Exodus – Idaville Church

Farther Up and Farther In

Farther Up and Farther In

What makes for a good meeting place? It probably depends on the kind of meeting you’re having. If you’re having a serious work meeting a monster truck rally or speedway is probably not a good place to meet. If you are a counselor your meeting place must be a safe, private and quiet environment. You are probably not meeting at a football game or a loud rock concert. If you are meeting someone for a first date, a restaurant or coffee shop is probably a better meeting place than a library. If you are going out for a romantic dinner, you are probably not going to a fast-food restaurant. And if you want to meet to play basketball with your friends, you are probably not going to a theater. The meeting place needs to match the purpose for your meeting.

This brings us to the question of what makes a good place to meet with God? Where do you go to be in God’s Word to learn more about who He is and what he requires of you? Where do you go to pray to the Lord and seek His face? Now, the answer to this question will vary from person to person. For some it may be a very quiet place in your house. For others it may be outdoors walking through the woods or by a body of water. It may be while you’re listening to music or it could be while driving to work. Hopefully, when we gather here at Idaville Church on a Sunday morning with other believers, this is a place where you are also able to meet with God.

If we are going to meet with God and be in relationship with Him, we must first believe in his son, Jesus Christ, for salvation. If we’ve not accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we won’t want to meet with God and can’t meet with Him. Once we have accepted Jesus, we can draw near to God but our hearts must also be in the right place. Our hearts must be clean, sinless and holy as we come before a holy God confessing our sins. We can then be forgiven and put back into a right relationship with Him. I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The only way to meet with God is if we have Jesus Christ in our hearts and life, we are striving for holiness and are becoming more like His son Jesus every day. God wants to meet with His people, but he also desires to dwell with His people in a fuller relationship of communing and fellowshipping with Himself. And this has been his plan from the very beginning of time. That brings us to our big idea this morning that God desires to dwell with His people.

Let’s pray: Holy God, we come into your presence asking for your Holy Spirit to be poured out on us. Give us open hearts and open minds to your Word this morning. May your Word be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path as we walk in this world, serving you and telling others about your son, Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

There are two points this morning. The first is Moses Ascends, found in Exodus 24:12-14. Follow along as I read. This is what God’s Word says, “The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.” Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”

Last week, in our study of Exodus 14, we saw the leaders of Israel draw near to God as they went up the mountain to eat and drink in a covenant meal together. Those who ate and drank had offered sacrifices and the Lord had accepted them. They had been sprinkled with the blood of the covenant and were allowed to come to a holy, set apart, place to eat and drink with the Lord. It was the Lord who initiated the covenant, and it was the Lord who initiated this intimate meal with His people. As we have studied Exodus, we have talked about how God desires that we draw near to Him but I think it is a greater, more awe-inspiring thing to grasp that the Creator of the Universe, the Most High God, the One, True and Living God wants to draw near to us, he wants to come and meet with us, and he wants to dwell with us. Just think about that. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, God through the Holy Spirit is dwelling within you. Let that sink into your hearts and minds. Think about what that means. How should we be living? How should we be treating others? How should we be serving others? How should we be worshiping the Lord?

This morning in our scripture, this picture of eating and drinking and meeting with God is going to be taken a step farther. Moses is going to be summoned farther up the mountain and will enter into more of God’s presence. Moses is going to meet with God on the mountain and stay there for a while. This was not just going to be a meal with God, it was going to be communing with Him, and fellowshipping with Him. And there was a purpose to this meeting. God was going to give Moses tablets of stone with the law and commandments that God himself had written, which would be for the people’s instruction. This was a continuation of teaching the covenant to His people. The Ten Commandments and the instruction of them would show how God required his people to live lives pleasing to Him. There needed to be an official copy of the Law which would be kept in a prominent place to be a reminder to the people that they were bound by the covenant. Normally, covenants were between a king and his people. The king may have said he received it from their god or gods, but it was written and given to the people by the king. But this covenant was unique, in that it was written to the people by their God, himself. In this meeting, God would give Moses the official covenant, the Ten Commandments, that were written by the Lord’s own hand and instructions on where it was to be kept.

Even though it is not explicitly mentioned here, the fact that God wanted to dwell with His people will be seen in what follows in chapters 25-31 Not only will God instruct Moses on how His people can meet with Him, by obedience to the Law, he will instruct Moses on how they were going to worship Him and how he would dwell with them. The place God was going to meet with His people had to be a place that is holy and set apart, because God is holy. It had to be a place where the law would be, because God is the law-giver. It had to be a place where his mercy is seen, because God is merciful. It had to be a place of sacrifice and atonement because the people were sinful. It had to be a place where His people would be cleansed in order to serve Him. But it also had to be a place where God could meet with and dwell with his people while they were on their journey to the Promised Land. Without the presence of God dwelling with them, there would be no point in continuing the journey. Mt. Sinai was important, holy and sacred, because it was the place where God first met with His people. But the Lord didn’t want His people to stay at the mountain. The reason he had brought them out of Egypt was to take them to the Promised Land that he had promised their forefathers. So, the place where God would dwell with His people had to be a place that was portable. The place where God would dwell with his people would be the Tabernacle (Big Idea). The instructions for which Moses would receive during his time with God on the mountain.

We don’t want to get too bogged down in the timeline, but we can see that events are not happening in a linear fashion. Most commentators believe that the leaders of Israel went back down to the base of the mountain after eating and drinking with God. Then in verse 12, God calls Moses to come back up the mountain and meet with him to get the Ten Commandments. Then we probably need to skip to verse 14. Moses, realizing that “to stay here” means to hang out with God a while, makes provisions for the administration of his responsibilities while away. The elders are to wait until Moses and Joshua come back to them. And Aaron and Hur will be with them to settle any disputes that may arise while Moses is gone. He is delegating his responsibilities to Aaron and Hur. This makes sense, since Aaron is his second in command, so to speak, and the one who God will put in charge of the priestly duties later on. We have seen Hur before in Exodus 17, where he was holding up Moses’ arms during the battle with the Amalekites. Hur is probably mentioned here because one of his relatives will be instrumental in building the Tabernacle. Moses is leaving things in what he believes are capable hands.

Then in the timeline we come back to verse 13 where it says that Moses and Joshua set out to go up the mountain. Now where did Joshua all of a sudden come from? We also last saw him in Exodus 17, leading the battle against the Amalekites and defeating them. Maybe Joshua was one of the seventy elders that ate and drank with God, but we don’t know for sure. We are told that he was Moses’ aide. He probably attended to Moses as a younger mentee would with a mentor in that time and setting. Joshua is probably mentioned here because he would be the one to take over and lead the Conquest of the Promised Land once Moses died. So Moses may have been teaching Joshua valuable lessons in leadership and ministry, as an older mentor would a younger mentee. By serving Moses in these practical ways, he would learn the skills he would need later on. Joshua would also learn valuable spiritual lessons as well watching Moses interact with the Lord in various ways.

This is important for us today as well. The church should be the perfect place to either mentor someone in leadership, life and spiritual things or to look for someone who could mentor you in leadership, life and spiritual things. Our commissions and small groups are great places for these relationships to form. So, I want to challenge all of us to think about who can I mentor in these ways and reach out to them. Or be thinking about who can mentor me in these ways and reach out to them. This is how our church can develop the leaders that are needed to lead into the next decade and beyond. And this is how we all can develop spiritually, learning to become more like Jesus from someone who is doing it well. This brings us to our first two next steps on the back of your communication card which is Pray about who I can mentor in leadership and or spiritual things and reach out to them. The second is like the first which is to Pray about who can mentor me in leadership and or spiritual things and reach out to them.

That brings us to our second point, God Descends, found in Exodus 24:15-18. This is what God’s Word says, “When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.”

When Moses ascended up the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mt. Sinai. The Lord descended as Moses ascended. The cloud should be familiar to us as we have seen it before all the way back to when the Israelites first came out of Egypt into the wilderness. They have been led by the presence of God in the pillar of fire and cloud. The cloud is synonymous with the presence of God with His people. God descended on the mountain, and His glory settled on it. The “Glory of the Lord” is His reputation and majesty, His mysterious and awesome presence alongside His grace and mercy that manifested in the cloud. The word “settled” is the Hebrew verb meaning “dwelt.” It is what is called the “shekinah” glory of the Lord, “an outward manifestation of His presence to men” as Cole says. This word “dwelt” is also the word “tabernacled” used in John 1:14 that says, “The Word (Jesus) became flesh and “dwelt” or “tabernacled” among us.” We see the significance of the Lord dwelling with Moses on Mt. Sinai as he would later dwell with His people in the Tabernacle and dwells within His people through the Holy Spirit, today. (Big Idea)

For six days the cloud covered the mountain as Moses waited on God. Finally, on the seventh day, the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. This should remind us of seven days of Creation and how God made the seventh day holy by resting on it. The seven days that God dwelt on the mountain made it a holy place where Moses, who had been consecrated and set apart through the covenant ceremony, could meet with the Lord and the Lord could dwell with him. Then we get a glimpse of what the people at the base of the mountain saw. The glory or the presence of the Lord looked like a consuming or a “blazing” fire on top of the mountain. This was the glory of the Lord’s holiness which represented His relationship with Israel on the basis of the Law. It also signified that the place and the event was a holy occurrence. Seeing the glory of the Lord and Moses entering into it would have been another authentication that Moses was God’s chosen mediator and stressed that what God was telling him would be of the utmost importance.

This was another spectacular event. Last week, the leaders of Israel ate and drank with God. Now we see Moses entering into the cloud into God’s presence and dwelling with Him. This was not just eating and drinking with God. Moses was communing and fellowshipping with the Lord, himself. This was living with, breathing with and dwelling with God in a close, personal relationship. Moses, the covenant mediator, spent forty days and forty nights dwelling with the Lord. Now you and I are not Moses but our relationship with the Lord should be continually growing, becoming fuller and fuller. I asked you last week, what the table of your relationship with Jesus looked like. Was it empty? (slide) Or was it full? (Slide). As we grow spiritually, we should be striving for a relationship that becomes fuller and fuller as we become more and more like Jesus.

So what does communing and fellowshipping with the Lord look like? I believe as we look at Exodus 11, communing and fellowshipping with the Lord is a full table all the time. There may be times when our relationship with the Lord wavers between an empty table, a full table or something in between. But what we should want and strive for and what God wants for us is to commune with Him, to be in fellowship with Him and to dwell with Him. Moses’ table is full as for forty days he is communing and fellowshipping in the presence of the Lord. May we be people who strive for a full table all the time. May we be people who strive for full communion and fellowship with God himself. This is what he wants. This is why he sent his son, Jesus, to this earth to die on a cross for our sins and then raised him from the dead. It was so God could dwell with us in full communion and fellowship. That brings us to our third next step which is to Strive to be in full communion and fellowship with the Lord. Now, we should strive for this kind of relationship while we are living on the earth, but I also believe that this picture of Moses communing and fellowshipping with the Lord for forty days and forty nights is a picture of what it will be like in Heaven. Heaven is the place where we will dwell with God and He will dwell with us in perfect relationship, in perfect communion and fellowship for all eternity.

We see this in The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis. The book ends with the old land of Narnia passing away and all true Narnians entering the new Narnia. This is a picture of Heaven, in which the old passes away and all things become new. There is a tremendous sense of excitement as the subjects of that new and glorious kingdom begin to explore. They leap over hills and cascade down waterfalls. Each new thing they encounter is more amazing than anything they have ever seen before. They don’t stop; they keep moving faster and faster. Everyone shouts, “farther up and farther in,” and then they rush off to see more wonders in their new land. This was Moses’ experience on Mount Sinai. He went farther up and farther in. God called him up the mountain. There the prophet saw God’s glory, heard God’s voice, and ate and drank with him. Then he entered into glory. He kept going farther up and farther in until finally he was enveloped by the luminous, radiant presence of God.

This is also the story of our own salvation, which Exodus 24 reveals from beginning to end. First God calls us to worship him, speaking to us by his Word. But we are separated from God by our sin. Therefore, we have to keep our distance until God provides a sacrifice of atonement through the blood of his covenant. God, himself, came to us in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior and to reveal the glory of God. John 1:14 says “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John’s point was that Jesus reveals the glory of God in his very person. Since he was the divine Son of God, he was the full expression of God’s glory. Like the bright cloud that settled on the mountain, Jesus came down to reveal the glory of God. Once we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, our sins are covered, and we can have fellowship with God. We can sit down to feast at his table. But that is not how the story will end. It ends with our entrance into glory. This is the goal of our salvation: not just to meet with God and to sit down with him but to participate in his glory. What happened to Moses will happen to us: God will come down and lift us up into glory and He will dwell with us forever.

We have been saved for the glory of God. Glory is our destiny as God’s children. I Thessalonians 4:16-17 says, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” We will go farther up and farther in. Like Moses, we will be surrounded by the radiance of God’s glory. I Corinthians 2:9-10 says, “However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.” Let us be people who live like we know where we are going. Let us be people who worship and serve like we know where we are going. And let us be people who know that God desires to dwell with us for all eternity.

As the praise team comes to lead us in a final song and the ushers prepare to collect the tithes and offerings let’s pray: Heavenly Father, thank you for these moments we have had studying your Word. I thank you for the privilege of your presence and your desire to dwell in us. Let us cultivate that relationship. May it be a fuller and fuller table as we are being sanctified. We look forward to dwelling with you for all eternity in the place that you have prepared for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Opening: gracefv.com “The Meeting Place”

Conclusion: Ryken Commentary on Exodus

November 17, 2024/by Office

Signed, Sealed and Delivered

Rescued Exodus Sunday Morning Marc Webb Accountability, Covenant, Gospel, Intimacy, Obedience, Relationship with God

SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED

On April 16, 1988, I heard some semblance of these words: Marc, do you take Judith to be your lawfully wedded wife from this day forward - to have and to hold, in good times and bad, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health; will you love, honor, and cherish her for as long as you both shall live? And of course, I said “I do.” Then the pastor said: Judy, do you take Marc to be your lawfully wedded husband from this day forward - to have and to hold, in good times and bad, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health; will you love, honor, and cherish him for as long as you both shall live? And of course, Judy said “I do.”

Then I heard words to this effect: The wedding ring is a symbol of eternity. It is an outward sign of an inward and spiritual bond which unites two hearts in endless love. And now as a token of your love and of your deep desire to be forever united in heart and soul, you, Marc, may place a ring on the finger of your bride. Marc, please repeat after me: Judith, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness to you, with this ring, I thee wed and I put her ring on the appropriate finger. Then the pastor said to Judy: By the same token, Judith, you may place a ring on the finger of your groom and say: Marc, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness to you, with this ring, I thee wed and she put my ring on the appropriate finger.

Then after all that we heard these words: Marc, Judith, having proclaimed your love for, and commitment to one another in the sight of Almighty God and these witnesses, it is my pleasure to pronounce you, by the power vested in me by the state of Pennsylvania, husband and wife! You may now kiss the bride! And then the pastor said to the congregation: It is my great pleasure to present to you Mr. and Mrs. Marc Webb!

In our marriage ceremony, there was a Declaration of Intent, a Vow/Ring Exchange and a Pronouncement of legal and binding marriage. There was a signing, sealing and delivering of an intimate, covenantal relationship between Judy and myself that was done before witnesses and is to last for as long as we both shall live. This morning, we are in Exodus 14:1-11 and we will witness the signing, sealing and delivering of another intimate, covenantal relationship. This covenant relationship is between the children of Israel and Yahweh that will last forever. The covenant will be signed as the children of Israel confirm their declaration of intent to obey God’s Words and Laws. The covenant will be sealed as both the parties make vows literally with blood during a solemn ceremony initiated by Yahweh. And the covenant will be delivered as Yahweh makes the pronouncement by inviting the major representatives of the people to a sacred meal in His presence.

This same intimate, covenantal relationship is what God still wants with each one of us today. It is a covenant that is still signed by those who confirm they will follow God by obeying His Words and Laws found in the Bible. It is a covenant that is sealed and initiated by the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross once for all and remembered by us during the sacred sacrament of Communion. It is a covenant that is delivered as God invites us into a sanctifying relationship with himself which is a daily feasting on His word, a daily prayer time with Him, and a daily striving to become more like Jesus. All this brings us to our big idea this morning that God desires to be in an intimate, covenantal relationship with His people.

Let’s open in prayer as we dedicate this time to the Lord. Heavenly Father, pour out your Holy Spirit on us this morning and open our hearts and minds to what you want us to learn and share with others. May your Word be a light unto our paths, and it may lead us, guide us, correct us, rebuke us and train us in righteousness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Our first point is Covenant Confirmed found in Exodus 24:1-3. Please follow along as I read those verses. This is what God’s Word says, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, but Moses alone is to approach the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.” When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.”

We have finally come to the end of the Book of the Covenant God gave to Moses which started back in Exodus 20:21. God had just given the Ten Words or Commandments to the Israelites, and they were terrified by the holiness of Yahweh and their sinfulness. They told Moses to speak to them and to not let Yahweh speak to them or they felt they would die. Moses tried to convince them not to be afraid but to have a reverent fear of the Lord which would keep them from sinning. Then as God’s mediator between himself and the people, Moses approached the thick darkness where God was on Mt. Sinai. And Moses has been there ever since through chapters 21-23. The Lord told Moses about idols and altars and gave him the Book of the Covenant which were laws that fleshed out the Ten Words. By obeying the Book of the Covenant, the people would be able to live better connected to Yahweh and to each other in the covenant community.

Now that the covenant had been given to Moses, it had to be ratified or adopted by both parties. First, it needed to be confirmed by the people. The Lord is still talking to Moses and instructs him to gather representatives of the Israelite people to “come up” to the Lord. These representatives were Moses, his brother Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, and seventy of the elders of Israel. Moses would come up as God’s chosen mediator. Aaron, Nadab and Abihu would come up as the “priestly” representatives, and the seventy elders would come up as representatives of the whole Israelite community.

