WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.080 Why do we need law? Why do we need God's law? We live in a culture that is in some ways suspicious 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:16.980 of ideas of authority. So the question of why the law matters, especially God's law, 00:00:18.019 --> 00:00:21.740 I guess we could go back all the way to the beginning. Ever since Genesis 3, there has 00:00:21.740 --> 00:00:29.560 been a suspicion, a resistance towards God's law. Adam and Eve enjoying perfect life in the garden 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:37.899 were tempted to believe that God's law forbidding the eating of the fruit of the knowledge of the 00:00:37.899 --> 00:00:44.259 tree of good and evil, that was restrictive, that God was a God who in His laws was holding people 00:00:44.259 --> 00:00:53.359 back from their best. We sang Psalm 119 just before we read Exodus 20, and it might have seemed strange 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:59.439 to us if we sort of stopped to think about what we're singing to say, your statutes are wonderful. 00:01:00.080 --> 00:01:04.079 We don't normally think that way about God's law, but the psalmist is somebody who knew 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:10.140 God's law are a reflection of God's character and will, therefore there is a goodness in them. 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:15.560 And if we understand what God's law is, and if we love God's law, it's our way to love 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:21.099 God Himself. As Jesus said, if you'll love me, you'll obey my commands. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:28.560 We're going to think about how the Ten Commandments fall within Israel's journey. You know, we've followed 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:35.240 them in their journey so far. We've seen them being moved from slavery into freedom, from being 00:01:35.240 --> 00:01:42.719 controlled by Pharaoh, surrounded by the gods of Egypt, and now they are following the true God, 00:01:43.079 --> 00:01:48.859 and they've arrived at Mount Sinai. In chapter 19, we were there a few weeks ago now, I guess, 00:01:49.260 --> 00:01:56.040 they heard the gospel. Here is what God has done for you. It's there in the prologue of chapter 20 as well. 00:01:56.040 --> 00:02:00.740 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. So they're a saved by grace people, 00:02:01.020 --> 00:02:07.360 and now they're hearing the law. Here is what God calls a saved by grace people to do in response. 00:02:08.819 --> 00:02:13.700 I think as a church, we're actually going to come back to the Ten Commandments probably in the spring 00:02:13.700 --> 00:02:19.439 of next year, because there's so much that's helpful for us. But for now, I want us to just 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:26.740 consider how could, if we were Israelites there at Mount Sinai, as the law was being delivered, 00:02:26.979 --> 00:02:32.840 how could we sing along with the psalmist, your law is wonderful? And what is good about the law? 00:02:32.900 --> 00:02:40.680 What did it mean in their story to have God speak these Ten Commands to them? And think about how can 00:02:40.680 --> 00:02:46.800 we sing, your laws are wonderful today. So we're going to look at three things together, the Ten 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:54.599 Commandments and our obedience, the Ten Commandments and freedom, and Ten Commandments and our mission. 00:02:54.599 --> 00:03:01.760 So let's begin with our obedience. Whether we think about it or not, there is a question 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:12.799 that's being asked daily, perhaps even hourly. The question of whose will will be done. In any moment 00:03:12.799 --> 00:03:19.579 where we have a moral or ethical decision to make, we're asking ourselves the question, whose will will 00:03:19.579 --> 00:03:25.759 I do? That's one of the striking things about the story of Israel. There's been this shift where 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:34.539 previously they've been under the will of evil Pharaoh, and now they're being invited to live 00:03:34.539 --> 00:03:43.719 under the will of God. And so perhaps we ask, well, who is God to make such a claim on people and on 00:03:43.719 --> 00:03:48.919 their obedience? And actually within the Ten Commandments, we discover some truths about who 00:03:48.919 --> 00:04:00.000 God is. So in Commandment number four, there in verse 11, we discover God is our Creator. He is the 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:05.659 Lord who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. So as our Maker, He both has rights 00:04:05.659 --> 00:04:12.819 over us. He is our Lord, but He also knows how life works best. Also verse 2, as we've just reminded 00:04:12.819 --> 00:04:19.680 ourselves, He is the Redeemer of His people. So part of the reason why we obey is because God has 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:25.219 been so faithful in keeping His covenant promises and taking us out of spiritual slavery and giving 00:04:25.219 --> 00:04:36.959 us freedom. In verse 5, here's a different description of God. I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. 