A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Finishing Exodus

Have you ever talked to someone who just heard some good news and they were just happy-happy-happy? We may tell them something like, “Wow, there’s just this glow about you!” Not that their skin is actually glowing—unless they’ve been out at the Y-12 nuclear facility out in Oak Ridge—but they’ve just got this look about them. Well, today we’re gonna see that when Moses came back down with the tablets of the covenant, he had a certain glow about him—but in this case, he was actually glowing.

Exodus 34:29-35—29 Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. 30 So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. 35 And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.

We saw a couple weeks ago Exodus 33:11—The LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. If you were to speak with God, face-to-face, would you ever be the same? I would think not. Well, Moses spoke with God face-to-face—we actually talked about that briefly a couple weeks ago—and he was never the same. We see many times that when God would speak to a person, and reveal just a portion of His glory to that man, that man would never be the same. Isaiah 6:1-8—1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple…5 So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts"…8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." And as an added bonus, guess whose glory it was that Isaiah saw? Read John 12:37-41.

There was a fellow named Job. We’ve heard of people having “the patience of Job”—he wasn’t quite as patient as people would like to think he was. In Job 1:1—There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. Job was a “good person” and Job “deserved” to be saved, right? For the first 37 chapters, Job almost sounds as if he is making that case, trying to convince himself and his friends that he didn’t deserve all the calamities that happened to him. Then, in Job 38-41, God lays out roughly 85 questions for Job to answer. Job 38:4-7—“4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?...5 Who determined its measurements?...Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, 7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” And God just knocks down every high thought that Job might have of himself and in Job 42:1-6—1 Then Job answered the LORD and said: “2 I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You…5 I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. 6 Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” 

And then there was a fellow who lived in the area around the Sea of Galilee, about 2000 years ago, made his living as a fisherman. His name was Simon bar-Jonah. Met a man one day—not just ANY man, of course—and his life was never the same. In fact, even his name got changed. Luke 5:4-8—4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." 5 But Simon answered and said to Him, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net." 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" Now, notice something in all three of these episodes. When all these men saw the Lord, what was their reaction? They saw God as being the glorious God that He is, and they saw themselves as being the vile, dirty sinners they were. Isaiah 6:5—"I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips…for my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts" Job 42:5-6—“5 Now my eye sees You. 6 Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Luke 5:8—"Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" 

That SHOULD be our reaction. Whenever we go into the presence of the Lord through prayer, our attitude should not be “OK, God, I'm going to twist your arm to make You give me all of my material wants!” Even though there are many who make a lot of money teaching people that very thing. In fact, one fellow said the following:  “As a believer, you have a right to make commands in the name of Jesus. Each time you stand on the Word, you are commanding God to a certain extent because it is His Word.” But I won't mention Kenneth Copeland by name. Our attitude should be one of dependence and poverty, knowing that everything belongs to God, we own nothing, we deserve even less, and that it is only by God’s grace and mercy that we have anything. Unlike another fellow who said, “Let me be very clear—I want your money. I deserve it. This church deserves it.” But enough about Rod Parsley. We do not go to God and “command Him to a certain extent.” We do not command Him to ANY extent. He’s God—we’re not. Isaiah realized that; Job realized that; Simon Peter realized that—yet many who prop themselves up as preachers and teachers don’t get it. Our prayers should not be centered and focused on ourselves. Or on any other human for that matter. The focus of our prayers should start and end with God and His glory. When we pray for our friend to be healed, or when we pray for our loved one to find a job, the focus of our prayer should not end with that person being healed or finding a job—it should begin, end, and have one theme running all throughout it--that thing being the desire to see God glorified through us and through that person and how God will work through their circumstances.

If you want to see an example of a man-centered prayer--one in which the one praying tells God how much the person deserves to have God hear him--turn to Luke 18:10-13—“10 Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'” There was a writer named E.M. Bounds, who wrote VOLUMES on prayer. And in one of his works, called The Essentials of Prayer, he uses the episode of the Pharisee and the tax collector from Luke 18 to show us the kind of humility we should have when we pray.

“The Pharisee seemed to be accustomed to prayer. Certainly he should have known by that time how to pray, but alas! Like many others, he seemed never to have learned this invaluable lesson…The position and place are well-chosen by him. There is the sacred place, the sacred hour, and the sacred name, each and all invoked by this seemingly praying man. But…although schooled to prayer, by training and by habit, he prays not. Words are uttered by him, but words are not prayer…pride has poisoned his prayer offering of that hour. His entire praying [is full of] self-praise, self-congratulation, and self-exaltation…On the other hand, the [tax collector], smitten with a deep sense of his sins and his inward sinfulness, realising how poor in spirit he is, how utterly devoid of anything like righteousness, goodness, or any quality which would commend him to God…falls down with humiliation and despair before God, while he utters a sharp cry for mercy for his sins and his guilt…Here we see by sharp contrast the utter worthlessness of self-righteousness, self-exaltation, and self-praise in praying, and the great value, the beauty and the Divine approval which comes to humility of heart…when a soul comes before God in prayer. Happy are they who have no righteousness of their own to plead and no goodness of their own of which to boast. Humility flourishes in the soil of a true and deep sense of our sinfulness and our nothingness. Nowhere does humility grow so rankly and so rapidly and shine so brilliantly, as when it feels all guilty, confesses all sin, and trusts all grace.” 

A couple of Scriptures before we move on. Matthew 6:7—“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” Philippians 4:6—Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. That word ‘supplication’ means that we come to God admitting that we have nothing and that every thing He gives us is a gift of His grace. This whole “name-it-and-claim-it” nonsense is just that—nonsense. Not every single believer is going to be materially wealthy or physically well in this life. And we just need to accept that. In fact, one of those fellows, a man named Fred K. Price, would condemn our brother David here. Why, David, you don’t have any legs--how can you glorify God in that body? Quote from Mr. price--“How can you glorify God in your body, when it doesn't function right?....What makes you think the Holy Ghost wants to live inside of a body where He can't see out through the windows, and He can't hear out the ears?” James 4:2-3 (NASB)—2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. When people pray something like, “God, give this to me because I want it!” They need to ready themselves for the fact that He might just say “no.” And we have to be okay with that. The point, again: God is God, we are not. Any “God” that we can command by our “faith” is an idol. Do with that what you will.

