In this lesson, we look at God’s giving of the Ten Commandments to Israel. We examine the circumstances in which Israel received the Ten Commandments, the relationship of the Ten Commandments to the rest of God’s commands, and the reasons God gave people His laws.
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last week we looked at the Exodus God kept his promises promises Abraham to multiply Israel to have Israel suffer enslavement in Egypt to judge Israel’s oppressors to bring Israel out of the land of their enslavement and to bring them out with many possessions God accomplished all of this he accomplished the exodus of Israel from Egypt but God use the Egyptians to glorify Him in one further act what was that act yes these that’s right the deliverance at the Red Sea where God not only brought the Israelites through the waters but he caused the waters to come back on the Egyptians and destroyed them here was another fantastic deliverance of God to be remembered for generations and Israelites are reacted appropriately as we talked about last week with fear and belief in God fear of God belief in God and we should react in the same way with that holy fear that reverence of God and belief in God because God showed Israel God showed the Egyptians and he showed us that I am is I am into that phrase i am the lord but literally I am Who I am but apart from God’s amazing provisions and deliverance something else stood out last week in our discussion of the exodus despite God’s displayed power what did Israel display they just demonstrated fear anxiety and complained they continually charged Moses and by extension God they charged Moses with wrong for bringing them out of egypt and into hopeless looking situations in the wilderness they questioning God’s love God’s power and God’s wisdom along with God’s choice of Moses as a leader now how did God respond to these first complaints of the Israelites he just graciously provided whatever it is they were complaining about you would think that God would have chasing them discipline them destroyed them but he doesn’t he just graciously provides them with what they cried to him about now later on God’s responses would be more severe but we’re see but we’re seeing we saw God is a God who is slow to anger he’s being gracious and patient with the Israelites saying you should have learned this by now but I will teach you again later on though his patients would give way to his holy anger and justice but these are yet the early stages of visuals journey so God is going to teach them again the Lord will always provide it will be in his good way and his good timing but he will provide do not fear don’t be anxious and don’t complain questions about last week’s material all right well God called out of people to be his own possession but now God is going to give them his law his rules for how they must act as a people starting with the Ten Commandments before I forget we’re getting ready to order our curriculum for the next quarter our materials for the next quarter and if you would like a workbook I want the free workbooks to go along with the class please email me or sign up on the sheet that I place in the back table you can even get up right now to go put your name and that sign up sheet that won’t be offended but if you want a free workbook go ahead and put your name in that sign up sheet so we can order you one and guess you won but anyways here’s our outline for today’s lesson we’re going to look at the circumstances in which Israel receive the Ten Commandments we’ll examine the Ten Commandments themselves and then we’ll talk about the purpose of the Ten Commandments and really all of God’s laws all of God’s commands let’s pray now father you are holy you dwell in an approachable light thank you that you have called us out to be people to yourself but it’s only because you provide it away Lotus’s we’re going to see in the lesson today it’s only based on your mercy that we can be your people because though your covenant is good though your laws are all good there’s no way that we could there’s no way that we could keep them so we thank you Lord for providing a way that we can be with you even though you were the Holy great exalted God we can be your people or give me ability to explain out and open the hearts of the people who are listening to understand believe and to apply your word and Jesus name Amen please open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 19 I’m going to start by examining the circumstances in which Israel receive the Ten Commandments now we’re actually going to overview a big section of scripture here but it’s important that we do this because sometimes depending on the movies we’ve seen or paintings or cartoons we’ve watched portraying the events of the Exodus and the Ten Commandments the receiving a 10 commandments we might actually have the wrong idea in our minds of what happened or at least the wrong sequence of events in our minds for what happened so let’s recenter ourselves by over viewing the events around the receiving of the Ten Commandments we’re actually going to be looking at chapters Exodus chapters 19 to 34 and Exodus it’s a lot I’m going to be summarizing some sections but also reading certain sections of scriptures so that we get a good idea of what happened we’re starting in the beginning of chapter 19 Exodus 19 we’ll ask a few questions at the end of this but Exodus 19 verses 1 to 60 I should also say before we look at this first step remember the people of Israel left Egypt after midnight on the fourteenth day of the first month at Passover that that would be the commemoration of Passover the 14th day of the first month was one Israel departed from Egypt admin at midnight now look a Texas 19 verse one in the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai when they set out from ref freedom they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness and their Israel camped in front of the mountain Moses went up to God and the Lord called to him from the mountain saying thus you shall say to this house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians now I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself now then if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant then you shall be my own possession among all the peoples for all the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation