Circumstances Surrounding the Giving of the Law

Introduction: The Foundational Significance of the Ten Commandments

0:06 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday evening, November 19th, 1995, at the Trinity Baptist Church of Montville, New Jersey.

0:18 Now, for any of you who may be visiting with us this evening and were not with us this morning or last Lord's Day, let me say that in preparation for a series of studies in the Ten Commandments, we are considering some vital issues which are foundational to any responsible, accurate, and spiritually beneficial consideration of the moral law of God. And last Lord's Day, in the two introductory studies, I sought to establish one basic fact,

1:00 namely, that man, as created by God, is under an inescapable obligation to render to God perfect obedience.

1:17 And that obligation, we saw, had its ground in the creator-creature relationship, and the only way to escape that obligation is to uncreature yourself. That's the only way, and that you cannot do. And therefore...

1:36 Therefore, if you are determined not to render to God the obedience due to Him, and to embrace His way of finding forgiveness and pardon for your transgressions of that obligation, then in hell for all eternity, you'll simply run up an ever-increasing debt of unfulfilled obligation, the result of which will be... ...weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth forever.

2:13 And then this morning, we began to take up a second basic fact, namely, that the obedience which God requires of man is comprehensively summarized in the Ten Commandments. If man, as created by God, is under an inescapable obligation to render perfect obedience, ...is under an inescapable obligation to render perfect obedience,

2:37 ...is under an inescapable obligation to render perfect obedience, ...is under an inescapable obligation to render perfect obedience,

2:38 ...is under an inescapable obligation to render perfect obedience to God, where does man turn to find a comprehensive summary of that which God requires of him?

2:50 And the answer is that the obedience which God requires of man is comprehensively summarized in the Ten Commandments. And then we had time to look at only one category of biblical truths, ...and then we had time to look at only one category of biblical truths,

3:08 ...and then we had time to look at only one category of biblical truths, ...and then we had time to look at only one category of biblical truths,

3:09 ...and then we had time to look at only one category of biblical truths, ...and then we had time to look at only one category of biblical truths,

3:10 ...and then we had time to look at only one category of biblical truths, ...and then we had time to look at only one category of biblical truths,

3:11 ...and then we had time to look at only one category of biblical truths, ...and then we had time to look at only one category of biblical truths,

3:12 ...and then we had time to look at only one category of biblical truths, ...and then we had time to look at only one category of biblical truths,

3:13 ...and then we had time to look at only one category of biblical truths, evidence of the influence of the Ten Commandments in all men by nature. And we concentrated

3:22 our study upon Romans 1.32 and Romans 2 verses 14 and 15. Now tonight we take up the second category of biblical evidence to demonstrate that the obedience which God requires of man is comprehensively summarized in the Ten Commandments. And it is this, the unusual circumstances surrounding and following the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. For those of you

The Unusual Preparation Prescribed by God

4:01 taking notes, I'll run it by again. The unusual circumstances surrounding and following the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. Now those of you even familiar with your Bibles in a very cursory way will surely remember or be aware of the fact that the Ten Commandments are recorded in the midst of the most concentrated period of God's special revelation in human history since the creation of man. From the

4:44 time God created Adam and Eve until He constitutes this bunch of slaves a nation, after bringing them out of Egypt with an outstretched hand and by mighty power, there never was a period in human history when God gave such truckloads of special revelation, that is, where God revealed Himself in a manner that was so special and so powerful that it was impossible to be to be recorded for God's people and passed on to posterity. In the books of Exodus and Leviticus,

5:28 we have chapter after chapter after chapter where God is directly revealing through what He spoke to Moses, His will concerning every facet of the life and worship of the nation of Israel. Many chapters in the Book of Numbers, along with chapters that record historical settings of their wilderness wanderings. We have many chapters in Numbers that also give explicit directives to the people of God and the Book of Deuteronomy. The 2nd Law is indeed an entire book filled with more revelatory data, in which God EXPANDS him, gives usoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo clean armor, testing us.

6:12 So those of you who believe we are to be declarer and people and we see him following a plan. I wish you all a possa' to treasure these scriptures. So guys, it's a trip! Good night.