There’s another point I want to make with this episode of the shining face of Moses. The apostle Paul uses this episode to show how we humans cannot understand the things of God unless He helps us understand. 2nd Corinthians 3:7-16—7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. 11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. 12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech—13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Notice something here—Moses used that veil to cover what? His face. Why? Because it was shining with the glory of the LORD. BUT—in 2nd Corinthians 3:14, what does the veil cover? It covers the hearts of those who do not believe. Specifically, those who were still clinging to the Law of Moses for their salvation. 2nd Corinthians 3:14—But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. The OT—from Genesis to Malachi—was filled with pictures and prophecies and shadows and figures of Christ. But that’s Paul’s point here—Christ was in the OT but He was, so to speak, behind the veil of the Law and the Prophets. You see Christ all throughout the OT—but only in shadows and figures, not in His fullness. However, now that He has come and revealed Himself, the veil that was the Law and the prophets has been removed. The writers of the OT wrote about Christ, but they used terms and phrases and word pictures which only gave glimpses of Christ. But, now have Christ as Lord and Savior revealed in His fullness. In fact, he told the church at Colosse, Colossians 2:16-17—16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 

But, at the time that Paul wrote 2^nd Corinthians (and Colossians, and all of his epistles for that matter), the Jews still didn’t understand it. They still didn’t get it; they were still clinging to the Law and the Prophets. A couple of scriptures before we move on. John 5:39-40—“39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” Acts 26:22-23—“22 To this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come—23 that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.” Moses and the prophets said that? Really? Moses and all the other Old testament prophets said that "the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles"? Yes, they did. Luke 24:18-27—18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?" 19 And He said to them, "What things?" So they said to Him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened…25 Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. All the Scriptures—being what? The Old Testament. And the OT is not only able to show us Christ, it is able to show us that salvation is by faith in Christ. 2nd Timothy 3:15—From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. You don’t need a guy sitting on a fancy chair in Italy, along with his red-robed buddies, to tell you what the Scriptures mean. The Scriptures themselves have that ability. Even Moses shows us that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. But now, the veil has been removed from Moses by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to fulfill all the things which were spoken of by the Law and the prophets—not just in types and shadows, but in full.

So, that concludes Exodus chapter 34, then chapter 35 we see the offering taken up for the construction and maintenance of the tabernacle and then we see the architectural firm of Bezalel and Aholiab, LLC called to oversee the project; in chapter 36 the tabernacle is constructed (but not raised up yet); chapter 37 shows the furnishings of the tabernacle being made (the Ark of the Covenant, the lampstand, the altar of incense, the table for showbread and the anointing oil and incense); in chapter 38 the making of the bronze wash basin that would sit between the altar of burnt offering and the tent; the curtain around the courtyard is made; in chapter 39 they make the garments for the priests. That just leaves us with Exodus 40. In Exodus 40:1-33 the tabernacle is set up, it is anointed with oil, purified with incense, and everything is put in, around, and over top of it. The sons of Aaron are outfitted in their garments and anointed for the priesthood.

Then, finally, Exodus 40:34-35—34 Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. God said He would do this, back in Exodus 29:43-44—“43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory. 44 So I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting and the altar.” We see much the same thing happen when Solomon finishes building the temple in Jerusalem, 1st Kings 8:10-11—10 And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, 11 so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. While the tabernacle was being raised, and while the curtain between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place was being hung, there were probably people going in and out of the various parts of the tent. They almost had to in order to make sure everything was done right. But now that the glory of the LORD has rested on the tent, now that the glory of the LORD has sanctified everything about the tent, God has declared that this is His resting place, and all the commandments concerning where people can and can't go are now in force. Eventually the glory would dwell only “between the cherubim”—or, the angels—on top of the Ark of the Covenant and the priests would be able to enter the first part of the tabernacle, but only the high priest would be able to go beyond the veil and into the Most Holy Place, and then only once a year on the Day of Atonement (or Yom Kippur). 

Exodus 40:36-38—36 Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the LORD was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. Simple: now that the glory of the LORD has filled the tabernacle, it will stay here for a while. But, when the glory is lifted, they are to pack everything up, look for where the cloud is moving, and follow it. When the cloud stops, they stop. If the cloud doesn't stop, they don’t stop. It’s not like when you go on a long trip, and you ask the wife, “How about we stop here for the night? No? How about here? No? How about here?” It wasn’t up to the wives to decide where the cloud was going to stop. It wasn’t up to the priests, or the high priest, or Aaron or even Moses—God and God alone was the one who said where they would go and where and when they would stop. If the cloud goes east, the people go east. If the cloud goes west, the people go west. There was no, “Yeah, but it’s kinda dry here, doesn't seem very comfortable. How about we pitch it over there?” It was not a matter of where the people chose to go; it was God simply saying “Follow Me.” Hmmm…seems as though I remember reading how somebody else told some fellows “Follow Me.” And in fact, at one point when that Man said "We must go to Jerusalem," one of those fellows said, “No, surely You don’t want to go THERE.” But He did say, “Yes, I NEED to go there.” And wouldn’t you know it, we’re talking about good ol’ Simon Peter. Again.

Turn to Matthew 16:13-17—13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" 14 So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Peter saw Christ for who He was—is. He saw Him as being the Christ of God. The Son of God, the Living Christ, the Messiah, Yehoshua Ha'Mishiacah. BUT—don’t forget, we’re talking about Peter. Skip down to Matthew 16:21-23—21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" 23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan!" The OT tabernacle was a picture of Christ. Christ dwelt in a tabernacle of flesh (John 1:14), and wherever that tabernacle went, His disciples were to follow. They were not to tell Him where to go, but He was to tell them where to go. He told two separate groups on two different occasions, “You guys go here and here and here, but don’t go there, or there or over there. Go only to the lost sheep of Israel, do not go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans” (Matthew 10:5-6).

