Evangelism 101 - Part 6 Series

Last time we shared a message from Hebrews 12 called A Tale of Two Mountains.

We learned through this message that:

* At Mt. Sinai God revealed Himself to His people with thundering and lightening, smoke and fire…At Mt. Zion, God revealed Himself through His love and compassion

* At Mt. Sinai God revealed Himself to the patriarchs through the prophets….At Mt. Zion, God has spoken to us by His Son Jesus

* At Mt. Sinai, God revealed Himself through the Law of Moses….At Mt. Zion, God revealed Himself through grace and truth…through His Son Jesus.

John 1:17 says, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Today we are going to see the purpose of the Law that God gave through Moses. It is also my intent that by the end of this message two things will have been accomplished:

We will have a better grip on how to use the Law of God in our evangelism.

We will have a better appreciation for the grace of God in Jesus Christ

I. God’s Revelation Through the Law

The Law of Moses is commonly known as the Ten Commandments and found in Exodus chapter 20.

I. I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:2-3)

II. Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shall not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:4-6)

III. Thou shall not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain. (Exodus 20:7)

IV. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shall not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:8-11)

V. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God gives thee. (Exodus 20:12)

VI. Thou shall not kill. (Exodus 20:13)

VII. Thou shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)

VIII. Thou shall not steal. (Exodus 20:15)

IX. Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor. (Exodus 20:16)

X. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's. (Exodus 20:17)

Have you ever wondered why God gave the Law to His people? What is the purpose of the Law?

It was through this “Law” that God revealed to His people His ways, His morals, and His character. They would learn from this Law what God says is right, true and honorable and what God says is immoral, wrong and sinful.

Up until this time, they instinctively knew His law—the Bible says in Romans 2 that God’s law was written in the hearts of all people:

Rom 2:14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,

Rom 2:15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)

No one has to tell us that it is wrong to take what doesn’t belong to us—you feel the pain of loss when someone or something is taken from you. No one has to tell us that it is wrong to lie—you feel the injustice when someone lies to you. Your conscience bears witness that it is wrong to take someone’s life in cold, premeditated murder.

The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 3:19, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” However, before Paul writes this, he shows how both Jew and Gentile are all under sin: