Exodus – The story of God’s presence
Part 11
“Rules- we don’t need no rules”
Exodus 20:1-20:21
John 3:16-18
John 14:15-22
Matthew 5
Colossians 2
Romans 7
In a scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch – Paul Newman is about to have a fight with Harvey Logan, a big mountain of a man who has decided to take over control of the gang
Harvey is more than ready
But Butch is hesitant
No, no, not yet. Not until me and Harvey get the rules straightened out.
Rules? In a knife fight? No rules!
[Butch immediately kicks Harvey in the groin]
So Butch says
Well, if there ain’t' going to be any rules, let's get the fight started.
As you might have guessed today’s sermon is about rules
Specifically the 10 Commandments and their place in our lives
The
As we continue our study of Exodus this morning
We come to a well known
But
Often misunderstood and misused passage of Scripture
The Ten Commandments
These ten laws from God given to the people on Mount Sinai so long ago
Have cause great amounts of controversy in our country in recent years
Should they be displayed in our court houses or in our schools many have asked?
I believe so
God in just a few short verses of scripture gives us a guideline for dealing with him and a guideline for dealing with each other
The Ten Commandments are good and good for us
And if they are followed they will show us how to be better people
But
Following the Ten Commandments will not save us
In this world today what I just said is often times taken as harsh
It is often disputed
And heated debates sometimes occur
It is my goal this morning to show you through scripture that while the Ten Commandments
Are valuable
And I believe they should be followed
They alone will not provide our Need for Grace
I will say that it is very ironic that many who believe that keeping The Ten Commandments is enough
Do not even know all of them
Just to bring us all onto the same page
Let me read for you from God’s word the Ten Commandments
And then we can look a bit deeper at their importance
Let me give you a bit of back story first
All through the book of Exodus we see God’s presence with his chosen people
God had delivered them
Protected them
Provided for them
Given them water
Rest
Food
And now on Mount Sinai
Speaking directly to the people
He is giving them rules for living a life that would honor him
And allow the people to interact with each other in love
Exodus 20:1-17
20 Then God gave the people all these instructions[a]:
2 “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
3 “You must not have any other god but me.
4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those[b] who love me and obey my commands.
7 “You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.
8 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
12 “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
13 “You must not murder.
14 “You must not commit adultery.
15 “You must not steal.
16 “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.
17 “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”
I would like to note at this time that this list of commands is
Sort of like God’s table of contents
Just the tip of the iceberg on God’s rules
There are actually upwards of 600 commands given in the law
Some say 613
Others 693
It depends on how you count
All through Genesis
All through the rest of the book of Exodus
All through the book of Leviticus
All through the book of Numbers
All through the book of Deuteronomy
The books known as the law
Or the Mosaic Law
We read God’s commands or rules for his people
The Hebrews
The nation of Israel
This is important here
I have been preaching hard on context on Wednesday nights in our study of Matthew
And context here is extremely important as well
Who was the writer writing to?
What was the writer trying to address, teach or correct
In the context of this passage of Scripture
God was teaching the people how to deal with him
They had been living as slaves for over 400 years
And as a result they had began to adopt the pagan practice of having many Gods
The Egyptians as well as many other cultures had many gods
If you remember our study of the plagues
Each plague was directed at a so called Egyptian god
They had began to worship idols
Gods made of wood and stone
Useless lifeless objects
They had cursed God
They had completely missed the concept of taking a day of rest and worship
So the first 4 were God’s instructions as to how to interact with him
One God
No idols
Don’t abuse or misuse my name and take a day to rest and worship me
In the case of the Israelites this day was Saturday, the seventh day
We have and will continue to look at what this means for believers in Jesus
I will say
These are good rules for living then and now
Then God goes on to teach the Israelites how to interact socially with each other
Honor your parents
Don’t murder
Don’t cheat on your spouse
Don’t steal
Don’t lie or testify falsely against anyone
Don’t covet your neighbors stuff
No one can argue that these are good rules to live by
In the Old Testament
When the law was given
Prior to Jesus Christ
These laws served as a barrier between the people and the dangers and hardships that sinning would bring upon them
So God laid out a set of rules
And he expected them to be followed
These 10 rules gave the people instructions on how to deal with him and with each other
The other 600 plus rules
In some cases clarified or enhanced the first ten
In some cases they taught things that were specific for the Israelites and meant for them not the world but still have value in our lives
In God’s law were laws for morality
There were laws for living in society—dealing people in real life situations
There were laws of worship – how to build the tabernacle- who could serve as a priest etc..