He tells Simon Peter, “Blessed art thou Simon bar-Jonah…Get behind Me, Satan.” And this is another area where we fall short in our prayers. We sometimes have a tendency to say, “Lord, You can send me anywhere You want—just so long as it isn’t _____.” Or we tell God—and this is one we fall into quite easily, when we listen to our flesh—“Lord, I'm gonna do this, and You will have to bless the work”—even though it is something He didn’t call them to. Again, twisting God’s arm. Thou shalt not test the LORD thy God. God may lead us to a nice city, where we will have running water and all the creature comforts we silly humans think we need. Or, He may send us to Peru to live in the midst of some of the most impoverished people on the planet. But that doesn't matter. If He says “Go,” we need to go. He may send us to Sudan or China or Iran to be arrested and put in prison—maybe even beaten and killed. Not necessarily to have our “Best Life Now.” But that’s what happens when we pray the way we should. You'll hear folks say “Pray according to your faith—not according to His will.” That is about the most asinine a statement as a person can make.

How did Jesus teach us to pray? Some folks would have you think he said, "And when you pray, pray in this manner: Our Father, who Art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, According to my faith, make it so!..." However, God said--yes, GOD said--“Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” The first type of prayer (“According to my faith, make it so!”) is the type of prayer that commands God. The second type of prayer (“Thy will be done”) is the type of prayer Christ commands. Can we command God to make Him do what we want? We are to pray in faith, knowing that God can do all things. The prayer that accomplishes the will of God—which, again, is what should be the focus of all our prayers—is “Thy will be done.” It may not be God’s will for us to be healthy and wealthy and prosperous. And we have to accept that. The Israelites did not tell God where He should lead them—we don’t tell God what He should do in our lives. This ain't a democracy; you don’t get a vote. Let me finish with the words of an old, old hymn.

“Take up thy cross and follow Me,” I heard my Master say;
"I gave My life to ransom thee, Surrender your all today."
Wherever He leads I'll go
I'll follow my Christ who loves me so, Wherever He leads I'll go.

He drew me closer to His side, I sought His will to know,
And in that will I now abide, Wherever He leads I'll go.

It may be thro' the shadows dim, Or o'er the stormy sea,
I take my cross and follow Him, Wherever He leadeth me.

My heart, my life, my all I bring To Christ who loves me so;
he is my Master, Lord, and King, Wherever He leads I'll go.
Wherever He leads I'll go, Wherever He leads I'll go,
I'll follow my Christ who loves me so, Wherever He leads I'll go.

Not the other way around.

JESUS CHRIST IS LORD. AMEN.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--The Golden Calf (Epilogue)

Last week we surveyed the episode at Mt. Sinai where the people convinced Aaron to make a golden calf to worship. What that episode really shows us is how foolish human beings really are. Many times people construct a “God”—or, an idea about God—and usually this “God” they create is nothing like the true God. The “God” they create doesn't require much out of them, he’ll let them go on living however they want to. And this “God” will brush aside their sins and say “It’s no big deal.” And when you confront these people about some sin they may have in their life—or in the life of someone they love—what these people tend to say is, “Well, that may be your God. But the god I worship doesn't condemn anybody for that.” And, without realizing it, they have hit the nail on the head. They are absolutely right—the god they worship won’t judge anybody or condemn anybody. But that’s because they don’t worship the One, True, Living God, Almighty YHVH. They worship a god of their own making, and what is the term we use to describe worshipping a god of one’s own making?

Of all the sins that are talked about in Scripture, I don’t think there is one that is mentioned more often than idolatry. And I think that is because the world does not know God, or rather, they don’t want to know the true God. So they carve wooden and stone figures and bow to them. And this too shows how utterly foolish we humans are. These people who bow down to statues are worshipping something made by human hands—a block of wood or stone that was, for all intents and purposes, destroyed so it could be worshipped. They worship something that’s broken. Does that make sense? In Isaiah 40-46, God goes into this lengthy, intense diatribe against the sin of idolatry. Especially Isaiah 44. Listen to Isaiah 44:14-17—14 He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak; he secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it shall be for a man to burn, for he will take some of it and warm himself; yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; indeed he makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. 16 He burns half of it in the fire; with this half he eats meat; he roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He even warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire." 17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!" Those who worship trees and rocks and think there is such beauty in them—they are missing out on the beauty that is God. One more verse before we get to today’s text, Psalm 29:2—Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. 

That said, we are going to begin with the merciful judgment of God. Exodus 32:27-29—27 And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.'" 28 So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day. 29 Then Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother." Now, notice something here. In verse 29, what does God command the sons of Levi to do? “Put on your sword, and kill your brother.” But, in verse 29, Moses says that if the people repent, what might God do? "So He may bless you." Whenever and wherever there are righteous people surrounded by unrighteous people, and God has set His mind on destroying the wicked—but He does not want to destroy the righteous—He is perfectly capable of delivering those righteous ones. Listen to 2nd Peter 2:4-9—4 If God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction…7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked…9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment. If God were to send a lightning bolt to zap the person next to you for saying something foul—don’t worry. If God doesn't want to hit you, He won’t--he’s got really good aim. So in these commands of God, where first we see the order to destroy every idolater, and then in the next breath Moses tells the people that if they repent God may still bestow a blessing on them, we see what the apostle Paul refers to in Romans 11:22—Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. God knows how to destroy the wicked and preserve the righteous. 

Next we see Moses’ desire to see Israel become a great nation—even at his own expense. Back in Exodus 32:11-13, Moses pleaded with the LORD to not completely wipe these people out. And even though God relented of the harm He said He would do—that may have delayed the deaths of the idolaters who repented, but it did not take away their sin. And that is what Moses pleads for here, in Exodus 32:30-32—30 Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, "You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." 31 Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! 32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written." If you recall, last week God gave Moses a proposition—“Let Me wipe them all out and start over with you.” And Moses had the right to say, and could have very easily said, “Hmm…not a bad idea there. Let’s do it!” But in his spirit, Moses knows it’s not all about Moses. Yes, there will be times when his temper gets the better of him. But, like King David, the pattern of his life is one that is devoted to God and His righteousness, as well as to the people of God, leading them in righteousness. And nothing is more important to Moses than the name and the glory and the holiness of God. The one attribute of God that is greater than any other is His holiness. Not His love, but His holiness. And because of His righteousness, and to display His holiness, when He makes a promise—He keeps it.

