Do not boil a goat in its mother's milk

[0:00] Thank you.

[0:30] Thank you.

[1:00] Thank you. We're beginning to see God prepare the people of Israel for a life in the promised land.

[1:36] This is life as they are living as the community of God. And so one of the things that I love about preaching through a book of the Bible is you don't get to skip hard passages.

[1:49] Amen? Like sometimes you just come, particularly in the Old Testament, you come to things and you're like, I'd really like to skip this. You know how like in your Bible reading you come to Leviticus and you're like, eh, no thanks, right?

[2:00] And so you just jump to something else. Well, if you're new with us, one of the things I want to say is that because we're just preaching through the book of Exodus and you come for the first time, you're liable to come in on who knows what.

[2:14] So tonight you may be thinking, what kind of church did I show up at? But this is God's word. And so you're going to begin to get a flavor of how this message is going to go just based on the title.

[2:27] The title of tonight's message is this, Don't Boil a Goat in Its Mother's Milk. So how many of you are really excited for tonight's message? And you're thinking, there ain't no way, ain't no way that applies to me.

[2:41] Well, we shall see. Let's stand. If you're able to do so, for the honor of reading God's word, we recognize this as God's authoritative word. Exodus chapter 21, and let's begin reading at verse 1.

[2:56] Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years. And in the seventh, he shall go free for nothing.

[3:09] If he comes in single, he goes out single. If he comes in married, then his wife shall go with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons and daughters, and the wife and her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out alone.

[3:24] But if the slave plainly says, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go free. Well, then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door of the doorpost.

[3:35] And his master shall bore his ear with an owl, and he shall be his slave forever. Now jump over to verse 33, same chapter. When a man opens a pit, when a man digs a pit and doesn't cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall make restoration.

[3:54] He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his. When one man's ox butts another so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price.

[4:05] And the dead beast also they shall share. Or if it's known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, well, then its owners has not kept it in.

[4:16] Well, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his. And all God's people said, what in the world are you going to do with this?

[4:30] Let's pray. God, thank you so much for this time to gather together, and thank you for your word, all of it. Every bit of your word comes from you, comes to us with your authority.

[4:44] And so, God, I pray that you would speak to us tonight, that you would talk to us through your word, and that we would exalt Jesus in this place. And all God's people said, Amen.

[4:55] You can be seated. As you can see, I have provided everything a child might need. All right.

[5:08] Uh, okay. As I will say, Hey! Oh! Somebody broke that. Okay. Okay. Clearly, we need to set some rules. Rule number one.

[5:19] You will not touch anything. Uh-huh. What about the floor? Yes, you may touch the floor. What about the air? Yes, you may touch the air.

[5:30] What about this? Ah! Where did you get that? Found it. Okay. Rule number two. You will not bother me while I'm working. Rule number three.

[5:42] You will not cry, or whine, or laugh, or giggle, or sneeze, or burp, or fart. So, no, no, no annoying sounds.

[5:54] Does this count as annoying? Very. Rules. Rules.

[6:05] We've all made them. We've all tried our best to live by them, and I imagine every single one of us here tonight has broken a few of them.

[6:15] Amen? And while I'm sure we would all recognize that there is a time and place for rules, we've also experienced how people can take rules a little bit too far.

[6:28] Like, several months ago, there was a couple that created an online controversy because they posted the rules that they were implementing for anyone who wanted to come and visit their newborn baby.

[6:43] These were the rules they posted for all their family and friends. Rule number one. All guests should be up to date on their vaccines, and if they feel sick at all, they should not come and visit.

[6:57] We could probably understand that one. Rule number two. All guests must inform the family of their visit at least one week in advance. Rule number three.

[7:07] Rule number three. No smokers will be allowed. Rule number four. No phone calls or visits between the hours of 7.30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Rule number five. All guests must keep their visits under an hour.

[7:19] Rule number six. Pictures of the baby will not be allowed. Rule number seven. No one is allowed to pick up the baby without the couple's consent. And maybe up to this point, we would say, okay, this is a bit much.

[7:31] It's a little snooty, but we could understand a lot of this, but it gets worse. Rule number eight. No advice on parenting will be allowed during the visit. Rule number nine.

[7:42] All guests should refrain from wearing perfume and deodorant. Really? No deodorant? Rule number 10. All first-time guests are required to bring a present for the mother and the baby from an approved list.