We see that there are divisions here among the people of Israel that we will also see later in the Tabernacle and the Temple. The Lord is setting them up now for what is to come. He is foreshadowing His intention to come and dwell in the midst of His people and the sacrificial system which must be in place to make that a reality. This is the beginning of the old covenant which will be abolished with the death and resurrection of Jesus as the new covenant is ushered in. This scene will be a worship service where Moses alone is allowed to approach the Lord, and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders, will be allowed to come and worship from a distance. The rest of the Israelite people will have to stay at the base of Mt. Sinai. By setting these boundaries God was teaching his people to honor his holiness.

After the Lord gave the Book of the Covenant and these instructions, Moses came down and told the people what the Lord had said. He recited the Ten Commandments to them again and the Book of the Covenant. The people responded, with one voice, all in one accord, saying, “everything the LORD has said we will do.” This was the second time they had agreed to the Lord’s terms. We saw the first time in Exodus 9:8, where they accepted the terms of the covenant before ever hearing what they were. This time they accepted the terms again after hearing it for themselves. By saying these words, they declared their intent to obey the Words and the Laws of the Lord, confirming the covenant with Him. When we consider our covenant relationship with the Lord, are we determined to obey the word of God? When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are confirming that “We will do and obey everything that the Lord has commanded.” Are we passionately resolved to obey God no matter the circumstances, by His grace, and for His glory? As God’s people we have a responsibility to be obedient to Him and His Words and He will hold us accountable to our covenant relationship with Himself. That brings us to our first next step on the back of your communication card which is to Affirm my obedience to the Lord and His Words and be held accountable to His covenant with me.

That brings us to our second point this morning, Covenant Ceremony, found in Exodus 24:4-8. This is what God’s Word says, “Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.” Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Once the people had reaffirmed that they would obey the covenant as spelled out by the Lord, Moses wrote it all down. This was the second time we are told that Moses wrote something down. This was a customary part of the covenant. It needed to be written down so it could not be changed and would not be forgotten by future generations. Writing the covenant down finalized it. The next morning Moses prepares for the covenant ceremony to take place. He gets up and builds an altar at the foot of Mt. Sinai. He then sets up twelve stone pillars. The altar would represent the Lord, and the stone pillars would represent the twelve tribes of Israel, in the covenant ceremony. The two parties of the covenant were represented in this way in order to seal the covenant. We can notice the way the Lord is teaching His people. In Exodus 23:24 they were told to tear down the Canaanite pillars used in pagan worship. But not all pillars were unlawful. God directed them to set up twelve pillars that were not to be worshiped but were to represent themselves in the sealing of the covenant. God taught them what was unlawful and then taught them what was lawful.

The first part of the covenant ceremony was the sacrifices. Moses sent young men to offer young bulls as burnt and fellowship offerings on the altar. The importance of the covenant ceremony can be seen in the sacrifice of young bulls as these were of greater value than sheep and goats. These young men would not have been priests because the Lord had not appointed Aaron and his sons to the priestly office yet. They were probably selected for this priestly task because of their strength. It would have taken many strong young men to wrangle and tie what would be a significant number of young bulls up onto the altar to be sacrificed for the people. The burnt offerings were offerings that were completely burnt up and given over to God. These offerings represented full atonement for sin, thanksgiving and a total dedication of themselves to the Lord. The fellowship offerings represented peace and fellowship with God and were served as a meal.

The second part of the covenant ceremony and a significant moment happens next. Moses took half the blood of the bulls and put it in bowls and the other half he sprinkled or splashed on the altar. This application of blood on the altar signified the Lord’s acceptance of the people’s sacrifices, their forgiveness and that He was one of the parties of the covenant. It also showed that this relationship that they were entering into was initiated by God and not by them. The third part of the covenant ceremony started as Moses read the BOC to them a second time. The people then reaffirmed their commitment to the Lord’s covenant a third time. The people affirmed their vows before the Lord who had redeemed them from slavery in Egypt and was bringing them to the Promised Land as he had promised Abraham. This repetition was necessary to teach the people the terms of the covenant and for the people to be fully informed and fully understand what they were entering into with the One, True and Living God. To live in fellowship with God, the people needed to affirm their complete obedience to the covenant terms he set forth. This time when they said “We will do everything the Lord has said” it was an emphatic acknowledgement that they knew that Yahweh was their covenant Lord and that they knew who would enforce the terms of the covenant if they were broken or ignored.

The fourth part of the covenant ceremony began after the people had again pledged their obedience. Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people. The people being the seventy elders who represented the entire covenant community of the Israelites. This symbolized that they were the other party in covenant with the Lord. You can imagine how the blood would be a reminder of the covenant they were making that day. The sacrifices of the bulls and the splashing of the blood would be memorable to the people. The blood would remain on their skin for days and on their clothing maybe for as long as their clothes lasted. Every time they looked at the blood on their skin or clothes, they would be reminded of the formal covenant they had made with Almighty God to which the Lord and themselves were bound to by oath. This reminds me of the wedding rings Judy, and I gave each other during our wedding vows. We wear them to remind us of the sacred covenant we are bound to “till death do us part.”

Then Moses said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” With these words the covenant was sealed and both parties were swearing in blood that they would keep the covenant. It was a matter of life or death. If the people didn’t keep the covenant their blood or life could be required of them. Sealing this covenant between Himself and the Israelites in blood showed how serious the Lord was in demanding their obedience. We saw this same symbolism in the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 15. Both parties walked through a line of severed animals symbolizing if the covenant was broken, they deserved to be severed just like the sacrificed animals.

The Lord knew that the people could not completely obey His covenant so at the same time the blood was a sign of His mercy. It was the way for them to be reconciled to Himself when they sinned. Moses’ words, “This is the blood of the covenant” should cause us to remember Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross. Matthew 26:28 says, (Jesus is talking) “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” It is only by Jesus’s shed blood on the cross that we can enter into an intimate covenantal relationship with God (Big Idea). The only way to be saved, to be forgiven, to have a right relationship with God, and ultimately to get to Heaven, is by the blood of Jesus Christ. His blood must be applied directly to our sins. Hebrews 9:21-22 says that we must be “sprinkled with blood” because without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins. And if our sins are not forgiven, we can’t be in relationship with God, we can’t draw near to Him. The only way to be in an intimate, covenantal relationship with the One True and Living God is to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and then you can enter in. Maybe you have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and the Lord God of the universe is speaking to you right now. Maybe in your spirit right now you know that you need a relationship with Jesus. That feeling is so strong that you realize you need to make that decision this morning. That brings us to our second next step which is Accept Jesus as my Savior and enter into an intimate covenantal relationship with Him.

That brings us to our third point, Covenant Meal, found in Exodus 24:9-11. This is what God’s Word says, “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.”

This has got to be one of the most spectacular scenes in all of God’s Word. We are told twice that the leaders of Israel, “saw” or “beheld” God and lived to tell about it. Currid writes, “The verb translated ‘beheld’ is not the normal Hebrew word meaning ‘to see.’ It is a stronger, more intense term.” These men fixed their gaze upon God. This was God in his grace and mercy giving Israel a glimpse of the intimate relationship they could have if they were obedient. Intimacy always was and is the goal of God’s covenant with His people.

Later in Exodus 33:20, God will tell Moses that “no one can see me and live” so we don’t know exactly what they saw. Moses, again in Exodus 33, was only allowed to see God’s “back” and that was it. Here it seems like they were allowed to see God’s feet because they tried to describe what was underneath. But this picture was not definitive as they saw “something like” pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky. Sapphire, or as Ezekiel 1:26 calls it, “lapis lazuli”, describes the “throne room” of God in Ezekiel’s vision. “Clear as the sky itself” suggests there were no imperfections and “clear” literally means “cleansed.” It is possible that when they “saw” God they were bowed down, prostrate at His feet in worship. It is also possible that they were looking up at God from underneath and could only see his feet and what he was standing on. No matter the perspective, it could not be adequately described by Moses. It was the most spectacular thing any of them had ever seen or for some of them would ever see again. These leaders of God’s people were granted the extraordinary privilege of seeing God’s glory and majesty.

Moses and the elders started at a distance separated from God by their sin. God invited them into a covenant with himself, gave them His Word, atoned for their sin and brought them into His presence where they saw Him. Ryken says, “It was a foretaste of Heaven.” This is also the story of our salvation. We were separated from God by our sin, God atoned for our sin through the blood of his son Jesus Christ, the blood of the covenant and one day we will be welcomed into heaven, into his presence and we will see the Lord face-to-face. We are told a few more things in verse 11. First, God did not “raise His hand against the leaders of the Israelites.” “To raise his hand” meant to bring judgment on them. There would be no judgment meaning death, because God had cleansed and invited these men into His presence. So why did Moses mention this? I think God didn’t want His people to take his presence for granted. This was special permission given by Him for these specific representatives and He didn’t want later Israelites to believe that it was ok to approach without the proper preparation. Just like the covenant, this special presence of the Lord had to be initiated by Him.

Next, we see that these leaders were given another special privilege and one that I do not want us to miss this morning. It says they ate and drank with God. We don’t know what they ate and drank. Maybe it was the “fellowship” offering that was sacrificed earlier. Maybe it was bread and wine. Whatever it was, after the covenant was signed and sealed, they partook of a covenant meal which delivered the covenant to God’s people. It was common for those entering into a covenant together to share a meal. We see this with Isaac and Abimelech in Genesis 26:30 and with Jacob and Laban in Genesis 31:46. The theme of eating and drinking with God runs all the way through Scripture. Abraham welcomed a divine angel into his tent for dinner in Genesis 18. King David said that the Lord prepared a table for him in Psalm 23:5a. We see the covenant meal here in Exodus, in the NT with the Lord’s Supper and in our partaking of Holy Communion and one day we will share in “the wedding supper of the Lamb” as seen in Revelation 19:9. The act of breaking bread is symbolic of friendship and relationship. This eating and drinking with God demonstrated that they had fellowship with and were at peace with Him. It symbolized the intimate covenantal relationship that the Lord wanted with His people. It connected them to one another and was a powerful symbol of belonging. Yahweh was their God, and they were His people. The Bible often describes our relationship with God in terms of sharing a meal and these covenantal meals show us that God wants to be in an intimate covenantal relationship with us (Big Idea).

The power of a meal to bring people together is vividly portrayed in Babette’s Feast, a film set around a dinner table. In the film a master chef living as an exile from Paris in a small Danish fishing village spends her fortune preparing an elaborate feast. Although her guests are generally cantankerous and unkind, the feast forms the context for the restoration of old friendships, the rekindling of old loves, and the reconciliation of old enemies. Doesn’t that describe us? We as human beings are generally unkind and cantankerous at times especially without knowing Jesus and not having the Holy Spirit inside of us. We were enemies of God before we were saved and have been reconciled through the blood of the covenant, the blood of his son Jesus shed on the cross. And now as we are being sanctified, the Lord, Himself, invites us to sit down and eat and drink with him. He offers us this kind of intimate fellowship with himself.

Is this the kind of relationship that you have with God? Do you have such a close friendship with the Lord that it’s like sitting down to eat and drink with Him? As Christians, our relationship with the Lord can vary. It can be shallow going wide but never deep. It can be a relationship we try to manage on our own terms or think it depends on what we do and not on what God had done through Jesus. How tragic it is when God’s people settle for a lower level of relationship than what he wants with us. The God of the Universe is calling us to enter in His presence to eat and drink with Him. James 4:7-8 says this, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Let us be people who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Let us be people who strive to become more like Jesus every day. Let us strive to be holy as the Lord is holy. Let us be people who seek God and His table with our whole hearts and not settle for less of a relationship than He has called us to. That brings us to our third next step this morning which is to Seek the Lord with my whole heart and yearn for a full relationship with Him at His table.

As we wrap up this morning, it is this sitting at the table with Jesus, as a picture of our relationship with him, that excites me. Our relationship with Jesus is the most important relationship in our lives. This relationship takes dedication and work, as with a garden, it needs to be cultivated and tended, so that it will grow. If we only cultivate it on Sundays and Wednesdays, it will not be the full relationship we see in our passage this morning. It must be cultivated daily and it must go deep. It can’t be shallow if we are striving to live holy lives, set apart for God’s work in this world. So, I want you to think about, meditate and pray on your relationship with God this month. Think about the environment of your relationship with Jesus. Think about the table of your relationship. What does it look like? Is it full? Is it deep? Are you seeking after God with your whole heart? And we will come back to this picture in the near future.

As the praise team comes to lead us in a final song and the ushers prepare to collect the tithes and offerings, let’s pray: Dear Heavenly Father, your Word is living and eternal. Your Word says that Heaven and earth will pass away, but your words will not pass away. Lord, help us to be people of your Word. Lord, we want to affirm our obedience to you and your Word and be held accountable to your covenant with us. I pray that those who don’t know you will accept your son, Jesus as their Savior and enter into an intimate covenantal relationship with Him. And Lord I pray that we will all seek you with our whole hearts and yearn for a more intimate relationship with you where we linger with you at your table as you invite us to eat and drink with you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

November 10, 2024/by Office

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

Rescued Exodus Sunday Morning Marc Webb Loyal, Obedience, Worship

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

A three-year old boy was visiting his aunt overnight and he begged for the hall light to be left on and his bedroom door ajar when he went to bed. His aunt reminded him that he wasn’t afraid of the dark at home and he responded, “Yes, but there it’s my dark.”

How many people have ever been afraid of the dark? I didn’t look this up, but I would suspect that most younger kids, maybe ages ten and below, are afraid of the dark at one time or the other. I remember a time during those ages that I was afraid of the dark. I would get a running start up the stairs or make sure that I turned on certain lights to illuminate the darkest spaces in my house. As a teenager, I became comfortable in the dark, as I worked as a janitor in our church, and it got pretty dark there during the winter evenings. Then after graduating from high school, I worked from 11:00 pm to 7:00 am doing security for office buildings. We would never turn on all the lights, so I became comfortable in the dark. It kind of became my friend and not a place of fear, even when I was working alone. There was also a point where I came to trust the Lord to go before me and protect me from the dark or whatever fears I may have been experiencing.

We all have fears. The world is a dangerous place, and we can be so afraid that it can become debilitating. But the one constant is the presence of the Lord. Without the presence of the Lord in our lives we would not be able to stand up against the fears that Satan would throw against us. Darkness, or any other fear, can’t debilitate us because with the presence of the Lord in our lives, we make them our old friends. Am I still afraid of certain things? Like snakes and flying? Yes, but I know that if I had to fly or came across a snake, that I could turn to the Lord, in those times and my fear would lessen. The presence of the Lord makes the dark my dark and can make the dark your dark as well.

This morning, we are finishing up the Book of the Covenant. God has set before His people a long list of laws that he demands they obey, as their covenant God. He has redeemed them, saved them, and as they are on the precipice of the Promised Land, obedience is key. He gave them His law, now He will give them His presence. In our scripture this morning, God will send His special presence to be with them to guide and protect them, He will bless them as they worship Him and Him alone, and He will establish them in their Promised Place. But they aren’t going to be allowed to just sit back and watch it happen. In order for this to take place, God demanded that the Israelites give him their absolute and undying loyalty and obedience. The same is true for His people today. We are on the same journey as the Israelites. They were saved from slavery to Pharaoh. We have been saved from slavery to sin. They are on the way to their Promised Land. We are on our way to our eternal promised land, heaven. And as we journey on this earth, God has sent His special presence to be with us and to guide and protect us, He blesses us as we worship Him and Him alone and he has established a promised place for us in heaven. And while we are on this earth, in the process of sanctification or becoming more like Jesus, we are also called to an absolute, undying loyalty and obedience in and to the Lord. That brings us to our big idea this morning: God demands absolute, undying loyalty and obedience from His people.

Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day, your day that you have made. Help us to rejoice and be glad in it. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us as we learn from your Word. Show us what you want each of us to know and share with others. Let our words, actions and thoughts honor and glorify you during this time. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Our first point is, Presence, found in Exodus 23:20-23. This is what God’s Word says, “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.”

After setting all the laws before His people in the past two chapters, we would expect to see the Lord state an expectation of obedience to all the laws he commanded. But he doesn’t. Instead, he states he is going to provide an angel for them, and they would be expected to obey this angel he is sending to them. Before we talk about who the angel is, let’s talk about the angel’s role. The angel is to go ahead of the people to guard them along the way as he brings them to the place he has prepared for them. What is this place God has prepared for them? It is the Promised Land, the land of Canaan, promised to their forefathers.

What else do we learn about the angel from this passage? The angel has authority from God to command them. They are to pay attention to him, listen to what he says. The angel also has authority to forgive or not forgive their sins. They’re not to rebel against him and if they do, the angel will not forgive their rebellion. Also, God’s name is in the angel. God’s name is the very essence of who God is. It includes His character and attributes. They are to listen to what the angel says and do all that God says. This means that the words of the angel are the very words of God. If they are obedient to the commands of the angel, God promises to protect his covenant people from their enemies. The enemies of God’s people will become the enemies of God himself. The last thing we learn here about this angel is that he will wipe out those in the Promised Land that have come under God’s judgment for their sin and rebellion against Him. This angel is a warrior angel who will wipe out all the nations living in the Promised Land. They would no longer be counted among the nations of the earth. The list of six peoples occupying the Promised Land is not exhaustive but means that every nation in the Promised Land will be wiped out to make way for God’s chosen people.

Now that we’ve talked about what the angel is going to do, let’s talk about who the angel is. There are five possibilities put forth by the commentators. One, it could be the pillar of cloud and fire that has been leading them ever since they entered the wilderness. Two, it could just be a metaphor for the Lord’s guidance. Three, it could be a human being such as Moses or Joshua. Four, it could be an actual angel like Michael or Gabriel. Lastly, it could be the pre-incarnate Christ. When we take into account all the angel will do and how closely he is connected to God, I believe that the angel is the second person of the Trinity, the pre-incarnate Christ. Christ can forgive or not forgive sins, Christ is the very essence of God, with the same character and attributes. Jesus and the Father are one. The words of Jesus are the very words of God. We have already seen the pre-incarnate Christ at the burning bush. The pre-incarnate Christ was going to be with them, go ahead of them, guide and protect them and would deliver them to the Promised Land. They didn’t need to be afraid of anything along the way because God was with them. God made the dark their dark. They needed to pay attention to the angel, listen to the angel and obey the angel just as they would to God. He demanded absolute, undying loyalty and obedience from His people. (Big Idea).