6:13 We'll see each other soon. Amen. 1 2 God is speaking directly to His people concerning the specifics of His will, touching both their civic life, their personal lives, and their religious life. And within those books of Moses, we have what are generally called the law of God, the civil law, the ceremonial law, and the moral law.

6:42 So we have these tremendously copious chapters of all of this data, and in the midst of all of that, in part of one chapter, Exodus 20, and in part of another chapter, Deuteronomy 5, we have the Ten Commandments. Now, with the Ten Commandments taking up just part of two of those dozens of chapters, are we to regard this? The Ten Commandments is having some special significance within the framework of all of that legislation delivered to the people of God

7:24 by God through the mediation of Moses. Are we right in lifting out just a part of Exodus 20 and a part of Deuteronomy 5 and exalting them to such a high position, as to state that they have a totally unique function among all the revelation that is given to us in the period of Moses? Now, that's no little question, and the implications is of no little importance. And what I wish to demonstrate tonight is that the Lord of history,

8:08 who reveals His mind not only by what He says, but by what He does and how He does it, has surrounded the giving of the law with unusual circumstances in order to underscore that the obedience He requires of man is comprehensively summarized in those ten words. And so buckle your seatbelts, belt with me, as we will be ranging through a number of passages which demonstrate in very explicit ways

8:51 six of the unusual circumstances surrounding and following the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. First of all, the unusual preparation prescribed by God. Turn, please, to Exodus chapter 19. The unusual preparation prescribed by God.

9:20 When God is about to give the Ten Commandments, He speaks to His servant Moses, and as they are there on the plain before Mount Sinai, beginning in verse 10, we read, And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, and be ready against the third day. For the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai.

10:03 And you shall set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that you go not up to the mount, or touch the border of it. Whosoever touches the mount shall surely be put to death. No hand shall touch it, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through, whether it be beast or man. He shall not live.

10:28 When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mount. And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people, and they washed their garments. And he said to the people, Be ready against the third day, come not near a woman. Now with reference to all of the other statutes, and all of the other directives that God gave, as recorded in the book of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, there is no other instance in which God demands of the entire nation this unique, this careful, this concentrated, this extended,

11:13 two-day preparation for what He was about to reveal in giving them the Ten Commandments. You see, God Himself was saying in essence to the nation,

11:29 Pay attention! Something special is about to happen. And to all of their senses, to the senses of sight, and sound, and touch, their physical appearance, and even their personal, intimate, sexual life, God was saying, something special is about to happen. Prepare yourself.

The Unusual Phenomena Produced by God

11:57 He is uniquely hedging up what is to happen on Mount Sinai by this unusual preparation which He Himself prescribes. But then there is a second, line of evidence of the unusual circumstances surrounding and giving, the giving and the subsequent actions with regard to the Ten Commandments, and that is the unusual phenomena produced by God. Not only unusual preparation prescribed by God, but the unusual phenomena

12:41 produced by God. Verse 16 of the same chapter, And it came to pass on the third day when it was morning. Now you kids imagine, there were little ones, toddlers, grade school kids, pre-teens, teens, young people, as well as adults, and you get up on the third morning, and this is what you encounter, that there were thunders and lightnings. Now I've never yet met a child, who was not fearful of thunder and lightning.

13:19 I can remember being almost paralyzed with fear until my mother said, Son, just think of the thunder as God moving furniture up in heaven. And then that took away my fears. And then as I got older, and especially as I became a Christian, I used to love to watch the lightning as a display of God's power, but thunder and lightning are frightening physical phenomena. When there is the kind of thunder that claps overhead and shakes the building, and the lightning is as though a hundred flash bulbs were going off in your face, just two feet from your eyeballs, it's a frightening thing.

14:00 And they get up that morning, and they are confronted with thunders, and lightning, and a thick cloud, not an ordinary cloud, but a thick cloud upon the mount. And then this strange thing, the voice of a trumpet, exceeding loud. How piercing is the ram's horn, translated here, the trumpet, the shofar, and yet so loud that no doubt everyone clasped his hands over his ears. Thunders, lightning, a thick cloud upon the mount, the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud.