[8:01] Rule number 11. All guests, regardless of how many visits, must bring groceries for the family. Rule number 12.

[8:12] All guests, regardless of how many visits, must help with at least one household chore before leaving. And all God's people say, okay.

[8:26] Oh, oh, you crazy. I am. You crazy, right? Ain't no way. That's ridiculous. Who comes up with this many rules just to visit a baby? And if that were not crazy enough, listen, the mother's sister, who was a student in college, wanted to come and visit her newborn niece, but she didn't have money to pay for one of the gifts on the approved list.

[8:53] And so she asked her sister, would it be okay if I just did some more chores? And this was the response she got. Quote, sorry, rules are rules.

[9:08] Me and my husband talked about it, and we came to the decision that if we bend the rules for one person, everyone will want the same treatment.

[9:20] Rules. What comes to your mind tonight when you think about rules? And my guess is all of us have had a lot of different experiences with rules in our life.

[9:32] How many of you, for instance, grew up in a very strict family? Anybody? Show of hands. Maybe your parents are here and you don't want to acknowledge it, right? I mean, they had a rule for everything.

[9:44] How many of you got in trouble at school for breaking the rules? Show of hands. Some of you are lying right now, right? How many of you are the type of person that before you play a board game, you read every single rule to make sure everybody's playing the right way?

[10:02] Yeah. Some of you are saying, right? Yeah. How many of you are just the kind of person that, loves to enforce the rules? There are some of you that just have a hard time even remembering the rules.

[10:16] I remember my teacher asked me, Brian, what's the I before E rule? Um, I before E, always.

[10:29] What are you, an idiot, Brian? Apparently. So she explains it. No, Brian, it's I before E, except after C, and when sounding like A, as a neighbor in way, and on weekends and holidays, and all throughout May, and you'll always be wrong, no matter what you say.

[10:47] That's a hard rule. That's a rough rule. One way or another, every single one of us have had different experiences when it comes to rules.

[10:58] And listen, my guess is there's probably a few of you here this evening that at one point you resisted the Bible, or you resisted the Christian faith because of rules.

[11:10] You said, or you've at least heard someone say, oh, the Bible, that's just a book full of rules. And then there's Christians that they love Jesus, and they love the Bible, and they come to certain parts of the Scripture, and they say, I don't know what to do with all these rules.

[11:32] I don't know what to make of these things. That is exactly what we are faced with tonight, here in Exodus 20, all the way through chapter 23.

[11:45] This section in the book of Exodus is just a long list of rules. Let me just read a sampling for you. Exodus 21 and 26.

[11:57] When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.

[12:13] How many of you had that verse memorized? Or on like a little coffee cup at home? I didn't think so. Exodus chapter 21, verse 33. When a man opens a pit, when a man digs a pit, does not cover it, or an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall make restoration.

[12:31] He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his. Well, praise God. I get the dead beast. Or what about Exodus 22, 18? You shall not permit a sorceress to live.

[12:46] What do you do with witches? Burn her! Burn her! And what do you burn apart from witches? For witches! Wayne, I knew you'd at least love that one, all right?

[12:58] Exodus chapter 22, in verse 19, whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death. Did the Lord really have to put that one in there? Exodus chapter 23, verse 19, you shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

[13:18] Are you feeling the tension I'm feeling? Well, good news, you don't have to preach this. I do, right? Because you read through this like me, and you're thinking, wait a minute, I don't remember a time recently when I had been tempted to boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

[13:35] That ain't something I'm dealing with most days. Amen? Amen? Come on, Saturday night. Amen? So what do we do with all these rules?

[13:49] Particularly given the fact that the first 20 chapters of the book of Exodus have been nonstop, nail-biting, spectacular displays of the power and glory of God.

[14:02] We have seen God show up in the burning bush and reveal himself to Moses. We have seen the plagues of Egypt, including the death of the firstborn. We have seen God rescue Israel through the Red Sea, rescuing them from the Egyptians, and then God miraculously providing manna from heaven to feed them in the wilderness.

[14:24] And then God reveals himself in thunder and lightning at Sinai. It's been fantastic. It has been awesome. And then Exodus 21, you get rules.

[14:37] Rules. And more rules. In his commentary on Exodus, Phil Riken identifies these chapters as chapters preachers usually skip.