That leads us to our second point, Promise, found in Exodus 23:24-30. This is what God’s Word says, “Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span. “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.”

We have seen over and over and over again what God wanted from His people. And we’ve seen that God knew what sin would plague His people in the Promised Land. Last week, I said we can know what is important to God by what he reiterates to His people and what is important to God should be important to us. He again warns them to not bow down before the Canaanite gods, to not worship them or follow their practices. God knew that the gods of the Canaanites would be enticing to the Israelites, so he warned them again. But he commanded them to do more than just abstain from bowing down, worshiping or following their practices. He demanded that they take an active role by demolishing the Canaanite gods and sacred stones. The Canaanites would set up stone monuments to their gods and would worship them and the Israelites were to completely destroy all symbols of pagan worship. This was so the Israelites would not be tempted to worship them. We have the same things in our culture today and even in our own lives that we need to demolish and break into pieces. What are the idols in your heart and in my heart that competes with God for our affections, our hearts, our time, our resources, our attention, and our love? The Lord demands our absolute, undying loyalty and obedience (Big Idea) and that means we must destroy all idols and sacred stones in our lives. That brings us to our first next step on the back of your communication card: Destroy the idols and sacred stones in my life that keep me from worshiping the one true God.

After warning them what not to worship, the Lord tells them who they are to worship. They are to worship Him, the Lord their God. Then he made covenant promises to them. If they would worship Him and Him alone, the Lord promised that His blessing would be on their food and water. He promised to take away sickness from among them. He promised that their women wouldn’t miscarry or be barren. And he promised them a full life span. These were essentially the same promises of blessing that God gave to Abraham in Genesis 12. These were also covenant promises meaning that if the Israelites kept the covenant, the Lord would keep these covenant promises that he just made to them. But if they didn’t keep the covenant, then the covenant promises would be forfeited. The same covenant promises would turn into covenant curses because of the people’s disobedience as we saw in Deuteronomy 28:1-15 that Jackie read for us.

After making covenant promises that affected the people and their well-being, he goes on to make covenant promises that would affect the Promised Land that he was giving to them. The Lord would send His terror and His hornet ahead of them into the Promised Land to confuse the enemy nations they would encounter. Their enemies would “turn their backs and run” and be driven from the land, out of their way. The Lord’s “terror” and “hornet” could be the angel He is sending ahead of them, or it could have been the Lord himself confusing their enemies as he did to the Egyptian army at the Red Sea. “Terror” refers to the dread that would overwhelm the Canaanites when they realized the Lord was fighting for the Israelites. “Hornets” refers to the fear and panic that would ensue. Think about what it would look like to see a group of people being attacked by a hive of angry hornets. That’s the picture.

The phrase “turn their backs and run” could mean that as the Israelites were coming into the Promised Land all they would see are the backs of their enemies running away from them in terror. Or another translation could be that the Israelites have their enemies by the neck meaning their enemies are in total submission to them implying total victory over them. Then the Lord explains to them how he will drive the Canaanites out. It will not happen immediately upon their arrival or even in a single year but little by little. There were a couple of reasons for this. First, if he drove all the Canaanite peoples out immediately upon their arrival the land would be desolate and wild animals would become too numerous for them. The last count we had of the Israelites was somewhere around one to two million people. The land that God was giving to them was about 1.2 million square miles which would be equivalent to the areas of Alaska, Texas and California. In 2010 it was estimated that 63 million people lived in those three states. If all of a sudden, those 63 million people were gone and replaced by 2 million people, it would become a desolate place, and wild animals would be roaming around. So, until the Israelites could grow in population it made perfect sense for God to drive the Canaanite peoples out little by little. This didn’t negate the promise that God had made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, it just made the land more effective for God’s chosen people. The Canaanite people would still be judged and still be driven out, it would just be done so the land promised to them would be healthy when they took full possession of it

That leads us to our third point, Place, found in Exodus 23:31-33. This is what God’s Word says, “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”

God has promised that his presence would be with His people and go ahead of them. He made covenant promises to them about their bodily health and the health of the land they would be inhabiting, as long as they kept their end of the covenant. Now, the Lord speaks to them about the specific place they would be inhabiting. He begins by spelling out the borders of the Promised Land he was giving them. Their land would stretch from the Red Sea in the south to the Mediterranean Sea in the west and from the desert in the east to the Euphrates River in the north. Then we see again that taking possession of the Promised Land meant taking action on their part. The Lord would give the people into the hands of the Israelites, and they would drive the Canaanites out before them. If they were obedient to the Lord this would be a simple process. If they weren’t obedient, it would be difficult to impossible.

Then the Lord closes the Book of the Covenant commanding them to not do certain things and tells them why they needed to obey these specific commands. First, they were to not make any covenants with the Canaanite peoples or their gods. In Middle Eastern culture when a covenant was made, the names of their gods were invoked as part of ratifying the covenant. If you remember last week, God commanded them to not invoke the names of other gods and to not let them be heard on their lips. We now see the reason why that command was important. If they were tempted to make a covenant with the people in the land, which they were commanded not to do, God had already commanded them against what would take place in making that treaty. God set these laws, these checks and balances before them, so that His people would live holy lives with absolute, undying loyalty and obedience to their covenant King. (Big Idea)

Second, they were not to let them live in their land. In Deuteronomy 20, they were to destroy every man, woman, child and animal as they went into the Promised Land. We may wonder why this was needed. It was because if they didn’t, the temptation to become like them instead of becoming more like their covenant King would be overwhelming and would cause them to sin against the Lord. They would worship the gods of the Canaanites instead of the one true God. God made us with what I call a God-shaped hole in our hearts. He made us to worship Him and if we decide not to worship God, it is guaranteed that we will worship something or someone else. This is why God warned them again and again and again against worshiping other gods. He knew that he made them to worship and by giving them the choice invariably many would choose other gods besides Himself. These other gods would be a snare or trap to God’s people. The Hebrew word for “snare” means not just falling into sin but falling into destruction. God knew that getting caught in the “snare or trap” of these false gods meant their destruction.

This is why our big idea is so important. If we aren’t as jealous for our God as he is for us, we will be tempted to follow after and worship every other god in the world. If we aren’t daily diligently seeking after the Lord, if we aren’t serious about our absolute and undying loyalty and obedience to the Lord, we will not only be tempted but will lose out to that temptation and sin every time. If we are not careful it can lead to our destruction. That brings us to our second next step on the back of your communication card: Not allow the gods of this world to be a snare to me in worshiping the one true God.

If we destroy the idols in our lives and if we don’t allow the gods of this world to ensnare us, we can fulfill our purpose to serve and worship the one true God. But we need to go deeper than that; we must be on guard daily against the attacks of the enemy. We must desperately want complete victory and not be satisfied with a partial victory. God adopted a zero-tolerance policy toward the Canaanites and their gods, and we must do the same with the gods of this world today. We can’t settle for a partial victory that stops short of our absolute, undying loyalty and obedience to Christ. (Big Idea) We may be tempted to think a little exposure to sin won’t harm us. It’s ok to look at a little pornography. Or it’s ok to have premarital sex. Or it’s ok to get a little drunk once in a while. Or it’s ok to cut corners at work sometimes. Or it’s ok to gossip or tell a little white lie when I have to. These little compromises trap us as Christians and before we know it we are indulging in bigger and bigger sins that can lead us to destruction.

When it comes to sin, we must adopt a no compromise and a zero-tolerance policy. We must tear down and destroy all temptation in our lives. That may mean not going to certain places, not being with certain friends, not entertaining certain ideas, conversations or desires. If we claim to follow Jesus Christ, we need to get rid of anything and everything that can become a snare or trap for us. Here are some questions every one of us should ask ourselves: What do I need to get rid of? What temptations do I need to avoid? What is keeping me from total obedience to Christ? If we don’t get rid of these things, we’ll be trapped. We need to remember that as Christians we are on the way to our eternal Promised Land. We are under the watchful care of our Guardian Savior—Jesus Christ—who has won the victory and whose kingdom is advancing little by little. There is no room for compromise. That brings us to our last next step this morning: Not settle for a partial victory that falls short of full obedience to Jesus Christ.

As the praise team comes to lead us in a final song and the ushers prepare to collect the tithes and offerings, let’s pray: Lord God, thank you for this opportunity to be in your Word this morning. I pray that each of us will take something new with us and share it with those we come in contact with this week. Help us by your Holy Spirit to destroy the idols and sacred stones in our lives that keep us from worshiping You. Help us to not allow the gods of this world to be a snare to us in worshiping You. And help us to not settle for a partial victory that falls short of full obedience to Jesus Christ. And Lord, help us to demand absolute, undying loyalty and obedience to you from ourselves. May we strive to be holy people, becoming more like your son, Jesus, every single day. In Jesus’s name, Amen

October 27, 2024/by Office

Getting the First Button Right

Rescued Exodus Sunday Morning Marc Webb Faith, Holiness, Righteousness, Sacrifice, Worship

Getting the First Button Right

Jimmy Johnson was a former college football head coach for the University of Miami and in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys. Johnson divorced his wife of 26 years when he left Miami to become the head coach for the Cowboys. He said he needed a wife while coaching on the college level for social functions and to show families that he would be looking out for their sons. In pro football, however, she was an unnecessary accouterment and a distraction to winning. He said winning football was his number one priority and his two sons second. In contrast to this, Tom Landry, another former head coach of the Dallas Cowboys said, "The thrill of knowing Jesus is the greatest thing that ever happened to me ... I think God has put me in a very special place, and He expects me to use it to His glory in everything I do ... whether coaching football or talking to the press, I'm always a Christian ... Christ is first, family second and football third." How tragic it is when we put ourselves and what we want first instead of the Lord. And how awesome it is when we put Him first before ourselves, others and all things.

“Firsts” are important to God. Remember, in the First Commandment, God said, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Clearly, He wants to be ahead of everything else in your life. He wants you to put Him before your church, your job, your money, your “things,” even your spouse and children. He wants to be your number one priority. Many people miss out on receiving the blessings God has planned for them simply because they do not put Him first. So, the question before us all this morning is, “What about you and me?” What – or who – is first in our lives? Each of us would do well to honestly ponder that question and do some soul searching to see if we are putting God first in all things or are we putting other things or persons first in our lives. Not putting God first is like buttoning your coat incorrectly: if you get the first button wrong, all the others will be wrong. The good news is when you get the first button right, all the others will line up, too. As you put God first, everything else in your life will begin to line up as well.

In our scripture this morning, we continue in Exodus 23 and the Book of the Covenant, which are the laws that God set forth before the Israelites to help them be more connected to him and to each other in the covenant community. In our scripture this morning God will set forth laws involving their work and their worship. In the middle, he will command them to obey everything he has said to them and will again warn them to not have any other gods before Him. He wants them and us to put him first all things which brings us to our big idea that God demands that His people put Him first.

Let’s Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for another day where we, as your church, have gathered in praise and worship to the one and only true Sovereign Lord and God. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us as we hear and apply your Word this morning. Lord, help us all to have a hunger and thirst for righteousness and to grow spiritually by being in your Word and obeying it daily. May we take becoming more like Jesus seriously as we pray for revival and spiritual awakening in our community, our church and our lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

There are two points this morning, the first is Work, found in Exodus 23:10-13. This is what God’s Word says, “For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove. “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed. “Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.”

Last week, Bob taught us from Exodus 23:1-9, which involved laws concerning justice and mercy. We learned that God wants his people to tell the truth, to be just and to be compassionate in their dealings with each other. Bob posed some questions that he challenged us to think about; questions which would help us to understand how to live in community with each other and to help us to realize whether or not we are living holy lives and becoming more like Jesus every day. Today, we continue the theme of compassion and holiness as God sets forth laws involving work and worship. By setting forth laws involving these two extremes, God is demanding that his people put him first in everything they do.

First, God sets forth laws which flesh out the fourth commandment – Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. The first law is about what is called the Sabbath year. For six years the Israelites were to sow their fields, vineyards and olive groves and reap their harvests. Then every seventh year they were to let their land go unplowed and unused, meaning they were not to sow and reap but just let the land grow wild. Why did God want them to do this? God wanted them to do this so that the poor people in the community would have plenty to eat. But God not only cared and was concerned with the poor in the community he also cared and was concerned about the wild animals. This was God’s attribute of compassion showing forth to those human beings and animals who were most vulnerable in the covenant community when it came to having enough to eat.

The second law continues the theme of Sabbath and compassion. God reiterates the Sabbath week which he first introduced to the Israelites back in Exodus 16 when God gave his people manna to eat in the wilderness. Exodus 16:29 says, “Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” He further fleshed it out in the fifth commandment in Exodus 20:8-11 which says, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Now, the Lord commands the Sabbath for the third time. When God reiterates something again and again, we need to take notice because it means it is important to God and should also be important to us. The word Sabbath means “to rest.” God modeled this Sabbath rest back at creation when he rested on the seventh day after creating the world in six days. God created our bodies, and he knew that we needed a sabbath rhythm in order to function properly in the world he created for us. But the sabbath day wasn’t just for his chosen people. His compassionate care also extended to their animals, this time their work animals, their oxen and their donkeys. The sabbath day was to be a time that the people and their work animals rested from their labors.

Also, the slaves born in their households and the foreigners living among them were to observe the Sabbath in order to be refreshed, as well. MacKay says, “The word for ‘refreshed’ implies catching one’s breath, as well as regaining strength to go on.” The Israelites would have understood this need for a Sabbath rest after being oppressed in Egypt. Work was to stop on the Sabbath day so that God’s chosen people would take that time to worship Him and become closer connected to Him. Both the Sabbath year and week were to be times of rest and refreshment and included time to worship Him showing God’s compassion to them.

In the middle of our two points, God commands two things which is really the main point of the passage and reminds us of our big idea to put God first. One, they were to be careful to do everything he had said to them, meaning they were to obey every one of the laws in the Book of the Covenant that he was laying before them. Second, they were to have no other gods before him. Again, he has reiterated the second commandment a couple of times. What is important to God should be important to his people. So, we should take heed to have no other gods before him. But God took it even farther as he said they were to not even invoke the names of other gods meaning they were not to “cause other gods to be remembered.” This included speaking their names in everyday living, in worship and taking oaths in a court of law. If they heeded this command to do everything he said, to have no other gods before Him and to not even speak their names, they would be putting him first which is where Almighty God belonged in their lives and in ours (Big Idea). That brings us to our first next step this morning which is to Have no other gods before the Lord and to not even entertain other gods in my life.

That brings us to our second point, Worship, found in Exodus 23:14-19. This is what God’s Word says, “Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me. “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed. “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the first fruits of the crops you sow in your field. “Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field. “Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord. “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast. “The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning. “Bring the best of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

This section deals with worship and the special ways His chosen people were to appear before Him throughout the year. The theme of rhythm is continued in that three times a year they were to celebrate a festival to the Lord. If you remember in Exodus 5, this was the reason why Moses went to Pharaoh to ask him to let the Israelites go. It was so they could worship the Lord their God. Exodus 5:1 says, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, “Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.” God brought His people out of slavery in Egypt so they could worship him and him alone. God now sets forth laws concerning three festivals. It is important to note that they were non-negotiable. These were laws that as His chosen people they had to obey. By celebrating these festivals, they were acknowledging the Lord as their covenant king and thanking Him for his goodness to them in blessing the land.

The first law concerned the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This festival was commanded by the Lord back in Exodus 12 before God sent the Angel of Death to kill every firstborn of Egypt and before the Israelites were set free from slavery. Exodus 12:14 says, “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord – a lasting ordinance.” Then God reiterated how they were to celebrate this festival. They were to eat bread made without yeast for seven days, as he had commanded them back in Egypt. This festival was to commemorate their deliverance from Pharoah and to remember the Passover when God brought them out of slavery. God then told them they were to observe or keep this festival at the appointed time in the month of Aviv. Again, we learn from Exodus 12 that they were to celebrate this festival from the evening of the fourteenth to the evening of the twenty-first day of Aviv. They were to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread as a remembrance every year starting on the exact day of the month that the actual Passover took place. This was a continual reminder to every generation of Jewish persons of what God had done for their ancestors and for them. This festival would have come before any substantial harvest would have been seen so it would have been celebrated in faith that God would provide from the land for His people. But even though they hadn’t seen a substantial harvest they were still not to appear before God empty-handed. They were to appear before the Lord, meaning in His presence, either at the Tabernacle or the Temple, with the appropriate sacrifices.

The second law concerned the Festival of Harvest, which is also called the Festival of Weeks or Pentecost because it was celebrated seven weeks or the fiftieth day from the Sabbath beginning the Passover. It was celebrated in the month of Sivan or our May/June. This was a one-day festival that commemorated the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai and celebrated the harvest of the wheat and spelt. They were to celebrate this festival with the first fruits of their crops that they sowed in their fields. This festival was a celebration in recognition of his gift of the land to them. Again, it was an expression of faith in that it looked forward to a bountiful harvest as God promised to prosper them from the land he was giving to them. Trusting and having faith in the Lord to provide meant that they needed to bring their best to him right off the top.

The third law concerned the Festival of Ingathering which occurred at the end of the growing season when they gathered their crops from the field. This festival would be held in autumn, in the month of Tishri or our September/October, celebrating the harvest that God had provided for them. This festival was also known as the Festival of Tabernacles or Booths. It also lasted for seven days, during which the Israelites lived in booths made from tree branches, to commemorate the way their forefathers lived in the wilderness. So, like the Festival of Unleavened Bread, this festival looked back to God’s saving work in freeing them from slavery in Egypt. At this time their sacrifices came from their harvest of fruit, grapes and olives from their orchards and vineyards.

Then God again repeats the command from the beginning of this section with a slight variation: Three times a year all the men were to appear before their Sovereign Lord. “Sovereign” points to God’s authority as their Lord. This was in overt contrast to the Canaanite god, Baal, which means “master.” The Lord demanded absolute loyalty as the one who saved His people from slavery and provided for His people from the land. Also, these festivals required a serious time commitment from the people. Like the Sabbath, it showed that our lives don’t depend on what we do but on God’s favor toward His people. The Sabbath year and week and the three yearly festivals not only gave the people times of rest and refreshment but gave them opportunities to strengthen their faith in their Sovereign Lord. A stoppage of work every week, every seven years and three other times a year would help them to live in faith and by faith in their covenant God. Today, we don’t have the same stoppages as the Israelites, but we still need to live in and by faith in our Lord every single day. We need to trust in Him for all things. That brings us to our second next step which is to Live in and by faith in my Sovereign Lord.