these are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel after this Moses comes back from the mountain reports God’s words to the elders of Israel they agree to keep the Covenant of the Lord and then Moses returns again to the mountain would their affirmation and tells the Lord God then warns Moses that no person or creature is to touch the mountain Mount Sinai if they do that person or creature must be stoned God also tells Moses to consecrate the people for three days and preparation of them hearing God Himself speak now look at Exodus 19 verses 16 to 20 so we make our way through these these events verse 16 so it came about on the third day when it was morning that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound so that all the people who were in the camp trembled and Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God and they stood at the foot of the mountain now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire and its smoke ascended like a smoke of a furnace the whole mountain quaked violently when the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder the Lord came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain and the Lord called maza Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up in their manor of chapter 19 God sends Moses back down the mountain to warn the people one more time about approaching the mountain chapter 20 begins with God speaking to the people from the mountain and telling them his ten commandments we’ll skip that section for now but let’s look at the end of that how the people reacted verse 18 of chapter 20 down to verse 21 now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it open I’m sorry that’s 19 and in chapter 20 verse 18 all the people perceive the Thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking and when the people saw it they trembled and stood at a distance then they said to Moses speak to us yourself and we will listen but let not God speak to us or we will die Moses said to the people do not be afraid for God has come in order to test you and in order that the fear of him may remain with you so that you may not sin so the people stood at a distance while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was after this Moses again returns to the mountain then chapters 21 22 and 23 God gives Moses various laws for Israel and affirms his promise to give them the land of Canaan if they will be faithful to God’s covenant now look at Exodus chapter 24 Exodus chapter 24 verses 3 to 8 verse 3 chapter 24 then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances and all the people answered with one voice and said all the words which the Lord has spoken we will do Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord then he arose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel he sent young men of the sons of Israel and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar then he took the book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people and they said all that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will be obedient so Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said Behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words after this Moses Aaron Nate a bana by who or Aaron’s sons and 70 elders they travel part way up the mountain where they see God in a limited revelation and they eat a covenant meal in his presence then God calls Moses back to the mountain and tells Moses that God will give Moses tablets of stone with God’s commandments on them thus Moses begins his first 40-day stay on the mountain stays there straight 40 days 40 nights during this first day Moses receives all God’s instructions for building the tabernacle these instructions are encoded in recorded in chapters 25 to 31 we’ll look at those more closely when we discuss the tabernacle next time in Sunday school next next class but if you go to chapter 31 verse 18 will see the conclusion Moses is with the Lord these 40 days getting all these instructions about building the tabernacle now look at chapter 31 verse 18 chapter 31 verse 18 when he that’s God had finished speaking with him that’s Moses upon Mount Sinai it gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony tablets of stone written by the finger of God now while Moses is on the mountain during these first 40 days something goes horribly wrong back in the camp of Israel anyone know what happens next they build a golden calf I remember not too long ago they just affirmed although the Lord has commanded we will do you suppose to sprinkle the blood on them but now X is 32 vs 126 let’s read that now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain the people ascend assembled about Aaron and said to him come make us a God who will go before us as for this Moses the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt we do not know what has become of him Aaron said to them tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives your sons and your daughters and bring them to me and all the people tore off the gold ring is during their ears and brought them to Erin it took this from their hand and he fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf and they said this is your God o Israel who brought you up from the land of Egypt now when Aaron saw this he built an altar before it and Aaron made a proclamation and said tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord so the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings and people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play meanwhile on the mountain God tells Moses what the people of Israel have done and he tells Moses to go down to the people threatening to destroy all of Israel Moses whoever intercedes on behalf of Israel and God relents of his plan to kill all the Israelites as Moses comes near the camp he sees the wickedness of Israel and he breaks God’s tablets in anger by throwing them to the ground he grinds the golden calf into powder he mixes it with water and then makes Israel drink it Moses then confronts Aaron and then a nexus 32 25 to 26 we read this verse 25 chapter twenty or thirty two now when Moses saw that the people were out of control for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a division among your enemies then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said