[14:49] Not this one. Not this one. I dare to enter in. Another commentator writes, quote, Boredom seems to set in at this point.

[15:01] The impression is given that the writer of Exodus has now inserted into a brilliant narrative a series of rules that are of interest only to historians.

[15:13] But Faith Family, as I have already said, listen, I believe all of God's word is God's word. Which means the rules matter.

[15:25] But how do they matter to us? What are we to make of all these rules? Well, let's first set the context. This section of Exodus is what's known as the book of the covenant.

[15:39] The book of the covenant. Because it's coming right off the heels of God entering into a covenant with the nation of Israel at Sinai. And as I have mentioned multiple times, what God is doing here, both through His rescuing them from Egypt, bringing them to Sinai, entering into a covenant with them, is He is redeeming for Himself a people that will live in community together.

[16:05] Go back to Exodus 19 in verse 3. You'll see this. When Moses went up to God, the Lord called him to the mountains saying, thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the people of Israel, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles' wings and I brought you to myself.

[16:26] Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my, what? Covenant. You shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples for all the earth is mine.

[16:37] And you shall be to me, say it with me, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. In other words, God has redeemed Israel from Egypt.

[16:49] He has brought them to Himself. He has established them as a people. Listen to me. This is important to understand the rules. A people set apart. A holy nation for all the other nations to see.

[17:06] Are you with me? Say yes. In other words, what God is doing, notice it on the screen, God is establishing a covenant community. God is establishing, it's important to understand the context here, He's establishing a covenant community and what does every community have?

[17:28] Rules. You should know this by now. They have, say it loudly, rules. Every community has rules. Why is that? Notice number one, because rules reveal the values of a community.

[17:44] Rules reveal the values of a community. You know this. Regardless of what you think about rules, whether you like them or don't like them, you know there is a place for them because, listen, they both protect what you value and they reveal what you value.

[18:02] this might be the biggest amen of the night. I hate TSA. Anybody with me? Like when I go to the airport, I despise going through the TSA line, but I'm glad that there are rules in place that value safety.

[18:20] I'm really thankful for rules at a restaurant that require employees to wash their hands before they handle my food. Amen? And I'm, parents, you know this, you have certain rules.

[18:36] Maybe it's a rule for what bedtime is going to be. Why do you do that? You do that because you understand how important sleep is. Some of you have rules about what you will eat and what you will not eat because you value being healthy.

[18:52] And let's be honest, most of us break those rules all the time. Amen? So, the point is, rules protect what you value. They also reveal what you value.

[19:03] So, what does the book of the covenant, all these rules that God gives Israel, what values do they show us? What values are they protecting?

[19:14] I'm going to give you three main ones that these rules would fall underneath. And here's the first. God values the worship of God. God values the worship of God.

[19:28] The book of the covenant starts in chapter 20 verse 23 with this. Notice it here. You shall not make a God of silver to be with me. You shall not make for yourselves gods of gold, an altar of the earth.

[19:42] You shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings. Your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

[19:56] If you make to me an altar of stone, you should not build it of huge stones, for you will wield your tool on it and profane it. You shall not go up by the steps of the altar that your nakedness be not exposed on it.

[20:11] Now, these are weird things. Can we just agree on that? They're weird to us. This is not, we're not living in the ancient Near East and so we're disconnected from a lot of this.

[20:23] And we think, what's the big deal about silver and why are we offering animal sacrifices and why the no nakedness? And listen, I just don't have the time nor do you to go through every single rule and give you the entire ancient Near Eastern context behind that rule.

[20:41] Unless you really want to do that. I didn't think so, right? Here's the short version. Listen, all of these details are things that were practiced by other nations.

[20:54] Are you listening? And God is commanding Israel to do them in a different way. They don't make sense to you but if you understood the ancient Near Eastern context, you'd understand these are things practiced by other nations and God is saying you are to be a holy nation.

[21:11] You're to be a kingdom of priests. I have set you apart which means we're going to have rules where you behave differently. Are you with me? Now the book of the covenant not only starts with the worship of God, it ends with the worship of God.

[21:27] Look at chapter 23, 13 and 14. Pay attention to all that I have said to you and make no mention of the names of other gods nor let it be heard on your lips.

[21:37] Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. So the bookends of the book of the covenant have to do with the worship of God which was the entire reason why God redeemed them.