00:04:38.159 --> 00:04:42.620 And one of the images, the themes that runs through the Bible is that God pictures His relationship 00:04:42.620 --> 00:04:50.000 with His people as being like a marriage covenant. And so God is saying to His people here, I am jealous 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:57.040 for your hearts. I'm jealous that you would love me. God is absolutely committed to His people. He's 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:03.220 absolutely faithful to His people. And our obedience as His people is then to be a response to His faithful 00:05:03.220 --> 00:05:11.600 love. Verse 20, the people know by instinct that God is an awesome God. 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:17.399 In verse 19, they say to Moses, speak to us yourself and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us 00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:24.519 or we will die. Moses said, do not be afraid. God has come to test you so that the fear of God will be 00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:30.819 with you to keep you from sinning. There's a right kind of fear as we recognize how awesome God is. It's 00:05:30.819 --> 00:05:38.720 rejoicing and trembling at His greatness and goodness and then being obedient in light of His holiness 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:45.900 and because of His glory. So God's point about Himself within the Ten Commandments has been clearly 00:05:45.900 --> 00:05:53.200 made. He alone has the right to say to us, my will be done. And He also has the right to say to us, 00:05:53.560 --> 00:06:01.800 not your will, but mine be done. And perhaps our instinctive reaction as people is that that doesn't 00:06:01.800 --> 00:06:10.160 sound altogether positive it sounds limiting. It is a challenge on human pride, human independence 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:16.120 to hear God, to hear anyone say, I have rights, to say what you should and shouldn't do. 00:06:17.819 --> 00:06:22.639 That's in the moral realm. Let's just move for a moment to the physical realm, to the normal stuff 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:26.939 of life, and then we're going to return to the moral realm. But boys and girls, think about this. 00:06:26.939 --> 00:06:31.920 When you go to any classes, and I know you go to lots of different classes, but think about either 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:40.439 your music class or a dance class or your sports clubs, what happens there is that there will be 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:48.120 a teacher of some kind, and they will instruct you and say, no, don't do it like this. Do it like that. 00:06:49.100 --> 00:06:53.120 And if you are paying attention, you will listen. If you want to make progress, 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:59.459 you will accept that, oh, there is somebody who is in charge of me, and they're telling me not to do 00:06:59.459 --> 00:07:04.939 this and to do this, so I'm going to follow their instructions. And what we do, and we do this as 00:07:04.939 --> 00:07:11.620 adults as well, is we are then limiting my will to obey the commands of someone else. 00:07:13.180 --> 00:07:19.160 And we know that that's good for us, even at the times when we don't like it. If you play piano, 00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:25.260 you probably don't enjoy doing scales. If you play a sport, you probably don't enjoy repetitive drills, 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:32.000 but they serve a good purpose. And so we will limit our will and obey commands if we understand it's 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:40.300 for our good. And also, I think most of us are able to see that unlimited freedom, as much as we think 00:07:40.300 --> 00:07:46.860 maybe that's a good idea, taken to its conclusion is actually a bad idea. That's why I think Roald Dahl's 00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:54.560 super helpful. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a wonderful book. Just one character, Augustus Gloop, 00:07:54.900 --> 00:08:01.340 if we remember Augustus Gloop, the great big silly nincompoop. His problem, oh, I can just eat all I want, 00:08:01.400 --> 00:08:06.879 this is wonderful. Guzzling all the chocolate, and he gets stuck and gets sucked up the pipe. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:16.620 Unlimited freedom sounds wonderful until we realize it's not. That's a normal life, well, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is not really a normal life, 00:08:16.620 --> 00:08:25.100 but if we go back to the moral realm, when our Creator and Savior God gives us commands, 00:08:26.340 --> 00:08:36.159 we're invited to know that obeying Him looks like progress. Progress in our joy, progress in our flourishing. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:43.720 This is the way we were made to live. He is the one who we should be glad to limit our will for. 