14:44 And all the people that were in the camp trembled. Stout-hearted warriors, men who in a short time would be prepared to seek to defend family and life and wife, etc. Yet the entire camp of God's people trembled. Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God.

15:08 And they stood at the nether part of the mount, and Mount Sinai, the whole of it, smoked. Now the thing turns into like a smoking inferno. It smoked because the Lord descended upon it in fire. And the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace.

15:31 And then add to that the whole mountain quaked greatly. Not just quaked, but quaked greatly. Now put all of this together. Can you use your imagination?

15:45 You get up as any other morning. You've been making special preparations. God has led you to expect that something unusual is going to happen. But surely in your wildest dreams you never thought you would come to a morning marked by thunder, lightning, thick cloud, the blast of an exceeding loud trumpet, everyone trembling.

16:08 And to add to all of this, the mountain begins to smoke because the Lord descends upon it in fire. And the smoke ascends as the smoke of a furnace. And now the whole mountain begins to rock and to shake greatly. When the voice of the trumpet waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him by a voice.

16:34 And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai to the top of the mount. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain. Moses went up, and the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. And let the priests also that come near to the Lord sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them.

17:01 And Moses said unto the Lord, The people cannot come up to the Mount Sinai, for you did charge a saying. Set bounds about the mountain, sanctify it. And the Lord said unto him, Go, get down, and you shall come up, you and Aaron with you. But let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon them.

17:24 So Moses went down unto the people and told them. You see, not only was there unusual preparation prescribed by God, but there was unusual phenomena produced by God. And as we shall see, God willing, at the conclusion of the message, this is picked up by the writer to the Hebrews as a very distinctive, prominent element in the delivery of the law. These unusual phenomena produced by God.

17:57 Over in chapter 20 and verse 18, they are underscored again. And all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and the voice of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. This was not some kind of subjective religious experience in which people had some felt sense.

18:24 These were objective physical phenomena. There was a real mountain that shook. There was real fire. There was the real sound of the trumpet.

The Unusual Manner of Communication by God's Own Voice

18:35 There were real lightnings and real thunderings. God is saying, by what He is doing in surrounding the revelation of the Ten Commandments with these unusual phenomena, that something special is about to be uttered. This was not true of any other facet of the whole revelation that God gave in the time of Moses. But then thirdly, consider not only the unusual preparation prescribed by God, the unusual phenomena produced by God, but in the third place, the unusual manner of communication

19:19 by the very voice of God. The unusual manner of communication by the very voice of God. Exodus 20 and verse 1, And God spoke all these words, saying, God Himself spoke these words. Verse 19, And they said unto Moses, You speak with us, and we'll hear, but don't let God speak with us, lest we die.

19:56 The voice of God was so fearful and frightening that they said, Enough, Moses! We have heard God speak, and what He spoke was these ten words. And when He was done, they said, Enough is enough, Moses! You go speak to God and speak to us as a mediator of God's Word.

20:20 If we hear any more, it will kill us. How could they ever forget words spoken by the very voice of God Himself? Words so terrible in their authority, words so penetrating into the very depths of their being, in their sheer power and awesomeness. They said, No more, or we'll die.

20:45 This is emphasized again in Deuteronomy chapter 5 in an even more intensified way. Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 4, in the second account of the giving of the law, The Lord spoke with you face to face in the mount, out of the midst of the fire. The Lord spoke with you face to face in the mount, out of the midst of the fire. And when He had spoken those ten words that are then given to us in Deuteronomy 5,

21:29 notice what is said in verse 22 of the same chapter. These words the Lord spoke unto all your assembly, in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice, and He added no more. He added no more. God Himself marks out the uniqueness of the ten commandments by speaking these ten words in His own audible voice, and having spoken them,

22:13 He does not speak anything more in that way. Put yourself in the place of a little Israelite boy or girl, a preteen, a teenager, a young man, an old grandma or grandpa, or a great grandfather, a great grandmother. Could you ever forget that those ten words came to you? Having that unusual preparation amidst the unusual phenomena, and in that unusual method of communication, the very voice of God Himself.