[21:54] Listen to me faith family, it's the entire reason why God saved you. He saved you to be in relationship with Him to worship Him. Why? Because your soul's ultimate good is the worship of God.

[22:10] That is why you were created. That is why you exist. That is what your heart needs. When Moses went to Pharaoh on behalf of God, Moses told Pharaoh, let my people go that they may worship me in the wilderness.

[22:27] So the very life of God's people was to be structured around worshiping the one that rescued them from Egypt.

[22:38] Now, how do these rules apply to us? Very simply. I want to show you how relevant this is. Are you listening? Listen.

[22:49] There is to be nothing in your life more valuable and nothing in your schedule more protected than the worship of God.

[23:02] God. There is to be nothing in your life more valuable and nothing in your schedule more protected than the worship of God.

[23:12] God. What these rules have to do with our life is they reveal how important the worship of God is. Which means our approach to the worship of God should not be maybe I'll go, maybe I won't.

[23:28] Maybe I'll read, maybe I won't. Maybe I'll pray, maybe I won't. No! The New Testament commands our gathering together not because the Bible is just a bunch of rules we're supposed to follow but because there is to be no greater priority in your life than God.

[23:49] Notice 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 8. Listen, bodily training, you know all those rules that you have about eating or all those rules that you have about getting appropriate sleep?

[24:02] Well bodily training is of some value. Being disciplined in physical things and having rules is a good thing but godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also the life to come.

[24:23] What is it you have in your life that prioritizes in your schedule the worship of God because there is nothing you value more?

[24:35] Number two, not only does God value the worship of God as seen in these rules but secondly God values a community of grace. God values a community of grace.

[24:48] I could literally just preach the whole sermon on this because this is so much the DNA of everything that matters to us at Faith Family. The next section after the rules about the worship of God, the next section in the book of the covenant is where God addresses the treatment of slaves and sojourners.

[25:09] So then there's a whole bunch of rules about slaves and sojourners. Here's a few. Read chapter 21 verse 1. These are the rules that you shall set before them when you buy a Hebrew slave.

[25:22] He shall serve six years and the seventh he'll go out free for nothing. If he comes in single, he goes out single. If he comes in married, his wife will go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears sons and daughters, well then the wife and her children shall be the masters and he shall go out alone.

[25:40] But if the slave says, but I love my master, my wife, my children, I'll not go free, well then his master shall bring him to God and he shall bring him to the door of the doorpost and his master shall bore his ear with an owl and he shall be his slave forever.

[25:56] And then look in chapter 22 verse 21, you'll see it speaks of sojourners. You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him. And everybody notice this next phrase because this is really important.

[26:09] Because or for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. So two questions, maybe more, but two questions you may be thinking.

[26:21] First of all, why would God address the issue of slavery? Why would God address the issue of slavery? The answer is, listen closely, this makes such an important point and so lean in.

[26:36] Because Israel had been redeemed from slavery, are you listening? Are you listening? Have I lost you with the rules? Lean in, listen, listen.

[26:47] Israel had been redeemed from slavery and they were not to treat one another the way Pharaoh treated them. They were not to treat one another the way Pharaoh treated them.

[27:05] Notice this here. That is, those who had been redeemed by grace should live in a community of grace. Oh, somebody better amen that, right?

[27:17] Preach, preacher. Those that had been redeemed by grace should live in a community of grace. Oh, they were to reflect the same kind of grace that God had given them when he delivered them from Egypt.

[27:33] No one expects grace in Egyptian slavery, but there will be grace among slavery in Israel. Now, you still may be thinking, but why wouldn't you just abolish slavery?

[27:49] Anybody with me? Are you feeling the tension? Like, why would you give rules about slavery rather than just abolish it entirely? The answer to that is because the kind of slavery you're thinking this is, is not that kind of slavery.

[28:07] You see, when you read slavery, you and I have a tendency to think civil war or slavery that occurred in our nation, which was awful and sinful and to be rejected.

[28:21] In fact, that's not the slavery that's happening here at all. That kind of slavery is actually even forbidden in the book of the covenant. Look at chapter 21 and verse 16.

[28:33] Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him shall be put to death. So, the kind of slavery you're thinking about actually is condemned in the book of the covenant.

[28:48] So, what is the kind of slavery that's happening here among Israel? Are you still listening? It is a voluntary slavery or servitude to another person because of their poverty or debt.

[29:09] I'm going to prove it in just a moment, but let me say that again. It is someone that voluntarily becomes a servant of another person because of their poverty or being in debt.

[29:21] Listen, you actually know this more than you think you do. In fact, this kind of reality in kind of a somewhat similar way still happens even today.

[29:33] How many of you would like for me to explain? No one. Okay, let's pray and go home. No, I want you to understand this. What's going down here? Look at Proverbs 22 verse 7.

[29:45] The rich rules over the poor and I want everybody to say this with me. The borrower is the slave to the lender.

[29:58] Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Think of it this way. When you are in debt, there is a sense in which you are a slave or a servant to that thing.

[30:10] It might be a bank, it might be a person, and what do you have to do? You have to work off that debt to become free. Does everybody understand that?

[30:21] You borrow money or you're in poverty and you borrow money, you become a slave or a servant-like, according to Proverbs, to the bank, to the person, and before you can be free, you have to pay off the debt.

[30:35] God takes this common practice and he adds rules that make it practice. Lord, thank you for this. I'm having so much fun. You may not be, but I am.

[30:47] He adds rules that makes it practice in a way that is unlike the other nations because it's based on grace.

[30:58] Look at chapter 21 and verse 2. When you buy a Hebrew slave that is somebody that is coming upon under your overview because of their poverty or debt, they will serve six years and in the seventh he shall go free, everybody say it, for nothing, for nothing, meaning no matter the debt on the Sabbath year, they go free.

[31:27] They are set free, which is entirely different than the way Egyptians treated slaves. Oh, this will preach.

[31:38] Notice it on the screen. There was to be a fundamental difference between Israel when they were in slavery and slavery in Israel based upon the redeeming grace of God.

[31:58] That will preach, faith family. You think these rules are not relevant to us? Maybe not by application, but certainly by implication.

[32:11] Do you know what God values next to God's people worshiping his name? His people living in a community of grace.

[32:23] I fight for this here. This is what we are all about here at Faith Family, and that is to be a community where the grace of God is expressed to one another.

[32:35] Out there in Egypt, they want to make you a slave forever. But among the people of God, we want to help you move to freedom. Out there in Egypt, they want to cancel you. In here, we want to redeem you.

[32:47] Out there, they want to judge you. In here, we want to love you. Out there, they treat you like a foreigner. In here, we will help you find a home. Out there, they will tear you down.

[32:58] In here, we will build you up. Why? Because we know what it's like to be slaves. We know what it's like to be hopeless and futureless and broken. But God, God showed us grace, and therefore, we want to show grace to one another.

[33:20] How? How are we to show grace to one another? Father, by following the rules, you say, what do you mean?

[33:34] I mean, do not gossip. Do not slander. Forgive as you've been forgiven.

[33:47] Love as I have loved you. Faith family, those are not just a bunch of rules to follow.

[34:00] Those are commands that display a value that is above all values. The greatest of these is love.

[34:15] God, as seen in these rules, values the worship of God. God values, as seen in these rules, a community that is based on His grace.

[34:29] And number three, God values life. God values life. The third section of the book of the covenant, which begins in chapter 21, verse 12 through 36, is a whole list of rules about how life is to be treated as sacred and protected.

[34:49] I'll give you just a few examples. Chapter 21, verse 12. Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. Verse 15. Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

[35:02] Verse 16. Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him shall be put to death. Family, life is a gift from God, and it is to be seen as sacred and protected.

[35:19] That is why throughout the book of the covenant, things like murder and assaults and injury of another person and even their livestock is treated harshly.

[35:30] You might ask, but how do you value life with all these threats of death? And that's the point. Notice it on the screen. The severity of the punishment reveals the sacredness of the person.

[35:47] The severity of the punishment is not the emphasis. The emphasis is how valued the person is. This is a human being created in the image of God.

[36:04] God values the worship of God. God values a community of grace, and God values life that has been created in his image.

[36:16] And God's people said, amen. And that's what all these rules display. And one more thing that sticks out to me about all these rules is how much God cares about your ordinary life.

[36:34] One commentator writes, quote, regulations about livestock grazing in a field may seem mundane. mundane. However, this is where most of us live most of the time at the level of ordinary existence.

[36:55] In other words, the book of the covenant is about living for God in the daily ordinary realities of life.