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:49.920 Now, the challenges that we face in this are many, at least a couple to think of. What happens 00:08:49.920 --> 00:08:54.960 when God's wisdom, the wisdom that we find in the Ten Commandments or in God's Word, 00:08:55.500 --> 00:09:01.480 when God's wisdom is not the same as the wisdom that we hear all around us in the world? 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:07.100 Then we have a choice to make, don't we? Where will we go for wisdom? Who will we choose 00:09:07.100 --> 00:09:16.060 to obey? Whose voice will we listen to? If you want a good accessible book on the Ten Commandments, 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:21.019 Kevin de Young wrote one. He has a really helpful way of illustrating that sometimes 00:09:21.019 --> 00:09:31.220 the wisdom of the crowd is not always wise. So, some of us will remember back in 2017, the UK government 00:09:31.220 --> 00:09:38.940 spent a lot of money building a polar exploration boat. And they then, some of us definitely remember, 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:46.240 and they invited the public to vote on what they thought this boat should be named. And they gave 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:52.560 lots of wonderful, high-sounding, you could call it the Ernest Shackleton, you could call it the Endeavor. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:10:00.319 All these, what did the public vote for? Bolty McBoltface. Which is a better day, they gave it the name 00:10:00.319 --> 00:10:06.179 David Attenborough, which is just a bit sad. But the wisdom of the crowd is not always wise, and so we 00:10:06.179 --> 00:10:11.439 need to recognize there's points of challenge, and we need to be ready to listen to God's wisdom. 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:19.299 Here's another challenge. When God's will challenges me, challenges us, will we submit? 00:10:19.299 --> 00:10:27.879 You know, again, to borrow from the children, it's easy to obey, relatively easy to obey our parents 00:10:27.879 --> 00:10:35.839 when we agree with them. It's a lot harder when we don't, and that happens sometimes. 00:10:37.259 --> 00:10:47.219 Obedience says, I will let God's rule overrule my will. I will follow what makes God happy, 00:10:47.220 --> 00:10:56.420 not my own version of personal happiness. Now, just a moment's reflection for any of us, 00:10:56.800 --> 00:11:03.639 I am sure will reveal that by God's perfect and holy standard, all of us have broken God's law. 00:11:04.940 --> 00:11:11.740 This is a standard that we can't keep. Deep down in our hearts, there are moments when we too are 00:11:11.740 --> 00:11:19.820 suspicious of God, when we seek freedom from Him and from His laws. 00:11:22.940 --> 00:11:30.740 And that should move us to give thanks for the gospel, to give thanks for Jesus, the Son of God, 00:11:30.820 --> 00:11:38.720 who prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, not my will, but yours be done. His perfect obedience, 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:47.360 leading Him to give His life as a sacrifice to fully pay the penalty for our sin, for our selfishness, 00:11:47.860 --> 00:11:58.759 for our unfaithfulness. And as we receive His grace, that fuels our grateful obedience. 00:11:58.759 --> 00:12:07.759 So, that's the Ten Commandments and our obedience. Let's think next about the Ten Commandments and our 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:15.799 freedom, which maybe seems somewhat surprising. Freedom, of course, is one of these sort of big 00:12:15.799 --> 00:12:22.679 ideas. It was the rallying cry of William Wallace in Braveheart. Freedom is what lies behind the rebels 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:30.199 fighting to defeat the empire in Star Wars. Freedom, at the more mundane level, perhaps is the daydream of 00:12:30.199 --> 00:12:36.919 many of us in our busy lives of multiple responsibilities. Oh, if we just had freedom for a few hours. 00:12:37.719 --> 00:12:45.719 But what is freedom? And what freedom will we choose? Again, perhaps commonly when we think of freedom, 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:53.920 we think of freedom from. Freedom from restriction, freedom from responsibility, freedom from oppression, 00:12:54.460 --> 00:13:00.680 freedom from a certain set of limits. In the moral realm, 00:13:03.399 --> 00:13:10.279 people think about, well, I would like freedom from anyone telling me what to do. Freedom from any higher 00:13:10.279 --> 00:13:15.639 being any God telling me what to do. So, I get to define my own identity, how I choose to live. 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:25.480 So, for many people, freedom is freedom from. Let's think about the story of Israel and their reception 00:13:25.480 --> 00:13:29.959 of the Ten Commandments, which gives us actually a different way to think about the freedom question. 