The Unusual Manner of Inscription by God's Own Finger

22:50 But then fourthly, there is the unusual manner of inscription by the very finger of God. It would be one thing for God to speak them in His own voice, and then to have Moses record them as Moses recorded all of the other things God spoke to him, of the statutes, and the ordinances, which would regulate the totality of their religious, personal, and social life as the nation of God that He had taken into covenant with Himself. But God is determined to get the message through. Don't ever let these ten words

23:32 be absorbed into just another facet of the revelation of My will to you. And so we have this fourth line of evidence of the unusual manner of inscription by the very finger of God. Deuteronomy 5, if you're still there, look at the last part of verse 22. And He, God, wrote them upon two tables of stone, says Moses, and He gave them to Me.

24:09 God Himself etches into the stone these ten words, and then He hands them over to Moses. Turn back to Exodus chapter 31 and verse 18. Exodus chapter 31 and verse 18. And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon the Mount Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone written with the finger of God.

24:51 And to my knowledge, until God incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ wrote something with His finger in the ground, I don't know another place in all of Scripture where it is said God wrote something with His own finger. It says a hand came out and caused Darius' knees to tremble, but it doesn't say it was the hand of God. It could have been an angel. Now there may be another instance, but as I've racked my brain, as far as I can remember, this is the first.

25:24 God Himself says this that I'm revealing is of such significance that I Myself will inscribe the characters into the tables of stone. In chapter 32 of Exodus, you remember that there is this horrible incident of Aaron and the people making the golden calf. And Moses comes down from the mount and in righteous anger here, later on in his life, he's guilty of unrighteous anger and says, shall I bring forth water out of the rock for you bunch of rebels? And he strikes the rock instead of speaking to it.

26:04 And for his unrighteous anger he is disciplined and is not permitted to go into the land of promise but only see it from afar. But here is righteous anger in the man of God. God Himself is angry. Verse 10, let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them that I may consume them and make of you a great nation.

26:28 And Moses in his anger takes the two tables of stone and he dashes them to the ground. We read in verse 15, Moses turned, went down from the mount to the two tables of the testimony. Tables written on both their sides, on one side and the other were they written and the tables were the work of God. And the writing was the writing of God graven upon the tables.

26:57 You get upset when I repeat myself? Well, get upset with God. When God has important things to say, He said, I'm going to get it through your head and He repeats it. Isn't it enough to say where the work of God and the writing of God graven upon the tables, graven upon the tables?

27:17 And then you remember that Moses in anger breaks the tables. But what does God do? God then calls him up into His presence a second time and we read in chapter 34 in verse 1, the Lord said unto Moses, Hew two tables of stone like unto the first and I will write upon the tables the words that were on the first tables that you broke. God is determined that the unique identity of these ten words and the element of their uniqueness being inscribed

28:01 by the very finger of God, that that will not be undone simply because of the sin of the people. And Moses in righteous anger smashing the tables before them. And then in Deuteronomy 10, 1 to 4, we have the account of God writing them for the second time. At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew two tables of stone like the first and come up unto me into the mount and make an ark of wood and I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables which you broke and you shall put them in the ark.

28:42 Verse 4, And he wrote on the tables according to the first writing the ten words, the ten commandments which the Lord spoke unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly and the Lord gave them unto me. Surely God is highlighting the unusual manner of their inscription by His very finger. So you take the unusual preparation demanded by God, add to it the unusual phenomena that were manifested

The Unusual Place of Preservation in God's Immediate Presence

29:25 and created by God, the unusual manner of communication with the very voice of God, the unusual manner of inscription by the finger of God and you say, surely we've got the message. There's something special about the ten commandments. God says, I'm not done yet. There is a fifth line of evidence.

29:47 The unusual place of their preservation in the midst of the immediate presence of God. The unusual place of their preservation in the midst of the immediate presence of God. If you still have the Deuteronomy 10 passage open, you will notice what we read. God said that He was to put them in the ark.

30:16 Verse 2b. We read in verse 5, and I turned and came down from the mount and put the tables in the ark which I had made. And there they are as the Lord commanded me. 1 Kings 8 and verse 9 for just one corroborating testimony.