whoever is for the Lord come to me and all the sons of Levi gathered together to him just as an aside the phrase out of control translate a little uniquely depending on the version of the Bible you have the ESV translates it as broken loose the NIV says running wild and the King James Version says naked people of Israel are naked now Moses orders that the Israelites who persist in idolatry you persist in their idolatrous revelry ought to be put to death and the Levites carry out his order they take their swords and they kill 3,000 men of Israel order is restored and Moses then seeks again to intercede for Israel by meeting with God in a special tent the tent of meeting and then God calls Moses back to the mountain from Moses second day stay of 40 days at the end of chapter 34 Moses returns from the mountain with two new stone tablets written on by God right so there’s our summary of events just a couple questions for us to note based on those things how much time had passed between the exodus and the receiving of the law I hear murmurs how much time well it was in the third month and they had left on the fourteenth day of the first month so about one and a half months or one and a half to two months this date the reception of the law is traditionally placed 50 days after the leaving of Egypt by the Israelites this then makes the date of receiving the law 50 days after Passover which is the same date as the Israelites feast of weeks later known in the New Testament as Pentecost so about 50 days later now where did all these events take place and the wilderness but we’re now in a particular region we’re in Sinai the region of Sinai and these events take place that Mount Sinai this mountain is also called Mount Horeb in the scriptures and it appears to be one of the mountains of the Sinai Peninsula so that’s that area of land between Africa and the Middle East just the northeast tip of Africa now the exact location and identity of Mount Sinai is unclear and there are a number of mountains that have been suggested as the biblical mount sinai and there are reasons to see them as good candidates but we’re not exactly sure there are number of mountains in the sinai region now when the Israelites were worshipping the golden calf as as their God that delivered them from Egypt why should they have known it was wrong to worship that Idol based on the sequence of events we just looked at what’s that better yeah they had already heard the Ten Commandments from God no other gods before me and don’t make an image of anything you see on the earth or in the sky or under the earth they heard those Commandments they heard from Moses again later God’s commandments a little bit more expanded and they said we will obey these things so they couldn’t claim ignorance at all moreover God had already judged the idols of Egypt as part of his plagues and their theological heritage never use idols to portray I am so they should have known well now that we’ve seen the the sequence of events surrounding the reception of the Ten Commandments let’s look at the commandments themselves turn back the exes chapter 20 this will look at a little bit more detail Exodus chapter 20 verses 1 to 17 well look at each command and make observations vs 1 2 3 then God spoke all these words saying remember he’s talking all of Israel at this point I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery you shall have no other gods before me this is the first commandment to love and serve God only no other gods no one equal to God no one greater than God and notice here that even before God gives the commands he reminds Israel about who he is I am Who I am your God the God who powerfully delivered you from Egypt and now I’m commanding you these things that’s their first command versus 426 we’ll look at the next you shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth shall not worship them or serve them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the father’s on the children on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate me by showing loving kindness the thousands to those who love me and keep my Commandments so the second commandment is not to make or worship any Idol not any Idol of the true God don’t try and fashion an image of Yahweh because his image cannot be captured or his glory cannot be captured by any image and definitely don’t make an idol of a false deity God specifically ones I’m not to create images based on what they see in heaven on earth or in the waters under the earth and God gives a reason for this command what’s the reason he is a jealous God I heard one of you say it it’s his own character I the LORD am a jealous God who will repay wickedness with judgment and obedience with kindness this is an interpretive side note you see that the end we talks about judging to the third and fourth generation God is not saying here that God punishes children’s for the sins of their parents God expressly denies doing that and other sections of Scripture so as children are not to suffer for the sins of their parents but sinful behavior has a tendency to get passed down from generation to generation children do learn from the sins of their parents they often imitate them so God’s promise here is to judge all wickedness no matter how far in generations it goes to he will judge it from its start and he will judge it to its finish but he will reward those who are obedient so that’s the second commandment now look at the third verse 7 you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain the third command is not to dishonor God’s name so specifically not to take an in vain to take God’s name in vain is to use God’s name uselessly or deceitfully that’s what the term in vain means it can refer to being useless or deceitful now how might someone use god’s name in vain either back then or today now they can use it as an oath as an expression of anger as a curse how else yeah Rob right using it casually using it nonchalantly using it as a joke also use deceitfully I don’t hear people saying this too much anymore but I remember growing up people always say I swear to god that this is true but you know they’re just a lot of times they’re not telling the truth so they are treating God’s name lightly as they swore by his name so yeah there there are lots of different ways that people can take God’s name in