For example, when Jehoram becomes king of Judah, and he kills his brothers and many of the princes of Jerusalem, God could have easily killed him and his children. But, listen to 2nd Chronicles 21:6-7—6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done..., for he had the daughter of Ahab as a a wife; and he did evil in the sight of the LORD. 7 Yet the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever. As Moses pleaded with God, in Exodus 32:13—“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'” When God makes a promise, He keeps it. Titus 1:2—God, who cannot lie. Not “does not lie” or “will not lie”—CANNOT lie.

And here, once again, we see the simultaneous judgment and mercy of God. The people have sinned—something has to die. But God is also merciful and patient, and Moses pleads with God, saying, “LORD, you know these people. These are Your people. I know these people should bear Your judgment. But rather than visit Your judgment on all of them, allow ME to suffer the punishment THEY deserve.” This is the same plea that the apostle Paul himself made in Romans 9:2-3—2 I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh. Did Moses take part in making that golden cow? And yet he begs God to punish him and him alone for the sins of the many people who committed that sin. Hmmm…one who did not commit sin, but asked to be punished for the sins of others. Sound like anybody we know? 2nd Corinthians 5:21—[God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. So you can see how Moses is growing in his office as mediator for the people of Israel. He may not realize it, the people definitely don’t realize it, but he is becoming a “type” or “visual prophecy” of Christ who is our mediator and was truly punished for our sins.

Now, the people did not become the righteousness of God by way of Moses or the Law, but we do become the righteousness of God in Christ. John Calvin—

“[Christ] assumed our place, that he might be a criminal in our room, and might be dealt with as a sinner, not for his own offenses, but for those of others, since he was pure and exempt from every fault, and might endure the punishment that was due to us—not to himself. It is in the same manner, assuredly, that we are now righteous in him—[not because we have rendered any] satisfaction to the justice of God by our own works, but because we are judged in connection with Christ’s righteousness, which we have put on by faith, that it might become ours.”

So Moses pleads with God to not only spare the physical lives of these people, but to spare them from the eternal punishment they deserved.

Which brings us to God actually demonstrating His ability to punish the wicked and spare the righteous. Exodus 32:33-35—33 And the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. 34 Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin." 35 So the LORD plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made. It’s simple—when a person sins, something has to die. Romans 6:23—The wages of sin is death. Ezekiel 18:20—The soul who sins shall die. Either that person dies, or something dies in their place. Period, paragraph. That fact would be driven home to those people for the next 1500 years or so. When day after day after day after day, week after week after week after week, year after year after year after year, they would take their animal, take it to the priest, the priest would kill it, cut it up and burn it for one simple reason—sin. There was a lot of blood, a lot of dead animals, a lot of burning carcasses and washing intestines and everything else that went with the office of priest, for one reason—sin. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:21—For Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. 

Now, this principle did not stop when the old covenant with its sacrifices and offerings was replaced by the new covenant in Christ. That’s the bad news. The Good News—and what word do we use that means “Good News”? The gospel is that this principle found its fulfillment in the death of Christ. Hebrews 9:8-15—8 The way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. 9 It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.  11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. The blood of bulls and goats, which were offered under the old covenant, only covered over sins—it did not take them away. That blood was symbolic of the blood that Christ would shed which would completely take away and forgive sins—not just for the time being, not just until you sin again—but forever. How many times did Christ enter the Holiest of All in the Heavens? Hebrews 9:12—Once for all. Christ went into the Holiest of All, in the Heavens, the one not made with hands, and presented Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of all who would ever believe. Once for all. Not over and over and over and over again—a point the writer of Hebrews makes in Hebrews 9:25—Not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another. He went in their once—it’s done.

So, this brings us now to Exodus 33:1-6—1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your descendants I will give it.' 2 And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." 4 And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. 5 For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the children of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you.'" 6 So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb. Does He tell the people, “Go into the lands, learn their cultures, soften your tone with them, be sensitive to their felt needs, and bring them under the tent. Because I am God, and God is love.” No! He says, “I'm gonna drive the inhabitants of these idolatrous nations out of their land and give it to you.” 

That is the promise He made to Abraham, Isaac and Israel—does God keep His promises? And if we were to read through Joshua we would see that God does just that. But God would tell the people that not only was He going to drive out the idolaters, they were to have nothing to do with them or their ways. Exodus 34:11-16—“11 Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 12 Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. 13 But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.” And all the people did exactly that and they lived happily ever after. Right? Wrong. After the book of Joshua, with the conquests of the lands, comes the book of Judges—and I think we all know what happens there. But sadly, many churches today have forgotten that we are supposed to be different from the world.

Are we supposed to walk around in sackcloth and ashes? Not hardly. But should a worship service—where the people are supposed to be worshipping God—should that service feature the “praise band” playing music form AC/DC? Or The Beatles? Or Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places”? Yet these are the kinds of music that many “Seeker-Sensitive” churches are playing during their services. Like, for example, the fellow pictured below. 2nd Corinthians 6:14 (NASB)—Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Now, don’t get me wrong. Should a lost person be able to walk into a church and be hammered on and beaten down because they're lost? In no way! BUT—should that church be a place where the lost person can feel as if the way they are living and the sin they are holding on to is OK? In no way. The lost person entering a church building should be made welcome—but they should also be discipled and taught that sin is sin and without Christ they are lost. And as Peter said, 1st Peter 3:15—Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. What is the fruit of the Spirit? Galatians 5:22-23—22 Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. That is how we are to lead the lost to Christ. Not by beating them over the head, but by gently and patiently leading them. Not by embracing their sin and incorporating it into what is supposed to be a time of worshipping God. That is why God told the people not to enter into any covenants with the pagan nations, because He knew if they did the pagans would have more of an effect on the Israelites than the Israelites would have on the pagans. Or, as Paul said in 1st Corinthians 15:33—Bad company corrupts good morals. 

