of who God is and what God has done? And that is the same question Israel faces at Sinai as God reconciles them to Himself. When we come to Peter’s second letter to the church we see something similar. Arguably one of the most familiar verses in 2 Peter comes in the third chapter as Peter deals with the “Day of the Lord”. From the context it was obvious that many in the church were being influenced by those that Peter refers to as ‘mockers’ who question the word of God. As Peter deals with this he reminds the believers, identified in verse 1 of that chapter as ‘beloved’, to recall the word of God. By the time we reach verse 9, Peter has developed this argument based on God and His word. In verse 9, Peter speaking to BELEIVERS (this is critical to understand) writes, 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” It is critical to understand that this is a word written only to believers. All here means all of those who believe, the elect of God. First we know this from the context, secondly we know this from the fact that it speaks of “His promise” and the promises of God are only for the people of God. As we get past that verse however, we read the following in verses 10-11:

2 Peter 3:10–11 LSB

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be found out. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

The final clause in verse 11 asks “what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?” or as it is put to us in Ezekiel, “how then can we live?” or Schaffer’s version, “How Should We Then Live?” Of course the response to that question actually begins not with ourselves, but with God, who is as it says in Ephesians 2:4–5 “...rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ...” This is actually where we find Moses and the people of Israel this morning in our text. As you recall, Moses is standing on the top of Sinai, He has had the glory of God revealed to him and we concluded with Moses prayer in verse 9 of Exodus 34. As you may recall the final words of that prayer were “and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your own inheritance.” This request by Moses was that God would fully and completely redeem the people of Israel as His own people, that He would restore them to covenant fellowship and once again be their God even as they were His people. As we look at this text today we will see that although people never ask this question, God provides the foundation for them anyway as He instructs them how to live in this renewed fellowship, reconciled to God. Please turn with me to the book of Exodus 34 as we read from verses 10-28, having found your place,

Text

Please stand in reverence for the reading of God’s Holy, Inerrant, Infallible, Authoritative, Sufficient, Complete and Certain Word,

Exodus 34:10–28 LSB

Then God said, “Behold, I am going to cut a covenant. Before all your people I will do wondrous deeds which have not been created in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of Yahweh, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to do with you. “Be sure to keep what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. “Beware lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, lest it become a snare in your midst. “But rather, you are to tear down their altars and shatter their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim —for you shall not worship any other god, for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invite you to eat of his sacrifice, and you take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods. “You shall make for yourself no molten gods. “You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, which I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt. “The first offspring from every womb belongs to Me, even of all your male livestock, the first offspring from cattle and sheep. “And you shall redeem with a lamb the first offspring from a donkey; and if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. None shall appear before Me empty-handed. “You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest. “And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. “Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel. “For I will dispossess nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no man shall covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before Yahweh your God. “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, and the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover shall not be left over until morning. “You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your ground into the house of Yahweh your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.” Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have cut a covenant with you and with Israel.” So he was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Almighty God, we count it an honor and a privilege to enter into Your gates with thanksgiving and into Your courts with praise. Lord we acknowledge You and You alone as the one true God, Creator and Sustainer of Heaven and Earth. We know that by Your Word all things hold together. Father commend that word to us today, that as we open these pages so the Holy Spirit would open our hearts to receive and our minds to comprehend Your great truths. Grant us Your strength to apply this Word to our lives so that they are molded and shaped according to Your will by the power of Your Spirit in accordance with Your truth. Father, we pray that as the truth of this message is commended to our hearts that we would grow in our love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As we walk forward in Your truth, emboldened by Your Spirit and resting in Christ, may we show the world what it means to truly submit and follow You in our lives, may we speak truth to them in love, and never allow ourselves to be ensnared by the world. We thank You for Your truth and this time together, we pray for Your guidance and Your strength asking all of these things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

True Reconciliation Only By The Work of God

As we look at the world we are sojourning through, it becomes obvious how easily our Christian lives can be influenced on every side. Yet beneath the surface of these many pressures lies a single root cause—sin—and the sinful nature from which every distortion flows. But when we move upward from that foundation, we see that individual worldview shapes how sin expresses itself. Francis Schaeffer, in How Should We Then Live?, describes this as the power of presuppositions. He writes:

How Should We Then Live?: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture Chapter 1: Ancient Rome

People are unique in the inner life of the mind—what they are in their thought world determines how they act. This is true of their value systems and it is true of their creativity. … The results of their thought world flow through their fingers or from their tongues into the external world. …

People have presuppositions, and they will live more consistently on the basis of these presuppositions than even they themselves may realize. By presuppositions we mean the basic way an individual looks at life, his basic world view, the grid through which he sees the world. Presuppositions rest upon that which a person considers to be the truth of what exists. People’s presuppositions lay a grid for all they bring forth into the external world. Their presuppositions also provide the basis for their values and therefore the basis for their decisions.

This “grid” shapes everything—how we hear the gospel, how we understand Scripture, and how we respond to God’s truth. In the Bible Belt, one of the most common yet dangerous presuppositions is the belief that one is a Christian by heritage rather than by regeneration. Some suppose that being raised in the church guarantees spiritual advantage, but that is only true if the worldview of both home and church is rooted completely in Scripture, rightly understanding the truth of God.

Paul’s letters demonstrate how deeply ingrained presuppositions can be—and how difficult they are to overcome. I experienced this personally in 2011 when my own firmly held beliefs about salvation were challenged by Scripture. For years I wrestled between resistance and submission until my old framework was torn down and rebuilt by the Word of God.

Over the past few weeks we have seen a transformation happen in the life of Israel as they stood camped around the base of Mount Sinai. A people who had spent 400 years in captivity to the nation of Egypt had been delivered by Yahweh, drawn into covenant relationship with Him, only to break that covenant and have God declare that He would remove Himself from their midst. Yet Moses interceded, pleading for grace and glory—and now stands before Yahweh again as God restores and reconciles His people. From the outside, it would have been easy for Israel to attribute their redemption to Moses, but that would rob God of His glory.

In verse 10, God makes it clear that this work that He is doing, this work of reconciliation, is accomplished by Him and Him alone. Notice here we have the call to “Behold”, to watch and see, not to act, not to participate, but to watch. Moses is told that the deeds will be done “before all your people”. Deeds which the world has not ever seen the likes of and no one has beheld. This should sound familiar, recall as Moses stood before Pharoah in Egypt the words of God were, Exodus 7:3–5 ““But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart with stiffness that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. “But Pharaoh will not listen to you. And I will set My hand upon Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments. “Then the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.”” Here, in verse 10, just as earlier, the point of the wonders and fearful things that God is doing is to demonstrate His truth to the nations, not just to Israel, but so that the world would know that He alone is God.

To know God means that we, as we talked about last week, seek the truth of who He is as He has revealed Himself in His word. One of those ways is to display His immutability, the fact that He does not change, that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. As we have repeated several times through this study, we need to recall that there is much written in the book of Exodus that was written for a specific people in a specific time, such as the judicial and ceremonial laws that are laid out, but that in all of these things there are truths that transcend those temporal situations and apply across all of time and humanity. It is helpful as we think about these things to know that God does not change because it allows us to see that that which He reveals about Himself is true now, just as much as it was then. He, alone, is God, there is no other, that it is by His hand that these works are and will be accomplished.

This is why Christ commands His church to make Him known. Matthew 28:18–20 makes this very clear “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”” … in the effort to accomplish this task, our primary understanding must be that He is the source of all truth, that it is He and He alone that works for the redemption of His people.

In verse 11 of our passage, Israel is reminded to keep what God commands. Their obedience was not merely a requirement of covenant life—it was a response to God’s gracious initiative. Without God cutting the covenant, without His sovereign work in verse 11, they would have neither reason nor ability to obey. This is the result of grace, and the result that should occur in the lives of believers today. It is only by His work through the Holy Spirit, transforming our hearts, regenerating us, making us new, so that we could hear and believe, so that we could receive this gift of faith that allows us through grace to be saved to the uttermost. The response of the people to the grace of God is a biblical concept and one that finds its true source in the understanding that it is God alone that acts, it is God alone that moves, it is God alone that supplies and meets all of our needs. Just as Israel could not reconcile themselves to God, neither can we. Paul declares in Romans 5:10 “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” The pattern is the same—God moves first, God makes the covenant, God acts through Christ to redeem a people for Himself.