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:36.279 Because part one of the book of Exodus, those first 15 chapters, very much are freedom from. So, 00:13:36.279 --> 00:13:42.519 Israel is set free from the evil tyrant Pharaoh. They are set free from cruel rule. They're set free 00:13:42.519 --> 00:13:47.319 from being surrounded by false gods and false worship. They're being set free from being worked 00:13:47.319 --> 00:13:54.919 to death. But part two of Exodus, and actually the reason for part one, is that they are set free to 00:13:56.199 --> 00:14:04.919 know their God. God's people are set free from slavery to enjoy relationship with Him. It's not, 00:14:04.919 --> 00:14:09.959 now we're saved, we've got political freedom, full stop, that's it. We've got the dream. No, it's freedom 00:14:09.959 --> 00:14:17.719 to belong to God. And now, it's freedom to discover the limits that He sets in order for their life as 00:14:17.719 --> 00:14:24.759 individuals and as a nation to work best. They've been saved by grace to know their God. 00:14:26.919 --> 00:14:31.319 And that's where how the Bible speaks about freedom is perhaps different from 00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:36.120 how many people instinctively think about it. Because true freedom in life, the Bible says, 00:14:36.120 --> 00:14:41.960 is freedom to live within the limits that our good Creator sets for our well-being. 00:14:43.800 --> 00:14:48.920 The classic example in terms of thinking about freedom within limits would be the goldfish. We have 00:14:48.920 --> 00:14:55.640 a couple of goldfish in our house, in our kitchen. Imagine them swimming around in the same place month 00:14:55.639 --> 00:15:00.679 after month, year after year. Eventually, they decide to get wise and think, hang on a minute, 00:15:00.679 --> 00:15:04.360 there's more freedom to be found out there. There's all that space out there on the kitchen 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:11.639 floor. So they make a desperate dive to find freedom. Will they be more free as they escape their 00:15:11.639 --> 00:15:17.879 little tub? Of course they won't be. They'll be flapping around and eventually they would die if nobody 00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:22.919 picked them up. Because goldfish need to live within right limits. Their limits, 00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:30.519 the limits of a body of water. But those limits are not bad for them, those limits are good for them. 00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:35.399 And it's so important for us to recognize that freedom is not freedom without limits. 00:15:36.039 --> 00:15:41.479 True freedom is understanding what are the actual limits that are set for us as people that will 00:15:41.479 --> 00:15:50.279 allow us to flourish well in our lives. And God, our good Creator, gives them to us here. These are good, 00:15:50.919 --> 00:15:58.439 life-giving limits, boundaries to live well. Jesus summarizes them in terms of, 00:15:58.439 --> 00:16:04.279 here is what freedom looks like, being free to love God and to love our neighbor. That's how 00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:11.480 He summarizes the Ten Commandments as those who have been saved by God's grace. 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:19.080 Jesus would say to the people in His day, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. 00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:28.920 And so we need to see the Ten Commandments as a gift for Israel. It is a gift for them to have a new 00:16:28.919 --> 00:16:36.919 and a better master, to have a new and a better identity, and to have a new way of freedom. 00:16:38.599 --> 00:16:44.360 Just to consider two commands to illustrate that God's law gave them and can give us freedom. 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:50.759 Think about commands four and five. First of all, command four, which you find there in verses eight 00:16:50.759 --> 00:16:57.559 to eleven, which begins, remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Okay, so think about Israel's 00:16:57.559 --> 00:17:07.160 story in Egypt. Okay, they never had physical rest. Back-breaking labor day after day after day, 00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:15.400 until the day they died. And not only did they have no physical rest, they had no spiritual rest either. 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:23.080 They were not allowed to worship the one true God. The only worship that they saw was false worship 00:17:23.080 --> 00:17:31.720 that did not invite them into the rest of grace. Then they hear command four, remember the Sabbath day 00:17:31.720 --> 00:17:38.920 by keeping it holy. What are they invited to there? They're invited into freedom, because now they're 00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:46.200 being returned to the rhythm of creation. Back there when God made the world, there was that pattern 00:17:46.200 --> 00:17:54.440 established of six days of work and one day of rest. And so now there is a day when there is complete 00:17:54.440 --> 00:18:02.519 physical rest for everybody, including the animals, including the stranger within them. And it's not just 