vain and isn’t it sad when we talk about reverence and gone reverencing his name isn’t it sad that so many of the curse words of our society and even societies other than ours are misuses of God’s name and that which is related to him like OMG God Jesus Christ damn hell and holy blank all these things they show a disdain or a flippant pneus about God and His Holiness yet they’re so commonly used in our society and I noticed the warning God gives with this command God will not hold you guiltless if you treat his name and by extension is holiness flippantly what would contempt now let’s look the fourth command verse 8 to 11 remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God in it you shall not do any work you or your son or your daughter your mail or your female servant or your cattle or your Sojourner who stays with you for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy so the fourth commandment is to rest on the Sabbath keep the Sabbath by resting on it and not doing any work now which day of the week was the Sabbath for the Jews this set of the seventh day which would correspond to our Saturday that’s our seventh day of the week and what is the basis for the elis keeping the Sabbath the reason God gives because of what God did in creation God works six days in rest on the seventh making the seventh a holy day and he wanted the Israelites to also reverence it as a holy day by resting just as God did alright now let’s look at the next commandment verse 12 honor your father and your mother that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you the fifth command is to honor your parents honor your parents and notice the command does not simply say obey your parents obedience is one of the most important ways that children must honor their parents it’s not the only way what else is part of honoring one’s parents yeah yeah that’s a great point Steve thanks for mentioning that in the New Testament we see one of the ways that people were supposed to honor their parents but weren’t is that when their parents needed financial help the people refuse to give it by saying oh I’m sorry I’ve already dedicated that wealth or that those possessions to God I can’t give them to you so that’s one of the ways you’re supposed to honor your parents was to help them help provide for them what else yes sir yeah being respectful and the way you treat your parents speak to your parents whether you talk about your parents being caring towards your parents and we can say number of other things not acting or behaving in a way that would bring dishonor to your parents um I think I don’t know a couple others oh yeah speaking well about them promptly obeying them I know this is something that you probably emphasized your kids it’s not simply obedience but prompt obedience and obedience from the heart because that gives honour rather than okay I’ll guess you can make me do it no that’s not honoring to the parent this is what God commands now notice there’s no qualifier to this command your parents must still receive honor from you even if they sinned even if they act unwisely or if they are unbelieving God still says honor your parents but notice there’s also a positive promise to this command if you obey this command your days will be prolonged in the land that God gives you that’s what Khan told Israel in other words you’ll live longer you’ll be blessed if you honor your parents now we’ll take the next verses together the next commands together since their verses are very short look at verses 13 to 16 you shall not murder shalt not commit adultery you shall not steal you shall not bear false witness what did I want to go that far yeah you should not bear false witness against your neighbor so they seen the next four commands the Sixth Amendment forbids taking innocent life shall not murder do not murder the Sabbath commandment forbids adultery the 8th forbids theft and the 9th forbids giving false testimony against others now the King James Version translates verse 13 as kill not murder you shall not kill but does God never permit killing he does and what circumstances in certain circumstances of self-defense well even seeing that in the law depending on if somebody breaks into your home and if it’s night or today there certain parameters about whether it’s okay if you accidentally kill that person in order to protect your home and protect yourself so there’s that yes Rob yeah if God were to forbid killing then he would be in validating his own in law because many times he charges the authorities to put to death those who shed blood or those who commit certain other Grievous sins capital punishment is killing permitted by god and then god also permits the killing that comes with war now that doesn’t say that necessarily that all wars are justified but we see that God Himself Commission’s Israel to take part in wars so there are times where God permits killing so kill is probably not a good translation of that verse murder is a better translation it’s the dot its idea if you’re taking innocent life you do not have the authority you are not permitted to take the to the take the life of another person in those ways finally we have verse 17 the last commandment you shall not covet your neighbor’s house shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor the final command is do not covet what does it mean to covet it often involves envy what we’re going to say okay I’ll repeat your comment the Hebrew has to do with delighting in taking pleasure in and desiring something what we’re going to say soon to want what belongs to someone else what’s what’s tricky about these terms when we say desire and want is that we have to understand them properly because simply to want something or simply to desire something is not necessarily wrong but it’s the it’s the quality of that desire the New Testament gives us some understanding about this one talks about idols i’m going to talks about lusts to come it is the same thing as to as to lust after something to want something so badly that you are not happy or satisfied without it it is to make that thing into an idol where if you do not receive it you are no longer fulfill you’re no longer satisfied it’s not necessarily wrong to want something you may say ah man I could really go for a burger today it does not mean that you’re coveting but if you it is wrong