30:40 1 Kings 8 and verse 9. There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt. What's the significance of God saying, put these in the ark and then underscoring that at this time nothing else was placed in the ark. Later on, some manna and Aaron's rod that budded were placed in the ark but at this time

31:24 the only thing inside the ark were the two tables on which were written the ten words. Laid up beside the ark would later be the book of the law containing statutes and ordinances but inside the ark the ten words alone. The great significance of the ark is beautifully summarized in Exodus chapter 25. All scripture is profitable and I hope you're getting a sense of that tonight.

31:56 These very chapters we've been plowing through in our consecutive reading. You wonder what in the world is in there for doctrine, reproof, correction. I hope you're getting a little lesson on how profitable indeed much of this is. Exodus 25, 21 and 22.

32:14 And you shall put the mercy seat above upon the ark. The ark was about the size of a good sized toy box that you kids might have. And on top of that ark, that box about the size of a good sized toy box covered with gold, God said there was to be a mercy seat covered with gold and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I will give you. Now look at verse 22.

32:43 And there, at that place, there I will lay and I will meet with you and I will commune with you from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which I'll give you in commandment unto the children of Israel. The ark with the mercy seat upon it was the place where God's visible presence was uniquely and intensified in its uniquely manifested and intensified

33:26 in its localized presence. And in the person of the high priest who would go in to the very immediate presence of God on behalf of the people, God says there I will meet with you and commune with you from above the mercy seat. And what is there in the ark? Nothing but the ten words.

33:46 What is God saying? Surely He is saying to every Israelite who knows that there inside the ark there is nothing but space and air and two tables of stone that there is a unique place assigned to those ten words in the regulating of life and of thought in the heart and conscience of every Israelite. We must never allow an Israelite would say that these ten words simply be absorbed into the general directives that God has given for the totality of our life as a nation. The unusual place of their preservation in the midst

The Unusual Place of Prominence Highlighted by God's Word

34:30 of the immediate presence of God marked out their uniqueness by God Himself. And then finally, this unusual place of prominence amidst all the mosaic legislation is highlighted by the Word of God Himself. This unusual place of prominence amidst all the mosaic legislation is highlighted by the Word of God Himself. The first five things were what God did to underscore the unusual significance of the ten words.

35:13 This sixth line of evidence directs us to what God said. About the ten words in comparison to the other things that were just as much His Word, infallible revelations of His mind and His will. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 4. Deuteronomy chapter 4 and beginning with verse 9.

35:44 Only take heed to yourself to keep your soul diligently lest you forget the things which your eyes saw. You see what God is underscoring? Don't forget what you saw God was teaching them through the eye gate. Lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life but make them known unto your children and your children's children the day that you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb when the Lord said unto me assemble me the people and I will make them hear my words that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth

36:28 and that they may teach their children. And you came near and stood under the mountain and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven with darkness cloud and thick darkness and the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire you heard the voice of words but you saw no form only you heard you heard a voice and he declared unto you his covenant which he commanded you to perform even the ten commandments and he wrote them upon two tables of stone

37:10 and the Lord commanded me this is Moses speaking at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances that you might do them in the land whether you go over to possess it now what could be clearer that when Moses is charging the people to look back and to consider all that God has revealed Moses as the prophet of God makes a clear line of demarcation in that whole body of revelation he says remember what you saw remember what you heard God spoke the ten words

37:52 and then God instructed me to instruct you in all the other statutes and ordinances so you see when we get accused of elevating the ten commandments to some special place when they are just a part of the whole mosaic system we rear back and our hind legs and say no God has done it and we are simply reflecting what God has revealed about the unique and special place of the ten words in the revelation that God gave in the period of Moses

38:37 so what do we say by way of summary having looked at these six lines of evidence well surely every Israelite who is present when all of these things occurred would know unless he were out of his mind that the ten commandments had a unique function in revealing to every Israelite a comprehensive summary of the will of God for his life every Israelite would know that how could he forget the lightning the thunder

39:19 the voice that pierced the ears the intimidating fire how could he forget the smoke and the mountain quaking and the voice of God that terrified them that was not true of any of the other dimensions and facets of the revelation of God that he gave through Moses and since 2 Timothy 3.16 is true all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching when we come to teaching and instruction concerning the question