Truly Reconciled People Live Obediently

Hopefully as we read through these verses there was very little here that was new to you. All of these commands given to Moses, beginning in verse 12 and following all the way through to verse 26 are commands that we worked through as we worked through Moses’ first 40 days on Sinai. This begs the question here, why these, why did God choose these specific commands to repeat and record in His word. In an effort to obtain an answer to this question I want to look at the last two verses first and then we will back up. Notice in verses 27 and 28 that God supplies a final command to Moses and then we see the living out of that command. Verse 27 sounds similar to an earlier verse as God commands Moses to write these words because they are the basis for the covenant. It is likely, although not specifically written, that all of what had been given to Moses previously was given again for him to record, this thought process stems from the fact that the second visit to Sinai lasted just as long as the first visit, which meant that it likely entailed all of the previous information including the law and the instructions around the tabernacle. Whether this specific thing is true or not is not verifiable from this text. What is verifiable however, is that once again, we are reminded of the importance of the word of God to the people of God. It was the word of God that served as the foundation of the covenant, it was what was given to Moses to give to the people, note the phrase “cut a covenant with you and with Israel”.

Secondly, verse 28 concludes this encounter by stating, “And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.” Some debate whether the pronoun “He” refers to Moses or to Yahweh. But the context makes the answer clear. In Exodus 34:1 God explicitly says, “I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered.” Earlier, regarding the first set of tablets, we are told:

Exodus 24:12 “Now Yahweh said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.””

Exodus 31:18 “When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.”

Exodus 32:15–16 “Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain. And the two tablets of the testimony were in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides; they were written on one side and the other. Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.”

By contrast, Moses wrote the Book of the Covenant in Exodus 24:4, a separate written record not engraved in stone. Nothing in Exodus 34:27–28 instructs Moses to engrave the tablets; only God is said to do that work. Thus, once again, Moses writes the words on a scroll, but God Himself writes the Decalogue—the Ten Commandments—upon stone.

Why does this matter? Because the stone tablets signify that the moral law stands as the unchanging foundation upon which all God’s covenant dealings rest. The ceremonial and judicial laws rise from it, but the moral law is written by God’s own hand because it reflects His own character. The repetition of these commands here underscores this truth: those whom God reconciles are called to live obediently.

And this pattern does not end at Sinai. Paul declares that obedience flows from reconciliation in Christ. We read in 2 Corinthians 5:17–18 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,” . Israel’s restored obedience was the result of God’s gracious work; our obedience today is the fruit of being made new—alive, forgiven, and reconciled through the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Truly Reconciled People Have True Life

Again, it all starts with an understanding that it is God that accomplishes this redemption of Israel, just as it is God that accomplishes our redemption through the completed work of Christ on calvary’s cross. Recall Colossians 3:1–4 “Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.”

Beginning in verse 12 we see a basic outline of the life that they were to live. First, they were to serve and worship the one true God, Yahweh. Notice in verses 12-16 we see a section of text dealing with the people keeping themselves pure, apart from others, but not just keeping themselves separated, ensuring that there was no remaining tenets of the former inhabitants of the land. Again, these are laws specific to the people, but the underlying principle here still applies.

As those who are born again we are certainly not called to violently murder anyone, to blow up and destroy property, or to take land by force, but we are called to life holy lives that are different and set-apart from those of the world. There are those who would take this to the degree that we should not engage with the world, but then how would we be obedient to the mandate to go and make disciples. Rather notice that God’s word to the Israelites is for them to “Beware lest you cut a covenant with”. For us this speaks of making an agreement with those who are not believers. Recently, I was watching a speech given by a person, this person claimed to be a pastor of a church and seemed to be speaking biblical truth until you listened a little closer. The topic dealt with one of the hot topics of the day and he presented the fact that scripture specifically declares that this particular things is worng, but then proceeds to say that if a person is commiting this sin that the church’s response, instead of loving the person enough to call out their sin. Again he is dealing with a specific group of people and he says that 76% of this group say that they would come back to the church if the people would just embrace their lifestyle and walk with them… This is the very type of thing that we are being warned about. This thought leads to the worship of and adoration of self rather than God and becomes idolatrous!! Paul deals with this in his letter to the church at Corinth. We read in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18

2 Corinthians 6:14–18 LSB

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has a sanctuary of God with idols? For we are a sanctuary of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean, And I will welcome you. “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” says the Lord Almighty.