The final four laws correspond to the three festivals in one way or the other and show us what kind of sacrifice is pleasing to God. It speaks to offering ourselves as living sacrifices to the Lord. The first law was to not offer the blood of a sacrifice to the Lord along with anything containing yeast. Blood represented the Lord’s gift of life and was to be sacrificed to him and him alone. For us, this means we can only come to God based on the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross. Also, the Israelites were forbidden to offer a sacrifice with yeast in it. Yeast was symbolic of impurity, corruption and sin, so when they brought their sacrifice, it was to not be corrupted with yeast or leaven. Leviticus 2:11 says, “Every grain offering you bring to the LORD must be made without yeast, for you are not to burn any yeast or honey in an offering made to the LORD by fire.” This law shows us that we must offer ourselves to God righteously or in the right way.

The second law was that the fat of the festival offerings was not to be kept until morning. The fat of the offering was the best of the offering and was only to be sacrificed to the Lord. To keep it overnight meant that it was not given to the Lord properly or wholeheartedly. It was to be given at the time of the offering and no leftovers were to be kept for themselves. We can do the same thing today. We can offer ourselves to the Lord half-heartedly by only giving him our leftovers. We worship Him on Sundays and Wednesdays but serve ourselves the rest of the week. We praise and worship him in church but never speak about our relationship with him to our friends. We try to please him in some areas of our lives but hold back pleasing Him in other areas. Ryken says, “But God says, “Don’t leave any fat on the altar. I want everything you have to offer, all the time.” The third law was that they were to bring the best of the first fruits of their soil to the house of the Lord their God. Again, this was the best of the best they had harvested, and God demanded their best as an offering to Him. God demands the best of our very best. He wants the best of our time and talents, the best of our work and worship, the best of our hearts and minds. This is also what it means to offer ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord.

Lastly, we have a weird or strange law from the Lord. Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. This law is repeated in Exodus 34:26 and Deuteronomy 14:21. Again what is repeated is important to God and should be important to us. A couple meanings of this law have been put forth by commentators. The first explanation is that it would be objectionable for the means of life to be used to cause death. The milk of the mother that would help the baby goat to grow is used to kill instead. The second explanation is probably more relevant. This was a Canaanite fertility ritual in which they would then sprinkle the milk on trees, plants, crops etc. thinking it would help them to grow. Of course this reinforces God’s laws against having other gods before him, invoking their names and practicing the pagan religion of the peoples living around them in the Promised Land. God wanted His people to rely on Him alone to provide for them from the land he had promised them and to offer themselves in worship to Him alone and not to other gods. Offering ourselves as living sacrifices means offering ourselves righteously, wholeheartedly and to God alone. That brings us to our third next step which is to Offer myself to the Lord, as a living sacrifice, righteously, wholeheartedly and to Him alone.

One woman who offered herself to God in this way was Betty Stam, a missionary to China who was martyred for her faith in Jesus Christ. Betty was forced to watch as the Communists brutally beheaded her husband, and then she herself was murdered in the same way. Yet God used her life and death to bring many people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. It all started when she was a young woman and offered herself to God as a living sacrifice. Here is her prayer—a prayer for pilgrims who have found God and want to give themselves wholeheartedly to him: “Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all utterly to thee, to be thine forever. Fill me and seal me with thy Holy Spirit. Use me as thou wilt. Send me where thou wilt, and work out thy whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever.” Let us be people who are willing to give up everything; to surrender everything to the Lord as living sacrifices to be used solely for his purposes and His will. Let us be people who get the first button right.

As Gene and Roxey come to lead us in a final hymn and the ushers prepare to collect the tithes and offerings, let’s pray: Lord God, thank you again for your Word. Thank you that it tells us about you and what you want from us as we live as your children on this earth. Through your Holy Spirit, help us to have no other gods before you and to not even entertain other gods in our lives. Help us to live every day in and by faith in you our Sovereign Lord. And help us daily offer ourselves to you, as a living sacrifice, righteously, wholeheartedly and to you alone. And finally help us to be people who get the first button right, putting you first in every area of our lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

October 20, 2024/by Office

Truth, Justice, and Compassion

Rescued Exodus Sunday Morning Bob Brubaker Compassion, Justice, Truth

Sermon Title. Truth, Justice, and Compassion

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Big Idea:- "God cares about our relationships with other people."

How might my attitudes break the commandments in Exodus 23?

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1 “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.

Do I need to be more careful about which stories I tell?

Do I need to check if they are really true?

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2 “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, 3 and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit.

Is there some group I want to belong to so much that I don't want to think too carefully about where they are headed?

Am I ready to stand alone for the truth?

Is there some group of people I am more inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to than others? Is this right?

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4 “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. 5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.

If I hear something false said that would lead to someone, even my enemy, losing their reputation, would I speak up with the truth?

If I see someone I dislike having trouble with something, do I offer to help them?

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6 “Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.

Am I reluctant to credit a "bad" person with having done something good?

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7 Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty

When I hear an accusation against someone, do I accept it at face value or do I ask if it is true?

Is there someone I need to reach out to today?

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8 “Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.

How many of the so-called good things of the world have I accepted, and how have they blinded my eyes to the truth?

In what ways does the desire for worldly things lead me to twist God's word in order to justify my having them?

Am I twisting something innocent because of what I can get out of it?

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9 “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

Am I as ready to help outsiders as I am to help those who I think belong?

Do I think about what I would feel if I were in the shoes of the one experiencing the results of my words or actions?

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Philippians 3: 12 - 14 "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

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October 13, 2024/by Office

On Our Best Behavior

Rescued Exodus Sunday Morning Marc Webb Holiness, Justice, Provides, Worship

On Our Best Behavior

Most book lovers have a favorite spot to do their leisure reading. They like to read while lying on the beach, for example, or sitting at a sidewalk cafe. But almost no one does their leisure reading at a law library—not even lawyers. The shelves are weighed down with massive volumes, richly bound and embossed in gold. Lift one from the shelf, and one finds countless pages of legal regulations and judicial opinions, all printed in small type and carefully indexed. They are books people read when they have to, not because they want to. No doubt a lawyer would protest that the law has a beauty all its own. But an honest lawyer will admit that sometimes the law can be tedious. People often feel this way about the laws in the Bible. As legal codes go, the Old Testament law is relatively brief. The whole law can be bound in a slim paperback. But when most people read through it, they find it hard to concentrate. They get so little out of the law that they wonder whether it’s really worth the trouble.

But there are many good reasons to study the Old Testament law. It teaches us what God expects. It guides us into godliness. It exposes our sin and thus shows us our need for the gospel. But the law does something else that is very exciting: It reveals God’s character. This makes the Old Testament law different from any law code or book of court decisions. The law reveals the Lawgiver. We do not study it to find out what we have to do, but to know our God. And as we study and apply his law to our lives, we are conformed to his character. Also, every law on the list teaches us something about God, and together these laws show us how to live for his glory. That brings us to our big idea this morning which is God desires His people to reflect His character and live for His glory.

Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word and that we can open it up, read it and study it. Lord, you have given us your Word so that we can learn more about who you are and what you’ve done for us and how much you love us. Your Word also tells us how to live our lives on this earth. So, Lord, pour out your Holy Spirit on us as we read and study your Word this morning in order to know you more as you reveal yourself to us and help us to go out from this place in obedience living out what we have read and studied. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Our first point this morning is Consequences found in Exodus 22:16-20. This is what God’s Word says, “If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins. “Do not allow a sorceress to live.” “Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal is to be put to death.” “Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed.”

This first law is a connector between the property laws we studied last week and the social responsibility laws we will study this morning. This is because the consequences have to do with paying restitution. This law is about premarital sex between a man and a virgin girl. It is not a case of rape or the consequences for the male would have been to be put to death. It is a case of consensual sex on the part of the man and the woman. God gave this law to protect the girl and the rights of her father or family. Back then when a couple were to be married, the man would ask the girl’s father for his blessing. This was an important part of the process. The father had the right to refuse but if the man was of honorable character the father would probably give his permission.

They would then settle on the bride-price which was compensation to the father and family for the services of the daughter that would be lost once she was married. When a couple decided to get married it was assumed that both parties were sexually pure which would speak to their reputation and character. Premarital sex in the Israelite covenant community was not to happen. Sex was only to be a part of the marriage covenant. Neither a man nor a woman was to sleep around and have casual sex. If a man seduced a virgin, he had to do the right thing and marry her. In fact, the man didn’t have a choice. He would be required to marry the woman and pay the father the bride-price. This was a powerful incentive for the men to be on their best behavior and not seduce a virgin. But there was an exception to this law: the girl’s father could refuse to give his blessing, but the man would still have to pay the bride-price for her. The reason for this was because if the girl was not a virgin her marriage possibilities were lessened. But not having to pay the bride-price would have been an incentive for other men to ask for the father’s blessing in marrying his daughter. Ryken says, this law was “designed to promote godly patterns of courtship, marriage and sex, in that order. A real man of God could be trusted to preserve his own chastity and to protect the purity of women.” This is in keeping with the character of God. Because He is holy and pure, he wants us to preserve the purity of our sexuality. (Big Idea)

Next, we see three capital crimes in short, quick succession. The consequences for all three were the death penalty because they were an abomination to the Lord and attempted to substitute salvation in Yahweh with something else. Each of them involves false worship and kept the offender from salvation in the one true and living God. The first crime is being a sorceress. This was also true for a man who practiced sorcery as well. A sorcerer or sorceress told fortunes, communicated with the dead and practiced the occult which were absolutely forbidden in the covenant community. The pagan laws also punished sorcery with death, but they made an exception for what they called white magic. In Israel there was no distinction between black magic and white magic. They were both prohibited. When we go to a fortune-teller, visit a spirit shop or call the psychic hotline, we are trying to know our future apart from God’s will or trying to manipulate God’s will by using satanic powers. Doing these things gives Satan an opening to come into our hearts and minds and set up shop in our bodies and souls. When a person is involved in these practices, it keeps them from placing their faith in God alone and wanting to be in a relationship with Him. God wants us to trust in Him alone to know what His will is for each one of us. Leviticus 20:27 says, “A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death.” A sorcerer or sorceress was not allowed to live. They received the death penalty.

The second crime is so heinous we don’t even want to think about it: bestiality or having sex with an animal. This is deviant behavior and lowers God’s ultimate creation to the same level as the animals. It goes against the natural order of the world as God created it. This law was imposed because it was involved in the false worship of the pagan cultures around them. Their deities were portrayed participating in bestiality, and it was part of ritual pagan worship. Again, these practices substituted a false religion, a sexually based fertility religion, for a saving relationship with God. It was forbidden and the consequence was death. Leviticus 18:24-25 says, “Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you become defiled. Even the land was defiled; so, I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.” One of the reasons why the Canaanites and other peoples were to be destroyed, and the Promised land given to God’s chosen people, was because of these filthy practices. God did not want His chosen people to be contaminated by the false worship of their gods. This was an open act of rebellion against the authority of the covenant king and the penalty was death.

The third crime is idolatry, the worship and offering of a sacrifice to other gods besides the one true God. This was a direct violation of the first commandment: to have no other gods before the Lord. It was an open act of rebellion or treason for anyone in the covenant community to worship other gods. This crime again kept people from a saving relationship with God and eternal salvation through Him. The penalty for committing this crime was to be destroyed. The word used here for “death” is different from the other words used for death in the Book of the Covenant. Ryken says, “This word means surrendering something to God for the purpose of utter and complete destruction.” This is the same word used in the book of Joshua for the destruction of the men, women, children and animals of the Canaanites as they conquered the land. Anyone and anything potentially hostile to God was to be destroyed. Literally, the guilty person, their family, possessions, etc. were to be a whole burnt offering to God on His altar. This was a serious matter, and we realize why idol worship was Israel’s greatest temptation both in the wilderness and the Promised Land.

The Israelites didn’t stop worshiping the Lord; they just worshiped other gods alongside Him. This syncretism, or the worshiping other gods alongside the one true God, still gets us in trouble today. We try to worship God alongside money, power, other people, other religions, possessions, etc. It comes down to wanting to be our own god and do our own thing without someone else telling us how to behave or act. But as Christ-followers we must reflect the character of God and live for him and his glory not our own (Big Idea). This means not trying to control or manipulate God by using satanic powers, not violating the sanctity of his image in us by acting like animals and it means not worshiping other gods alongside Him. That brings us to our first next step on the back of your communication card this morning which is to worship no other gods alongside the one true God. Let us be people who only worship the one true and living God.

That brings us to our second point this morning, Compassion, found in Exodus 22:21-27. This is what God’s Word says, “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless. “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.”

What follows is three laws about how God’s people were to behave toward the disadvantaged and defenseless in the covenant community. The first law was a prohibition against mistreating or oppressing a foreigner. The word used for “oppress” literally means “to be squeezed” and can be used for all kinds of physical and psychological oppression. These would have been people who were living among the covenant community but were not natural born Jews. They didn’t have the rights of full citizens, such as ownership of land, or legal and political rights. They also didn’t have any family or clan support, they didn’t know the language, or the laws of the land which made them more likely to be exploited. They had no one to help them and no one to protect their rights.

Now these foreigners would have had to stop worshiping and sacrificing to their foreign gods, and this may be why this law was placed right after the laws prohibiting the practice of false religions around them. God wanted to make the distinction between foreign worship practices and the foreigners who lived among them. Reminds me of hate the sin and not the sinner. God’s covenant law required that His people behave properly toward the foreigners among them because this was the character of God. The Lord loves all people, even the foreigners who live among us, and He provides for them just as he provides for us. The Lord then gives the reason why they were to not mistreat or oppress the foreigner among them. It was because they knew what it was like to be a foreigner in Egypt. They knew what it meant to be in slavery and “squeezed” by physical and psychological oppression. God was reminding them of their time of slavery in Egypt and commanding them to be different when the shoe is on the other foot. But God knew human nature. He knew that when we are hurt by someone, in our humanness, we want to hurt someone else. So, he warned His people against the mistreatment of the foreigner among them. The mistreatment of foreigners was prevalent in pagan society and God demanded that His people be different and behave differently if they were going to be part of His holy, covenant people.

The second law was a prohibition against taking advantage of widows and orphans. These were the weakest and most vulnerable members of society in that day. They had no husbands or fathers to watch over them and to protect them or their welfare. Women could not own property and widows had no legal rights because they were normally represented by their husbands. If they were too old to work, they had no way to support themselves or get enough food to survive. A widow could end up being a slave working for virtually nothing. Orphans were in the same boat. If they had no inheritance, they could be forced to work for whatever someone would pay them. If they could not find work or no one took them into their home, they could starve or freeze to death. So, God made it the responsibility of the entire covenant community to care for the widows and orphans. He said they were not to be taken advantage of meaning they were not to be “abused, humiliated or afflicted” in any way.

Because of the seriousness of the plight of the widow and the orphan, this law came with a warning and a promise of punishment. God will “certainly” hear their cries just as He heard the cries of the Israelites in Egypt. This kind of behavior will not go unnoticed, and the same fate will await the Israelite oppressors that the Egyptian ones received. The Lord’s anger would be aroused, and he would kill them with the sword. These were covenant curses that God would bring against them meaning God would allow Israel’s enemies to attack and exterminate them from the face of the earth if they didn’t fulfill their responsibilities when it came to social justice. Their wives would become widows, and their children would become fatherless. This was divine lex talionis, an eye for an eye. If you oppressed widows and orphans, then you would expect to be punished by death and your wives and children became widows and orphans. This was not considered an individual act in the covenant community. The Lord would consider this injustice a matter of public concern, and the Lord would intervene and impose a punishment on the nation that fit the crime. Mackay says, this is an “impassioned expression of the Lord himself as he seeks to teach the people regarding the sort of conduct he expects from them and the penalties that will follow the disregard of his will.”

The third law commanded proper behavior toward the poor in the covenant community. The term “my people” shows that the Lord identified with all covenant people no matter their wealth or stature within the community. The Lord was teaching His people the correct behavior towards those in their community who have fallen on hard times. They were to be generous toward them and not to take advantage of them in their struggles. The righteous person would be willing to help them without question, being generous toward them and lending to them without charging interest of any kind. This kind of loan was to be given with the sole purpose of helping their neighbor in need. To make money from your neighbor’s needs would be immoral. But in Luke 6:35, Jesus commands His disciples to go even farther. He says, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.” Notice what Jesus is telling them. They are to lend without expecting to get back what they lent. The interest free loan now becomes a gift. If they did this for their enemies how much more should they do for their neighbors in the covenant community.

The next part of this law shows that the Lord was speaking about the poorest of the poor here. A pledge was collateral that the person would pay back the loan. If all the person had for collateral was their cloak, it meant that he was very poor and had to pretty much give everything they had to get the loan. The cloak was an outer garment that a person would have used to keep warm at night. Only someone in extreme poverty would have to stoop to such desperate measures. Normally, the lender could have kept the collateral until the loan was paid back but God commanded that they return the cloak to the person by sunset. This ensured not only that the person would be warm as they slept at night but that their health would not be put at risk. This law would also include any essential item, such as food, job, shelter, a family member, being put up as a pledge. The Lord wanted his people to act not on the letter of the law but in a spirit of concern for the good of their fellow human beings. The reason that we need to treat the poor with respect, kindness and compassion is because God is a compassionate God, and we are to reflect His character for His glory (Big Idea).

The standard and model for our behavior is the Lord. That is why these laws are not just for the judges to rule but for us to follow to become more like Him. A good measure of our moral character and our obedience to the one true and living God is how we treat the foreigner, the widow, the orphan and the poor. There was no welfare system in Israel. The covenant community was to take care of those who were the most in need of help. They were not to discriminate against them like the pagan peoples did but were to treat everyone like family. God’s people are called to a higher standard which reflects his compassionate character for all people. So how should we treat the outsider? How should we treat the one who is alone and unprotected? How should we treat the poor? If we are going to call ourselves Christ-followers, we must take responsibility to provide for those who are different from us, weaker than us and poorer than us. God has done these things for us at one time or the other and we must be willing to do the same for those who are in need. Ephesians 5:1 says, “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” We are called to imitate Christ and one way we can do that is to watch out and provide for the ones who are different from us, weaker than us and poorer than us. That brings us to our second next step which is to watch out and provide for those who are different from me, weaker than me and poorer than me.