40:01 has God anywhere in the history of revealing himself and his will to man as recorded in the scriptures has God anywhere given us a comprehensive summary of his revealed will to us are we not warranted to come to these God breathed scriptures that I've read in your hearing tonight and these unmistakably clear six lines of evidence found on the surface of every passage I haven't had to tell you well in the Hebrew this is so and the grammar here is this it's been self evident on the face of all six of those passages

40:46 that we considered plus their supportive parallel passages that when God gave the ten words he was saying not only to Israel in that context but to the entire human race for the rest of time in these ten words I have given a comprehensive summary of my will for man the creature and for those of mankind that enter in to special covenant relationship with me as long as man is man in God's world

41:28 the ten words will constitute the comprehensive summary of the will of God for man now we haven't taken up the question can man obey those commands what happens if he doesn't obey them if he is forgiven for his lack of obedience and if he is given power to render at least sincere though not perfect obedience how does all that fit together my friends that will come down the line I'm trying to build a foundation for you out of the word of God that when we take up those ten words and come to those kinds of questions

42:12 the foundation will have been laid to give you a convincing biblical responsible balanced answer be patient with me I'm not engaging in filler this is crucial but have I carried your judgment has the scripture carried your judgment that to say that the ten commandments are just part of the mosaic legislation and when the scripture says that had a specific purpose for a limited period of time and were not to carry over any facet into the new covenant that's nonsense all scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching

42:56 and surely the teaching of these passages supports the simple assertion that I laid out and started to attempt to prove this morning that the obedience which God requires of man is comprehensively summarized in the ten commandments the first category of evidence we looked at in the morning hour the unquestionable evidence of the influence of the ten commandments in all men by nature the gentiles who have no written ten commandments know the righteous judgment of God that they who do such things are worthy of death not only do them

43:40 but take pleasure in those who do them for the gentiles which have not the law when they do by nature the things of the law these not having the law are the law unto themselves their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or excusing them and then we have seen as our second category of evidence the unusual circumstances surrounding and following the giving of the ten commandments we have seen the unusual preparation prescribed by God the unusual phenomena produced by God the unusual commandments

44:24 the communication by the voice of God the unusual inscription by the finger of God the unusual place in the immediate presence of God the unusual place assigned by the very word of God and therefore it refutes every attempt to take those ten words of Moses and lock them up to another age to say they are irrelevant for this age they have nothing to do to us nothing to say to us my friend they have much to say to you and if God took such pains to get into your thick head and into my thick head and into your thicker heart and my thicker heart that he takes his law seriously

45:08 don't you think you better start taking it seriously you feel the weight of the question God takes it so seriously and he is so determined that his people will know that he takes it seriously he goes to such may I say it six-fold pains to mark out his holy law as that unique body of revelation of his will for man and then I want to close by turning to a passage that refers to all the things pertaining to those external phenomena the book of Hebrews chapter 12

Exhortation: The Greater Weight of God's Word in the New Covenant

45:50 and I want to give a closing exhortation based upon this passage that I hope will now have greater significance in the light of our study together as you know the writer to the Hebrews is seeking to urge these Hebrew Christians some of whom are tempted to go back to Judaism abandon their attachment to Christ they have experienced opposition and suffering and unlike God's covenantal provisions under the old covenant one of which was protection from their enemies under the new covenant one of the badges of covenant fidelity to Christ blessed are they that are persecuted

46:34 for righteousness sake blessed are you when men revile you persecute you God does not promise any such protection these people were experiencing the spoiling of their goods some of their friends were losing their lives in martyrdom they were undergoing chastisement from God and in the midst of this there are these exhortations to press on look off unto Jesus author and finisher of faith remember you've not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin but now here at verse 18 of Hebrews 12 he wants to contrast what the people of God came to when they entered into covenant with God

47:17 in the old covenant administration and what we come to under the new covenant for you are not come unto a mount that might be touched and that burned with fire and unto blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words which voice they that heard entreated that no word should more be spoken unto them for they could not endure that which was enjoined if even a beast touched the mountain it shall be stoned and so fearful was the appearance that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake that all make sense now

