The Book Of The Covenant Series

Sermon Series “Exodus”

Exodus 20:22 – 21:1

“The Book of the Covenant”

Pastor John Bright

Exodus 20:22-21:1

22 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make anything to be with Me-gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves. 24 An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you. 25 And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it. 26 Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.'

21:1 "Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them:

WOW – That Old Testament has sooooo many rules!

Why? Let me ask you a question – ever sign a contract? If I was selling you a house or a car ( or just getting a car rental ) and I handed you a contract, then I say to you “There are several pages of things you have to do. But hey, don’t bother reading all that – it’s OK – just sign on the dotted line.” I slide it over to you with a pen. What would you do?

(Guess none of us have read the whole Microsoft User Agreement when we get that new upgrade)

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Our story in Exodus is going along just fine and then it gets bogged down with all those Old Testament rules – THE LAW! This section is known as The Book of the Covenant. What’s a Covenant?

“Scholars have defined covenant—translated from the Hebrew “berith” and the Greek “diatheke”—in various ways, and the context in which the word is used in Scripture will also inform our understanding of its meaning. At its most basic level, a covenant is an oath-bound relationship between two or more parties. Thus, human covenants (for example, marriage) fall under this general definition. In divine covenants, God sovereignly establishes the relationship with His creatures. There are other nuances, but a divine covenant given after the fall is, fundamentally, one in which God binds Himself by His own oath to keep His promises.”

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-covenant/

In a “Divine Covenant” - God writes the contract. Do we want to know what it means when we sign on the dotted line? YES! In the New Testament, Paul wrote “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Gal. 3:24 We need to understand the boundaries of “this is wrong” and “this is right.”

For Israel, the law was never intended to be a burden – we only feel the weight of a law when it is broken. Let me give you a modern example: you are going down the road in your car (singing, daydreaming, etc.) and then you see a state trooper. Looking down you realize that you are 10 miles over the speed limit. Then the weight of that law hits you as you watch the rearview mirror. The officer never moves and you feel the relief of that weight lifting off of you.

If you understand that weight, you can see the need for God’s Law – for the rules/boundaries.

When we take this view, the Law was a gift from God to be studied and loved - Psalm 119

Within the Book of the Covenant, we see the working out of Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18. These we know well:

Mark 12:29 “Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Deut. 6:4

Mark 12:30 “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.” Deut. 6:5

Mark 12:31 “And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Lev. 19:18

All of the Old Testament Law is instruction on how to Love God and Love Neighbor. We may want to separate the Old Covenant from the New Covenant but Jesus, quoting the Old Testament, brings them together. This Book of Covenant contains some details (just like the New Testament contains details for life in the Church) of how the human side of the covenant will Love God and Love Neighbor.

Loving God

We worship what/who we love – Matt. 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Part of the Book of the Covenant is God telling the people – His people – how to worship: