Ten Promises-Part 0

ACharles Betters

Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

0 ratings

· 6 views

Notes

Transcript

Sermon Tone Analysis

Emotion

Language

Social

View more →

Every 3 Years

I had a professor in seminary who said that every pastor should preach through the Ten Commandments every 3 years. It’s hard to believe it has been 7 years since I preached on the Ten Commandments. So we are over due.

Three Steps-Culture-Drift from NBJ

To Do, Culture, NBJ Drift

You would think that this would be the sermon series where we finally get our TO-DO list…sermons with three points that offer three steps to have your best life now. With Jesus tacked on at the end of course. This is the Ten Commandments. Great chance to step on toes, pastors, especially other people’s toes.

You would think that this would be the sermon series where we really give it to the culture…to those people out there who don’t want the Ten Commandments displayed at government buildings. we could get into Religious liberties and blah blah blah.

But what is really underneath all of that…is you would think that this would be the sermon series where we drift away from Nothing But Jesus. Because NBJ is the issue. These are the Ten Commandments. This is the Law of God in its rawest form. You don’t find Jesus in the C Heston Ten Commandments. Talk about Jesus at the end of the sermon a bit. Certainly Jesus will be nowhere to be found in such a series. We would be wrong.

There is perhaps NO other sermon series I could preach that would lend itself more to a fixation on Nothing But Jesus. Because NBJ, practically speaking, is all about what is happening inside our hearts. And the Ten Commandments according to Jesus is all about what is happening inside our hearts, not what is or isn’t being displayed outside a courtroom or how we are or aren’t acting on the outside. And when you bring Jesus into the Ten Commandments There is perhaps NO other sermon series I could preach where it would be more related to what is going on inside OUR hearts, inside our SOULS than a series on the Ten Commandments. Who are our hearts listening to? What voice?

OT About Jesus

Because the entirety of the Old Testament is all about Jesus. That means that the Ten Commandments are all about Jesus. I don’t think we have any clue just how much the OT is all about Jesus.

-Stranger

In , there are two disciples of Jesus journeying together. Jesus has been crucified on Good Friday, they are confused as they thought Jesus was the Messiah, they are also confused because they have heard that others may have seen Jesus risen but they had not. They are saddened.

And they encounter a stranger and the stranger sees their sadness, asks them why they seem so sad, the disciples bewildered by the question say don’t you know what happened this past weekend. Jesus, who we thought was the Messiah, we followed him, yet he was crucified, and now some are saying they have seen him alive. So this stranger walks with them and it says in that

Leave this verse up....

Luke 24:27 ESV

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

And eventually they are back in the house, they are having dinner with this stranger, the stranger breaks the bread, blesses the food and Luke says at that moment they knew this stranger was Jesus himself, and he vanished, and the disciples said didn’t our hearts burn within us when he was walking us through the OT?

And Luke said Jesus had done that, beginning with Moses and all the prophets.

Moses Story QUICK Summary

Why beginning with Moses? Let’s refresh the story of Moses.

Take down

The Hebrews are in bondage in slavery in Egypt.

Moses is born during the time that Pharaoh had ordered all the Hebrew babies slaughtered because he was afraid that there would be too many Hebrews and he would lose power.

Moses is called by God to lead the people out of bondage.

He leads the people out of Egypt.

They leave Egypt only to come to the waters of the Red Sea now with the Egyptians pursuing them.

They are finally released. They leave Egypt only to come to the waters of the Red Sea now with the Egyptians pursuing them.

God splits the Red Sea, the Israelites walk through the waters on dry ground, the waters swallow up the Egyptian army.

They come out on the other side and wander through the dessert for 40 years. They are now no longer called the Hebrews, but called the Children of Israel.

At some point Moses is taken to a mountain by God and given the 10 commandments. Moses teaches the commandments to the people and divides them into 12 tribes.

How is This About Jesus?