48:01 that's a summary of all of the data that we looked at concerning the physical phenomena surrounding the giving of the law and he says you have not come to stand on the sandy ground before Sinai trembling as God comes forth in holiness and in righteousness revealing his righteous standard for man reflecting his own holy and righteous character and there's no mediator between no Moses to stand between you and God no Moses to communicate the word of God to you God himself speaks

48:46 and he speaks saying thou shalt and thou shalt not and it was a terrifying thing he says you haven't come to that which if understood will produce terror but what have you come to he said if you're a Christian and you have owned your sin you have acknowledged you have broken the law of God that you deserve to be consumed by him who is in the last verse of this chapter a consuming fire the God of Sinai is alive today Jesus Christ is the God of Sinai incarnate but he says you have not come to that naked revelation of God

49:30 in his burning holiness and in the naked revelation of his righteousness of his righteousness for that is the gospel in the blessings of the new covenant this is what you have come to look at the language but you are come unto mount Zion figurative expression and unto the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and the innumerable host of angels and the general assembly and church of the first born enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

50:09 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel. You have come now that God in the fullness of the time has sent forth His Son made under the law to redeem those that are under the law, perfectly to live the righteousness which the law demanded as the representative of all His people, perfectly to satisfy all the justice of God against the law we broke by His bloodletting upon the cross.

50:52 You have come to Jesus, mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling. See that you refuse not Him who speaks, now here's the catch. People say, well, if we have not come to all of that naked, terrifying phenomena of Sinai, but to the winsome, marvelous, glorious, gracious provisions of the new covenant, then surely we need not fear or tremble. Read on.

51:29 See that you refuse not Him that speaks present tense. God is speaking now. Not in His audible voice as He did on Sinai, but through all that He has done in the manifestation that His Son has recorded in the Scriptures, and as His servants speak it to you in His name. He is speaking.

51:53 Don't refuse Him who speaks. For if they escape not when they refused Him that warned them on earth, how much more shall not we escape who turn away, from Him who is warning from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth, but now has promised, saying, yet once more I will make to tremble, not the earth only, but also the heaven. And this word, yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that the things that are not shaken may remain. Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace,

52:38 grace whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. You see, it's not a matter that God has changed from a God of justice and holiness and law in the Old Testament to a God of love and mercy and pardon and forgiveness in the New Testament. No, the living God has always been what He is today, God of justice, God of holiness, God of mercy, God of compassion. In the very setting of Moses, breaking the tables and going up into the presence of God and interceding, he asked to see God's glory.

53:22 And when God's glory passes before him, what does he reveal of His glory? A God merciful and gracious, pardoning iniquity and sin. No, the issue is this, dear people. God has, in the new covenant made, the final revelation of His way of dealing with your law-breaking and mine.

53:44 He has made the full and final revelation of how He deals with our failures to keep those ten words perfectly, perpetually, continually. And He has revealed that in the person of His Son and in the provisions of His grace in the Holy Spirit, there is a way of pardon. There is a way of acceptance. There is a way of being right with God.

54:08 There is a way of having, having enablement to walk before God in the strength of the Spirit, out of love to this Christ, with evangelical keeping of the law. And though we do not keep it perfectly, the mediation of Christ compensates for all of the imperfections so that our walk is called well-pleasing to God. My friend, what are you doing with those provisions?

54:38 You say, well, if only God would do what He did back then, then I'd take seriously. The fact that I don't love Him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, and my neighbor is myself, I'd take seriously whether or not I have any other gods before me than the one true and living God. I'd take seriously whether I obey mother and father, whether I keep a pure mind, whether I speak the truth. I've never heard God speak.

55:04 My friend, you see the emphasis of this passage? What God has spoken in Christ and in the new covenant and in the fullness of the times brings more respect. More responsibility than what He spoke directly from Sinai.

Application: Taking God's Law Seriously

55:20 And if they did not escape who refused Him that spoke on earth, how shall we escape if we refuse Him who speaks from heaven? And that's one of the great burdens of this series of studies and the Ten Commandments that some of you who have rocked along in cursed, damning indifference will see that God takes His law seriously. And you better start, taking it seriously, seriously enough to be driven out of your careless, sloppy indifference to your soul. Taken up with your face and your form and fads and fashion and friends,

56:05 basketball and football and dates and this program and that program. That's all that matters. And my prayer is that the thing that will begin to matter is there's a holy God in heaven. And that God has placed me under a solemn, inescapable obligation to render Him perfect obedience.