[37:06] Can we just be honest? Most of our Christian life is not lived on Mount Sinai with smoke and thunder and lightning and direct revelation from God.

[37:20] No. Most of our Christian life is lived by dealing with your neighbor and raising a family and going to class and showing up for work.

[37:33] Oh, sure, we praise God for Sinai-like moments. Miracles and spectacular sermons. Just play along, all right? I'm doing my best with all these rules, all right?

[37:48] Spiritual breakthroughs, we are all for that. Yes and amen to the Sinai-like moments that have happened in your life. But do you know what God cares about just as much?

[38:03] Every single ordinary moment of your day. That is why God gets so detailed and specific in these ordinary things and gives these rules because your daily life matters to God.

[38:25] Rules. As much as we may not like them, they're important. They establish order, they reveal the values of a community, and there's another reason why rules matter.

[38:39] It's because rules frequently remind us, certainly me, I trust you as well, rules frequently remind us how much we fall short.

[38:51] Rules frequently remind us how many rules we've broken. And that's actually what Paul takes the book of the covenant. The law given here in Exodus, it makes a powerful point connected to the gospel.

[39:09] Look at Galatians chapter 3 and verse 21. Is the law that is all these rules contrary to the promise of God? Certainly not. For if a rule had been given that could give life, well then righteousness would indeed be by the rules.

[39:27] rules. But Scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under all the rules, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.

[39:47] So then, all these rules, that is the law, was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith.

[40:00] Last point is that rules show us our need for Jesus Christ. Oh my, oh my, do rules show me my need for Jesus?

[40:12] And I assume you are like me in that all these rules show you how much you fall short. Paul takes the book of the covenant, the Old Testament law, and he says this, they were good in that they provided structure.

[40:28] They were good in that they revealed the things that God valued, and they were good because they exposed your sin.

[40:39] They show you how you are not able to keep the rules. And that is why no rule could ever bring you life.

[40:52] No rule, no law could ever give you life. James says it this way in James chapter 2 verse 10, For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point becomes guilty of it all.

[41:09] In other words, listen, if you break one rule, you've broken the whole law because the law is all or nothing. It's like a mirror or a windshield.

[41:21] You shatter it, the whole thing becomes cracked. You break one law and it reveals you are a law breaker. Notice this here on the screen, Faith Family.

[41:33] Commands convict, but they can't change. Rules show us how we fall short, but they cannot give us life.

[41:46] But I got good news for you. Who wants some good news? You ready for some good news? Here's some good news. Matthew 5, verse 17. Do not think, Jesus said, that I have come to abolish the rules.

[41:59] I have not come to abolish them, but to say it, fulfill them. Meaning, there's only one who has kept all the rules and his name is Jesus.

[42:18] And you know why that is such good news for rule breakers like me? Why that is such good news for rule breakers like you? Notice it on the screen.

[42:30] Because you're never going to be right with God through keeping the rules. But you can be right with God through a relationship with the one who never broke any rule, Jesus Christ.

[42:44] Christ. Listen, oh my, oh my, oh my. The good news of the gospel for rule breakers like us is that salvation is not found in rules.

[42:59] It's found in Jesus. And so anyone who has broken the law of God, which is all of us, for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, can find salvation tonight, redemption tonight, in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

[43:22] Rules. We've all made them, we've all tried our best to live by them, and we have all broken them. But notice Galatians 4 as I close, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so we might receive adoption as sons.

[43:52] Jesus took all of our rule-breaking to the cross, and because of that, we are no longer slaves.

[44:04] We are sons of God. And all God's people said, amen, amen. Lord, thank You. Thank You for passages like Exodus 20-23, and thank You that we don't skip them.

[44:22] There's so much we would miss if we threw this aside as irrelevant. Oh, they may not apply to us in every specific application, but they apply to us by implication.

[44:36] That is, these rules show us how much worship matters, how much our living in a community of grace matters, how much the life of a human being matters.

[44:52] And they also reveal to us how ultimately it is only Jesus that matters. God is to God's to be time of communion that we would come to the cross and realize that we are not slaves to rules.

[45:11] We are sons who have been adopted by Jesus Christ, who was born under the law and took our law breaking, died for that debt to set us free.

[45:25] Lord, may we rejoice this evening as we remember the glorious truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in whose name I pray and God's people said, Amen.

[45:52] Amen.