Jesus has been risen from the dead yet not all of his disciples have seen him risen from the dead. Jesus appears to two of his disciples and he appears to them to be a stranger. So the three of them, the two disciples and Jesus disguised as a stranger, walk along the Emmaus Road and Jesus asks them why they are so sad. And the disciples can’t believe this stranger doesn’t know what just happened. So the disciples retell the story of Jesus’ crucifixtion. And the stranger proceeds to take them through a journey of the Old Testament and he shows them how all of it pointed to Jesus. And it wasn’t until they were back at the disciples home, and they only knew it was Jesus when Jesus took the bread and broke it and blessed it, they remembered how Jesus had done that many times before, their eyes were opened, they finally saw that it was Jesus risen, Jesus vanishes from their sight. And the disciples say, didn’t our hearts burn within us when he was taking us on that journey through the OT. Jesus literally says in , it all points to me.

Luke 24:27 ESV

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

The OT is all about me. Can you imagine that conversation? I would have loved to have heard Jesus harmonizing the Old Testament with himself.

I am certain that one of the sections of Scripture that Jesus would have covered would have been this section of scripture. The Law. The Ten Commandments.

So how does that have anything to do with Jesus? Luke said that Jesus started with the story of Moses. Let’s see...

I don’t think we can possibly plumb the depths of how intricately related the OT is to Jesus, I think it is every story, every word, I think that whenever we see the Spirt come upon people in the OT, that is the Holy Spirit of Jesus, I think that every word behind every word in the OT is all about Jesus, so there is no way we can possibly imagine what Jesus must have said to those disciples on that road. How in the world are the Ten Commandments all about Jesus?

Let me take a stab at it and by doing so we will simply set the context of the Ten Commandments and for the next ten weeks we will look at one commandment per week. But for now, just the context given in the first two verses and how it relates to Jesus.

Exodus 20:1–2 ESV

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

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.

How could these first two verses known as the preface of the Ten Commandments possibly be about Jesus? Isn’t that a stretch? Compare the story of Moses with the story of Jesus.

If you have seen the movie the Ten Commandments you probably are familiar with the story.

Matthew Version of the Story

-The Hebrews are enslaved by Pharaoh in Egypt.

-Pharaoh becomes afraid that too many Hebrews are being born, so he sets out to thin out the population by ordering the slaughter of the Hebrew babies.

-Moses is just a baby at the time so his mother, afraid for Moses’ life, puts him in a basket in the Nile River, Moses is discovered by the royal family and raised in their home as a prince.

-Moses eventually is called by God to lead the Hebrews out of slavery.

-When Pharaoh finally lets them go free, he pursues them to the Red Sea, God parts the waters and the children of Israel pass through the waters.

-they are organized into 12 tribes.

-They wander in the dessert for 40 years during which time, even though God provides for their needs, and even provides food from Heaven for their comfort, they are tempted again and again to sin and again and again they succumb to sin.

-Sometime during their time in the dessert, Moses goes up to Mt. Sinai, God gives him the Law and Moses teaches it to the people with his sermons recorded in the book of Deuteronomy.

Fast forward to the book of Matthew.

Matthew Version of the Story

-The book of Matthew was written to the Jews to show them that Jesus was the Messiah. The central figure in the story of Matthew is Jesus, the central figure in the OT story is Moses.

-Jews are under the rule of the Romans, enslaved just as the Hebrews were

-a baby is born under dire circumstances just like Moses was

-King Herod, in the book of Matthew, hears that a king has been born is afraid to lose power so he orders the slaughter of all the babies under two similar to what Pharaoh did.

-Mary and Joseph flee to Egypt where they are stuck, just as the Hebrews were stuck in Egypt.

-Just as Moses became a man and is called by God to lead his people, Jesus becomes a man and says he has come to set his people free.

-Just as Moses led the people through the waters of the Red Sea, Jesus goes through the waters of Baptism.

-Just as the children of Israel were in the dessert for 40 years, Jesus is in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights.