to want something to the point that you want it more than God where you say if I don’t get this thing man i am not going to be happy and i’m not going to be satisfied you have to be okay with not having it it’s not wrong to want something but let’s be okay with not having it because otherwise that is coveting and you can usually tell you’re coveting because you will feel angry depressed agitated or envious without that thing and yet some of you mentioned envy yeah and the often accompanies coveting because there’s a there’s something not wrong or there’s something wrong with you inside in terms of how you want other things oh yeah King Ahab Big Boss junior right yeah he wanted it and when he didn’t get it what’d he do he like went out it on his bed he wouldn’t eat me things like oh he wouldn’t let me have the vineyard I mean that’s a very obvious example of coveting and it led to other sin God gives a few common examples of of things that people covet about in this command coveting your neighbor’s house wife servant animal or anything that belongs to your neighbor not to covet any of those things now what’s different about commandment number 10 do not covet as compared to Commandments 2 through 9 you can see them here what’s different about coming but number 10 yeah Danny I’m very true right we can more or less verify whether someone is keeping 2 through 9 there’s an external aspect of those laws so we can see that it’s obvious if you’ve committed murder because there’s a dead person but it’s not so obvious if you covet sometimes you can tell that somebody is coveting but it’s something that’s inside as something that’s in the heart and then this way a commandment 10 is actually similar to the first where it says you shall have no other gods before me in your heart you must love and serve God only the commandment 10 definitely reaches into the heart it focuses on the heart now let’s have some interpretive questions about these Commandments now you may have noticed that the commandments can be divided into two two main categories what two categories yeah Denny exactly I’ll just go back for a second but the first four commands they all have to do with God and not really other people there about how you reverence how you obey how you serve God while the the latter six Commandments commandments five to ten they all have to do with your relationships with other people your neighbor so some have termed it there is a vertical element to the Ten Commandments their first fourth all about you and God and then there’s a horizontal element commands five to ten all have to do with others now why do commands 124 appear first we’re going to make an inference by think we can make a strong inference exactly its primary it’s more important and as you’re saying it chronologically it must happen first if you do not have a right relationship with God you will not be able to have a right relationship with others loving God is the only way that you’ll be able to love others so it makes sense that it appears in the law first conversely if you’re not obeying the latter commands you must not be obeying the former commands because they go together indeed these commands are all interwoven into one another so that there’s literal force in James exhortation james 210 for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point he’s become guilty of all the 10 commandments are all into woven together if you commit murder you dishonor your parents you dishonor God’s name you are not showing or you covet you you are not loving God and serving him only you violate multiple commands whenever you sin and it all starts with do you love and serve God only in perfect parallel to this concept of the the two parts of the Ten Commandments listen what Jesus says the New Testament when he was asked about which commands of God were the greatest Matthew 22 verses 37 to 40 and he said to him and in answer what’s the greatest command you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul with all your mind this is the great and foremost commandment the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two Commandments depend the whole law and the prophets another question Israel was forbid from worshipping idols in command number two but do people still worship idols today they do how what’s one way yeah we’re talking about nothing not necessarily statues but just things that people want which they make in two idols they make it more important than God it becomes an idol in their own mind things like money love power pleasure fame popularity success possessions definitely in the West we make these into idols even if there is no statute yeah rom that’s true in a way when we use the term Idol to describe celebrities or very successful athletes but they do become idols in a way kind of like if i could just be like them or if I could just imitate them then I would be happy if I could just have what they have and they and they become another avenue to idolatry that’s not the only way how else do we see idolatry yeah Steve hmm yeah you’re right repeat your comment Steve certain sins immorality definitely being a prime example they’re just idolatry even the New Testament makes that connection yeah any type of sin is a form of idolatry or covetousness so we can say that idolatry is very prevalent in that way even more obviously I would argue that when people create false versions of the true God in their mind that is also idolatry if someone says something like oh my god and ever since then send anyone to oh oh my god I’ve never sent anyone to hell oh my god would never forbid any form of love you can love whomever you want or my god declares that some races are inferior to others in order to be persecuted well you’ve created a God in your own mind you you call it the true God you may give it the same name but that’s not the true God you’re like the Israelites you make a golden calf that’s not the guy to let them out of Egypt even though you say it is these are the idols of man’s own mind and then we do have literal statues today various gods and saints are worshipped as idols some religions like Hinduism still use statues as part of their worship but idolatry has seeped in Christianity as well in statues and paintings of Christ the father Mary and various saints being worshipped now there are many rationalizations and excuses for this