Our third point is Consecration found in Exodus 22:28-31. This is what God’s Word says, “Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people. “Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. “You must give me the firstborn of your sons. Do the same with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days but give them to me on the eighth day. “You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs.

In the last section, God commanded His people how he wanted them to behave toward the less fortunate in the covenant community. In this section he commands them how they were to behave towards those more fortunate or higher than they were in the covenant community. They were to be “holy” people, totally consecrated and set apart for God and to His service. If they were living holy lives, it would be seen in their speech. Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” God cares about how we talk about him and others. In the first law, God addressed how they were to talk towards Him. They were not to “blaspheme” God. The word used here for “blaspheme” is the same word used in Exodus 21:17, talking about cursing father or mother. This was behaving disrespectfully toward the Lord. We owe the Lord honor and glory for who He is. He is sovereign, holy, just and the ruler over all things in heaven, on the earth and below the earth. To “blaspheme” God means making “light” of Him, disparaging Him, insulting Him, treating Him with contempt and refusing to accept His authority. Failing to acknowledge His glory and majesty is a sin against the third commandment “to not take His name in vain.” We owe one another compassion because all people are made in the image of God, and we owe God our total respect and honor because he is our awesome God.

Also, they were not to curse those whom God had put in charge over them. They were His delegates on the earth, and they were to respect them and behave properly toward them in their speech because they were divinely appointed by God himself. The word for “curse” means to usurp the authority given to them by God, and to take it for ourselves. Paul says this in Romans 13:1-2, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” Even though no punishment is mentioned here, if you “cursed” any authority in the covenant community you would be judged, and the punishment would probably be death as it was in Exodus 21:17.

What else did they owe God? The Israelites owed God the first fruits of their field and vineyards. They owed the best to their covenant Lord. The second law stated they were not to hold back these offerings from the Lord. We also owe God the first and best of our resources. We owe him the best of what we have because we love Him and want to obey him in all things and in every aspect of our lives. To “hold back” suggests that we should not delay in giving back to Him. Trapp says, “True obedience is prompt and present, ready and speedy, without demurs and consults.” After speaking to the covenant people about not withholding a poor man’s cloak, the Lord now speaks to them about not withholding from Him the first and best of what he has given to them. If it is wrong to withhold a person’s cloak at night, how much worse would it be to withhold the first and the best of our resources from Him? This would be a direct act of covenant defiance against their covenant King.

In the third law, God also required they give Him their firstborn sons and the firstborn of their cattle and sheep. This goes back to God’s commandment to the Israelites in Exodus 13:1-2 which says, “The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.” Israel was God’s own possession by right of creation and redemption. As a reminder of what he had done for them, he required his people to consecrate the firstborn of their sons and animals to him. The firstborn male sons were redeemed with a price which substituted for their lives. The firstborn animals were to stay with their mother for seven days before being given or sacrificed to the Lord on the eighth day. This would fatten the newborn animal making it more desirable as a sacrifice to the Lord and lessen the shock to the mother in losing their newborn too early. The “eighth day” was a precise length of time again reminding His people to not delay their offerings to him. It also reminded them of circumcision, which every male was required to have done, marking them as part of the covenant community. We are to be God’s holy people, set apart from the world to do His will in the world, offering ourselves and our resources to Him. Remarkable things happen in congregations and with individuals when there is a consecration of self and resources. That brings us to our third next step on the back of your communication card which is to Consecrate myself and my resources to the Lord to be used for His will.

The fourth law reiterates that the Israelites were to be God’s holy people and so they were not to eat meat of an animal torn apart by “wild beasts.” This was for a couple of reasons. One, it may have had blood still in it, which was forbidden to eat. Two, it could be contaminated by the heat and being left outside for a period of time which would make it a health concern. But these concerns were only part of it. Ryken says, “It was a matter of ritual purity. In order to teach his people how important it was for them to remain separated from sin, God distinguished between clean and unclean animals.” The food regulations were to be a perpetual symbolic reminder of their privileged status not just as individuals but as His covenant community. Meat that had been “torn by wild animals” was not fit to be eaten by His holy and consecrated people. It was only good to be fed to the dogs.

God wanted his people to be holy in every part of their life. He wanted them to have an uncompromising personal devotion to Him. This meant every day and in every aspect of their lives. 1 Peter 1:15-16 says, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” Mackay says, “This holiness was not arbitrary but derived from the character of God himself.” We are to become more like God and His son, Jesus. We are to be people whose whole lives are stamped with His character and lived for His glory (Big Idea). Our holiness is seen, by only worshiping the Lord, in our compassion for the foreigner, widow, orphan and the poor, in the way we handle our money with both our neighbors and our God and even in what we consume. God wants uncompromising and comprehensive holiness from us. He wants us to be holy in every aspect of our lives without exception.

Lord Melbourne, Queen Victoria’s first prime minister, is reported to have said that ‘if religion is going to invade a person’s private life, things have come to a pretty pass’. He was a well-intentioned and a good, even religious, man to the extent of attending church on Sunday, but he wanted his religion safely packed away in a box and kept there. The Book of the Covenant says that this is not an option. Like a dog, religion too is not just for Christmas, it is for life. True religion cannot be confined. The Lord demands entrance into every aspect of the life of his redeemed, and he looks to govern every aspect by his revealed truth. Let us be people who strive to live uncompromising and comprehensive holy lives every single day to the glory of God reflecting his character to the world around us. That brings us to our last next step on the back of your communication card which is to Live every aspect of my life with uncompromising and comprehensive holiness unto the Lord.

As Gene & Roxey come to lead us in a final hymn and the ushers prepare to collect the tithes and offerings, let’s pray: God, you are Holy and Sovereign, you are loving and compassionate and Lord we see your many attributes in Your Word and in your law. Thank you that you reveal your character in the law you gave to the Israelites and to us. Help us to reflect your character in our lives and live to glorify you daily. Lord, help us, through your Holy Spirit, strive to worship no other gods alongside You. Help us to watch out and provide for those who are different, weaker, and poorer than us. Help us to consecrate ourselves and our resources to you to be used for your will. And help to strive to live every aspect of our lives with uncompromising and comprehensive holiness. Thank you that you care enough about us to give us your Word. Go before us, guide us into all truth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

October 6, 2024/by Office

Making Things Right

Rescued Exodus Sunday Morning Marc Webb Holiness, Obedience, Service

MAKING THINGS RIGHT

In 2001 and 2002 American investors were stunned to watch a series of businesses falter after being exposed for fraudulent criminal activity. They were all major corporations—energy companies, accounting firms, pharmaceutical distributors, and telecommunications companies. These corporations had some of the best reputations in the business. Yet they were all caught breaking the law, and they all suffered the consequences. As federal investigators examined these companies, they discovered they were setting up false accounts, cheating on taxes, inflating their profits, lying about their losses, and generally violating the ethical standards of fair business. In almost every case the corruption went right to the top. The ones guilty of committing the corporate crime turned out to be leading executives. Most Americans took a certain amount of satisfaction from seeing them get what they deserved. In some cases, they had to go to jail and the reputations of these men were destroyed, but was justice really done? Most of their victims never got their money back. In one notorious case, employees who held stock in their own company were denied access to their retirement accounts. By the time they were allowed to sell, it was too late: The company had collapsed, the stock was almost worthless, and their life savings had all but disappeared. Meanwhile, the company’s top executives had been selling off their private holdings of company stock for a huge profit. When something like this happens, what does justice require? How should the victims be compensated? Should the wrongdoers simply be put in jail, or is there something else they should do to make things right?

The more we study the legal cases in Exodus, the clearer it becomes that God’s law is right and good. We would be wise to follow their general principles for justice. Sometimes thieves are thrown in jail, but they don’t always have to pay restitution. Or if they do, the fines are sometimes paid to the state rather than straight to the victim, as the law of Moses required. Corporate fraud is the perfect example. Even when crooked executives are found guilty their victims almost never get back what they’ve lost. But God’s property laws are different. It doesn’t demand jail time at all, but it does require thieves to pay back everything they owe. God’s law also requires restitution when people are negligent. Consider these examples. If your dog digs up your neighbor’s prize begonias, you need to replace them. If you are visiting a friend and knock over an antique vase, you need to pay for it. If you swing late on a fastball and the ball sails through a car window, you need to pay the repair bill. If you borrow a friend’s computer game and accidentally break it, you need to buy a new one. It is not enough to say, “Sorry! It was an accident” and then expect other people to pay for what we’ve done. An apology is a good start, but God’s justice demands that we make things right. It is our responsibility to repair whatever damage we do, whether we meant to do it or not.

To be in peace and harmony with our fellow human beings we need to be willing to accept responsibility and the consequences for our actions and be willing to make things right. God gave these laws, in the Book of the Covenant, for the express purpose of showing how His people could be in a right relationship with Himself and with others. We might consider these laws mundane and boring, but they were essential for His people to know and obey so they would be right with God and with each other in the covenant community. The same is true for us today. We have the laws of the land that we are supposed to obey and when we do, we can be in a right relationship with our fellow human beings and that goes a long way to being in a right relationship with the Lord which brings us to our big idea this morning that God desires that His people be willing to make things right with others. We can’t be in a right relationship with God if we are not in right relationship with each other. Things are going to happen in life. We may steal property from someone intentionally. We may be negligent and ruin the property of someone else. But peace and harmony can be had among our fellow human beings if we are willing to accept responsibility and the consequences for our actions and go the extra mile to make things right with them. And the added benefit is that we are doing what is pleasing to our holy and just God.

Before we unpack our scripture this morning, let’s pray: Dear Heavenly Father, we humbly come before you this morning asking that your Holy Spirit speak to us from your Word. We ask that your Word guide us, rebuke us, correct us and show us how to become more like your son, Jesus. We want to honor and glorify you with our thoughts, words and deeds and may your Word lead us to do that daily. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

There are three points this morning. The first point is Property Theft & Damage found in Exodus 22:1-6. This is what God’s Word says, “Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. “If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed. “Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft. If the stolen animal is found alive in their possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—they must pay back double. “If anyone grazes their livestock in a field or vineyard and lets them stray and they graze in someone else’s field, the offender must make restitution from the best of their own field or vineyard. “If a fire breaks out and spreads into thornbushes so that it burns shocks of grain or standing grain or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make restitution.

This section begins to flesh out the eighth word or commandment that God spoke to Israel, “You shall not steal.” He wanted to protect the sanctity of possessions. He has given human beings the right to own property and possessions, and no one has the right to take what is someone else’s in secret or by force. Everything belongs to God, and he has entrusted some things to each of us and we need to respect his distribution of all that belongs to him. When we steal from our neighbor, we steal what God has personally provided for someone else and so are actually stealing from God. We must trust that God is going to provide all that we need when we need it and so we don’t need to steal it from others. By keeping this command, the Israelites would have unity with each other within the covenant community. But what if someone broke this command? God put the following laws in place so that the offender could make things right and unity could be restored.

There are two things happening in this section. One is an intentional stealing of someone else’s property. Two, is negligence on the part of someone that causes property loss or damage for someone else. Case number one: someone steals an ox or sheep. The reason these laws were important was because to steal these animals was to take a person’s means of livelihood. It would be like if you were a carpenter, and all your tools were stolen. Now today, we may have insurance to get us back on our feet but back then it wasn’t so easy. They didn’t have insurance, and money wasn’t readily available to go out and buy more tools. So, to take a person’s livelihood had serious ramifications. Next, we see a contingency to the law: the thief has slaughtered or sold the stolen animal. This was considered worse than stealing the animal for your own use or having the animal found in your possession because if it was slaughtered or sold it could not be given back to its rightful owner. It also means that the theft was probably intentional. The consequences for stealing an ox or sheep and slaughtering or selling it was the paying of restitution to the owner. The consequence for the ox was five times what was stolen and the consequence for the sheep was four times what was stolen. The restitution for stealing a sheep was less because it was not necessarily a work animal, and the loss would be less substantial than that of an ox.

Case number two speaks to when the theft took place and what sort of defense of your property you were allowed to take. If the thief was caught stealing during the night and the owner struck them so they died, the owner wouldn’t be guilty of bloodshed because it was considered self-defense. But if the owner killed the thief in broad daylight, the owner would be guilty of bloodshed. Back then it was very dark at night. You may have had torches or candles burning but it was nothing like our civilization today. So, if you came across a thief at night there was no way to know if he was armed or what his intentions were toward you. You were allowed to defend yourself even using deadly force. But you were not allowed to use deadly force in the daylight for a couple of reasons. In the daylight you could see where the thief was and what he was doing. You could tell if he had a weapon or not, and you could call your neighbors to help you. All of these would have been more difficult at night. Plus, in the daylight you could probably identify the thief. If that was the case, you were to let the justice system take its course and not take things into your own hands.

If the thief was caught stealing but couldn’t pay restitution, they were to be sold into servitude until they could pay for their theft. He may have been sold to the person he stole from or to someone else who would have the means to pay out the restitution. The thief would be in servitude until he paid full restitution or until six years were up. Then we see another contingency to case number one: the stolen animal is found alive in the thief’s possession. The consequence then is two times what was stolen. This is because the animal could be returned to its rightful owner. Their livelihood may have been interrupted but it wasn’t destroyed. Paying two times restitution was the thief’s consequences for his actions. These laws showed that God is good and just, and his laws were more merciful than the laws of the pagan peoples in the land. In the pagan nations you could receive the death penalty for theft or for not being able to pay restitution. Also, the penalty varied depending on the social status of who was stolen from. Restitution could be anywhere from ten to thirty times what was stolen. God’s laws showed that even the life of a thief was important and sacred to God.

Next, the law turns to property damage that comes about by someone’s negligence. Case number one: a person’s livestock strays and grazes in another man’s field eating his grass, etc. This wouldn’t have been uncommon because there were no fences around their fields. A lot of times they would put thorn bushes on their property lines but that didn’t always keep the livestock from wandering. This was not intentional, but as the owner of the livestock, you had an obligation to carefully watch your animals to make sure they didn’t graze in your neighbor’s field. This was considered negligence on your part, and you had to pay restitution to your neighbor. Restitution was one to one meaning if the neighbor lost a bushel of something you had to pay back a bushel of the same thing that was lost but the negligent person had to pay restitution with the best he had of his field and vineyard.

Case number two: a fire breaks out in a person’s field and spreads to their neighbor’s field, and it damages the shocks of grain (grain already gathered), standing grain (grain not gathered) or the entire field. The person who started the fire is to take responsibility and pay one to one restitution of what was lost. Fires were common back then just as they can be today. Just think about the wildfires in California. Someone may have been burning their land to make it more fertile, or fires were known to break out in the thorn bushes that marked the property lines. No matter, the same consequences as the first case applies here. The person who started the fire or the person whose land the fire originated on would be considered negligent because he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing, and he had to make things right. (Big Idea). God required his people to be responsible for the indirect consequences of their actions toward their neighbor and their possessions.

This reminds me of a story. One Monday, I was burning stuff in a barrel in the back of our property, and I went inside the house for a few minutes. When I looked outside, a dead tree along our property line was engulfed in flames. I ran out and got the hose, but it wasn’t long enough. Our neighbor came over and brought his hose and helped. It took most of the night until I felt comfortable enough to leave and go back inside. I was negligent and could have paid a much higher price than I did. From what I understand, in Adams County, you are not allowed to burn on Mondays because it is considered wash day. If I had had to call the fire department, I would have been hit with a fine.

That brings us to our second point, Property Custody, found in Exodus 22:7-13. This is what God’s Word says, “If anyone gives a neighbor silver or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double. But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges, and they must determine whether the owner of the house has laid hands on the other person’s property. In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any other lost property about which somebody says, ‘This is mine,’ both parties are to bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges declare guilty must pay back double to the other. “If anyone gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep or any other animal to their neighbor for safekeeping and it dies or is injured or is taken away while no one is looking, the issue between them will be settled by the taking of an oath before the Lord that the neighbor did not lay hands on the other person’s property. The owner is to accept this, and no restitution is required. But if the animal was stolen from the neighbor, restitution must be made to the owner. If it was torn to pieces by a wild animal, the neighbor shall bring in the remains as evidence and shall not be required to pay for the torn animal.”

Property custody is talking about someone asking someone else to keep their property safe for some reason. They didn’t have banks back then so if you were going away for a period of time you may ask your neighbor to keep your property safe until you returned. The first case is of silver, or goods given to a neighbor for safekeeping that are stolen from the neighbor’s house. If the thief is caught with the stolen goods, he must pay back double, and the possessions are returned to the rightful owner. But if the thief is not found the next likely suspect becomes the neighbor who was given custody of the silver or goods. This person must appear before the judges, take a solemn oath and give his testimony. Based on this testimony, the judges would decide if he was guilty or not.

Case number two is someone accuses someone else of being in illegal possession of their property. This was considered a willful violation of a covenant obligation. Both parties say that the “possession” is theirs and their dispute goes before the judges. Both parties take solemn oaths, give testimony, and the judges make the final determination. Once the court has ruled, the guilty party is required to pay double restitution to his neighbor. There was no such thing as “finders’ keepers” in God’s covenant community. Case number three involves giving custody of an animal to a neighbor for safekeeping and the animal dies, is injured or taken away when no one was looking. The issue would be settled by taking an oath before the Lord. The person in whose custody the animal was in, must “swear” before the Lord that they had nothing criminal to do with what happened to the animal. MacKay says, the oath “uses the LORD, the covenant name of God, and would invoke on the party taking the oath the curse of God if what they claimed were untrue.” The owner would be obligated to accept this oath as proof that the custodian had nothing to do with the killing, injuring or stealing of their animal. And no restitution would be required from the custodian.