00:18:02.519 --> 00:18:12.039 physical rest. They're also invited into God's rest, into God's Sabbath rest. They're invited to rest in 00:18:12.039 --> 00:18:22.039 order to worship. They're invited to know the God who is, to come away from all the busyness of life 00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:33.319 to worship Him, to recognize that He is holy, and He's given that day for their holiness as a gift to them. 00:18:35.319 --> 00:18:43.559 Think about in our secular society where we live. So, modern life as a general rule has seen so many of 00:18:43.559 --> 00:18:52.359 those rhythms being broken down with the seasons, you know, because of the fact that we can get our food from 00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:57.960 wherever, you know, we don't just eat seasonal crops, we don't just eat seasonal fruits and vegetables. 00:18:59.079 --> 00:19:06.119 Because of the erosion of Sunday trading laws, we don't have that sense of here's busyness and here's rest. 00:19:06.519 --> 00:19:13.319 Rather, every day feels the same. Every day feels relentlessly busy. Those boundaries that used to exist 00:19:13.319 --> 00:19:21.079 aren't there anymore, which is both for many people physically exhausting and spiritually draining. 00:19:22.759 --> 00:19:30.039 So, we as the people of God are given this command for our freedom too, to come out of that, the 00:19:30.039 --> 00:19:38.919 relentless busyness that God invites us to Himself, to rest and to worship. 00:19:38.920 --> 00:19:47.400 What about command five, this transition command where we move from thinking about how are we to love God 00:19:47.400 --> 00:19:54.279 to how are we to love our neighbor? There in verse 12, honor your father and your mother so that you may 00:19:54.279 --> 00:20:02.600 live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Just think for a moment about how life in a family 00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:11.159 must have been in Egypt. The only one authority figure really was Pharaoh. He was cruel, he was 00:20:11.159 --> 00:20:16.359 wicked, he was relentless. He was setting out to destroy family life for the Israelites. Remember, 00:20:16.359 --> 00:20:22.199 he is the one who gave the command to throw baby boys into the river Nile. He is the one who is giving 00:20:22.200 --> 00:20:33.720 the command that the dads of those children to make bricks day after day after day. And so now they come 00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:39.319 out of that horrible situation and they enjoy freedom and they receive this command. And this command 00:20:40.279 --> 00:20:48.279 is freedom. Here they're being taught about God's design for the foundation for society, which is 00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:56.680 the family. The family, which is so important because here by God's design is a place where children can 00:20:56.680 --> 00:21:08.200 learn about good authority. Where children can learn to listen and to respect. A place to learn to trust. 00:21:08.200 --> 00:21:17.319 And it's a command that comes with a promise. So that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is 00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:26.840 giving you. If you look at any sociology studies, bears this out generally, where people live in stable 00:21:26.840 --> 00:21:33.319 homes with a mom and a dad. There is less likelihood of falling into addiction or to crime. There's better 00:21:33.319 --> 00:21:44.039 better attainment. It is a good design for the strength of society to have a family and where authority is 00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:56.839 recognized. Think about in the secular society in which we live. Most people have disregarded or forgotten 00:21:56.839 --> 00:22:04.679 that is a God. There is a God and He is absolute authority. And when ultimate authority gets lost, 00:22:04.679 --> 00:22:11.559 the idea of authority in general begins to erode. What we're beginning to see, of course, is the breakdown 00:22:11.559 --> 00:22:19.319 of family units. We're seeing a decline in respect and trust in authority figures. Parents perhaps 00:22:19.319 --> 00:22:23.879 struggling to know how to discipline or to apply limits because they never saw it themselves in their own 00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:33.720 homes. What God gives is a wonderful freedom, is a wonderful gift. Here is stability and structure and 00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:42.280 good authority. It's actually freeing for us if we find ourselves in authority to recognize God establishes 00:22:42.280 --> 00:22:51.560 these patterns. And also we are to exercise our authority in the way that God does. If we are placed in any 00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:57.079 position of authority in the family or elsewhere, we are to use that to serve and to love those who are 00:22:57.079 --> 00:23:04.519 under us. And it's also freedom for children as well and for those who live in positions where they are 00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:10.519 under authority. Here are the people, here is the wisdom, here is the guidance that God would have me to 00:23:10.519 --> 00:23:17.960 listen to. And so there is freedom here in establishing these proper limits. 