EXODUS: Stipulations of Thelaw

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Memorial Drive

7.23.17

EXODUS: Stipulations of theLaw

Exodus 20

Intro –We’re returning now to our study of the O.T. book of Exodus. Exodus is allabout the journey of God’s people, Israel, as the name implies,a journey that is both physical and spiritual as God leads them from captivity in Egypt toward a Promised Land. Though 3500 years have passed, Exodus is relevant for us today, for like Israel, we too are on a spiritual journey filled with obstacles and challenges, and, no less than Israel, we are in constant need of reliance upon God’s power, provision, and faithfulness. So please turn now to Exodus 20.

Background to Exodus 20 …

-We’ve been out of Exodus since before Easter, so I need to bring us up to speed. As we come to Ex. 20 we find Israel camped in the shadow of Mt. Sinai. They have prepared themselves both physically and spiritually for the most important meeting of their lives, and so now, as the trumpet sounds, the people of God have left their tents and gathered at the foot of the quaking, smoke-covered mountain. God has descended in fire and Israel, warned in the strongest possible terms, remains behind protective barriers set to keep them from attempting to “break through” to see or even approach this fearsome God. To do so will cost their lives.

-This morning I want us to understand the setting of Exodus 20 first. Then I want to consider something of the role of God’s law as given to His people of every day. Finally, I want us to consider a couple of “take-aways” or “transferrable truths” from our text.

-Let’s begin by asking: “What is the nature or the purpose of this amazing event?” The setting, as we’ll see, speaks to the incredible importance of this event, So what’s going on here? Clearly God hasn’t just “dropped by” for a visit! In fact, everything that has taken place thus far has lead them inevitably in one direction; toward this holy meeting at what came to be known as nothing less than The Mt. of God. So let’s begin by considering first …

... THE NATURE OF THE EVENT: Covenant Formation

… I want to begin with the words of God in vs. 2: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

-Now we need to be careful that in the rush to get to the heart of chapter 20 we don’t miss the significance of these early words. They’re simple and may at first glance even appear to be rather bland against the backdrop of this fiery, quaking mountain but we need to understand the significance of these “First Words” of God in Exodus 20.

-It’s not too much to say that these words literally set the stage for not only the rest of Exodus but the next 3 books of the Bible and in fact the whole of the O.T. Why? Simply because these simple words are in fact a declaration of what we might call, in legal terms,“The Party of the First Part.” That is, they are highly significant words that form the foundation of one-half of a “covenant” or “legal agreement”, if you will.

-You’ll remember, I trust, that what is happening here is the next step in God’s plan first revealed to a man named Abraham back in the book of Genesis. God has determined to create a great nation from the loins of Abraham, a nation that will be “a people for His possession” who will live out something of the reality of God’s own nature and character. God begins this work by giving Abraham a son named Isaac. As time goes on, Abraham’s offspring find themselves entering Egypt, just 70 strong in number.

-The story continues in Exodus where a new Pharaoh no longer favors Israel but brutally uses them for slave labor. God brings them out of Egypt now some 2 million in number, and He brings them to the very place He first commissioned Moses to establish an agreement/covenant with this people.

-And so the matter now to be determined is this: What are the stipulations or “legally binding requirements” that will govern the relationship between this people and their amazing God? As James Hamilton writes: “He has delivered the people (from slavery) but not yet delivered THE TERMSof the relationship.”

-So this is what is now unfolding as this rescued people stand before the Mt. of God. These opening words are clearly understood by Israel as being a statement or “legal declaration” of the identity of the “First Party” to an agreement that will literally form and set apart a new nation for God’s own purposes. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Now these words are but a reminder of God’s previous “covenant-forming” words already spoken to Israel. Let’s go back to Ex. 19:3-6 and take a quick look.

… THE FORMING OF THE COVENANT AGREEMENT

-Notice how God begins in vs. 3: “Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel …’” Again, notice how God ends in vs. 6: “These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”

-At both beginning and end God says: “Tell the people these things!” Mentioning it twice accentuates the critical importance of what’s happening here! God is about to tell Israel what is coming next (i.e. Ex. 20).