behavior we could talk about those maybe at the end if we have time but in the end veneration of the images is idolatry and it’s expressly forbid by the second commandment don’t make any image of God nothing of the earth below heaven above or the water beneath the earth another question oh I will just make one more comment God will not tolerate competition with any Idol as he said he’s a jealous God now Israel was charged with keeping the Sabbath though if you know if you know the scriptures you know the issue is not very good at keeping this command they often broke the Sabbath now why keeping the Sabbath be difficult considering that it’s a kind of a nice law you’re not allowed to work one day of the week why was that difficult to keep our why might it have been difficult to keep ah yeah it’s an extra day to make profit perhaps get you the pleasures that you desire and along those lines yeah Judy that’s exactly right I imagine if we had a law in our country about not working on one day of the week you’d have a lot of protests to that because people be like but I need that extra day how am I going to survive if I don’t work that extra day of the week and I’m sure many Israelites would think the same thing at certain points if I don’t work on the Sabbath then I won’t be able to get what I need in fact it wasn’t just the Sabbath day a seventh day at the end of the week but God even commanded Sabbath years and when it came to farming it says you can farm for six years but on the seventh don’t farm just let whatever grows naturally grow and eat that to support yourself but don’t harvest and store anything away and God even anticipates their question well what will we eat if we don’t harvest the seventh year and god promises i will so bless your harvest in the sixth year they don’t provide for the sixth the seventh and even the eighth year from that one harvest trust me and give the land at Sabbath but time and again is you’ll didn’t do that it didn’t give the land at Sabbath and they didn’t give the week it’s Sabbath because they worried they were anxious they couldn’t trust God to provide and I think also as you were saying and me that they had they had lusts that they wanted to fulfill and that meant get more money now do Christians still need to keep the Sabbath today part of the Ten Commandments but do we need to keep it the answer that is both yes and no depending on what you mean though the Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandments the Sabbath was just one of a greater series of ceremonial laws that served as a picture of the coming salvation in Christ when Christ came we saw in full what the ceremonial pictures had depicted and the ceremony is therefore were no longer necessary for example we do not sacrifice animal offerings today to cover sin because jesus is our sin offering accomplishing a once and for all covering we do not eat clean versus unclean animals today because Christ is made all foods clean to us by cleansing us from within we also do not keep the Sabbath day today because Jesus has become our Sabbath rest we are no longer trying to work in the sense of we’re no longer trying to work to perfectly keep God’s law because Christ did it for us therefore we rest by faith in Christ righteousness so in essence we don’t keep the Sabbath it’s been fulfilled but in another sense we do keep the Sabbath it’s just in a different way rather than setting aside the seventh day each week to rest from physical work we continually rest in Christ supernaturally accomplished work on our behalf it’s the same as salvation if you rest in Christ accomplish righteousness for you then you keep the Sabbath if you drift from that if you turn back to a works related gospel then you’re not keeping the Sabbath you are trying to work once again instead of resting in the Sabbath that God provided and you may ask but I thought sunday was the Christian Sabbath isn’t it the Christians new Sabbath well historically Sunday has often been treated like a new Sabbath for Christians but to make Sunday into a new Sabbath in the same sense the Israelites thought of it would directly contradict the teachings of the Apostle Paul listen to Colossians 2 verses 16 to 17 therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or Sabbath day things which are mere shadow of what is to come but the substance belongs to Christ here with Paul saying there no one can call you out for not keeping the Sabbath Paul says because the Sabbath was just a shadow we now have the full substance it’s Christ now can you set aside Sunday as a special day of rest and worship to God of course but this is not the same as keeping the fourth commandment Romans 14 526 talks about this precisely all talking about people who have different convictions of conscience says this one person regards one day above another another regards every day alike each person must be fully convinced in his own mind he who observes the day observes it for the Lord and he who eats does so for the Lord for he gives thanks to God and here eats not for the Lord he does not eat and give thanks to God in other words if you want to set aside one day as a kind of Sabbath day to God in your life you can’t should not required to does this mean then that you don’t need to be in church on Sundays no that’s the wrong application because the Scriptures also tell us in Hebrews 10 23 to 25 the weird a holdfast or confession together we are to consider how to stimulate one another to good deeds to love and good deeds and we’re not to a forsake our assembling together encouraging one another is what we’re supposed to do when do we assemble usually on sundays so you got to be part of that assembly when your assembly gathers you want to be apart because that’s how you’re going to be able to obey those commands to encourage to receive instruction and minister stimulate one another to good deeds etc one final thought when it comes to Christians keeping the Sabbath there is also still practical wisdom in taking time off each week not to work not only to help you refresh and recharge yourself but also as an expression of the same kind of trust that the Israelites were also to express that is that God you know and you believe that God will provide for you no matter how much or how little you are able to work you want to talk more about the Sabbath we can do that later