Exodus 33:7-10—7 Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. 8 So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. 9 And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. 10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door. How many ways did the people have of seeking God? Exodus 33:8—Everyone who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. How many entrances did the curtain around the tabernacle courtyard have? ONE. How many entrances were there into the Tent of Meeting? In fact, how many entrances were there into the Garden of Eden? Genesis 3:24—So God drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. There was only one way in and out of the Garden of Eden. Now, how many ways are there into the presence of God the Father today? John 14:6—“I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” God hasn’t changed in this regard in 6000 years of human history. If you want to have access to Him, you do it HIS way. Yet there are many who hold fanciful notions, and teach them to others, that they can somehow gain some “new insight” and some kind of new revelation about how to reach God. Rodney Howard Browne’s “ministry” supposedly got started when he said to God, “Either You come down here and touch me, or I will come up there and touch You.” Wow, a God that can be bossed around. Can God be bossed around and have His arm twisted to make Him give us what we want? No. Yet there are many who teach that. They're making a ton of money. The people that listen to them and send them their money—not so much. That is a false idea about God. And what term did we use earlier to describe false ideas about God? Not banging the gavel on these people—just a warning to be careful about what you hear. Even if it’s me saying it. There is ever only one way to God. It’s either HIS way or it’s no way.

Exodus 33:11— 11 So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. Let me just say a little about the phrase “face to face.” You will hear skeptics say, “In Exodus 33:20 God says no one can see His face and live! That’s a contradiction!” On the flip side, the Mormon relies on Joseph Smith’s “First Vision” as “proof” that he was a prophet. Joseph Smith supposedly saw, in his “First Vision”, God the Father and Jesus Christ. And when we mention that “In Exodus 33:20 God says no one can see His face and live! Joseph’s vision is a contradiction!” They say “Well, yeah, but it also says that Moses spoke with God face-to-face.” That defense is also used by those with fanciful ideas about God. But the phrase “face-to-face” is an unfortunate product of the evolution of the English language. “Face to face” in this instance does not mean that God revealed His face to Moses—that would indeed be a contradiction. What this refers to is the mode of communication by which God spoke with Moses. How did God descend on the tent in Exodus 33:9—The pillar of cloud would descend…and the LORD would speak with Moses. The first time God communicated with Moses—how did He do it? Through the burning bush. But here, He’s simply speaking to Moses as a man speaks to his friend. So “face to face” means that God was not speaking through an intermediary, or an angel or any other medium. He was communicating with Moses personally. Today we use cell phones and texting and e-mail. God spoke with Moses as we are doing right now. No one in between, no vision, dream, etc. Just God speaking with His friend. 

Exodus 33:12-23—12 Then Moses said to the LORD, "See, You say to me, 'Bring up this people!' But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, 'I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.' 13 Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people." 14 And He said, "My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest." 15 Then he said to Him, "If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. 16 For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?" 17 The LORD said to Moses, "I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name." 18 Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!" 19 And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion." 20 But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" 21 Then the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; 22 and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen." 

Anybody know what old church hymn comes from this passage? Does God set boundaries? Are there consequences for stepping over those boundaries? If God promises to do something will He do it? So if Moses caught a glimpse of God’s uncovered glory, what would have happened? Look at Moses’ plea in Exodus 33:18 (KJV)—“I beseech Thee, shew me Thy glory!” He doesn't say, “I'm going to see your glory or else!” He doesn't try to boss God around. He wants so badly to know God, but is humble enough to know that if God doesn't want to fully reveal Himself, He won’t. Matthew Henry—

“Moses had lately been in the mount with God, had continued there a great while, and had enjoyed as intimate a communion with God as ever any man had on this side heaven; and yet he is still desiring a further acquaintance. All that are effectually called to the knowledge of God and fellowship with him, though they desire nothing more than God, are nevertheless still coveting more and more of him, till they come to see as they are seen. Moses had wonderfully prevailed with God for one favour after another, and the success of his prayers emboldened him to go on still to seek God; the more he had the more he asked: when we are in a good frame at the throne of grace, we should endeavour to preserve and improve it, and strike while the iron is hot: “Show me thy glory; make me to see it” (so the word is); “make it some way or other visible, and enable me to bear the sight of it.” Not that he was so ignorant as to think God's essence could be seen with bodily eyes; but, having [until now] only heard a voice out of a pillar of cloud or fire, he desired to see some representation of the divine glory, such as God saw fit to gratify him with.”

But one day we will see God in all His glory. Not in this life or in this body. But, as it says in 1st John 2:28-3:2—28 Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. Moses could not see the glory of God with his own eyes. But I dare say he’s seeing it now. And we will one day as well.

Jesus Christ is Lord
Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--The First Covenant (Part 3)

Two weeks ago we saw God make a covenant with the people that He brought out of Egypt. The physical descendants of Abraham, through his son Isaac, through the twelve sons of Isaac’s son Jacob. God has brought these descendants of Abraham into the land He promised them and has made a covenant with these people that He would be their God. He also promised that He would appoint priests to mediate on their behalf so their sins could be covered over. And that covenant was made only with Israel—if you were not a Jew, you had to become a Jew in order to enter into the “covenant of works,” as it was called, if you wanted to enjoy the privilege of worshipping the one true and living God. God also promised His people Israel that one day He would send the last Mediator of the new and better covenant. But we saw last week that the people, even after seeing the mighty works of God and entering into those promises, they did not slack in breaking them. In fact they broke their covenant with God so frequently that God told them through the prophet Hosea that because of their spiritual adultery He would “You are not My people and I will not be your God” and that all the privileges that He had given Israel would be offered to all nations, both Jew and Gentile.

Fast forward to the NT, the apostle Paul refers to himself as “a Hebrews of Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5), “of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin” (Romans 11:1)—but also as “the apostle to the Gentiles” (Romans 11:3; Ephesians 3:8). And being a Jew who was called as the apostle to the Gentiles, what he did most often was to take the OT Scriptures—the writing of those Scriptures being entrusted to the Jews—and he shows the Gentiles that the promises once made only to ethnic Israel were now available to both Jew and Gentile. For example, Romans 1:16—I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. And in his letter to the Ephesians, he expands on that promise. Ephesians 2:11-18—11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

Under the Old Covenant, Gentiles were “far off”; we—us—would have been strangers, foreigners, and aliens. In fact, the only part of the temple we would have been allowed into was called “The Court of the Gentiles”—an area in the outermost part of the temple, and in fact the place where the moneychangers and those who bought and sold did their business when Jesus came and cleansed the temple. One of the most horrendous displays of blasphemy that is recorded even in secular histories was the Greek general Antiochus Epiphanes entering into the Most Holy Place of the temple in 186 BC and commanding swine to be offered on the altar. In the time leading up to the Advent of Christ, there was a rabbinic tradition that said if a Jew went into the house of a Gentile the Jew was ceremonially unclean. In Acts 21:27-30, the apostle Paul was accused of bringing a Gentile into the inner part of the temple.