There were health laws – what to eat and not to eat how to handle all sorts of things that dealt with their well being
But let’s go back to the big ten
These are good rules for living
These are important concepts for dealing with God
These are crucial ideas about how to get along with others
In fact
God believed in his laws so much that he placed a penalty on breaking them
Breaking these laws required payment of a price
And the price of the rule violation was death
We do not have time this morning to reference all the scripture supporting the price of sin
But I encourage you in your own studies to dig it out and read it for yourself
Each of these laws demanded the same penalty
Blood -----a sacrifice
In the Old Testament
We see in many of the laws the satisfying of that penalty of death with animal sacrifices
Temporary sacrifices that had to be repeated year after year
But we also see regulations on the immediate punishment of those who broke the law
So this brings us back to our time
To the world we live in
It seems that it is the goal of many in the world to see just how many of the big ten they can break
Look at television and the movies
Lying, cheating, stealing, killing, profanity, vulgarity
Sexually pro-mis-cuity and immorality are the common themes of our culture
Degrading of God and all that is holy
Acceptance of idols in the form of stuff and people
Or even self worship
We live in a world that places little value on the 10 commandments
That has little to no fear in the price of sin
Or
Of in the consequences of the blatant disobedience of God
So it should be no surprise that they are under attack
So let me get back to our topic
I have a few questions I would like to consider this morning
Are the 10 commandments still valid today?
And
Should we follow them?
And
Are we bound by them?
The answer is
Yes
Yes
And
No – well yes and no or even maybe- remember this question for later
The answer to the last question depends on your relationship with Jesus
It is my prayer today to show you that we need the 10 commandments
But
We need them to be a map to the cross not a document of judgment
We need them to point us to Jesus
That is their value and purpose for our lives
Let me go forward to the New Testament for a bit
In order for us to understand the significance of the law in our lives we need to see what Jesus says about the law
Let’s look first at Matthew 5:17-19
17 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. 19 So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus in short is saying
Guys these are good laws
We need to follow the rules
He says “I did not come to do away with them”
In fact he wraps them all up in just 2 simple commands in Matthew 22:36-40
36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Jesus says
I came to fulfill them
To complete them
To accomplish their purpose
To fulfill their purpose
So, what is the purpose of the law?
To show us our sins
And convict us of our sins
That is the purpose of the law
To show us our inability to keep the law
And
To point us to Jesus
Let’s look at what the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 7
Romans 7:1-12
1 Now, dear brothers and sisters[a]—you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living
Skip to 4
4 So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead.
Skip to 7
God’s Law Reveals Our Sin
7 Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin.
Skip to verse 12
But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.
Paul says that the law
Is designed to point us to the cross
The law is designed to revel our sin
The law/ God’s law is given to
To show us right from wrong
And the law is given
To cause us to cry out for deliverance
So back to our questions
Are the 10 Commandments still valid today?
Jesus says yes
Paul says yes
My answer has to be yes
The law is still good
No one in their right mind
Notice I said right mind
Would argue that these are great guidelines to live by
So the next question I asked is should we follow them
To answer that question lets first look at what the author said
Please turn over to John chapter 14
Reading verses 15-21
These are Jesus’ words recorded by John
5 “If you love me, obey[d] my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,[e] who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.[f] 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. 20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
If you love me – obey my commands
So once again my answer is yes
We should follow them
Don’t get hung on the Sabbath part- I have preached and will preach more about this subject in the future, just remember that God wants us to stop and rest and worship him---
So we have seen from scripture
From Jesus Christ himself
And from the Apostle Paul
That
The 10 commandments are valid
And
They should be followed
So they next question I asked
And the next we need to answer is are we bound by them
If you remember
You may think I straddled the fence on that question
My old Elk hunting buddy Frank
Loves to say
“I feel very strongly both ways”
I want you to know I am not standing with one foot on grace and one foot on the law
The real answer can only be found but making a determination of your own salvation
I cannot answer the question as to whether YOU are bound by the law or not
I can only answer it for myself, and for me the answer is NO
Each of you will have to answer the last question yourself
I will attempt to help you answer it by asking another question
I believe I addressed this question early on in this sermon
Will keeping the 10 commandments save you?