-Just as Moses divided the children of Israel into 12 tribes, Jesus selects 12 disciples.

-Moses goes up to the Mountain to receive the Law and returns to teach the people, which is essentially the sermons of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy, Jesus also goes up to the mountain and his first sermon in Matthew is the Sermon on the Mount which is essentially an exposition of the Ten Commandments.

In other words, is a reenactment of the deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt, their wanderings and receiving of the Ten Commandments.

Why NBJ Context is Important

This is important not only because it should increase our faith to see the obvious parallels between the two stories, but also because it will help us explore the Ten Commandments as being about Nothing But Jesus. The only way to understand the Ten Commandments is to see them through Jesus. To hear the voice of Jesus.

There is a billboard on I95 that says, “Real Christians obey the teachings of Jesus”.

In the preface, God is saying, because I have shown my strength, my faithfulness, my power, my sovereignty, and my mercy and grace to you again and again, listen to me.

As Moses was leading the people out of Egypt and now on their treacherous wanderings through the dessert to get to the Promised Land, there would be lots of people wanting their voice to be heard. There would be lots of opinions amongst the people as they wandered in the dessert for the next 40 years.

God says in the preface, listen to me. God says, I am the narrator. I am the one who gets to tell the story. I am the one who gets to narrate the world. I am the one who sets the terms. Listen to me.

God the Father Speaking in OT (Job)

God would speak a lot in the Old Testament. It is generally accepted that when we see God speaking in the OT, we are hearing the voice of the Father who is in Heaven. The first person of the Trinity.

The Father’s voice thunders from Heaven in the OT. It thunders here with the Ten Commandments. There are sections of the OT where God the Father speaks for chapters at a time. There is an amazing moment in the book of Job. Job was the ancient sufferer. He lost everything and everyone except his nagging wife. And for the first thirty some chapters we hear about Job’s suffering and we hear his friends try to comfort Job. Job remains righteous. And when God speaks, you would think he would comfort Job…but instead he says over and over again, brace yourself like a man, Job and then he thunders from heaven about his own greatness and his own power especially in creation. And this goes on for chapters. God the Father had a LOT to say in the OT.

God the Father Speaking in the NT

But in the New Testament, God the Father is mostly silent. Isn’t that interesting? There are only a couple times that the Father speaks from heaven in the NT. When Jesus prayed to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, if it be your will let this cup pass from me, but not my will but thy will be done, we don’t hear ANY answer from the Father in Heaven. When Jesus is on the cross Jesus asks the Father why he is being silent when he says My God My God why have you forsaken me? The Father doesn’t have much to say in the NT.

One time the Father spoke was at Jesus’ baptism, when the Father said, this is my son, in him I am well pleased.

The Father Speaking at the Transfiguration

One other time, God the Father speaks from Heaven.

Again, they are on a mountain. Jesus is with his inner circle of disciples. Elijah and Moses appear to Jesus. So it’s the three of them. Moses, represents the Law, Elijah represents the prophets and Jesus. Jesus is transfigured, or glorified, his face shines, his inward purity, his inward glory shows on the outside of his body, right in front of them. And the Father speaks from Heaven.

This is my son, listen to him.

Period. Silence.

The Father had the Law there in Moses and the prophets there in Elijah.

The Father’s voice had thundered to them many times in the OT. Wouldn’t he have more to say to them now,

Matthew 17:5 ESV

He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

This is my son, listen to him. Period.

Later on, when a voice came from heaven, when Paul was on his way to hunt down and kill Christians, he was on the road to Damascus and blinded by a light, and a voice comes from Heaven, but whose voice is it?

Show this

Show this verse (I probably won’t quote it)

Acts 9:3–5 ESV

Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

This would be an excellent time to bring in a vague God voice from Heaven. But the voice from Heaven is Jesus’ himself. I am Jesus, whom you persecute. Jesus’ voice through revelation.