We are called here, just as surely as we are called in Exodus, to COME OUT of this sin. This is why the message is repent and believe, the gospel requires repentance. This same example used the illustration that all of the people in the church are broken and imperfect, but the fact remains we are not called to stay that way, we are called to repent, to turn from our wicked ways, to trust in Christ, to be obedient to the Word and the word says that we, as people who have been redeemed, are transformed by the renewing of our minds, not conformed to the evils of this world. It comes back to the knowledge and understanding that Yahweh is God and there is no other!!

The next section of our passage—running from verse 17 through verse 25—turns from Israel’s call to exclusive loyalty to Yahweh to the practical outworking of that loyalty in right worship. The first set of commands establishes that there is but one true God; this second set instructs Israel in how that one true God must be approached. These verses form the foundation of right worship, and we will consider them more fully in a later sermon. But for now, it is enough to see that reconciliation always leads to right worship—both for Israel and for us. And this brings us to the heart of the matter: if you are outside of Christ this morning, you remain unreconciled to God, unable to worship Him rightly. Yet the same God who restored Israel promises that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Turn to Him. Look to the One who shed His blood to bring you near (Ephesians 2:13). In Him alone is forgiveness, restoration, and newness of life, and only through Him can true worship begin.

Conclusion

As we draw this passage to a close for today, we are reminded that everything we have seen in Exodus 34 is grounded in the gracious initiative of God. Israel had shattered the covenant, defiled their worship, and stood guilty before a holy God. They brought nothing to the mountain but their sin. And yet God came down. God spoke. God renewed. God reconciled. He wrote His law again with His own hand, gave His Word again through His chosen mediator, and restored His presence to a people who could never restore themselves. Their reconciliation was not the fruit of their repentance—it was the fruit of God’s mercy.

And beloved, this is precisely the pattern fulfilled in Christ. Paul tells us that “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10). He declares in Colossians 1 that God has “reconciled us in His fleshly body through death, in order to present us holy and blameless before Him” (Colossians 1:21–22). What God did for Israel through Moses in shadows and types, He has accomplished for us fully and finally through Jesus Christ—our true Mediator, our Passover Lamb, our covenant-keeping Redeemer.

And just as Israel’s reconciliation demanded obedience, so ours must produce transformed lives. Reconciled people do not return to the world’s altars. They do not flirt with idols. They do not shape their lives by the false presuppositions of a fallen age. They live as those who belong to the One who gave Himself for them. Paul asks the same question Peter poses, the same question Ezekiel pressed upon Israel: “If you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above… for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1–3). God reconciles us that we might walk in holiness—set apart, devoted to Him, obedient from the heart.

So the question confronts you now: In light of God’s sovereign grace, His finished work in Christ, His call to holiness, and His unchanging truth—how then will you live? Will you live as one truly reconciled, walking in obedience and worship? Or will you drift toward the snares God warns His people to tear down? God has acted decisively to redeem and restore. The question is no longer whether He has done enough—the question is whether you will live as the reconciled people He has made you to be.

Closing Prayer

Father in heaven, we bow before You in humble gratitude, acknowledging that every good work in our salvation begins with You. You are the God who redeems, the God who restores, the God who writes Your truth upon the hearts of Your people. We thank You that, like Israel at Sinai, we are not left to ourselves but are brought near by grace, reconciled through Christ, and sustained by Your Spirit.

Lord, as we consider the weight of Your Word today, impress upon us the holy calling that belongs to a redeemed people. Guard us from the subtle snares of this world, from the idolatry that seeks to capture our affections, and from the temptation to compromise with those things You command us to cast down. Shape us into a people who delight in Your truth, who walk in holiness, who worship You with reverence and joy.

Strengthen us to live as witnesses of Your glory, testifying through our conduct, our obedience, and our hearts that You alone are God. Make us faithful in proclaiming Christ, steadfast in resisting sin, and joyful in serving You. May our lives display the wonder of Your grace and the power of Your covenant love. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.