another question and I kind of gave it one way but did God intend for these Ten Commandments to be obeyed only externally or both externally and internally internally how do we know that how do we know that these Commandments are not merely external because some of them sound merely external yeah Rob right right that’s a great observation Rob one of the ways we obviously know this is because Christ interprets the law for us it says you’ve heard it said don’t commit murder but I tell you for angry with your brother you’ve committed murder you’ve heard don’t commit adultery but if you lost after another woman you’ve committed adultery in your heart so we see that from Christ Himself we know that the law also is internal but also the Ten Commandments themselves they show an internal aspect we saw in commandment 10 it reaches into the heart the intention of the Ten Commandments was always to go internal as well as commandant 10 and commandment one show us moreover it’s only logical that if the outward act is evil then the desire to do the outward act or desire consistent with that outward act is also evil how could we think oh it’s wrong to murder but not necessarily wrong to want to murder somebody we’re to want to hurt somebody it’s the same thing just hasn’t been carried out yet so of course yes the the Ten Commandments were always meant to be internal as well as external now how should we understand the Ten Commandments relationship to the rest of God’s law often hear the Ten Commandments being talked about in a very hallowed way oh the Ten Commandments don’t break one of the Ten Commandments how was the Ten Commandment different or related to the rest of God’s commands because after all God McCabe many more commands besides the Ten Commandments and many of those other commands had serious consequences if they were broken including death you say oh you break one of the Ten Commandments you die well that’s true in many many cases but there are other commands that you could break their will also result in death so I don’t think it’s good for us to say that’s the Ten Commandments were the most important or the most serious of God’s commands because there are other really important series commands to so how did the Ten Commandments relate to the rest of God’s law yeah Richard yeah that’s a great way to describe it like a skeleton or an outline or summary there like an outline of God’s whole law a summary of God’s whole law that’s the way we should see the Ten Commandments just as Jesus was able to summarize and distill God’s commands into just two rules love the Lord with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself you can also summarize or put in two bullet points God’s law by referring to the Ten Commandments indeed just as you were saying Richard the rest of the law is presented in the Pentateuch will be applications and further illustrations of the principles given in the Ten Commandments say well if it’s wrong commit adultery will hear all the different ways that it’s wrong to commit adultery or they’re all the ways that it’s wrong to dishonor the the marriage covenant that God instituted or see that in the rest of Pentateuch and same thing with the other Commandments therefore it was appropriate if we see that Ten Commandments as a summary and as like an outline of the law it was appropriate for God to speak the Ten Commandments to all the people of Israel because in essence God was expressing his whole law to them he was summarizing it for them but why give Israel this law why tell Israel his commands what’s the point this is the last part of the lesson today what was the purpose of God’s Ten Commandments and the rest of God’s law don’t say that there are several purposes but what’s one yeah Steve got a number of good thoughts there Steve thanks for sharing those but first of all your point that many of the things expressed the law there were not really new concepts they were things that were already seen in the history of humanity and God and made clear that certain things were not right certain things were good and certain things were evil to him like Cain and Abel where he saw it of course murderers wrong or even that the creation the Sabbath was set apart as a special day and you made that you may note that but when God gave Israel these commands it was definitely gonna set them apart from other people and i would i would go even further to say that God was showing them if you’re going to be my people this is how you must act this is how you must behave this is how you must live God was showing them what would be required for his people to be in covenant with him and it goes back to it like he said Steve goes back to what God had done in the beginning what else why else was the law given yeah Craig hmm yeah we’ll talk about that more but just repeat what you said to show us what sin is Joe so righteousness is and by extension to show us what sin is and then show that we cannot keep the rules we to be accepted by God what else those are some really important aspects to why God gave us a lot yeah suit hmm yeah going back a little bit what Craig was saying but to repeat your comment this was to give guidance to people in their everyday lives but also to really make clear to them what sin is it’s not that God had never made that known like Steve saying there was some revelation even in the beginning in the beginning of those scriptures and we don’t even know necessarily how much people knew before the giving it to law to Moses into Israel but it was going to make it really clear I’ll say some other things and i’ll come back to some of the points it at you just expressed that you guys just expressed the law has a number of purposes and one is to do is good and if you’ve been a Christian for a while perhaps you appreciate this but God’s laws are really good they do not merely carry accompanying blessings mysteriously or supernaturally by God but the laws themselves are wise they’re smart if you keep the laws you will live a wise life on a purely practical basis the laws of God are good including the Ten Commandments related to that the law of God the show us God’s great character show us what he loves what he hates what he thinks or how he seeks to bless good and punish evil what kind of reverence God is do he shows us all of that in the law and when we unite that to how