This is my son, listen to him. That’s it. Three words. Listen to him. Listen to Jesus. That guy. He doesn’t expand on the Ten Commandments. He doesn’t give Elijah some long prophecy. He says listen to my son. Listen to Jesus.

Take down : 3-5

Today, there are so many voices vying for your attention.

Even within Christianity, there are so many voices wanting to be heard.

There are so many ideas about God.

Listen to Jesus. Not to a Vague God. Not to Moses. Not to Elijah. Not to the moralists. Not to the ones who are concerned about those people out there. Listen to Jesus.

Listen to Jesus: Sermon on the Mount

It’s the same today. Listen to Jesus as we explore the Ten Commandments. God said in the preface, listen to me.

He is the one who gets to narrate the world. He is the one who is the backdrop of your life.

How?

Like I said, just as Moses received the Ten commandments on a mountain from God and then descends to teach the people. Jesus goes up to a mountain and begins to teach…he is the new law giver….

There is a billboard on I95 that says, “Real Christians obey the teachings of Jesus”.

Take that everyone. Sign me up.

Sign me up.

The problem with Christianity isn’t cheap grace, it’s cheap law. It’s thinking that you can follow the law.

Listen to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Let’s see…

Real Meaning: Do Not Murder

Jesus takes them and takes us to the 6th commandment. An easy one. Do not murder. I saw an atheist destroying the Ten Commandments and when he got to this one he said duh. Because he doesn’t understand the NBJ deeper meaning.

…this should be an easy one for us because most of us haven’t killed anyone…so let’s Listen to Jesus with an easy one first…

Put this verse up while I talk about it—I won’t quote it.

Matthew 5:21–22 ESV

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder,[a]and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister[b][c] will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’[d] is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

If you are Angry

You have heard it say don’t murder…that’s the 6th commandment, do not murder. You think you have kept that commandment because you haven’t physically murdered anyone. This is the one commandment all of us get—we follow this one well. Jesus said, but I tell you, if you are angry with your brother you have broken the commandment. That changes things. And then he continues for the rest of chapter 5 preaching on what he means when he says that do not murder is also about your attitudes and the way you interact with others.

Take down, , put up .

Matthew 5:23–24 ESV

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

If Someone has Conflict with You

It’s all related. The one they thought they were keeping. Jesus said not only said if you have a conflict with your brother, go to him and work it out. That’s hard enough, but understandable even from a secular perspective. But in verses 23-24, Jesus said don’t even worship, stop worshiping, and go fix it, if you remember that someone has something against YOU. Not that you have a conflict with them—but go fix it if they have a conflict with you.

Go with Them Two, Give them your Cloak, Love those Not Nice,

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, judge not lest you be judged, we love to work around that one.

Jesus said if you are ordered to carry the stuff of a Roman one mile, carry it two miles.

Jesus said not only to pray for those who are nice to you, but those who are mean to you and don’t like you. Which in this day and age, in a culture of bitterness like we have never seen before, that isn’t easy to do. That’s hard—but it does dictate your life and holds you in bondage.

Holding it In

So as it turns out, all of us have broken the 6th commandment. You say, well I am pretty good with holding it in, with my words, I don’t have conflicts with people nor they with me because I just don’t tell them. That’s good. But it isn’t obedience.

Not about Externals

Listen to Jesus. Jesus says it’s more about your heart than your outward words. It’s more about what is inside of you then the things you do. Obedience is not just not saying the wrong words, not saying angry words, but not even thinking angry words, and saying words for the right reason, with the right motive.

When did we ever get the idea that if we are outwardly obedient, yet our hearts are hard, that somehow that is pleasing to God? I am the Lord your God I have brought you out of the house of bondage.