56:28 And the measure and standard of that obedience is summarily distilled in the Ten Commandments. And as I lay my life, my thoughts, my deeds, my actions, my motives, my time against that standard, I see I'm undone. I have. nothing but the thunderbolts of wrath and the lightning strokes of judgment that await me. Where can I flee? Then, my friends, when we point you to Christ, another place that

57:06 was shrouded in darkness, another place where fire consumed, not to the visible eyes, but the fiery judgment of God consumed the offering that Christ himself was and was presenting to his Father. He offered himself up without spot unto God. And there in Jesus Christ there is forgiveness, there is pardon, there is cleansing. And in Jesus Christ there is, by the enablement of the Spirit, the provision of the Holy Spirit.

57:47 The provision of a new heart that will love the very law that now condemns you, that you will hug to your bosom as a gracious guide to direct your feet into the paths by which you may please the God who in Jesus Christ has redeemed you. Oh, may God grant that those of you that hitherto have been careless about your sin and your relationship to God will see that you can't afford the luxury. Of treating the Ten Commandments in a cavalier way any longer. And that we who by the grace of God are under the blessings of the new covenant will see that that same law that

58:31 condemned us and consigned us to death is the law that now in the hand of a gracious mediator is a blessed guide, a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path. God willing, next Lord's Day morning I want to look at the third category. First, I want to look at the fourth category. The first category is called the Ten Commandments.

Conclusion: Christ Magnifies the Law

58:51 The first category is a study of proof that the obedience which God requires of man is comprehensively summarized in the Ten Commandments. Its presence and use in the new testament documents. And we are going to see that far from those ten words of God given on Sinai. You will never hear me refer to them as the ten words of Moses. Moses didn't speak them, God did.

59:18 That those words are not in any way dependent upon God. They are not given to you. They are only in your hands. These ten words are a proof that God is a God that is willing to do anything for you.

59:19 It is not a lie. It is a proof that God is willing to do anything for you. It is a proof that God is willing to do anything for you. set aside by our Lord Jesus or by the apostles, but they take on a significance that could never be understood by anyone in the time that they were given, but now living in the fullness of the time as God has spoken in the last days through His Son, we see that indeed what was prophesied of the servant of the Lord, that He would magnify the law and make it honorable. And that is exactly what He has done in His work on behalf of

Prayer for Conviction and Grace

59:55 sinners. Let us pray together. Our Father, how we thank You for Your Holy Word. How our hearts are thrilled to see that You have not left us in darkness with respect to what standard of obedience You hold us to now and will hold us to in the day of judgment.

60:24 And we pray that You will continue to direct us as we seek to lay these foundation blocks for a detailed consideration of those ten words that You spoke by Your own voice from Sinai. And may they result in the stabilizing of Your people, greater degrees of conformity to Your will amongst Your people. And oh, God, may we yet see a baptism of the Holy of deep, deep conviction in the hearts of the unconverted, young and old alike, who seeing themselves before the searchlight of that holy law, like the apostle Paul will

61:08 say, I was alive in my own eyes once, but when the law came, sin revived and I died. O God, may they see their true state, and by the law be driven to the place called Calvary, there to find forgiveness and pardon from the mediator of the new covenant, even our Lord Jesus. Shield then your word to our hearts. Be with us as we enter another week, many having to rub shoulders with the very kinds of people that we looked at this morning.

61:45 O Lord, help us to know when we speak to them of their sins, that we have within their very breasts an ally, their own consciences bearing witness, that when we bring your law to bear upon them, though they may with their mouths deny any consciousness of wrongdoing, Lord, we know them better than they will admit they know themselves. May we in love and compassion be bold and winsome and wise. To bear witness to their accountability to you, and to the mercy that is available to the vilest of sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you.

62:26 Thank you for this day in your courts. Thank you for your dear Son. Thank you for the Holy Spirit. Thank you for the fellowship of the saints.

62:38 O God, you are good to us. We worship you. We praise you. And we pray that your blessing.

62:45 Will rest upon us as we leave this place tonight. Amen.