00:23:17.960 --> 00:23:31.000 In our sinful rebellion, we often choose a version of freedom which is freedom from God and from the 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:38.440 rule of God. Freedom from His wisdom to guide our lives. We find ourselves fighting and struggling against 00:23:38.440 --> 00:23:53.080 God's commands. In the gospel, we hear wonderful words from Jesus. He says, come to me, all you who are weary 00:23:53.080 --> 00:24:01.960 and burdened, and I will give you rest. He says, take my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle 00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:10.039 and lowly and lowly and you will find rest for your souls. We look at Jesus in the gospel and we understand 00:24:10.039 --> 00:24:14.039 here is the one person, the only person who has ever perfectly obeyed. 00:24:16.279 --> 00:24:21.860 And we look at the cross and we see Jesus carrying the heavy yoke, the heavy burden of our sin 00:24:21.860 --> 00:24:29.240 in order to forgive us. He has been faithful where we have been unfaithful. And this Jesus is the one who 00:24:29.240 --> 00:24:39.079 invites us to come to rest in His love and kindness and then to work with Him and to work for Him in 00:24:39.079 --> 00:24:47.720 seeking to pursue obedience, in seeking to love God and to love our neighbor with the grace that He supplies 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:58.000 and the freedom that we enjoy in Him. One last thing to think about, and to take this from the journey of 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:06.319 God's people, is the Ten Commandments and our mission. Because the Ten Commandments actually help to serve 00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:14.039 God's mission because God's mission is that He be known throughout the world, and what He needs then are a 00:25:14.039 --> 00:25:23.639 people that we'll represent Him. We will be hearing for the next few weeks from politicians, different views 00:25:23.639 --> 00:25:32.039 on how society will flourish. You can read manifestos, here are the policies, here are the pledges. 00:25:33.480 --> 00:25:41.319 Remind us we need prayer and wisdom, a chance to pray this evening. But think of the Ten Commandments 00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:52.759 as God's manifesto for a new society, an alternative society, a people who live according to His will, 00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:59.000 a people who've been set free to pursue new lives of love, where they are set free to love and worship 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:06.599 their God and to love their neighbors. A society of dignity and value, of honor and respect 00:26:06.599 --> 00:26:14.579 for all people. For all people, for the environment, for the animals. A way of life that cares for the 00:26:14.579 --> 00:26:21.279 weak and for the oppressed. We're going to think next week about some of the various laws as they 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:27.919 are applied in society in chapters 21 to 23. And Israel was radically ahead of any other society 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:37.519 in their justice, in their mercy, in their provisions for the poor, as they represent God and His values. 00:26:39.120 --> 00:26:43.039 Because as God's people live by the values of the kingdom, 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:53.700 we're inviting people to see and to say, this is what God is like. Remember when Jesus said, 00:26:53.700 --> 00:26:59.400 let your light shine so that men might see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. 00:27:00.039 --> 00:27:07.860 There is to be a connection between the way that we live and God being glorified and people being drawn in. 00:27:09.180 --> 00:27:15.960 How does that happen? It happens in part, at least, as we are obeying, living according to God's 00:27:15.960 --> 00:27:23.680 commands as a people changed by grace. We get to see our calling as God's people. We get to see 00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:31.000 Israel's calling in chapter 19, actually, and verse 6. There is a description there, 00:27:31.420 --> 00:27:37.340 although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. So, 00:27:37.460 --> 00:27:41.580 the people of Israel are called out of slavery. They're called to belong to God. And now they're 00:27:41.580 --> 00:27:46.860 given this mission to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. What does it mean to be a kingdom of 00:27:46.859 --> 00:27:54.799 priests? Well, at a very basic level, it means that they are called to represent God in the world, 00:27:55.439 --> 00:28:04.179 that God's people are to do service for God to the people around, to lead people into true worship. 