we see that the laws are wise and they bring benefit to the people who keep them we say wow God is really kind he is really good to give us this law he really is good he really hates evil he really is due reverence he really is great God’s law reveals God’s character and as you were saying God’s law also shows us God’s required standard God reveals his good character and we realized that he is completely holy we realized what kind of holiness was required to be God’s people and to dwell with him and that kind of holiness is perfect holiness complete obedience to God’s commands all the time internally and externally that’s to be like God and as many of you were saying if we didn’t have God’s commands to show it this would still be responsible to be holy but we wouldn’t have as good of an idea of what it looked like to be holy but God shows us what true holiness is what true perfection is because he gave us as lie says this is what perfection looks like keeping this all the time internally and externally but we know that none of us are able to do that even though Israel said yes we will we will obey these laws they very quickly were not able to do that he broke and less than or maybe about 40 days after receiving the Ten Commandments they’ve broken maybe half the Ten Commandments they broke out into an immoral idolatrous religious feast they were to be set apart but even in their desire their wish to be set apart as God commanded them they realized that they couldn’t perfectly do that but God never intended for Israel or for us to achieve acceptance by perfectly keeping God’s law that we know God’s standard of righteousness and agree that it is a good standard yes these are all good and wise laws nonetheless cannot reach it but that’s because there’s a fourth purpose of God’s commandments it shows us our sin it shows us got standard of righteousness and order that we might do what turn to Christ turn to God’s mercy the fourth a fourth purpose of the law is to lead us to God’s mercy in Christ I’m going to read to set two verses to you Galatians 3 21 to 26 in Romans 3 19 to 26 and good turn there if you want but Galatians 3 21 to 26 as this is the law then contrary to the promises of God may it never be for if the law had been given which was able to impart life then righteousness would indeed have been based on law but the scripture has shut up everyone under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe but before faith came we were kept in custody under the law being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed therefore the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith but now the faith has come we are no longer under a tutor for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus actually i’ll skip the Romans passage but it says something similar how the law was intended to shut up shut us up under sin show us that no there’s no way you’re keeping God’s perfect law and order that we might see God’s mercy we would say God your law is good but I can’t keep it I just need you to show mercy to me and God and this great character and his great kindness says I have provided a way to show mercy to you to the Israelites they didn’t know what that way exactly was yet but they knew that they had to cry out to the mercy of God but we’ve seen that mercy revealed in Christ God sent his own son the Ten Commandments and God’s commands in general were always meant to show us that we cannot meet God’s good and required standard of righteousness the law showed us that it was not that it was only on the basis of God’s mercy that we could ever be declared righteous God extended such mercy to us in the substitution airy work of his son faithful Israelites look forward to this provision and we look back all of us are justified by faith in God’s mercy no one was ever justified or meant to be justified by keeping the law by works Jesus suffers for the sins of those who believe in him those who believe in him to be their Lord and Master and Jesus gives them his perfect righteousness that they might stand holy and justified before God but that’s not the end of the law because God puts his holy spirit and the people who believe in him makes them alive and he enables them to be obedient where they could not be obedient before no longer motivated by fear of what might happen if you didn’t perfectly keep the law believers I’m motivated by love for the Savior who kept the law on their behalf and therefore they gratefully obey God’s commands so we’re not Rudy much from the law so that we might live licentiousness aves us so that we can do what we always wanted to do but we’re never able to do which to obey God la baie God’s commands the Ten Commandments and the whole Testament law were always intended to act as a tutor to lead us to God’s mercy in Christ you have more questions about this or other things we talked about today please come see me afterwards before I forget though so there’s at the beginning but in case any of you missed it we have free workbooks for the next quarter if you would like to sign up for a free workbook there is a sign-up sheet on the back table please go right to that after the end of sunday school put your name down so that way we know to be able to get you a workbook we’re going to be ordering that sometime this week so definitely do that now and if you’re listening to this video recording we’ve send me an email let’s close and prayer father your word is so great your law is amazing amazing and just the wisdom and the kindness of it Ten Commandments and everything else included but also gone and what it’s true purposes were and we know that one of those purposes that great purpose was to point us to Christ but we can never be found righteous by simply trying to keep your law because we can’t do it we can’t do it all the time we can’t do it perfectly we can’t do it internally and externally but you did it you did it in your son Christ did it so that those who believed in him would receive His righteousness and he would take their sin well thank you for that perfect provision we rejoice in your and the wisdom of the salvation that you have created the Lord that all glory would go to You Lord you do indeed deserve all the glory for your kindness for your justice for your greatness that will help us to enjoy more of that today in our service and Jesus name Amen