-Vs. 4 Historical Review(Common in covenant agreements): “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians,(God is a POWERFUL God and GREATER than any god of the nations) and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, (God is a GRACIOUS God) and brought you to Myself (God is a POSSESSING and JEALOUS God).” In other words, God says, this relationship is founded upon My gracious rescue from bondage in Egypt and comes with serious expectations concerning your loyalty to Me! (Leads them into vs. 5)

-Vs. 5aStipulations Summarized: “Now then, if you will indeed OBEY MY VOICE and keep My covenant …”. God has yet to give them the requirements in detail but the over-riding feature here is what are you going to DO with what God SAYS? Will you obey? The primary stipulation is … obedience. (Footnote: Tuck into your mind the emphasis here upon obeying GOD’S VOICE!)

-Vs. 5b-6aCovenant Benefits: “… 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.”

-In declaring that “all the earth is Mine” God informs them that He alone is the God who created and owns the whole of the earth. There IS no other God that is His equal!

-And if they agree to and meet the stipulations, they, as “The People of the Second Party”

will be GOD’S own people, a people who ALL as “priests” before God are qualified to represent something of His nature and character to others. Finally, they will be a nation unlike any other, a “nation set apart” to God, privileged to share in a unique way in the accomplishing of His purposes! Serious business!

-Finally, in vs. 7-8 this “People of the Second Part” respond. “So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the Lord had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do!’ And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.” (Ex. 19:7-8)

-And so we see that God has already established the FOUNDATION in Ex. 19 of a covenant in Ex. 20 which will then give the people the SPECIFIC stipulations governing the relationship, and so God’s opening words in Ex. 20 now begin the formal establishing of covenant: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (So back to Ex. 20:2)

… GOD SPEAKS the Ten Words

-Vs. 1: “THEN GOD SPOKE all these words, saying … (Stop!)” (Ex. 20:1) Again, the simplicity of the words seems to invite us to quickly rush to THE SPECIFIC CONTENT but we shouldn’t! Consider first these powerful words, “THEN GOD SPOKE…”.

-To appreciate the significance of these powerful words we first need to consider the reaction of this people! Now, they were trembling at God’s presence even BEFORE leaving the camp to assemble at the mountain. Please notice the demeanor and the response AT the mountain! (vs. 18-19: “All the people perceived 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.” Just the SETTING is UNSETTLING but now note vs. 19, BUT PLEASE IN MIND THAT VS. 19 FOLLOWS God’s thundering words! AFTER God has spoken,“Then they said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.’”

-I told you to tuck into your minds the fact that God would SPEAK to them, that is, directly now and not merely through Moses as previously and as will come in chapter 21. So these “Ten Words” that we call “The Ten Commandments” -- God WILL AUDIBLY SPEAK to them!

-To appreciate the significance of God’s AUDIBLY SPEAKING THE WORDS OF EX. 20 DIRECTLY to them we need to understand that these “Ten Words” are “The Great Summary of All the Law.” The whole of the Law or “covenant requirements” are summed up in these 10 “words” that God gives to His people!

-In Exodus 21-24 God is going to continue, now through Moses, to give His people “the ORDINANCES” of the Law. Notice 21:1 “Now these are the ORDINANCES which you are to set before them.” The ordinances are PART of the LAW but given in what we would call

“examples of CASE LAW.”

-What is case law? Examples of how this law is to be applied in various circumstances they will face. So God “fleshes out” the application of the Law and does so through Moses but HERE in Ex. 20 God gives the foundational laws that govern the relationship and these are so critically important that God will not speak through Moses, He will speak audibly and directly! So what we see then in Ex. 20:19 is the response to hearing God’s audible voice: “No more, please, or we’ll die!” Get it?!!

-God trumpeted THESE words in a terrifyingly, attention-getting, heart-rending way! To this people THESE WORDS OF ALL that God HAS/WILL communicate through Moses, THESE WORDS are terrifying! They have heard the voice of the powerful God to whom the whole earth belongs!

-Little did they know just how significant their RESPONSE to God in Ex. 19 was! In fact, their words in 19:8 take on a whole new meaning when they get into the actual event of Ex. 20! “All that the Lord HAS SPOKEN we will do!” If what was spoken through Moses was critical, how much more serious are the words of Ex. 20 and the “Ten Words/Commandments.”

-In the 70’s and 80’s there was a prominent commercial on television that usually involved a young professional mentioning the financial advice of a particular company, and when he mentioned the name, everyone around got really quiet. Do you remember that company slogan? When E.F. Hutton speaks, EVERYONE listens! Supposedly, when THEY spoke, all conversation stopped!