BUT—but now, in Christ, both Jew and Gentile are allowed access to the Father. We are not separated by genetics. We don’t have to go through various rituals to be allowed entrance into the saving grace of God—He pours out His grace on whomever He will. Under the covenant made on Mt. Sinai, God promised the people of Israel that if they sinned, they could bring an offering, and that offering would cover over their sin. And we have to be real careful here not to say that the offering would pay for their sin, or take away their sin. Because the OT offerings and sacrifices were never intended to pay for or take away sins. They simply covered them over until the time when God would take them away, as God promised in Jeremiah 31:34—“I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Now, this promise, to “forgive their iniquity” and to “remember their sin no more” was not fulfilled by the OT offerings and sacrifices. Hebrews 10:4—It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. So, for God to completely and utterly forgive sins, take them away, and remember them no more, He would have to make a new covenant, because the old covenant—the Covenant of Law, Covenant of Works—could not do that. Hebrews 8:7—For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

And the reason that the Covenant of Law could not take away sins was because it was built upon the strength of the human flesh. It would be like taking a door made of 2 ½” thick steel, bulletproof, able to withstand a rocket-propelled grenade—and mounting that door on a frame made of papier-mâché. Romans 8:3—For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin. The Law is the 2” thick steel door, the flesh is the papier-mâché frame. The first covenant was not faultless—not because God could not fulfill it, but because we sinful humans could not fulfill it. And because we humans, through the weakness of our flesh, are not able to fulfill all the conditions and commands contained in the Law, there had to come a new covenant.

And Jesus came and preached that new covenant—not only to Jews but also to Gentiles. Ephesians 2:17-18—17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Jews in Jesus’ day thought that this promised “new covenant” was to come to them and them alone. They read what Jeremiah said in that passage, where God said He would “make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31). They thought that God was finally getting ready to do away with Gentiles once and for all and establish His throne upon the earth. And there were many who thought that Jesus was the one who would usher in that earthly kingdom. Even some of Jesus’ apostles thought that. And not only when He walked the earth, but even after His resurrection, some of His apostles were thinking that the Kingdom was about to come. Listen to Acts 1:4-6—4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" But Jesus let it be known, many times, that He did not come to establish an earthly kingdom. John 18:33-36—33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"…36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."

And even though many Jews were believing in Christ, there were some believing Jews who were teaching that outward, physical circumcision was necessary in order to be saved. Romans 9:6-8—6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, "In Isaac your seed shall be called." 8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. Romans 2:25-29—25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

Even after Paul had preached salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the churches in Galatia, he was forced to ask them, Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? (Galatians 3:1). It’s almost like there was this spirit of jealousy among the ethnic Jewish Christians—and we could almost say Jewish “Christians”—it’s like they were saying “Hey now wait a minute! Our fathers had to go through all this trouble of building the tabernacle, carrying it around through the desert, making all the priestly garments, spending years learning how to cut up the animals for the sacrifice, standing knee-deep in the blood of bulls and goats day after day, year after year. And all Gentiles have to do is believe in Christ and turn away from their sins? We need to at least make them get circumcised!”

What they didn’t understand was that the gospel for the Gentile was the same gospel for the Jew. That is the point of the Parable of the Workers in Matthew 20:1-16. Salvation for Gentiles comes by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone—salvation for the Jew comes by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Listen to Romans 3:21-23, 28-31—21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed…22 the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

The goal of the Law, the consequence God intended to produce, was not having people bring bulls and goats to the priest to have them killed, cut up and burned. That was not what God wanted. The goal of the Law was to produce in His people a conviction of their own sinfulness. Psalm 51:16-17—16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise. Isaiah 1:1-23 catalogs the crimes of Israel against God. And all they ever offered to God was the blood of bulls and goats with a pinch of incense. Isaiah 1:11-14—“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats…13 Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me…14 Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.” Proverbs 21:27—The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he brings it with wicked intent! God did not want their dead animals. He had become sickened by the constant smell of the incense that the wicked were burning, hoping to purchase His pardon. They did not want to stop sinning; they wanted to have their cake and eat it too—they wanted to keep sinning but still have God overlook their sins. God said, basically, “I don’t want your sacrifice—I want your heart.” Joel 2:18—So rend your heart, and not your garments. That was the goal of the Law; that is the goal of the gospel—to bring about the death of sin and to bring about life in Christ.

So the Jews who either rejected Christ or preached Christ plus circumcision were missing the point. No one was ever saved because they had a priest kill an innocent animal. Men are saved because they trust in God, they desire His righteousness, and they understand that their righteousness doesn’t count for anything. They are saved because they believe that God allowed His Son to die and that that blood—and now we can use these phrases—the blood Christ shed is what paid for and took away their sins. John 1:29—“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” And it is by the blood of Christ that we who were once Gentiles in the flesh have now been brought near—along with all the OT saints who had to become Jews and go through all the rituals contained in the Law—and we are now one body, both Jew and Gentile, in Christ. Ephesians 2:19-20—19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. One of the things we hear a lot when we share the gospel is people will use other people as the standard by which we judge whether we’re saved or not. “Well, I'm not as bad as that guy over there.” Well, that may be true, but what’s the problem with that statement? We could probably find 100 people who are “better” than them. That was the problem for the Pharisees. They thought they were better than the common man because they had devoted their lives to memorizing Scripture. They thought that their outward appearance made them “holier than thou.”

But Jesus told a parable that quenched that fire, Luke 18:9-14—9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “10 Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” And I think in this passage, when Jesus uses the phrase “He who exalts himself” I think He may be calling to the minds of the Pharisees the words of Lucifer, in Isaiah 14:12-15—“12 How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God’…15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.” Under the “old covenant”—what is called by some the “Covenant of Works”—it was not the works themselves that were the goal the people were to aim for. The goal was to aim for the righteousness of God—all the while knowing one could never attain it. Now that may seem like a contradiction and that God is setting us up to fail, but that’s not what is really going on.