Kitchen Leaks and Hard Hearts

My wife Melanie is leading a trip to Kenya Africa, the team got there yesterday and leading up to the trip, we had three young women stay at our house, two of them live in Wyoming, one of them goes to UD and has become involved here at the church. The other is my cousin. So three girls plus our two, plus Melanie ….it’s like 8 people in the house. And so they were staying over on Wednesday and Thursday with the flight on Friday morning at like 4:30am. Or something obscene like that.

So we got our house ready. Trying to be hospitable. And so the girls arrive and Wednesday night is great. House looks good. We are being great hosts. Such a godly fun pastor’s family. Everyone goes to bed. The next morning, Melanie wakes up early…she wakes me up and says we have a problem. What? Water is coming in through the kitchen ceiling. What do you mean? It’s all over the floor and it’s dripping all over the place in multiple places. So I calmly get dressed. See the girls, hey so nice to see you. Go downstairs. And sure enough the ceiling was leaking in like four places…water is everywhere.

Now, we had just had a water issue in some of the same exact spots in the ceiling. And we had it fixed. Big holes in our ceiling. And they had to paint the entire ceiling and the family room ceiling because it was attached to the kitchen ceiling. The paint was barely dry from that job. Exaggerated.

So the girls want to get showers. And use the bathroom. We had like 18 people in the house. What was I going to do? So I start sawing out the ceiling and Melanie is like can we call someone? And that immediately is an attack on my manhood. And so I held it in. And then I needed the girls help in moving a sectional couch that was getting ruined…and they weren’t being quite as helpful as I would have liked. Or cheerful. So the whole time, we have 28 people in the house, watching us, watching me, this NBJ pastor, to see how I would react…and I did ok. Outwardly. But inwardly, I was angry. I was annoyed. I was being arrogant. My daughters and Melanie started laughing. Our company told us later that they were upstairs listening and they thought they heard laughing but they didn’t know if it was real. And then they said the only thing they heard was me say, “it’s not funny”.

I held it in…I didn’t lose it. But I thought bad things. I wanted to say really bad things to my unhelpful family. But I didn’t. Why? Because of reputation. Because of the guests in our house upstairs. What would they think of us?

When Jesus unpacks the Ten Commandments in the Sermon on the Mount he says that the standard of obedience isn’t to try hard, it isn’t to do your best and give God the rest, that the only righteousness that God will accept is perfect righteousness. After piling it on in chapter 5, he says:

You think you aren’t committing adultery because you haven’t committed the physical act. I tell you if you have lusted after another you are an adulterer. Listen to Jesus.

You think you are important because you make oaths and promises, I tell you that you should be so trustworthy that all you need to say is yes or no.

You have heard it said love your neighbor and hate your enemy, I tell you that it is easy to love those who like you, you need to love those who don’t like you.

You think you only have to be kind and hospitable to people who are like you, I tell you greet everyone. Greet the people unlike you.

You think that the Pharisses are the standard of righteousness. You think that if you can just obey the way they do and be spiritual the way they are, that you will be keeping the commandments, I tell you unless your righteousness exceeds their righteousness you will have no part in my kingdom. In other words, unless you have a totally different kind of righteousness than them, forget it. Listen to Jesus.

And if any man is left standing by the end of chapter 5, after Jesus has exploited the 6th commandmnet, the one everyone thought they were keeping, which is just the first third of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says in the last verse of that chapter…

He says in verse 48:

Matthew 5:48 ESV

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Jesus says that it isn’t really about following the externals of the Ten Commandments. If God was interested in external obedience, he would have sent the Pharisees. The Pharisees were great at external adherence to the Law. But their hearts were hard. Jesus is concerned about the heart. The depths of our hearts.

Listen to Jesus…

Who can stand?

Moses and the Requirement of Perfection

Moses understood the exacting demands of the Law of God.

Moses couldn’t go in to the Promised Land because of his sin. What was this great sin?

Water from Rock Sin

Moses is leading these grumbling complaining unthankful Israelites. They complained about Moses all the time. While they are in the dessert, they are dying from thirst. God had provided for these knuckleheads before by raining down mana from Heaven. Instead of asking God for water, they started complaining about Moses and Aaron again. They said why did you bring us out of Egypt into this miserable place where nothing will grow and there isn’t even water to drink?

