Preparation for Obedience

Big Idea

Tension: How does God prepare Israel for the 10 Commandments?

Resolution: By making a familiar covenant with them, providing a mediator, and giving grace to obey.

Exegetical Idea: God prepares Israel for the 10 Commandments by making a familiar covenant, providing a mediator, and giving them grace to obey.

Theological Idea: God gives the law by restraining evil, points us to Christ, and giving grace for our disciples.

Homiletical Idea: God’s law restrains evil, points to Christ, and changes our hearts.

Intro: The Wrong Way To Obey

Alright, well, welcome. It is so great to be here with you, and I am very excited about what our church will do next. Now, we as a church have been walking through the book of Exodus, and where we left Exodus off, God had just provided a leader, Moses, to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. And by Moses’ hand, God brought down 10 plagues on Egypt, and broke Egypt’s resolve. So God brings Israel to the Red Sea, and parts it in two that they might walk through it. And God has brought them to the edge of Mt. Sinai, and so now they are waiting on Mt. Sinai to receive God’s Law. Now, God’s law is basically crystallized around 10 Commandments, and after God gives the 10 Commandments, he gives more laws that are all elaborations and combinations of the 10 Commandments. So when we talk about the 10 Commandments, we’re also going to talk about all the laws that follow the 10 Commandments, and we will spend a little bit of time on some special topics later after Easter. So right here in this passage, Israel is getting ready to receive this lawcode.

Now, I think when most of us hear of God’s “law” this is how we think about it. You see, I have two dogs. One is very easy to shame, like you just look at him wrong and he puts his tail between his legs and he comes and walks up to you. But I have another dog that has no shame. She doesn’t care what you say or shout, doesn’t matter. So here is what happens. I will be in the other room doing something and I will hear this sound. So I will go into our family room, and there I will hear this sound like sandpaper against granite. ANd I will see a previously full tub of butter, licked dry, and she is chewing on the plastic to try to just get the rest of that flavor out. So here is the only way we’ve been able to really train her not to do this kind of thing. We get a spray bottle, and we spray her to keep her from doing that. Of course, that’s not really teaching her not to do it, it’s just teaching her that she’ll get sprayed if she does it. So when we’re not around, and she sees that butter, she’s going to try to get at it.

Now, here is how most of us try to obey hte law. We try to shame ourselves into keeping it. And sometimes when we break it, we spray ourselves with the water bottle. So we look really good on the outside. But when we think nobody is paying attention, we reach up and just grab that butter. Then we just leave ourselves feeling guilty and broken. You see, if you try to use the 10 Commandments like a self-help manual, you will end up broken and guilty and eating a tub of butter. This, of course, is nothing new. This is why Paul says in ...

But, if, as the Psalms teach us, the Law is to be our delight, and it is to be our joy, and if we are going to plant ourselves against it and grow up into a mighty towering tree in due season by the water it supplies, we need to understand how to use it. So, today all I want to do is tell you how God prepares the Israelites to use and understand his law. ANd they are what are called the “three uses of hte law.” And I have found them to be incredibly helpful.

Restrains Evil

At the Mountain

Standard ANE Covenant

What God has done (3)

The condition (4)

The result (5)

Standard ANE Covenant: (Picture of Hammurabi’s code) Israel would have understood that God was promising them peace. God was speaking to them in moral terms that they would have understood, because God’s law appeals to every human being.

God’s law restrains evil because even in unbelieving hearts, there is the residue in the human heart that longs for justice (, ).

We see this in De Tocqueville and Jonathan Haidt.

What if I don’t want to obey the law? You can try living without law for awhile.

Points to Christ

They agree to keep the law (19:8)

God gives standards for holiness (19:9-15)

God comes down in thundersa, and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast (19:16-19). They realize they cannot enter into God’s holiness.

They tremble (19:16) and “take their stand” at the base of the mountain (17) (Deut 5:2-5)

Moses goes up (19:20)

God commands the need for a mediator in Moses (19:21-25).

This was God’s intent all along, to show them their need for a mediator (19:9)

Moses and Aaron were imperfect mediators. We need a better mediator.

,

Christ brings a better law. (

Christ kept the law when we couldn’t, and Christ suffered the punishment that we couldn’t. So we can enter into the holy of holies, by the blood of Christ alone.

Every single one of the 10 Commandments meets its conclusion in Christ.

Does htis mean we don’t ened to obey?

Changes Our Hearts

God has acted graciously towards Israel this whole time (, ; Psalms 1:1-4)

In the Old Covenant, this grace was like a faint echo far away. But in the New covenant, our hearts are changed. (; ; )

If you have put your faith in Christ, not only has Christ brought you into the presence of God, but he has given you a new heart which makes you able to obey. How can you obey? By transforming your mind.

If you let them, these 10 commandments will change and transform your mind. They will make you into the kind of person that GOd wants you to be.

My request: Make an effort to be here over the next 10 weeks.

A warning and a promise: Do not

Conclusion