Case number four is an animal is “stolen” from the neighbor whose responsibility it was to watch the animal. The word “stolen” is emphatic meaning it was “certainly” stolen. The difference between this case and the previous one is that here the theft was witnessed by the custodian. The custodian would have been required to do all they could to keep the theft from happening. If the theft still took place, negligence would be assumed, and the custodian would be required to pay restitution. Case number five is an animal in the neighbor’s custody is torn apart by a wild animal. The neighbor was required to bring back as much of the dead animal as possible. This was to prove that the custodian did all that they could to save the neighbor’s property and to also prove that the custodian didn’t steal the animal themselves. If the proof was brought, no payment was required.

These laws showed that God required more from His people. He wanted them to go above and beyond when it came to dealing with their neighbors in the covenant community. This meant that the people of God needed to care more than just about themselves and their own welfare. They needed to care and be concerned for the welfare of their neighbors and for their possessions. If they damaged their neighbor’s property, they needed to be willing to make things right. (Big Idea) They were to treat their neighbors the way they wanted to be treated, and they were to treat their neighbor’s possessions the way they wanted their possessions to be treated. We need to do the same with our neighbors today, which brings us to the first next step on the back of your communication card: My next step is to Treat my neighbor and their possessions the way I want myself and my possessions to be treated.

That brings us to our last point, Property Borrowed, found in Exodus 22:14-15. This is what God’s Word says, “If anyone borrows an animal from their neighbor and it is injured or dies while the owner is not present, they must make restitution. But if the owner is with the animal, the borrower will not have to pay. If the animal was hired, the money paid for the hire covers the loss.”

Case number one is a borrowed animal being injured or dying while its owner is not present. If this is the case the borrower must pay one-to-one restitution, animal for animal. Case number two is if the owner of the animal is present when the borrowed animal is injured or dies. The borrower would not be required to pay restitution because the owner would know if there was any negligence on the part of the borrower or not. In case number one, there would be no way to know for sure, so the borrower had to accept responsibility and the consequences. Case number three is about someone hiring an animal and the animal is injured or dies. In this case, the person who hired the animal out would have been responsible to add in an “insurance” cost for just that contingency. That would cover the loss of the animal and the person who hired the animal would not have to pay any extra. If the person who hired the animal out didn’t include “insurance” in the price, then that was their loss.

The Old Testament property laws are useful for helping us get along with one another. These laws show us the righteous requirements of the law, but what about the grace of the Gospel? How do these property laws help us understand the gospel? Let’s consider the story of Zacchaeus found in Luke 19. Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector in Jericho. He was a thief because he swindled people by overcharging and underreporting on the taxes he collected. As Jesus was passing through Jericho, Zacchaeus wanted to see him. He had heard something about Jesus, his curiosity was aroused, and he was determined to see Jesus for himself. But the crowds were so large, and he was such a short man that he couldn’t get a good look at Jesus. So, he ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree. In verse 5, when Jesus saw Zacchaeus up in the tree, he said, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ Zacchaeus jumped down and “welcomed” Jesus, receiving him not only into his home, but also into his heart. In verse 10, it says that Jesus, the Son of Man, “came to seek and to save the lost.” This was what Jesus came to earth to do and he invited himself into the sinner, Zaccheaus’ life, and he responded with the obedience of faith. But now that Zacchaeus had accepted Jesus into his heart, he still had some spiritual work to do. He needed to repent of his sin; he needed to turn away from being a thief. For Zacchaeus, turning away from sin meant making things right with all the people he had cheated. And he promised to do this. He confessed his sin in verse 8b, saying, “If I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Zacchaeus must have known his Bible, because the idea of making restitution comes right out of Exodus 22. Now that he was in a right relationship with God, he needed to make things right with his fellow human beings so he could be in a right relationship with them as well. (Big Idea)

There is something significant about the promise Zacchaeus made. He told Jesus he would pay back four times as much as he had taken, which was more than the law required. Leviticus 6:4-5 says, “when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to them, or the lost property they found, or whatever it was they swore falsely about. They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering.” According to the book of Leviticus, if a man confessed a theft on his own initiative, he only had to give back what he had stolen plus one-fifth of its value. The regulations in Exodus 22 were only for people who got caught stealing, not for people who came forward to confess what they had done. This shows that people who admit their sin should be treated more leniently. Zacchaeus was paying back 400 percent when all he owed was 120 percent. This was much more than the law required. Then Zacchaeus went one step further. He was not content simply to make up for the sins of the past—he wanted to serve God right away, and he wanted to do it with his money—in the one area of his life where he was such a sinner. So he started emptying his pockets and said to Jesus, in Luke 19:8a, “Look, Lord! Here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor.”

God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior. Jesus offered his own life for our sins, dying on the cross to save us. If God has done all this for us, then what will we do for him? At the very least, we will give back what we have stolen and restore what we have damaged. But even more, we will give as much as we can to meet the needs of the poor and to spread the gospel around the world. It is good to stop stealing and better to pay back what we owe, but best of all is to give away what is ours for Jesus’ sake. Hopefully, we will never resort to stealing or be negligent in some way, but we can still respond to the Gospel of Jesus like Zacchaeus did. That brings us to our last next step this morning which is to Respond to the Gospel of Jesus by offering everything I am and have for God’s service.

As the praise team comes to lead us in a final song and the ushers prepare to collect the tithes and offering, let’s pray: Gracious God, thank you for being with us this morning as we have gathered to worship and praise you and give you glory for who you are and what you have done for us. Thank you again for your Word. May be dive deep into it daily for it is powerful, inspired by you and authoritative. Lord God, help us to be in a right relationship with you and with our neighbors. Help us to treat our neighbor and their possessions the way we want ourselves and our possessions to be treated. Help us to respond to the Gospel of Jesus by offering everything we are and everything we have for your service. And may all this be done to your honor, your worship, your praise and your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Opening: Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 720–721.

Closing: Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 729.

September 29, 2024/by Office

Justice Is Served

Rescued Exodus Sunday Morning Marc Webb Change, Consequences, Justice

Justice is Served

Consider the following news items: A man strangles a woman in her city apartment. A young girl vanishes from her home during the night, apparently abducted by a stranger. A homeowner is startled by an intruder, who in the ensuing scuffle strikes a fatal blow. A woman loses control of her ferocious dogs, and they maul a neighbor to death. Stories like these are in the news every day. Each of them raises serious questions about justice: Does a murderer deserve the death penalty? What is the proper sentence for a kidnapper? How much responsibility does someone have for an accidental death or an unintended injury? When does negligence become criminal? It is hard to find agreement on these questions. Just listen to the talk shows, where everyone has a different opinion. Although we all want justice, we don’t always agree on what justice requires. Not even our legal system has all the answers. A jury reaches a verdict, but the judge throws it out on a technicality. A judge makes a decision, only to have it overturned on appeal. In the end, we are left wondering whether justice has really been served. The Bible can help. It does not give us a complete code with regulations for every situation that might arise in every culture. However, it does provide a set of cases to help us understand the basic principles of divine justice. These legal cases are contained in the Book of the Covenant that God gave to Moses. Each case consists of both a crime and a punishment. The punishments God gave to Israel as a nation under his direct divine rule do not always apply today. Yet they still help us understand how to seek justice in an unjust world looking to see that justice is served.

The Israelites are still camped out at Mt. Sinai and Moses is on the mountain with God receiving the laws of the Book of the Covenant. God gave these laws to his people so they would know how to act and treat each other in the covenant community especially after they arrived in the Promised Land. The Lord wanted to regulate human behavior by protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty. He also wanted the punishment to fit the crime. He defines and sets the standard for what is justice and demands that his people and his laws are just as well. Fairness, justice, reconciliation and peace were all important to the Lord as he was birthing the nation of Israel, wanting them to be different from the pagan nations surrounding them.

Last week, the Lord introduced the Book of the Covenant by regulating how His people were to treat their male and female servants. They were to be treated fairly and with dignity as human beings made in the image of God. This morning, we are going to be introduced to case law involving death, assault and livestock. These laws are specific but not comprehensive and were to guide the judges in making proper rulings and handing down punishments. In some cases, they could determine what the punishment was to be but in others the punishments were non-negotiable. These laws showed God’s desire for His people to be fair and just and to take responsibility for their actions so that in the end peace and harmony could be achieved within the covenant community. Instead of engineering political, social and economic changes in our society, God desires to engineer an inner heart change in each one of His people which will then result in the changes he wants to see in our society. Our society as a whole will never be fair, just and responsible unless each one of us is inwardly changed by God. God can change the world if we allow him to change our hearts, each one of us, according to His purposes. That brings us to our big idea this morning that God desires to change the world by changing His people’s hearts.

Let’s Pray: Heavenly Father, as we open your Word this morning, we ask for you to open our hearts and minds and fill us with your Holy Spirit. We pray that your word would come alive for us and that all the words spoken would be honoring and glorifying to You. Draw us closer to yourself by the power of your word. In Your holy name, we pray, Amen.

Our first Point is, Cases Involving Death, found in Exodus 21:12-17. This is what God’s Word says, “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death. “Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be put to death.” “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.” “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.”

This section begins by fleshing out the sixth commandment, “You shall not murder,” by dealing with intentional and unintentional killing. These laws involving death show how important the sanctity of life was to the Lord. The general principle is if someone intentionally strikes and kills another person they are to be put to death. This is called premeditated murder, which is a deliberate scheming to take another’s life. It is pretty clear cut that in this case the punishment is the death penalty. Now we see our first mitigating circumstance. The person did not intentionally kill the other person, but God let it happen. This reminds us that God is sovereign and nothing in this world happens without him knowing it and being in control of it. If the killing was unintentional the offender was to flee to a place that God designated.

The place or places that the offender could flee was the altar or the “cities of refuge.” They were literally fleeing to where God’s presence dwelt and throwing themselves on His mercy. This could be the altars that were set up in the wilderness or the altar in the tabernacle once it was built. Later, once they were in the Promised Land, God would set up six “cities of refuge” where the offender could go. If the offender had not committed premeditated murder but instead it was an accidental death of some kind, they could go to the altar or a city of refuge where they would have asylum until the judges or courts could hear and try their case. The reason this was needed was because of the blood-feuds that were prevalent at that time. The members of a family or tribe had the responsibility to punish anybody who wronged a member of their family or tribe especially in cases of murder. If at trial the offender was found guilty of premeditated murder, they would be taken from God’s altar and be put to death. There was no place you could hide, even at God’s altar, where His punishment would not reach you.

Next, we see the fleshing out of the fifth commandment to “honor your father and your mother.” After the sanctity of life came the sanctity of the family in importance. The family was the backbone of the community and so anything that destroyed the fabric of the community was condemned by God. If anyone attacked their father and or mother, they were sentenced to the death penalty. This included murder and even attempted murder. This showed a contempt and disrespect for those whom God had put in authority over them. This was not honoring their parents and their punishment was death. It is important to see that fathers and mothers were considered equals. The next scenario is someone who kidnaps another person for the purpose of selling them into slavery. Slavery, as we know it, was outlawed by God with this law. If you were caught dealing in slavery at any level, as a middleman or slave owner, you were subject to the death penalty. In other cultures, it would only have been a capital crime if the nobility was kidnapped. To God all human beings were made in His image and as such were sacred, no matter their status. God desires that His people are to be different from the pagan cultures around them.

Next, we revisit the fifth commandment of honoring your father and mother. If anyone was even found guilty of “cursing” their father or mother, they received the death penalty. This would have been more than just lashing out in anger at their parents one time. This meant acting with total disrespect toward them, over a period of time. The word for “honor” means “heavy” or “weighty.” To honor one’s parents means to give due weight to their position and authority. To ‘curse’ them is to make “light” of them, disparaging them, insulting them, treating them with contempt and refusing to accept their authority. A child who is guilty of attacking or killing their parents physically or even attacking them with their words would be subject to the death penalty.

That brings us to our second point this morning, Cases Involving Assault, found in Exodus 21:18-27. This is what God’s Word says, “If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist and the victim does not die but is confined to bed, the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed. “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property. “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. “An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.”

This section on assaults shows four different cases. The first case is a quarrel between two people that starts with words and deteriorates into a physical fight. The fact that a stone or fist was used shows that it was not premeditated because there was no deliberate scheming beforehand. If one of the persons had died the other would have had to go and plead his case at the altar or a city of refuge. But in this case, one of them is hurt only enough to be confined to bed, meaning he has lost time at work and incurred medical bills. Because both parties were in the wrong, the one who struck the blow is not held responsible as long as the other does not die or is permanently disabled. But the one who caused the injury must pay for the others' lost work time and medical bills until they are completely healed. This again was more than what other cultures would award. The offender would have only had to pay the loss of earnings, not medical expenses.

The second case is about a master who beats a male or female slave with a rod, and they die as a direct result. This would include Hebrew servants and non-Hebrew slaves. Last week, we discussed masters and servants. Hebrews would sell themselves as servants because of poverty, being in debt or having to pay restitution. And in return they would receive room, board and a wage from their master. Also, non-Hebrew slaves were acquired by purchase or captured in war. The master had the right to discipline the servants and slaves working for him and the use of a rod was considered a non-lethal punishment. But the master had to be careful how severe his discipline was because even the life of a servant or slave was sacred to God. The punishment would have had to fit the crime meaning if the servant or slave died and there was intent or malice on the part of the master, they could receive the death penalty.

But if the servant or slave didn’t die, the master would not be punished. He would be given the benefit of the doubt in that he was just disciplining his servant and there was no intent to harm. Since the master had paid for the servant’s services they were considered “his property” or a more accurate translation of the Hebrew is they are “his money.” Because he relies on the servant or slave to work for him, the master would be a fool to cause them to not be able to work. The loss of work time and the medical costs to get them healthy enough to work again would be the punishment levied against the master. For Hebrew and non-Hebrew servants and slaves this law was a major upgrade from other cultures.

The third case is about a fight that causes injury to a third party or an innocent bystander. Using the scenario of the first case, a fight breaks out amongst two parties and an innocent bystander is injured. This describes an extreme case giving precedent for the less serious cases. In this case, the innocent bystander is a pregnant woman and due to getting hit during the fight she gives birth prematurely, but it seems that both mother and child are not seriously injured. The punishment would be a fine based on the demands of the husband of the injured woman and what the court would allow. In Hittite and Assyrian culture, the fines would have been based on social standing but not so in the Israelite community where all peoples were seen as equal in the eyes of God and the law.

Now what if the third party or innocent bystander died or was seriously injured. In the event of accidental death, the offender would go to the altar or a city of refuge and wait for the judge’s decision. But in the event of serious injury the judge could allow restitution which is what is meant by you to take life for life, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, etc. This is called the “lex talionis” or the “law of retribution.” But this doesn’t mean that if I caused your eye to be taken out that my eye would be taken out. It would be more accurate to call it the “law of equivalence” meaning that the punishment was to fit the crime. In pagan cultures, the punishment did not always fit the crime especially if you were a person of status or money. Non-Israelite laws allowed fines in cases involving a higher status person permanently injuring a lower status person. Stuart says, “Expressions like “eye for an eye” were understood to mean “a penalty that hurts the person who ruined someone else’s eye as much as he would be hurt if his own eye were actually ruined also.” The precise penalty was left up to the judges by talion law; it might involve anything from banishment to loss of property (and/or property rights) to punitive confinement to special financial penalties to corporal punishment to public humiliation, or to any combination of these.” Again, these laws and standards were fairer and more just than what the pagan nations around them were. By implementing these standards, God was first inwardly changing his people’s hearts to be fair and just in order to change the world (Big Idea).

The fourth case again revisits the humane treatment and provision for manservants and maid servants. Again, it carefully limits and regulates the master’s discipline of his servants. Two extremes, eye and tooth, are used to show that the master needed to have the best welfare of his servants in mind at all times. If the servant, because of the master’s discipline, lost anything as serious as an eye to anything least serious as a tooth, the slave must be freed. Think about this: a servant is freed to take their services elsewhere to a better master. And if this master gets to be known as too strict of a disciplinarian, causing injuries to his servants, he could also lose the services of others who might be looking for work. In both these ways the master is punished by losing whatever monetary benefits he would receive from having servants. The fact that in Israel, servants and slaves had legal and human rights, was unheard of in the cultures surrounding them.

This brings us to our third point, Cases Involving Livestock, found in Exodus 21:28-36. This is what God’s Word says, “If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death. However, if payment is demanded, the owner may redeem his life by the payment of whatever is demanded. This law also applies if the bull gores a son or daughter. If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death. “If anyone uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the one who opened the pit must pay the owner for the loss and take the dead animal in exchange. “If anyone’s bull injures someone else’s bull and it dies, the two parties are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally. However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and take the dead animal in exchange.

In that society most everyone was a farmer and used bulls, oxen and donkeys to plow their fields and carry goods, etc. These animals were expensive and dangerous, and each person had an obligation to not let these beasts get out of hand. The first case is about a bull who gores a man or a woman to death. The stipulation is that there has been no prior goring by the bull; this is the first time it has happened. Again, it doesn’t matter if it killed a male or a female, punishment for the bull and owner was the same no matter which sex was killed. The punishment for the bull was it was stoned to death. Death by stoning was a form of capital punishment for humans and so this showed that God was holding the bull responsible for its actions. In Genesis 9:5 we see these words, “And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.” God demanded that people and animals be held responsible for their actions. In the surrounding nations, people were held responsible, not animals. God wanted His people and their animals to treat others better than the nations around them did. God’s creation is always held to a higher standard. The owner of the first-time offending bull would not be held legally responsible but there was still a built-in consequence. The meat of the bull could not be eaten because it was now defiled because of its actions. The owner of the bull not only lost the services of the bull, but couldn’t even benefit from its meat or skin, etc. As bulls were expensive this would have been a hardship on the owner.

The next case is about a bull who is in the habit of goring people and the owner knew it and had been warned about it. If this bull kills a man or a woman, it now becomes negligence on behalf of the owner. The owner did not take proper responsibility for his property, and someone was killed. The bull must be stoned, and the owner could incur the death penalty because he knew the bull was dangerous and didn’t do enough to protect others. This would fall under unintentional or negligent homicide and the victim’s family or the court could demand payment from the owner. The owner’s life could be redeemed by paying whatever is demanded. The next case says that the same law applies if a son or daughter was gored to death. Everyone is granted the same status under the law, father, mother, son or daughter. In the surrounding cultures, if someone’s son or daughter was gored to death, the victim’s family could take revenge and demand the life of the son or daughter of the offender. Deuteronomy 24:16 says, “Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.” Again, we see that God’s laws are fairer and more just and merciful than the nations around them.

