Sermon Tone Analysis

Leader Guide ESV, Unit 5, Session 3

© 2018 LifeWay Christian Resources, Permission granted to reproduce and distribute within the license agreement with purchaser.

Edited by Rev. Lex DeLong, M.A., Feb. 2022.

Summary and Goal

God had delivered His people out of bondage in Egypt.

In this session, we will see another act of God’s grace that was easy for the Israelites to miss and easy for us to miss today as well: the giving of the law.

The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt, following their masters and their masters’ laws.

But now they were free, and the people needed to know how to live as a people to bring God glory and get along with one another.

This was God’s intention with the law, evidenced in the Ten Commandments.

God had a purpose for giving the law, yet mankind is unable to keep the law, not even when there is only a single commandment.

However, that is not the only plan God had for our lives, He provided a solution for our obedience.

Session Outline

1. God’s law reveals His love for His people (Ex.

19:3-6; 20:1-2).

++2.

God’s law reveals how to worship and honor Him (Ex.

20:3-8).

++3.

God’s law reveals how to love one another (Ex.

20:12-17).

The Big Idea:

God gave the law to reveal how we are to live rightly with Him and others.

Christ Connection

But there is another part to this big idea since God knew that we could not live up to the Law.

The law reveals how we are to live properly in relationship with God and others, but because of sin, it is impossible to keep.

Jesus, the sinless Savior, is the only One who has kept the law of God perfectly, and we are credited with His righteousness when we trust in Him.

So, there is a secondary Big Idea for this passage.

Big Idea (pt 2):

God gave the law to reveal how we are to live rightly with Him and others.

However, the law throughout history clearly reveals the futility of all mankind to keep it and points to dependency on the Lawgiver for reconciliation.

Missional Application

Because Jesus has fulfilled the law in our place and offers salvation to us, we are now free to please God and display His redemptive purpose in our relationships with others.

Have you ever seen a “Do Not Touch” sign?

When many of us see a sign like this, we have the same reaction: We want to do the very thing the sign forbids.

We want to reach out and touch this forbidden object!

If the sign were not there, we probably would feel no draw to do so, but when we read the sign, something deep within us stirs and we almost cannot help ourselves.

page 93 in the DDG.

What are some signs or rules that are difficult to follow?

Why?

(be prepared to give answers of your own to jump-start the conversation)

DDG (p.

93)

Why do we struggle with something as simple as a “Do Not Touch” sign?

What does this reveal about us?

It means that our free will is wired to want to do what is forbidden.

It is part of the human condition.

Since the introduction of sin, we are now all geared toward disobedience because we are all sinners.

Our inclination to break rules doesn’t reveal a flaw with the rules, although some may indeed be flawed.

Rather, our inclination to break rules reveals the flaw within each of us because of the sinful nature we inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve.

The Bad News!

· Our inherited sinful nature is the very reason we need the law of God.

The law is a standard set before us that reveals how to live in a way that pleases God.

But at the same time, it reveals our inability to keep the law in our own strength.

That’s the bad news.

The Good News!

When we repent of our sin and trust in Christ, the law goes from being our enemy to being our friend.

The gospel helps us see the law for what it truly is—a constant reminder showing our need for Jesus and a guidebook for how we can please God and live at peace with others.

Let’s take a look at God’s purpose for giving the law and our inability to keep the law, even a single commandment, while we see that God had a different plan—a better plan—for our obedience.

Point 1: God’s law reveals His love for His people (Ex.

19:3-6; 20:1-2).

Read: Exodus 19:3-6; 20:1-2 (DDG p. 94).

3 while Moses went up to God.

The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 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.”

................................................

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.

· It can be difficult for children to see how their parents’ rules are for their good.

Children lack the ability to understand that eating vegetables, going to bed early, and doing homework are all good for them.

Sure, they aren’t nearly as fun as the alternatives, but neither are being sick, tired, and doing poorly in school.

As we entered into adulthood, we begin to understand the bigger picture of our parents’ rules.

We begin to see how their rules were for our good.

· God’s law is the same way.

God gave the law to Israel as a gift of grace.

It was for their own good, whether or not they realized that.

God stepped in to show His people how they were to live.

He gave them the law so they would understand how to operate as His people with one another and so that they would be set apart from the pagan nations around them.

The sacrificial system laid out in Leviticus shows one way that they are set apart, the substitutionary sacrifice.

The other nations had gods who extracted from their worshippers, but God provides a substitute for His people.

Also, God was not a distant god, as the Egyptian gods were.

Instead, God was in relationship with His people.

DDG (p.

94).

As we read through the law of Moses—the Ten Commandments and the other hundreds of commands given in the first few books of the Old Testament—we see how exhaustive it is.

God’s law can be overwhelming.

This is why God was careful to establish the context for His law: His love in action (Ex.

19:4; 20:2).

The law was part of the gracious provision He had been showering upon them.

Interact: Ask your group the following question.

What are some ways that God’s law is for our good?

· The nations around the Israelites had access to God’s general revelation—God revealing Himself to all people through His creation.

Everyone, even the Egyptians behind them, could see God’s fingerprints all around them.

You can know of God from general revelation, but you cannot know Him.

As such, general revelation provides us with enough knowledge to be condemned for rebelling against our Creator (Rom.

1:20) but not enough to save us, to know how we can be in relationship with Him.

Fill in the blanks: DDG (p.

94)

General Revelation: Refers to God revealing Himself through His creation and through the human conscience.

It provides enough knowledge about God for us to be held accountable for suppressing God’s truth in unrighteousness.

Essential Doctrine “General Revelation”: General revelation refers to God revealing Himself through His creation (Ps.

19) and through the human conscience (Rom.

2).

Knowledge about God through general revelation is limited because it only communicates general knowledge about God and His character.

We can look at the vastness and fine-tuning of the universe and recognize that God is all-powerful and wise, or look inward to our innate sense of right and wrong and know there is a moral lawgiver in the universe.

General revelation is not sufficient for understanding how to know God or be saved, but it provides enough knowledge about God for us to be held accountable for suppressing God’s truth in unrighteousness (Rom.

1–2).

· God’s law was an example of special revelation—God revealing Himself directly to people through His Word.

God’s law was given for our good, telling us how to live, but we also need to understand that it tells us more: It tells us about the lawgiver Himself and how we can be in a right relationship with Him.

God chose to reveal Himself in this special way to His people because He loved them (Deut.

7:7-8).

Fill in the blanks 2: DDG (p.

94)

Special Revelation: Refers to God revealing Himself to humanity through historical events, His Word, and through Jesus Christ.

Because God has revealed Himself in this way, we can know Him—through a saving relationship with Him in the person and work of Jesus Christ.