When we understand that we cannot keep His Law perfectly; when we understand that, as Paul says, nothing good dwells within me (Romans 7:18); when we realize that our sins are exceedingly sinful; when we see that we deserve nothing less than the perfect justice of Almighty God—then the Law has done its work, and we ask God to be merciful to us and to give us His righteousness and lead us in His ways, and as Paul says in Romans 7:21-24—21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! What he’s saying in this passage is that until God flips on the light and we see the perfection of God’s Law, we do not understand that we are sinful creatures. But when that switch is flipped, we see that we are now in a struggle between what the Spirit calls us to do and what our flesh desires. Galatians 5:17—For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another.

And that war goes on inside every believer. And it is not a war that can be won by using physical means. However, the physical actions of a believer are dictated by how one responds to the prompting of the Spirit. The Law is good, in that it shows us what is required by God. But it cannot make us do what He commands—that has to be purposed in each person’s heart. To illustrate, suppose you're heading home, and you see a stop sign. Can that stops sign make you stop? No, its purpose is to tell you that you must come to a complete stop before you proceed through this intersection. But it cannot make you stop. You must, before you arrive at that intersection, purpose in your heart that when you see an octagon-shaped piece of red sheet metal with the letters “S-T-O-P” that you will stop. In much the same way, the commands in the Law cannot make a person stop sinning. The person who reads “Thou shalt not steal” must purpose in his heart that when he sees something that does not belong to him he will leave it alone—but that command cannot make the person keep their paws off of what is not theirs.

So to use other human beings as the rod by which we measure our own righteousness is really foolishness. 2^nd Corinthians 10:12—But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. That’s why Paul refers to Christ as the chief cornerstone. Because the cornerstone of a building is much more than a commemorative piece of architecture. It is the most important part of the building. It is by the cornerstone that every other angle in the building is measured. And if every angle of that cornerstone is not a perfect 90º, then nearly every angle in the building will be off, and the building will not stand. And if we are measuring our own righteousness against that of people who are just as far off of 90º as we are, then we will not realize that our house is, “up to code” so to speak. BUT—if we measure ourselves against Christ—who is the perfect cornerstone—then we will see where we come short of perfection, we trust in Him to be our righteousness, and as he says in Ephesians 2:20-22—20 Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the Law and He is the cornerstone of the gospel. He is the one the Law pointed to as our perfect sacrifice, the mediator of the new covenant that included not only Jew but also Gentile. And He is the one we will be measured against when God brings about the judgment of the world.

Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.

A Survey of the Old testament Law--The First Covenant (Part 2)

We are still comparing and contrasting the old covenant with the new covenant. Now, when I say “old covenant” I mean what some call the “Sinai covenant” (since it was made on Mt. Sinai) or the “Mosaic covenant” (since it was made through Moses). Because God made several other covenants with certain men. He made a covenant with Noah; He promised He would never again cause the rains to utterly destroy life on earth. He made two covenants with Abraham that in him all nations would be blessed and that he would be the father of many nations. God made a covenant with David, that through him the Messiah would come. He made a covenant with Aaron, that his descendants would be priests and intercede for the people. And of course He made the New Covenant whereby He would forgive sins and remember them no more, that being the covenant we Christians live under today.

And even before the people made it to Mt. Sinai, God promised Moses that these people would be His people. Exodus 4:22-23—22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD: "Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me."'" Then, once He led the people out of Egypt, He promises the whole group, Exodus 19:3-6—3 And the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'" These promises were made strictly to the Israelites. To Jews according to the flesh.

And that is why we see that Paul says, Ephesians 2:11-12—11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Before Christ came, God divided the world up into two groups of people—Jew and Gentile. If you were born into a Jewish family, you were a Jew. If you were born into a family from any other ethnic group, you were not a Jew—you were a Gentile. And God only made covenants with the Jewish people. He never made a covenant with any Gentile nation. Not only that, but if you wanted to worship God, you had to come to God through the Jewish nation, the priests and so forth. Let’s say our friend Richard was a Moabite and our other friend David was a Jebusite. They have both seen the mighty hand of God in destroying the Canaanites and the Amorites and the Amalekites and the Hivites and the Parasites and the Termites.

David, the Jebusite, sees all these mighty works, and he says “Yeah, but I just don’t know about all that circumcision stuff. I believe this God exists; I'll worship this God in my own way. But I won’t have anything to do with those dirty Jews.” Uh, sorry, it don’t work like that. Any Gentiles who did not submit themselves to the Law of God and accept all the terms of the Law and the Covenant were, as Paul says, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. And the same was true for any Babylonian, Assyrian, Greek, Persian or Roman, African, etc. Unless one became a Jew, one could not worship what they may call “the God of the Jews.” Gentiles were not simply outside of the commonwealth of Israel—they were outside of the commonwealth of God. They may have known the true God was the true God, but unless they abided by His Law and entered into the commonwealth—or nation—of Israel, they had no access to any of the promises of blessings that God promised His people.

Richard, the Moabite, on the other hand, says “I have seen and heard of His mighty works and I want to serve Him. I want your God to be my God.” Much like the “mixed multitude” that came out of Egypt with the Israelites during the exodus. So he submits himself to circumcision, vows to abide by all the commands contained in the Book of the Law and the Book of the Covenant, he takes an oath that "All that the LORD has said I will do, and be obedient." He can now take part in the feasts of Passover and Firstfruits and Ingathering. And even more importantly, if he sins he can now bring an offering to the priest who will kill it, cut it up and burn it to cover over that sin. He can now be counted among the people of God. A couple examples of Gentiles turning to worship the one true and living God. Ruth, like Richard, was a Moabite. Listen to Ruth 1:15-16 (NASB)—15 Then Naomi said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” Uriah—the husband of Bathsheba—was a Hittite.