So God told Moses and Aaron to speak to a rock, talk to a rock, ask a rock to give them water and that God would miraculously provide. So Moses and Aaron were so angry at the people that they hit the rock with their staff, water comes out and they made it appear that THEY by their own power were providing water. They said you rebels must WE bring water for you out of this rock?

ANSWER: Since before the Exodus, the Israelites had a tendency to whine and complain about a whole host of things, including their leaders. Sometime after leaving Egyptian slavery they had a dire need for water. Instead of asking and having faith in God, they turned to complaining against their human leaders who were Moses and Aaron. They whined about being brought out to the wilderness so that, they assumed, both they and all they possessed would be no more.

So now, the people are in the dessert and Moses and Aaron were so angry at the people that they made it appear that THEY by their own power were providing water. They said you rebels must WE bring water for you out of this rock. So

5 Why did you bring us out of Egypt into this miserable place where nothing will grow? . . . There is not even any water to drink! ()

They pretty much did what God had commanded. In the past, God had actually TOLD them to hit the rock to get water. But this time he said SPEAK to the rock to get water. This time they were so ANGRY with the people that they made it appear as if they did it by their own power. God told Moses to speak to the rock for water, Moses hit the rock for water.

That is why Moses was kept out of the Promised Land?

says that Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth. Moses had endured so much. But hitting the rock instead of speaking to the rock keeps him out of the Promised Land.

Nothing Short of Perfection

Why? Because nothing short of perfection and total obedience is acceptable to God. Jesus didn’t change the standards of the Law in the Sermon on the Mount, he said be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. You begin to feel like the Apostle Paul in —what a wretched man I am who will save me?

Preface: Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

The Father Speaking at the Transfiguration

God the Father speaks a lot in the OT, but God the Father doesn’t speak much in the NT. But he did a couple of times and essentially said the same thing. —this is my son in whom I am well pleased at Jesus’ baptism.

Again later, they are on a mountain. Jesus is with his inner circle of disciples. Elijah and Moses appear to Jesus. So it’s the three of them. Moses, represents the Law, Elijah represents the prophets and Jesus. Jesus is transfigured, or glorified, his face shines, his inward purity, his inward glory shows on the outside of his body, right in front of them. And the Father speaks from Heaven.

Matthew 17:5 ESV

He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

This is my son, listen to him. Period.

Today, there are so many voices vying for your attention.

Even within Christianity, there are so many voices wanting to be heard.

There are so many ideas about God.

Listen to Jesus. Not to a Vague God. Not to Moses. Not to Elijah. Not to the moralists. Not to the ones who are concerned about those people out there. Listen to Jesus.

In the preface, God’s voice thunders from Heaven and he proceeds to make demands of the people. He jumps right in. Listen to the preface of Jesus’ exposition of the Ten Commandments.

just as there was a preface to the Ten Commandments, there is a preface to the Sermon on the Mount….

Matthew 5:1–3 ESV

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:1–2 ESV

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

So the very first words that come from the new Law giver’s mouth are blessed are the poor in spirit. Do you know what poor in spirit means?

Blessed are those who know their spiritual brokenness.

Blessed are those who hear these requirements and know they break them daily in word, thought, deed, action, motive.

Blessed are those who know they are the chief of sinners.

Blessed are those who know their need for Jesus.

Listen to Jesus crescendo.

Ten Promises-Child of God

I have named this series not the Ten Commandments, but the Ten Promises. Why?

Why do you say show me the Father.

Jesus said in , before he launched into the specifics that he didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law, to perfectly obey it. He said that unless our righteousness exceeds the Pharisees we can have no part in the Kingdom of Heaven. How is that possible when the Pharisees were known for scrupulously following all Ten Commandments? Because when we are in Jesus’ righteousness, not our own, Jesus promises that he will write the Law deep into the recesses of our hearts.