The next case is about a bull who gores a male or female servant/slave. We know that the servant has been killed because the bull is stoned to death. Now it is not mentioned here, but the bull’s owner would still be held liable as in the previous cases but there is also a third party involved. The master of the servant who was killed must be compensated. The compensation here is an extra thirty shekels of silver and was mandated by God instead of the courts. This was considered the standard price for a slave (blood-price) and interestingly the price that Judas betrayed Jesus for. The fact that the bull was put to death emphasizes the value of the slave’s life. To the Lord there was no difference between a free person and a servant or slave. The next case is about negligence involving a person’s property that causes harm to an animal. If someone dug a pit or uncovered a pit and didn’t cover it back up, and an ox or donkey fell into it, the owner of the land the pit is on is liable. These animals were vital in that society and expensive for the owner to replace. The animal had probably died or had to be put down because of its injuries. The owner of the land the pit is on must pay the owner of the dead animal compensation. The owner of the pit was allowed to take possession of the dead animal but only for its skin. According to Deuteronomy 14:21, they were not to eat anything they found that was already dead but since it wasn’t the offending party the carcass could still be used. Now it’s not mentioned here, but if a person was killed by falling in the pit, the owner would be held liable for an accidental or negligent death and a ruling would be handed down like the deaths by a goring bull previously.

The last set of cases mentioned are about animals involved in killing another animal. If two bulls were fighting and one died the two owners share the losses equally. The live bull would be sold and the owners would divide the money and the carcass of the dead bull equally. There would be no special liability for the owner whose bull killed the other bull. But again, if there was negligence, if it was known the bull had a habit of goring and the owner didn’t keep it penned up, the offending bull’s owner would have to compensate the other owner for the dead bull. The offending owner could then keep the carcass of the dead bull.

Again, this week we may be wondering how we can apply this scripture to our lives today. I believe there are three ways. First, our Lord is a just God and because justice is part of His character, he can never be unjust. Psalms 89:14 says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.” And Deuteronomy 32:4 says, “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” Because the Lord wants to change the world by first changing us, he desires us to be just as he is just. He wants us to cultivate His sense of fairness and justice in our lives, not our own. That brings us to our first next step which is to cultivate God’s fairness and justice in my life and not my own.

Next, in every case that we’ve studied, we see that God wants his people to take responsibility for their actions and accept the consequences for their actions. We see this whether we intentionally or unintentionally kill someone. We see this if an argument comes to blows or if an innocent bystander gets injured. We see this if our property causes death or injury. Again, because God wants to change the world by first changing us, he desires that His people accept responsibility and the consequences for their actions. That brings us to our second next step which is to accept the responsibility and the consequences for my actions.

Lastly, in order to cultivate the Lord’s fairness and justice in our lives and in order to accept responsibility and the consequences for our actions we must be changed. These attributes are not normally part of our sinful human nature. We must become more like Jesus, we must be connected to God, and we must allow Him to change our hearts from the inside out. The only way our church, community and the world can be changed is if each one of us individually allows God to change our hearts and we strive each and every day to live these attributes out. That brings us to our last next step which is to allow God to change my heart from the inside out using me to change the world.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this time that we have spent together learning more about you, your Word and worshiping your holy name. As we leave today, may we be committed to worshiping and serving you in our daily lives. Lord, show us ways that we can bless others each day and help us to share your Gospel with those we come in contact with. Fill us with your peace and joy and change our hearts from the inside out using each of us to change the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

September 8, 2024/by Office

40 Acres and a Mule

Rescued Exodus Sunday Morning Marc Webb Care, Concern, Love, Obedience, Protection, Provides, Sacrifice

Forty Acres and a Mule

In the final months of the Civil War, Union Army General William Tecumseh Sherman had a problem. He had marched 60,000 Union soldiers 285 miles from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia, striking fear into the Confederacy and landing a decisive blow for the Union. But along the march thousands of newly freed people began following Sherman’s army. Finding housing, employment, food, clothes, and medicine for the refugees soon became impossible. Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton decided to hold a meeting with a delegation of Savannah’s Black leaders to get their advice on what to do with the 10,000 formerly enslaved people now marching with Sherman’s army. Garrison Frazier, a Baptist minister and the group’s spokesman, made clear the demands of the freedmen and women: “The way we can best take care of ourselves is to have land.” Four days later, Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15. The order redistributed 400,000 abandoned acres of land, in 40-acre plots, to newly freed Black families. Later Sherman agreed to lend Black settlers army mules to work the land. This gave birth to the famous phrase “40 acres and a mule,” as a small reparation for years held in slavery.

40 Acres and a Mule remains the nation’s most famous attempt to provide some form of reparations for American slavery. Today, it is largely remembered as a broken promise and an abandoned step toward multiracial democracy. Less known is that the federal government actually did issue hundreds, perhaps thousands, of titles to specific plots of land between 4 and 40 acres. Freedmen and women built homes, established local governments, and farmed the land. But their utopia didn’t last long. After President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, his successor, Andrew Johnson, stripped property from formerly enslaved Black residents across the South and returned it to their past enslavers.

There were some who realized that after the horrors of slavery and the Civil War, it was important to care for the needs of the disadvantaged, the oppressed and the most vulnerable. As Christians we are called to look after those who are less fortunate than we are; those who are the most vulnerable in our society. James 1:27 gives us an example of this: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” This means we are to make sacrifices for the sake of those who are more vulnerable, for those who need us the most. This is true today but has also been true since the beginning of the human race. God has always cared for the most vulnerable such as Adam & Eve after they sinned, Hagar, Rahab, and even Cain after he killed Abel. Jesus took care of the woman with the issue of blood and in Luke 14 said to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind to a banquet. Psalm 82:3 says, “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.” God has always been about taking care of the vulnerable people in every age and he desires his followers to do the same.

This morning, we are going to start to look at what is called the Book of the Covenant. These laws, spelled out in the next three chapters, were intended to help the Israelite judges flesh out the principles of the Ten Commandments and to help make rulings and mete out punishment when the law was broken. These laws were not inclusive but were to be the pattern of proper morals and behavior that God wanted his covenant people to live out daily in community together. The Lord begins these laws or ordinances with a topic that hits close to home: slavery or servitude. He wanted to ensure that His people didn’t treat other people the way they were treated in Egypt. When the people cried out in their oppression in Egypt, the Lord heard them and was concerned for them. The Lord took notice of the less fortunate, the disadvantaged, the vulnerable and the oppressed and He showed love, care and concern for them. These ordinances on servitude showed His desire that the Israelites would do the same when they got to the Promised Land. And he wants His people today, us, to follow His example which brings us to our big idea this morning: God desires His people to show love, care and concern for the disadvantaged and vulnerable.

Let’s pray: Almighty God, your Word says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. We want to cultivate a reverent “fear of the Lord” this morning, so God we humbly ask that as we receive Your word, you would illuminate our hearts and minds with Your wisdom. May Your Spirit be present in this moment, leading us in understanding and application. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Our first point this morning is Male Servants found in Exodus 21:1-6. This is what God’s Word says, “These are the laws you are to set before them: “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free. “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.”

The Lord has spoken the Ten Commandments directly to His people. They chose Moses as their mediator between themselves and God, and Moses is now with God on Mt. Sinai. God gave Moses instructions about idols and altars and now he is going to set forth laws, the Book of the Covenant, that are to govern the day-to-day behavior in their community. These laws or judgments would guide decisions in settling disputes and become precedents for future rulings. This was unique in that no other nation had ever entered into a covenant with Almighty God. All other nations had made up their own code of laws, but Israel received them directly from the Lord. The Book of the Covenant was revealed to Moses and the Israelites just as the Ten Commandments were. These laws would become legally binding now that they were set authoritatively before the people by their Covenant God.

The Lord begins with laws about the buying of Hebrew servants. Even though some versions say “slaves,” the word the NIV uses, “servants,” is a closer Hebrew translation. The Lord wanted to remind His people where they had just come from and not to subject their fellow Israelites to that kind of treatment. God took steps to make sure that the servant/master relationships didn’t deteriorate into the exploitation of His chosen people in the Israelite community. By mandating proper treatment of a servant by their master, God was basically abolishing slavery in Israel. Also, the Lord will outlaw what we understand as “slavery” later in this chapter in verse 16: “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.” The Hebrew “servants” of that time were more like “indentured servants.” They were “workers” or “employees” who would enter into a contract with a “master, boss, or owner” to work under certain terms and conditions.

A “Hebrew” servant would have been considered a lower class than other Israelites because they were either poor, disadvantaged for some reason or vulnerable because of an infirmity or social standing. They would not have had the full rights of regular citizens but would have had more rights than a mere slave, who was foreign-born. In Israel, being in servitude was voluntary, no one could be forced into it. It was common for Israelite males to “sell” themselves into the service of another because of poverty, debt or having to pay restitution. The master would provide guaranteed pay, housing, food, and clothing. They realized the best way to get out of poverty, debt, etc. was to get on the job training and become a productive member of the community. In this way, servitude had a redemptive purpose. A parallel in our society today is more like our sports figures or the military. Stuart says, “Players are not actually the property of the team that “owns” them except as regards the exclusive right to their employment as players of that sport.” “When the law was properly followed, persons who were servants held their positions by reason of a formal contract that related primarily to the job that they had “signed up” to perform, for a period of time, much as one enlists in the military today.”

Also, in Israel, servitude was temporary. The servant’s tenure was six years and in the seventh year, the master had to let him go without payment. This was the Sabbath principle at work. The servant was able to go free to start life over in a better position than when he started serving his master. This kept any Israelite from being in perpetual servitude. Also, the master was not to send the servant away empty-handed but was to give them all they needed to start a new life. Deuteronomy 15:13-14 says, “And when you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. You shall give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you.” This was the equivalent of the “forty acres and a mule.” God was gracious to His people when they were oppressed, vulnerable and disadvantaged and he wanted His people to be gracious toward their fellow Israelites who found themselves in the same position in the Promised Land.

We notice that these laws were not inclusive but described certain situations that might arise. God weaved the principles found in the Ten Commandments into these laws he was now setting before the people. The first situation showed how much the Lord loved his people and the sanctity of marriage. When the servant was freed in the seventh year, he left with the people he came with. If he came alone, he left alone. If he came with a wife, he left with his wife. Slavery in America broke up families. Husbands and wives and children could be sold to whomever and lots of slave families never saw their father, mother, sons, daughters, brothers or sisters ever again. God’s regulations for masters/servants were designed to keep families together.

The second situation is about a servant who came into servitude unmarried but while in the service of his master, he was given a wife, and she bore him children. According to the law, the man would go free, but his wife and children would have to stay with the master. We might think this is unfair but in reality, it was a safeguard for the woman and her children. First, they were the master’s property. The woman was an indentured servant like the man and would have to work for six years before being freed. Second, we need to remember why the man was indentured in the first place. He was poor or in debt or making restitution. Hopefully, he would be able to take what he learned and earned to make a better life but that didn’t always happen. Sometimes the man would find himself in the same position as before. So, this was a safeguard for the entire family in case his new start didn’t work out. His wife and children would still have their room, board and wage. But if it did work out, then he would be able to buy his family’s freedom, and they would be reunited under their own roof.

We might ask ourselves, how are we to apply these laws and judgments today. Like the Israelites, we are not to use or exploit other human beings. This could take on many forms. For example, we exploit others by enabling them. If those in poverty, in debt or in need to pay restitution want to better themselves, we should be all for it. I think we understand that giving handouts can be more expensive than teaching someone to work. This is why I appreciate New Hope Ministries. They give food out to those who need it, but they also have services, such as job training and financial planning, to help people get back on their feet. These laws encompass a wide range of situations, so any and every way you can think of to use someone or exploit them, is wrong and against God’s commands. We must always be thinking about how we are treating our fellow human beings and not do anything to use or exploit them in any way. That brings us to our first next step which is to Not use or exploit my fellow human beings in any way.

Now the man had another alternative. Maybe he liked working for his master and was treated well. Maybe he realized that he could never make it on his own, especially with a wife and children. The man could “emphatically” declare before God and man his love for his master, wife and children and decide to stay working for his master. This was a legal transaction where the man was stating that he wanted to remain with his master for life. The idea was that he and his wife and children would become permanent members of the master’s family and have the benefits of that relationship. In a culture with so much poverty it had to seem like a better option than most. This arrangement had to go before the “judges” and be made legal so there was no suspicion of coercion. The word for “judge” can be translated “God” meaning that the master and the servant went to the sanctuary to confirm this agreement before the Lord. This kept the servant from making a rash decision and kept the master from being accused of not honoring the six-year contract. This decision was seen in a very physical and visible way. The master would take the servant to the doorpost of his house and pierce his ear with an awl. This very visible mark kept the servant from leaving and entering into a contract with someone else and reminded the master that he had an obligation to employ the servant and his family for life.

But it was also symbolic as the ear is the most important part of a servant’s body. To “listen and hear” was to obey. Ryken says, “By having his ear pierced, therefore, the servant was making a public commitment to do what his master said. The doorpost was also symbolic. Not only did it serve as a place for driving the awl, but it also showed that the servant was now attached to his master’s household. The doorpost was marked with the blood of a covenant between master and slave.” This form of servitude was totally voluntary and raises a few questions: Why would the servant do this? The answer is serving this master was not “slavery” but had become an act of love. What kind of master would provoke this type of love? A good, generous, loving and kind master who took care of his servant’s needs, treated him like a true family member and had his best interest at heart.

This decision teaches us about our special relationship with our heavenly father. In Psalms 40:6-8, David says, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” According to David, pleasing God meant more than simply offering a sacrifice for sin. It also meant doing what God says, obeying him the way a servant obeys the master he loves. To illustrate this, David referred to the ancient custom and compared himself to a servant who had his ear pierced. He had learned to hear and obey, offering himself in loving service to God. I also think it’s important to remember that we serve a Master who made himself our servant. Philippians 2:7 says, “rather, he (Christ) made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” And we see these words in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The words of David are the words of Jesus, and they should be our words too. Let us be people who learn to hear, obey and offer ourselves in loving service to God for life. Psalms 119:32 says, “I run in the path of your commands for you have set my heart free.” The only way we find true freedom is by becoming servants of the one true God. That brings us to our second next step which is to Hear, obey and offer my life in loving service to God for life.

That brings us our second point this morning, Female Servants, found in Exodus 21:7-11. This is what God’s Word says, “If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.

The first half of our scripture regulated what happened to male servants, and the second half regulated what happened to female servants. Culturally, we know that women had fewer rights than men. Women were disadvantaged and vulnerable in that society, so God made sure to protect his daughters from abuse and oppression. In this patriarchal society, the father had the right to determine what happened to those in his household. It was normal for the father to “sell” his daughter as a servant because of economic reasons or for marriage. If the family was poor this was one way to improve her situation with the hope of becoming a permanent member of another’s household. If a female was not a member of a household, she could be vulnerable to all kinds of danger (Big Idea). God was not trying to restrict them but protect them. These laws God set before the people were meant to protect His covenant people if they obeyed and punish His covenant people if they didn’t.

Remember these laws were not all inclusive of every situation that could arise. There are three situations being addressed here all with marriage in mind. The first situation is about a female who was sold by her father as a servant for the bride-price with the expectation of being married to her master. In view of being married, the relationship was a permanent one, and so the female servant would not be freed after six years. But God put safeguards in place as well. During the engagement period, if the female servant displeased her master, he could decide to terminate the marriage contract. He may have decided that she was not a good fit for marriage, but it could have been for some other reason as well. If this happened, the master could not simply put her out of his house. She still had rights, and he had to respect them. Interestingly, he was considered the one to have broken the contract, so his options were limited. God’s law provided the female servant specific protections in this situation. One, he must let her be redeemed, meaning the female servant’s family could buy her back with the bride-price. Two, in no way, could the master sell her to a foreigner, she must stay within the covenant community.

The next situation is about a female servant who the father selects to be married to his son. A female servant could gain her freedom by being married to the master’s son, giving her full rights as a daughter in the master’s family. The third situation is about a master who takes another wife. There were many reasons why this would take place, but the main idea was that large families were thought to be a blessing from God so this was a way to ensure that in the Jewish community. All of the master’s wives would be cared for, protected and treated as full members of the family. The master could not deprive any of his wives of three basic necessities: food, clothing and marital rights. In fact, he had to provide these in luxurious amounts, not just at a minimal level. Marital rights would have included sexual intimacy and the bearing of children. The covenant law tolerated second wives as long as they were treated equally in the family. One wife could not be treated as a second-class wife. If the master did not treat them all equally, the one treated unfairly could be freed from her master. She would be freed because the man had reneged on the terms of the marriage contract. She could leave and would not have to pay back the bride-price. One last thing, according to Deuteronomy 15:12, if the female servant was bought strictly to work for her master, she was afforded the same conditions as a male servant, allowed to be freed after six years. Again, God had the women’s best interest at heart. (Big Idea)

How can we apply this section to us today? It really speaks to us men, especially husbands and fathers. Fathers, we have an obligation to our families. To care for, provide for and protect them the best we can. Husbands, we have an obligation to take care of our wives on every level, physically, emotionally and spiritually. We have an obligation before God to provide for her. If we fail to provide, protect or give the proper physical expression of love to our wives, we violate the law of God. That brings us to our third next step this morning which is to Take care of my wife and family by providing, protecting and loving them in all the ways God directs.

