God Keeps His God Keeps His Promises: Promises: Exodus part II-A Constitution

Matt

We have seen that God brings glory to Himself by:

1. Using Man- Moses2. Using His Name- YHWH (God who is

faithful and keeps His promises3. Using His Creation- Plagues4. Using the Enemy- Egyptians

Although God’s Primary purpose is to bring glory to Himself, He secondarily blesses us by taking His word seriously, and keeping His promise.

Review of the Promise- 1. God promises Adam and Eve through the

cursing of the Satan that He will send a Redeemer to “save” the world. "And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”"

(Genesis 3:15, NKJV) 2. God rescues Noah in order to keep His

promise "This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God." (Genesis 6:9, NKJV)

3. Abrahamic Covenant- " Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. " (Genesis 12:1-2, NKJV)

"Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”" (Genesis 15:7, NKJV)

4. . Mosaic Covenant"And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people

who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey……

What did God Promise?

1. Redeemer- Genesis 3

2. People- God made Abraham a great nation- Israelites- Genesis 12.10- Exodus 19

3. Constitution/LAW-Exodus 20- Number 10.10

4. Land-Numbers 10.11- Joshua 24

What did God promise?

Redeemer- Promise kept through the salvation of Noah

People- Promise kept through Patriarch Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Constitution- Needed in order to have proper function of nation.

A Nation needs a Constitution:God brings glory to Himself by establishing a

constitution for His people.

The Ten Commandments- (“Ten Words”), the hub of all of Israel’s religious and civil laws, has two parts.

I. The first four commandments pertain to the relationship of the Israelites with God, and

II. The other six deal with social relationships within the covenant community.

The Ten Commandments are an excellent summary of 10 divine rules for human conduct. They might be called rules of (1) religion, (2) worship, (3) reverence, (4) time, (5) authority, (6) life, (7) purity, (8) property, (9) tongue, and (10) contentment. (Bible Knowledge Commentary)

Commandments 1-4 (The people’s relationship to God)

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (religion) What is the object of your What is the object of your worship?worship? Before you can properly worship you need to know the object of your worship, If it is not God, it is something created. The Created was made to worship the Creator. In as much the created was made to be ultimately fulfilled by the Creator. The created cannot be fulfilled by itself. Do you know the object of your worship?

Polytheism vs. Monotheism

The Egyptians, and other neighboring nations, had many gods, the creatures of their own fancy, strange gods, new gods; this law was prefixed because of that transgression, and, Jehovah being the God of Israel, they must entirely cleave to him, and not be for any other, either of their own invention or borrowed from their neighbors. This was the sin they were most in danger of now that the world was so overspread with polytheism, which yet could not be rooted out effectually but by the gospel of Christ.(Henry)

2. Thou shall not make for yourself a carved image… No idols- (worship)

a. that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth(idols, gods that are not God) BUT ALSO

b. any likeness of anything that is in heaven above. (No images of God Himself!)

Idol is pesel, “carved wood or stone,” from pāsal, “to carve.”

The problem with idols of God Himself? The created cannot possibly make something material that could bring God glory, His due glory, His worth. The sinful created cannot bring God His due glory let alone by carving an mage out of wood or stone. There is only one person who can bring glory to God in the highest (Luke 2) and that is Christ.

3. Thou shalt not take the LORD’s name in vain…(reverence) of who you are worshipping.

The idea of an oath- “I swear to God” the history of oaths- swearing to a god to prove ones innocence, swearing to God even when lying. How lightly do you take the name of God? Oh my God! Do you revere ad respect the name of God?

4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. (time) we are always to be:

a. Knowing the object of our worship

b. Honoring Him and Him alone

c. Revering and respecting His name and lastly..

d. Remembering His day, and to keep it Holy. Also, no work for profit was to be done on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was Saturday.

5-10 People’s Responsibilities to Each Other5. Honor your Father and your Mother…

(authority) The first of the social commandments begins with the center of the moral infrastructure: “The Family”. When the family loses its function and purpose, no community, no city, no nation can survive. This is due to the fact that the family, which was instituted by God, is the biblical “lived out” example of Christ and the church. (particularly the husband and the wife)

1. Honoring your parents brought longevity of life, (based on the nation’s long standing covenant with God)

2. Dishonoring your parents brought death! In most cases stoning!!!! e (Ex. 21:17; Lev. 20:9; Prov. 20:20)

6. Thou shalt not murder…(Life)To help preserve society and because people are made in God’s image (Gen. 9:6), the Israelites were commanded not to take another person’s life by murder (rāṣaḥ, “to slay”).

It does not forbid killing in lawful war, or in our own necessary defense, nor the magistrate’s putting offenders to death, for those things tend to the preserving of life; but it forbids all malice and hatred to the person of any (for he that hateth his brother is a murderer),

7. Thou shall not commit adultery… (purity)This commandment forbids all acts of

uncleanness.8. Thou shalt not steal…(property) This

command was given to encourage the respect of others’ property.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness… (tongue) it is important to not only take the name of the Lord seriously and respect it, it is also important to respect others and not lie about them. Do you gossip? Do you say you respect God but then talk badly about people in the church? Or your “friends”

10. Thou shalt not covet…(contentment) Israelites were not to long for, desire earnestly, or lust after what legitimately belonged to others.

These commandments are the fundamental statements of a good and wholesome society as ordered by the holy and righteous God. Though believers today are not under the Law (Rom. 6:15), they are under obligation to abide by the holy standards represented in the Ten Commandments. Nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament with added stipulations that are even higher than those in Exodus 20:3-17. The one not repeated is the command to keep the Sabbath; yet the first day of the week is to be set aside for worship in commemoration of the Savior’s resurrection.

The major purposes for the Ten Commandments were to:

1. Persuade people to live in reverence and respect of their God. “

“Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” Ex. 20.18

2. To show and teach the people what was required of them in order for a Holy God to dwell among an unholy people.

3. To ensure that they always knew what the object of their worship was, and the responsibilities for properly worshipping Him.

4. To measure sin. A scale of sorts to allow the people to see where they are falling short, and why they fall short.

5. God keeps His promises! A nation needs a constitution.

Questions

What do you find interesting about the first four commandments as opposed to the last six? Why are they given like that?

How do the commandments still apply today? What commandments are you breaking and why?

What did you learn that you did not know before about the commandments?