Sermon Tone Analysis

Several years ago, a business magazine printed the most commonly broken laws in the United States.

I want to see if y’all know what they are.

So… take a guess… what’s the most commonly broken laws in the US?

Connecting to unsecure WIFI

Singing Happy Birthday in public

Speeding

Driving Without a seatbelt

Underage drinking

Illegal Marijuana use

Urinating outside

Sharing medication

Not getting your dog licensed

Jaywalking

A couple that stood out to me was singing a copyrighted song in public.

Yea… apparently a few years ago, the girls scouts of America had to pay royalties for singing the macarena with the girls.

If you don’t know what the macarena is… I’d sing it for you, but I’d be breaking the law.

True story… happy birthday is actually copyrighted… so don’t sing that in public.

Another interesting one was not getting your dog licensed.

Apparently, in the state of MO, you must get your dog licensed if it’s older than 3 months old… and you have to keep the license up to date… because most expire after a year or so.

Laws are interesting… aren’t they?

Some, we consider very serious… some, we consider very stupid.

I have a friend who randomly posts stupid laws on Facebook.

He recently shared this one… It is against the law to scream at a haunted house in Topeka, KS.

I wonder how many times that law has been broken?

Seriously though… some laws we treat as more suggestions than laws.

If it’s inconvenient for me, then I’m not going to worry about it.

For example… who drove at least 1 mile an hour over the speed limit this week?

Y’all are heathens!

Today, we’re continuing our series in the book of Exodus… and we’ve come to one of the most well-known, yet most misunderstood chapters in the entire Bible.

Exodus chapter 20… the beginning of God’s Law.

So, if you have your Bible, and I hope that you do, turn with me there.

Exodus chapter 20.

In Exodus 20, Moses receives what is commonly referred to as… the 10 Commandments.

But before we dive into the text, we need to understand the context of the 10 Commandments.

There are two pieces of context that we have to have before we can talk about the Commandments.

For the first context, we have to do a quick recap of Exodus so far… because the timeline is so very important.

We find Abraham’s family… Israel, in slavery in Egypt at the beginning of the book.

They cry out to God for deliverance… God hears their cry… and having made a covenant with Abraham, God acts on the covenant.

God calls a man named Moses… gives him a mission… to confront Pharoah, and to lead the people out of slavery and to Mount Sinai, so they can worship God.

Pastor Matthew led us to that point last week… Exodus chapter 19.

Israel is now at Mount Sinai learning what it means to worship God… and it's at this point that God gives the 10 Commandments.

Here is why that flow is important.

Understand… the 10 Commandments are given to a people who have ALREADY been delivered.

God’s law is given to people who have ALREADY been set free.

God’s law is given to Abraham’s family who has ALREADY experienced salvation.

Look at the first two verses of chapter 20…

This is, kind of, the prologue to the 10 Commandments.

Notice… In this prologue, God reminds Israel of who He is… and what He has done.

Notice that the word LORD is in all capital letters… we’ve talked about that a few times throughout this series.

When you see LORD in all caps… it’s God’s covenant name.

It’s the name God revealed to Moses through the bush that wouldn’t burn up.

It’s the name He uses when He’s in covenant with someone.

YAHWEH… The I AM… I WAS present with you… I AM present with you… I WILL ALWAYS BE present with you.

I am in covenant with you… I AM LORD.

But not only does He remind them of who He is… He reminds them of what He’s already done.

I brought you out of Egypt.

I brought you out of slavery.

I have already redeemed you.

I have already set you free.

I have already delivered you.

This is so very important for us.

Because here’s what did NOT happen.

When God appeared to Moses through the bush that wouldn’t burn up, God did not give Moses the 10 Commandments and say… Now… Take these down to those knuckle headed Israelites… And once they prove to me that they can obey them… THEN I will rescue them from slavery.

That’s not the way it happened!

Instead… God, out of His wonderful grace and His love… sets them free… and THEN, the Commandments are given.

A couple years ago, we began reading a question from either the Free Will Baptist Catechism… or the Baptist Catechism.

And I realize that catechisms were quite new to most of you when we started that.

But they have been around for hundreds of years… and for hundreds of years, they have helped the church understand God and Scripture.

One of the most well-known catechisms is called the Heidelberg Catechism and was written in 1563.

One of the beautiful ways the Heidelberg Catechism was written is it’s divided into parts.

The first part is called Misery.

This part teaches the student that we are all born sinners… and no matter who you are, or how good you think you are… we are all in need of salvation… and without it, our sin damns us to an eternal hell.

The second part is called deliverance.

This part teaches the student about who God is and how He sent His one and only son to sacrifice His life on the cross and become a substitute for the penalty we deserve for our sin.

And how if someone repents and puts their faith and trust in what Jesus has done, then no matter what they’ve done in their life, they are redeemed… rescued… they become part of the family of God… no longer destined to spend eternity in hell… but now, they have eternal life through the sacrifice of Jesus.

The third part is called gratitude.

And it focuses on how someone who has been redeemed should now live.

Question… Where do you think the 10 Commandments are in the Heidelberg Catechism?

Misery?

Deliverance?

Or Gratitude?

Do you think it’s under Deliverance?

Do we find deliverance by following the 10 Commandments?

Is that how we’re saved?

No.

The 10 Commandments are not a way to earn salvation.

They are not a way to get God to like you.

You don’t earn God’s favor by obeying the 10 Commandments… The 10 Commandments were given to a people who were already set free… and their purpose was to tell the people how to honor God with the freedom they’ve been given.

They are… Now that you have been set free, here’s how to bring glory and honor to the God who set you free.

That’s the first piece of context we have to have.

The second piece of context comes from Matthew chapter 22. Read this on the screen with me.

What Jesus is doing here is He’s giving us structure… context for understanding the Old Testament and Biblical law.

He’s not saying… as long as you love God and love others, you’re ok.

He’s not saying the God’s law doesn’t matter as long as you love people.

What Jesus is saying is… My Word and My Law teaches how to love God and love others.

So when someone tries to guilt you into to accepting things or lifestyles that are clearly against God by saying… you’re supposed to love… that’s what Christianity is all about.

Yes… it is… but if we don’t love the way Scripture teaches us… then it’s not really love.

Jesus says… this is what the Commandments are about… bringing glory and honor to God by learning how to love Him… and then, with God’s love… love others.

Those two things are very intricately connected.

So now that we have the context, how should we understand the 10 commandments?