If you think the answer is yes
Let me try and shed some light on your answer The 10 commandments as we determined are still valid
Jesus says we should be followed
But can we follow them?
The answer to that question is absolutely not
We are incapable of keeping the law
How many here
Believers or not have been guilty of not placing God first in your life?
I’m guilty
How many are guilty of serving other gods
An idol is anything- anything we place ahead of God
Work, money, hobbies..relationships- addictions- etc
Uh Oh
I’m guilty
How many have used God’s name in vain- don’t raise your hands
By the way profanity is not the only way to uses his name in a way that is unpleasing to him
How many have failed to rest and worship one day a week
Guilty – guilty
Ever disrespected your parents
Guilty
So you may say – well I’ve never killed anyone-
Ever been mad at someone- had hatred in your heart
Jesus says
In Matthew 5:22 it is the same thing
You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’[c] 22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone,[d] you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot,[e] you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone,[f] you are in danger of the fires of hell
I’m guilty
So you may say
I’ve never cheated on my wife or husband
What does Jesus Say?
Matthew 5:27
27 “You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’[j] 28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Ladies this applies to you as well
Just change woman to man and her to him
I am guilty as charged
Well you say I have never stolen anything
Really
Stealing means taking something that does not belong to you
Ever slacked a day at work and still took full pay
How about taking a pen from work
How about looking on someone else’s paper at school
My point is it does not have to be a bank hold up or grand theft auto
I know I am guilty
Well you may say---- I never lied
(Silence)
If you just said that
I will leave you to deal with the fact that you just broke number 9 on your own
Ok you may say --but I never coveted
I’m not even going there
Get real this morning
We are incapable of keeping the law
We can’t do it
So now we have a problem
The bible says the penalty for breaking any
Not all
Not some
Not most
Is
Death
That is eternal separation from God
Spiritual death
Not physical death
And now we have a problem
A big problem
We determined that the commands are still good’
We determined that we should follow them
We determined that we are incapable of doing so
So if the penalty of breaking the commands
Even one
Even in the smallest way
Is death
Then our goose is cooked
The answer to the question “are we bound by them” has 3 answers
First let’s look at yes
If we are living apart from God
That is we have not accepted Jesus Christ and the payment he gave for our sins
Then yes we are living under the law and we are bound by the law
More specifically we are bound by the penalty of the law
The wages of sin is death
We are all sinners
We are incapable of keeping the law
And we are incapable of paying the fine for our sin
So without someone to pay the price owed
We are bound by the consequences of breaking the law
And we will suffer full retribution of the law
That my friends is a place called Hell
Eternal death
Separation from God for eternity
------ Pause----------
So let’s look at the answer No
Are we bound by the law?
This depends on the condition of your heart
Does the Holy Spirit live in you?
Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior?
If the answer to both these questions is yes
Then no you are not bound by the penalty of the law
I will first use the most well known
Most well know verse
Then we will look at what Paul says
John 3:16
Actually let’s read through 18
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave[a] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.
Everyone who believes will not perish- that is not die- spiritually
That is they will not suffer the penalty of their sins
Delivered from the penalty of the law
Transformed by Grace
But those who do not believe have already been judged
And they will receive the full penalty of the law
The Apostle Paul says this so well in the book of Colossians
Colossians 2:13-14
13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
In your sins apart from
Jesus
Yes the penalty of the law applies
With Jesus
No because
Your payment has been made
Preacher you may ask
You asked if we are bound by the law
You said
Yes
You said No
And I see yes and I see No
But you also said maybe
I said maybe because you don’t have to stay where you are
If you don’t know Jesus
Then yes you will be judged by the law
And yes you will suffer the penalty of the law
If you do know Jesus you will be delivered
I said maybe because you can change
You can wipe away your past
You can accept his Grace
Back to John 3 again
Paraphrasing
Those who have Jesus will not be condemned
Those who don’t have Jesus are already condemned
Maybe means that you have a choice
Maybe means it is not too late
You can choose Jesus
You can receive grace
You can receive mercy
And it is grace that should make you desire to keep the law
Not because we are good but because Jesus is and we want to please him
You see, you can change the outcome of your life
It is only too late when this life ends
Grace covers the penalty of the law
Grace covers our inability to keep God’s Holy law
And it is the law that points us to grace
Close from the heart
Pray