00:28:04.180 --> 00:28:13.180 What does it mean to be called to be a holy nation? To be holy is the idea of being set apart as 00:28:13.180 --> 00:28:20.160 belonging to God, that their lifestyle is to represent the fact that they are citizens of 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:30.100 God's kingdom, functioning as a light, drawing others to know God. So, their mission is to 00:28:30.099 --> 00:28:37.919 represent God in the world, to be set apart so that others can see God's values being worked out. 00:28:39.679 --> 00:28:43.939 And here in the Ten Commandments, those values are worked out in the way that we love our God, 00:28:44.019 --> 00:28:51.599 in the way that we love our neighbor. When we think about what Edinburgh needs from us as a church, 00:28:51.699 --> 00:28:57.359 what Edinburgh needs from Christians, if we want to seek the greatest good of the city, 00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:02.479 is to love God and to love our neighbor with the desire that others would become worshipers, 00:29:02.500 --> 00:29:08.199 that they too would enjoy God's grace and God's love. Because imagine the impact, 00:29:09.240 --> 00:29:17.259 go back to the days of Israel, if Israel lived out these commands as they were established in the 00:29:17.259 --> 00:29:23.379 promised land. Imagine what a world would be like if God's people lived out these commands. 00:29:23.380 --> 00:29:30.040 Let's begin at number six, you shall not murder. Remember Jesus talking about you shall not hate in 00:29:30.040 --> 00:29:40.360 your heart. Imagine a society where the protection of life was paramount, where people, societies would 00:29:40.360 --> 00:29:50.060 protect the weak, the unborn, the elderly, the refugee. Verse 14, you shall not commit adultery. 00:29:50.059 --> 00:29:57.720 Imagine a society where there was no unfaithfulness, where family life was protected, where we were 00:29:57.720 --> 00:30:05.419 avoiding the trauma of family breakdown. Imagine a society where husbands and wives were living 00:30:05.419 --> 00:30:10.019 together in such a way that the love of the Lord Jesus for His church was being reflected. 00:30:10.019 --> 00:30:24.220 Verse 15, you shall not steal. Imagine a world of total security, where property was respected, 00:30:25.579 --> 00:30:35.579 no plagiarism, no piracy, no extortion, no scamming. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 00:30:35.579 --> 00:30:45.980 No more gossip, no more gossip, no more slander, where people's honor, where people's good name was 00:30:45.980 --> 00:30:52.379 protected, where there was no twisting of the truth to make sure that we always appeared in a bad light 00:30:52.379 --> 00:31:01.439 and others appeared in a negative light. Verse 17, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, wife, servant, 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:11.360 and wife, servant, and wife. Imagine a community whose hearts were so set on loving others that they practiced 00:31:11.360 --> 00:31:20.240 contentment and could be glad if they saw God doing good in the lives of others. What a difference 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:30.839 this would make. To take these laws seriously both makes us realize this is a wonderful way to live 00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:41.740 and to take it seriously also forces us to realize we can't and we don't. And so the law then teaches us 00:31:41.740 --> 00:31:53.539 clearly that we need to confess sin and we need to trust in Jesus. Think about our mission to be, and Peter uses the 00:31:53.539 --> 00:32:01.180 same imagery to speak to the church, we are a royal priesthood and a holy nation. Jesus comes as the true priest. 00:32:01.180 --> 00:32:10.580 He sacrifices for the sake of others. He prays and he serves. He is the true Israel. He is the only obedient 00:32:10.580 --> 00:32:20.420 one. His life is the beautiful life that shines the glory of God. And his mission of grace transfers people 00:32:20.420 --> 00:32:27.880 into his kingdom. People that can't keep his law by his grace are forgiven and transferred into his kingdom. 00:32:27.880 --> 00:32:34.940 And then he gives us the spirit so that we can begin to serve him in his mission. 00:32:36.180 --> 00:32:41.040 And as we think about how wonderful this world would be if people lived this way, 00:32:41.460 --> 00:32:48.840 as it represents to us the world that we all want deep down, we're invited actually to live with hope. 00:32:50.040 --> 00:32:53.760 Not just that Jesus perfectly obeyed, which is wonderful in itself, 00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:57.799 but the Bible tells us that when Jesus returns, 00:32:59.079 --> 00:33:03.900 when sin and death and all that is wrong will be dealt with forever, 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:12.559 this perfect society will be established. The kingdom of God will be established on these lines forever. 00:33:12.559 --> 00:33:21.720 And until that day, may God help us, help us to be that kingdom of priests, 00:33:22.419 --> 00:33:28.500 that holy nation, by God's grace to be on that mission of displaying his glory, 00:33:29.159 --> 00:33:34.159 by choosing to limit our freedom to say, not my will, but yours be done. 00:33:34.160 --> 00:33:42.160 Let's pray that God would help us. Father God, we thank you for...