The story is told of a visit Abraham Lincoln once made to a slave auction, where he was appalled to see the buying and selling of human beings: His heart was especially drawn to a young woman on the block whose story seemed to be told in her eyes. She looked with hatred and contempt on everyone around her. She had been used and abused all her life, and this time was but one more cruel humiliation. The bidding began, and Lincoln offered a bid. As other amounts were bid, he counter-bid with larger amounts until he won. When he paid the auctioneer the money and took title to the young woman, she stared at him with vicious contempt. She asked him what he was going to do next with her, and he said, “I’m going to set you free.” “Free?” she asked. “Free for what?” “Just free,” Lincoln answered. “Completely free.” “Free to do whatever I want to do?” “Yes,” he said. “Free to do whatever you want to do.” “Free to say whatever I want to say?” “Yes, free to say whatever you want to say.” “Free to go wherever I want to go?” she added with skepticism. Lincoln answered, “You are free to go anywhere you want to go.” “Then I’m going with you!” she said with a smile. Whether this story is fact or fiction, it shows us what it means to follow Jesus Christ. Anyone who trusts in Christ for salvation has been delivered from sin and death. Now we are free. Free for what? Free to say, “Jesus, I’m going with you!” Let us be people who follow Jesus and his teachings especially in how we love, care and are concerned for the disadvantaged and vulnerable around us.

As the ushers prepare to collect the tithes and offerings and Gene & Roxey come to lead us in a final hymn, let’s pray: Lord God, give us your eyes to see and your heart of love, care and concern for the disadvantaged and vulnerable in the communities around us. We thank you for your Word which tells us what you desire and require of us. Lord, help us to not use or exploit others in any way, help us to hear, obey and offer our lives in loving service to you for life and help us men to take care of our wives and families by providing, protecting and loving them in all the ways you direct. Thank you for this time together in your house. Let everything, we say, do and think this week, bring your honor, glory and praise. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Opening: “40 Acres and a Mule” Adam Sanchez; rethinkingschools.org

“40 Acres and a Lie” motherjones.com

Conclusion: Ryken Commentary on Exodus

September 1, 2024/by Office

Law & Order

Rescued Exodus Sunday Morning Marc Webb Confession, Holy Spirit, Obedience, Relationship with God, Worship

Law & Order

One time many years ago, the king of Hungary found himself depressed and unhappy. He sent for his brother, a good-natured but rather indifferent prince. The king said to him, "I am a great sinner; I fear to meet God." But the prince only laughed at him. This didn’t help the king’s disposition any. Though he was a believer, the king had gotten a glimpse of his guilt for the way he’d been living lately, and he seriously wanted help. In those days it was customary for the executioner to sound a trumpet before a man’s door at any hour, signaling that he was to be led to his death. The king sent the executioner in the dead of night to sound the fateful blast at his brother’s door. The prince realized with horror what was happening. Quickly dressing, he stepped to the door and was seized by the executioner and dragged pale and trembling into the king’s presence. In an agony of terror, he fell on his knees in front of his brother and begged to know how he had offended him. "My brother," answered the king, "if the sight of a human executioner is so terrible to you, shall not I, having grievously offended God, fear to be brought before the judgment seat of Christ?"

In our scripture this morning, this is right where the Israelite people are. In Exodus 19:5, the Lord says to the Israelites, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The Israelites all responded together: “We will do everything the Lord has said.” Then in chapter 20, the Lord came down to Mt. Sinai and gave them the Ten Commandments which were his law that the people needed to obey to keep the covenant and to be in a right relationship with Him. As they heard the Law, it caused them to be afraid, tremble and distance themselves from the Lord. The Israelites had made a promise to obey the Lord’s commands, but they now realized that they could never keep His law and would be subject to judgment. The King of Hungary and the Israelites realized they were sinners, they felt the weight of their sin and knew they were subject to judgment. As we will see this week, the people were not to be afraid but to “fear the Lord.” The proper response to God’s law is reverence and worship. And God is gracious with His people because he knows they will not be able to keep His law perfectly. And so, he will provide a way for them to be reconciled to him when they sin. He had redeemed them from slavery in Egypt, set them apart as his treasured possession and would now show them how they could draw close to Him in a faithful relationship with Himself.

The same is true for us today. We can’t keep the law perfectly either and we are subject to judgment. But Jesus, our perfect mediator, paid the penalty for our sin, and if we have accepted God’s free gift of salvation, we don’t need to fear His judgment. But do we truly understand the weight of our sin as the Israelites and the King of Hungary did? Do we tremble with a “fear of the Lord” because we have sinned against an Almighty and Holy God? The realization of the weight of our sin should not cause us to shrink farther and farther away from the Lord, as it did the Israelites, it should cause us to draw closer to Him and his son, Jesus, because Jesus is the only way that we can be reconciled to God. That brings us to our big idea this morning that God desires His people to draw close to Him. We will look at four ways we can draw close to the Lord: obedience, worshiping God alone, confessing our sins before the Lord and accepting Jesus as our perfect mediator.

Let’s pray: Heaven Father, give us eyes to see and ears to hear your Word and your Holy Spirit this morning. May we come humbly, seeking your wisdom and instruction for our daily lives. May we be open to your Spirit’s prompting and conviction this week as we strive to become more like your son, Jesus. In His precious and holy name, Amen.

Our first point is Test found in Exodus 20:18-21. This is what God’s Word says, “When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

I want to set the scene again from several weeks ago. Moses has prepared the people to meet with their God by consecrating them and washing their clothes. Then as the Lord came down to meet with them there was thunder and lightning with a thick cloud covering the mountain. There was also a loud trumpet blast. It was a raging storm of the presence of the Lord in their midst. Moses led the people to the foot of the mountain to meet the Lord and the mountain smoked as He descended it in fire. The mountain trembled violently, and the trumpet grew louder and louder. And then they heard the voice of God. They were terrified and trembled just as the mountain trembled. I mentioned back then that all of their senses were assaulted with what was happening around them. As we start to study our scripture this morning, we notice that all of their senses are still being assaulted. They still see the thunder and lightning; they still hear the trumpet and see the mountain covered in smoke and they are still trembling. The Hebrew word used here for “lightning” is not the same as the one used in Exodus 19:16 describing the storm when they met God at the foot of the mountain. The only other time this word is used by Moses in the Bible is in Genesis 15:17 when God made his covenant with Abraham. In Genesis it referred to the “torch” which passed through the animal carcasses that Abraham had cut in half. The “torch” in Genesis and the “lightning” here represented God’s physical presence with his people as he made His covenant with them.

We notice that something has changed with the proximity of the people from God. They started out at the foot of the mountain and now they are at a distance from it. It is possible that as each commandment blasted forth with its accompanying display of awesome splendor, the people probably backed up a little further until they were standing a good distance from the base of the mountain. The haughty, arrogant attitude that they displayed before God gave them the law was quickly replaced with terror, fear, and dread as they began to understand the holiness and awesomeness of God and to realize the weight of their sin. Interestingly, God kept telling Moses to warn the people not to come up the mountain but once He started speaking, they quickly retreated back the way they came. Clarke says, “… probably at the end of each command, there was a peal of thunder, a blast of the trumpet, and a gleam of lightning, to impress their hearts the more deeply with a due sense of the Divine Majesty, of the holiness of the law, which was now delivered, and of the fearful consequences of disobedience.” The Israelites were frightened by the total demand of God’s law and by the threat of His judgment. God was impressing His law and order on His chosen people. Law and order are defined as the safe, civil, and orderly functioning of society, viewed especially as a result of the enactment and strict enforcement of laws. God had given the law to the people so they would know how he wanted them to be connected to Him and to each other. These connections would allow them to function properly in community together and to bless the nations around them. He expected them to obey His Law and He would bring “order” as He instructs them in altars and sacrifice later in our scripture. God is a God of order, and we will see this today and in the following weeks as he also instructs them in enforcing His law.

There were three purposes for God giving them His law. One, the law revealed their sin proving that they couldn’t live up to God’s perfect standard. Two, the law was to keep them from sinning by threatening them with punishment. And three, the law was given so they would know what the Lord expected of them so they could obey it. The Israelites realized that because of God’s holiness and the weight of their sin they needed a mediator between themselves and the Lord. They asked Moses to speak to them himself instead of having God speak to them. This one encounter was too much for them as they realized they couldn’t keep his law and as such couldn’t stand in His presence, or they would die. The other thing they said to Moses was that if he spoke to them, they would listen. The word “to listen” means to obey. They were now accepting Moses as God’s mediator, promising to obey Moses and the Lord. Moses encourages them to not be afraid. They did not need to tremble in fear; instead they needed a “fear of the Lord,” a healthy, reverent awe and respect for Yahweh, the one true and living God. It was not God’s intention to kill them but to test them so that the “fear of God” would be with them to keep them from sinning. The word for “test” can be translated as “experience.” The reason the Lord came with thunder, lightning, a loud trumpet and smoke was because he wanted this experience to literally put the “fear of God” in them in order for them to understand the weight of their sin which was to keep them from sinning. As God’s mediator to His people, one of Moses’ roles was to encourage the people to obey the Lord’s commands. By being obedient to the Lord’s commands, they would be able to draw close to God instead of standing off at a distance (Big Idea) The same is true for us today. An understanding of the holiness and awesomeness of God and the weight of our sin should cause us to obey the Lord’s commands and keep us from punishment. That brings us to our first next step on the back of your communication card which is to Draw close to the Lord by being obedient to His laws.

Another one of Moses’ roles, as mediator, was to also approach God for them and we see this is what Moses did next. As the people remained at a distance from God, Moses approached the thick darkness where God was. He did this on behalf of God’s people so they would know how God wanted them to live their lives in obedience to Him, which will be spelled out more specifically starting in the next chapter. Now Moses was not the perfect mediator because he was a sinful human being just as they were. But he was God’s chosen mediator who was the forerunner of the perfect mediator, Jesus Christ. We will come back to Jesus as our perfect mediator at the end of the message.

That brings us to our second point, True Worship, found in Exodus 20:22-26. This is what God’s Word says, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven: Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold. “‘Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it. And do not go up to my altar on steps, or your private parts may be exposed.’

Moses is now in the presence of the Lord and He tells Moses how the people were to draw close to Him in true worship. Even though they do not want to draw close to God “physically,” they could still draw close to the Lord “spiritually.” True worship involves a combination of things they must do and things that must not be done. They were not to make any gods of silver and gold to be worshiped alongside God. The Lord reiterated a combination of the first two commandments reminding them that they have seen for themselves that he has spoken to them from heaven. This “seeing” God “speak” reinforces that they are not to make any gods to represent Him because they don’t know what he looks like. He had veiled Himself in smoke, so that they could not see His form. In fact, they couldn’t have looked upon Him and lived anyway. Pagan worshipers would make gods or idols so that the worshiper had easy access to the god anytime they wanted. This was idolatry and not the way God was to be worshiped. Mentioning the first two commandments, in this way, probably means that He was reminding them of all ten, but these two were of first importance. By mentioning not to make gods of silver and gold, the Lord was ruling out the making of gods with any substance. True worship starts with worshiping God and God alone and not making gods to represent Him.

This instruction was a warning to the Israelites to remember what they have just seen and heard. They were to remember to have a reverent “fear of the Lord” in order to keep them from sinning, especially the sin of making an idol to represent God and worshiping other gods beside Him. Why did he have to remind them of these commands? Because God knew His people. He knew what was going to take place later when they made and worshiped the golden calf. If they would heed God’s warning, they would draw closer to the Lord in obedience and worship. Have you ever been warned by the Holy Spirit to not sin? Or felt guilty after you have sinned? This is called being “convicted.” When you are drawing close to the Lord in obedience and worship the Holy Spirit is able to function as He should in your life. When we are drawing close to the Lord, the Holy Spirit will convict us to keep us from sin or convict us of our sin which leads us to confession and being put back into a right relationship with our Heavenly Father. Let us be people who draw close to the Lord daily and heed the warnings of the Holy Spirit in our lives. That brings us to our second next step which is Heed the warnings of the Holy Spirit, first, to keep me from sin and, second, to convict me of my sin.

After warning the people to remember to keep His commandments, the Lord gave Moses instructions about altars which would lead them into true worship of Himself. The Lord graciously instructed them in how they could be reconciled to Him after sinning against Him. Just think about how loving, gracious and merciful our God is. He wasn’t going to leave them in their sin, knowing that their sin separated them from Himself. Instead, knowing they couldn’t live up to His perfect standard, he instructed them on how they could draw close to Him again. (Big Idea) The way they were to do this was to make sacrifices to Him on an altar. Their altars were to be made of earth or stone and the stones could only be in their natural state; meaning they were to be made out of what God had created, not man. They were not allowed to use dressed stones meaning stones that had been shaped by tools. Dressed stones were used by pagan worshipers that had divine symbols or incantations chiseled in them. Also, they made ornate altars with dressed stones that became the object of worship as well as their gods. If the Israelites made their altars with dressed stones the altar would be defiled. This meant that the altar would be polluted and unfit for sacrifice to the Lord. The Israelites were to be different. Only God was to be worshiped, not any other gods and not the altars that were built to make sacrifices to Him.

The most important thing about the altar was to be what happened on it – the sacrifices offered for their sins. God instructed them in two kinds of sacrifices they were to make to Him and the animals that were to be used to make those sacrifices. They were to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. And they were to sacrifice their unblemished, perfect sheep, goats and cattle to the Lord. The burnt offering was given for the atonement of their sins. This offering was to be completely “burnt” to ash on the altar with its smoke rising to heaven. The fellowship offering was given to deal with their sin, but it also symbolized fellowship with God and being reconciled to Him. It is also called the peace offering because the Hebrew word comes from the word for “shalom” meaning peace. It was eaten in the presence of the Lord showing that the worshiper was put back into a right relationship with God, atonement having been made for their sin. By offering sacrifices on the altar, the worshiper confessed that they had sinned against God. In this way, the worshiper was able to draw close to the Lord in obedience and worship. Confession of sin is so important. When we sin and the Holy Spirit convicts us of that sin, we need to confess it. Today, we don’t sacrifice animals on an altar, but we are to come before the Lord confessing our sin and he forgives us based on what Jesus did for us on the cross. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” That is a promise that I have claimed in my own life and is a promise I hope you have claimed as well. That brings us to our third next step which is to Confess my sins allowing me to draw close to the Lord.

The Lord’s instructions for the altar and sacrifices were made in this moment because they were going to need to make atonement for their sins now that the law had been given. It was at these altars of earth and natural stone, that God would cause his name to be honored and where he would draw close to His chosen people and bless them. God's presence and blessings were not confined to a specific location or place of worship. Instead, God promises to be present and to bless his people wherever they seek to honor him and demonstrate their faith and devotion. Again, how gracious was this. The people, because of God’s holiness and the weight of their sin, had distanced themselves from the Lord, but the He would draw close to them, as they worshiped and sacrificed to Him in obedience.

The last verse may seem strange to us but again it speaks to the Israelites not worshiping in the same ways as the pagan peoples around them. First, the altar wasn’t to have steps. The pagan peoples would build altars with steps to show off or with the idea of getting closer to heaven and their gods. Think about the Tower of Babel. They tried to build a tower that would reach heaven so they could be with their god. We are not to reach up and put ourselves on the same plane as God. God is the one who comes down to us in his love, grace and mercy. Second, Canaanite worship was obscene and indecent. They would worship their gods in nakedness and with sexual immorality, but God demanded purity and decency in true worship of Himself. Later on, the Israelite priests were to wear linen undergarments to keep from being exposed in the presence of God.

“In his book “Written In Blood”, Robert Coleman tells the story of a little boy whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor explained that she had the same disease the boy had recovered from two years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor. "Would you give your blood to Mary?" the doctor asked. Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, for my sister." Soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room--Mary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met,

Johnny grinned. As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny's smile faded. He watched the blood flow through the tube. With the ordeal almost over, his voice, slightly shaky, broke the silence. "Doctor, when do I die?' Only then did the doctor realize why Johnny had hesitated, why his lip had trembled when he'd agreed to donate his blood. He thought giving his blood to his sister meant giving up his life. In that brief moment, he'd made his great decision. Johnny, fortunately, didn't have to die to save his sister. Each of us, however, has a condition more serious than Mary's, and it required Jesus to give not just His blood but His life.”

We are unable to enter into a relationship with God by ourselves because we have been cut off, alienated from God because of our sin, and in need of reconciliation. We are in need of a mediator. Moses was the mediator chosen by God to be the go-between for Him and His people. But Jesus is our perfect mediator because he was fully God and fully man and He did something that Moses couldn’t do which was live in perfect obedience to the law. The other thing Moses and the animal sacrifices couldn’t do was to make atonement for their sin once and for all. Jesus was the only perfect lamb of God who could make atonement for our sin. Jesus, as our perfect mediator, did three things for those who believe in Him. One, he received our death sentence. God’s standard is perfection, and His character is holy and according to His standard of justice, the soul that sins must die. Sin carries the sentence of spiritual death, eternal separation from God. Therefore, the only way that a sinful person can ever come to God is to have the penalty of his sin paid. The innocent one, Jesus, took the place of the guilty, each one of us, and the sentence of death was carried out.

Two, Jesus removed our sin by the shedding of His blood. Forgiveness demands blood. The great amount of blood that we see throughout Scripture is a reminder of the awful penalty of sin—which is death. The purpose of the blood was to bring cleansing from our sin. The only way we can enter into God’s presence is through the atoning death of Jesus Christ, made effective for us when we trust Him as Lord and Savior. Three, Jesus represents the sinner. As our faithful High Priest, He is in heaven now appearing in the presence of God on our behalf. When Jesus appears in the presence of God for us, He presents us in Himself, as He is. Now when we enter into the presence of God, the Father sees Jesus instead of us. He sees Christ’s righteousness, not our unrighteousness, He sees Christ’s sacrifice, not our sin and He sees Christ’s payment for our sin, not the penalty for our sin. That brings us to our last next step this morning which is to Accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, the perfect mediator between God and myself. Again, if you take that step this morning, please mark it on the back of your communication card so I can be in touch with you.

As the ushers prepare to collect the tithes and offerings and Gene and Roxey come to lead us in a final hymn, let’s pray: God, thank you for Your Word and Your son, Jesus. I thank you for making a way for us to be able to draw close to you and to be reconciled to you when we sin. Help us to be obedient to your Word. Help us to heed the warnings of your Spirit to keep us from sin and to convict us of our sin and lead us to confession of our sins before you. And Lord if there are those here who don’t know you as their Lord and Savior may they take that step of faith in accepting Jesus Christ as their perfect mediator between themselves and You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

OPENING: Ajai Prakash (Sermon Central)

CLOSING: “The Mediator (www.brandonware.org)

August 25, 2024/by Office

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