Make the word of God congruent with the Word made flesh.

God said in the preface, I am the Lord your God, I have delivered you out of bondage, out of slavery. When the Israelites were delivered out of bondage, out of slavery, their name was changed from the Hebrews, to what? To the children of Israel. No longer orphans. No longer fatherless. No longer slaves. But children of the most high God.

With Jesus, each of the commandments become a promise…a promise that is written deep on our hearts. That we are no longer slaves inside. And it isn’t about trying hard, or keeping rules. It is about resting in Christ. Abiding in Christ. "Come unto me, all ye that are weak and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, I am poor in spirit: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Difference between Jesus and Moses

Jesus promises to take these ten commandments written on cold hard stone tablets and to inscribe them deep into our hearts…consider the love God has poured down on us that we, commandment breakers could be no longer slaves but a child of God.

-Moses was given the word of God, Jesus was the Word made flesh.

-Moses and the people wandered in the dessert and were tempted and succumbed every time, Jesus was tempted in the desssert without food from heaven and won.

-Moses had all 600,000 children of Israel at his disposal and divided them into 12 tribes. These seasoned battle hardened people, Jesus gets 12 disciples who were knuckleheads.

-the end of the road for Moses was the peak into the Promised Land and then he died, and then he waas known as the most humble man on earth, a hero to the Jews, the end of the road for Jesus was a cross, and he was depsied and rejected by his people.

God the Father Speaking in the NT

In the preface, God is saying, because I have shown my strength, my faithfulness, my power, my sovereignty, and my mercy and grace to you again and again, listen to me.

God says in the preface, listen to me. God says, I am the narrator. I am the one who gets to tell the story. I am the one who gets to narrate the world. I am the one who sets the terms. Listen to me.

God the Father Speaking in OT (Job)

God would speak a lot in the Old Testament. It is generally accepted that when we see God speaking in the OT, we are hearing the voice of the Father who is in Heaven. The first person of the Trinity.

God the Father Speaking in the NT

One time the Father spoke was at Jesus’ baptism, when the Father said, this is my son, in him I am well pleased.

The Father Speaking at the Transfiguration

speaks from Heaven.

Matthew 17:5 ESV

He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

This is my son, listen to him. Period.

Today, there are so many voices vying for your attention.

Acts 9:3–5 ESV

This would be an excellent time to bring in a vague God voice from Heaven. But the voice from Heaven is Jesus’ himself. I am Jesus, whom you persecute. Jesus’ voice through revelation.

Take down

Today, there are so many voices vying for your attention.

Even within Christianity, there are so many voices wanting to be heard.

There are so many ideas about God.

Listen to Jesus. Not to a Vague God. Not to Moses. Not to Elijah. Not to the moralists. Not to the ones who are concerned about those people out there. Listen to Jesus.

Listen to Jesus: Sermon on the Mount

It’s the same today. Listen to Jesus as we explore the Ten Commandments. God said in the preface, listen to me.

He is the one who gets to narrate the world. He is the one who is the backdrop of your life.

How?

Like I said, just as Moses received the Ten commandments on a mountain from God and then descends to teach the people. Jesus goes up to a mountain and begins to teach…he is the new law giver…. Jesus himself would be Moses’ great reward. Notice who is standing there on the Mountain once again with God…Moses is. We have Moses there representing the Law. We have Elijah there representing the Prophets. And what will the father say from Heaven this time? This is my son Moses, listen to him.

Blessed are those who know that the most important part of the Ten Commandments is the preface when God says you were once slaves and now you are free. That you were once an orphan and now you are a child of God. Moses, you were once fatherless, and now you have a father.

I have named this series The Ten Promises instead of the Ten Commandments. Why? You will have to come back next week to find out as we take one commandment at a time over the next ten weeks.

Related Media

Related Sermons

Ten Promises-Part 0

​