-How much more so when God speaks?!!! All conversation stops! There is no arguing! No murmuring! No little additions or side-comments! GOD … HAS … SPOKEN! So it is here in Exodus 20 and as we reflect upon the content of this covenant in weeks to come we need to keep in mind that Exodus 20 and God’s “Ten Words” ought to grab not only our attention but our hearts as well, because GOD SPOKE in such a way as to demand the whole of our attention!

-You can ignore the fact that God has spoken, or you can dismiss it, or you can attempt to debate it, but you and I live under the terrifying reality that the One known as the “Judge of All the Earth” HAS SPOKEN and what He has said will be required of you! His Words and their impact are inescapable!

… God Speaks THE TEN WORDS

-You may be wondering why I’ve referred to Exodus 20 as a giving of “The Ten Words” rather than “The Ten Commandments.” They certainly ARE commandments, but here in Exodus 20 and elsewhere our author simply refers to them as “these words.” There are certainly more than ten words here, but our author wrote in the same sense that we sometimes speak when, in an argument, for example, we say, “He gave the last WORD on the matter.” Here, before fleshing them out in “case law” form, God gives to His people ten essential, relationship-defining truths! We’ll consider them in weeks to come, but this morning I want to draw this together by asking the question …

… WHAT DO THE TEN WORDS HAVE TO DO WITH ME?(To answer …)

• Five Biblical Purposes For God’s Law

• The Law Helps To Restrain Sin

-God’s Law is a good thing! And people of every age and nation have understood it to be so! It’s why it’s chiseled into the walls of the U.S. Supreme Court! The fewer folks a nation has running around murdering and stealing and so on the better off we are!

-God’s Law tends to help to restrain sin, simply because wherever there is law, there are penalties for law-breaking, and the desire to avoid the penalty often acts as a motivation to “do right” rather than wrong. So this is one benefit and purpose of God’s law. More importantly …

• The law graciously reveals our sinfulness

-Paul writes in Rom. 3:20 that “… through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” (Rom. 3:20b) Again, in Rom. 7:7 he writes: “I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET."

-Now if God is a holy God (separate from sin) and if He is a just God (He won’t ignore sin) and if He is going to respond accordingly and punish sin, then it’s a good thing to know if you a sinner/law-breaker or not, isn’t it? It’s good to know if you are liable for judgment!

-You know, before coming here I probably should have told the Pulpit Committee that I’d been in jail twice. Let me tell you what can happen when you don’t know that you are liable for judgment.

-Friday night, downtown Dallas. I had taken my bride out for dinner, and then because of construction in the left of 2 lanes, I’d made a left-turn out of the right lane. The red lights came on and pretty soon an officer of the law appeared at my door, took my license, went back to his car. Next thing we know there are 2 officers at our doors, with hands on the butts of their guns!

-And so I’m out of the car, over the hood, and eventually end up handcuffed in the back seat of a cruiser. “Did you know you have a warrant out for your arrest?” They didn’t know what for, just that the warrant was out. To them, I was just another felon!Seriously?

-Off to jail I go, Friday night, Dallas downtown jail, clean-cut young Bible College boy amongst a seriously deranged, drunk, and disorderly bunch of guys that looked like they really DID need to be there!

-Issue? A year earlier I’d hit a kid that rode out in front of me on his bike. He wasn’t hurt and everything would have been OK except that I’d switched cars that morning with Claire and left my billfold and license in her car. So … hauled into Balch Springs (and jailed) until she could bring my license in. When she did, “Free to go, no charges.” Unfortunately they didn’t dispose of the ticket that’d been written and so a court date was set but no summons was sent. So … I didn’t make a court appearance I didn’t know about! And an arrest warrant was issue!. It caught up to me one Friday night … So, another court appearance – I made that one – and everything was resolved.

-Point? It’s NOT good thing to be liable before the Law and not know it! And so God graciously shows us that we have a problem! Consider Christ’s teaching on the Mount. Many might well say regarding the Law: “Well, I’m good to go! I’ve kept all the Law!” “Really?”Christ responds to something not voiced but undoubtedly thought:

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall notcommitmurder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”(Matt. 5:21-22)

-Christ goes on to say, essentially, “The Law does say,‘You shall not murder” but you’re missing a critical point. God sees THE HEART! Law-breaking isn’t just about what goes on “out there”, it’s also about what goes on “in here”, in the heart, so if you’ve ever hated anyone, well, you have the same heart-problem that the murderer has because what prompted the outward act came from a messed-up heart! And you’ve got one too, buddy!”

-The Point: The Law points out sin and does it very well! To not know you’re liable to the Law until the Judgment Day itself … not a good thing.