But, by the same token, being a Jew did not necessarily guarantee that person a trip to Heaven either. Under the OT Law, there were some sins that were punishable by death. But there were also many other sins and violations of that Law that required the person to be “cut off” from the people. We’ll see those down the road, but there is a huge difference. Romans chapter 2 is another passage that I would recommend reading because it shows that sin is a universal problem, and it also shows that the whole world is under the same Law, both Jew and Gentile. And in Romans 2, Paul puts the Jewish teachers on the spot, saying, basically, “You who are teaching the Gentiles not to steal or commit adultery or practice idolatry—why are you doing the very same things?” And then he says in Romans 2:25—For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. And here, as in other places, he makes the case that it is not physical circumcision that justifies one before God, because the circumcision of the man who lives a sinful lifestyle was of no effect. He might as well have never been circumcised. And it is not by being a physical Jew—whether by birth or by circumcision—that one is saved. But listen to what Paul says in Romans 3:1-2—1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? 2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. God entrusted the writing of His Law and the proclamation of that Law and of His various judgments to the Jewish people. In fact, Luke is the only Gentile to write any of the 66 books of the Bible. Every other book was written by a Jew.  

The Jews were God’s chosen people. God chose to act and speak through these people. And in Exodus 24, He made a covenant with them and them alone. Of all the nations that He could have chosen, it was the good pleasure of His will to choose the Israelites. He appointed for them priests, who would mediate between the person and God that if the person had sinned. And God said that if the person sinned—and if that person had accepted the Law and the Covenant—their sin would be forgiven. And the people kept His covenant…for a little while. Then they broke that covenant. Then they returned to God…and broke the covenant again. They returned once again…and guess what happened? But by the time God called Hosea to prophecy, things had gotten about as bad as they could get. And in Hosea, God tells the people of Israel that because they had broken their covenant with Him, God would one day be done with Israel as a nation—but not as a people. And we’ll clear up that distinction shortly. It’s not that He would cast away all who were ethnic Jews, but that He would call all nations to Himself, that He would call both Jew and Gentile “My people.” And one day, Gentiles would not have to “become Jews” in order to come to Him, and Gentiles would not have to enter into the Jewish nation to come to God.

We will be looking at Hosea and Romans today and next time. Hosea 1:2—The LORD said to Hosea: "Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the LORD." God had had enough—God had betrothed Israel to Himself, and now the people were committing spiritual harlotry—or, adultery—by worshipping other gods. And because of Israel’s unfaithfulness, God commands Hosea to take a wife who would become unfaithful, and commanded him to give his children prophetic names. Hosea 1:4—“Call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.” The second child was named Lo-Ruhamah, Hosea 1:6—“Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away.” The third child was named Lo-Ammi, Hosea 1:9—“Call his name Lo-Ammi, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God.” Now this seems pretty harsh, doesn’t it? Doesn’t it sound like God is going back on His word by saying “You are not My people and I will not be your God”? Had He not made a covenant with these people that He would be their God and they would be His people—forever? How can He say this and still be just? Well, listen to Hosea 2:7-11—“7 She will chase her lovers, but not overtake them; yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now.' 8 For she did not know that I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold—which they prepared for Baal…11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her New Moons, her Sabbaths—all her appointed feasts.” 

The people had taken all the things that God had blessed them with—those things that were supposed to be set aside, set apart, consecrated, sanctified to God, and they had used them to worship Baal. They had broken the covenant God had made with them back on Sinai. Remember what they said in Exodus 24:7—"All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient." Well, what were the first two things that “the LORD has said”? Exodus 20:3-5—“3 You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image.” The people said "All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient." and yet the commands that “You shall have no other gods before Me” and “You shall not make for yourself a carved image” got thrown out the window before Moses even made it down the mountain. And these were the two commands that were broken more frequently than nearly any other, and through Hosea God says something that should have caused every person who heard it to shudder and fear more than anything else. “I will not be your God.”

Now, there are some who take this idea and teach further than it really goes. While some teach that Jews are saved because they're Jews, there are still others who say God wants nothing to do with ethnic Jews, or the nation of Israel. They say that God is finished with them and they are done. One passage of Scripture they use is when Jesus is standing before Pilate, and Pilate declares, “My hands are innocent of this man’s blood.” And they answer “His blood be on us and on our children.” And these folks say “See! It was the Jews that killed Christ, so God has done away with them.” Wrong. Turn to Romans 9:1-5. In chapters 9 and 10 of Romans, Paul lays out his argument against the Jew who is putting his hope for salvation not in God, but in his own works and in being a son of Abraham. Paul, being a Jew who once put his hopes for salvation not in God but in his own works and in the fact that he was a son of Abraham, opens up his heart to show how deeply he longs for his fellow countrymen to see that they are saved by God, and not by their own works or by being a son of Abraham. And he is pleading with them, almost as if he is saying “Brethren, you know the Scriptures, you see in the Law and the prophets that the Messiah would come through us. That Messiah has come—trust in Him!” Romans 9:1-5—1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. 

He almost echoes the words of Moses, when the people made the golden calf and Moses pleads with God and asks that he be blotted out of God’s book rather than have the whole people perish. And here, Paul says He would just as soon be separated from God so that his fellow Jews may be spared. He knows that because they have been given more truth and more light than any other people, God will judge them more harshly and they will receive greater condemnation. In fact, Jesus says nearly the same thing, Matthew 11:23-24—“23 And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.” John Gill— 

“Though the punishment of the men of Sodom will be very great, their iniquities being horribly dreadful and enormous, yet [their sins were] more easy to be borne than the vengeance, which…will fall upon [those] who have had the means of grace, and have despised them.” 

Those who have been given much wisdom into the things of God will be judged more harshly than those who are ignorant of the things of Christ. The Jews who rejected Christ thought they were doing a great service to God. The Pharisees thought they were keeping themselves pure through the Law and denouncing this one whom they thought was doing away with the Law. Problem was, they were denouncing the one who was explaining the Law and declaring to them that He was the fulfillment of that Law. Which is why we read what Paul says over in Romans 10:1-4—1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. And even though they rejected that righteousness; even though they crucified the Lord of Glory; even though many of his countrymen according to the flesh were seeking to establish their own righteousness by trying to keep the Law, God is not utterly and completely through with the nation Israel. In fact, when John writes about the 144,000 in Revelation, they are all Jewish. There will be 12,000 from each of the tribes of Israel.

Now, the Jews who rejected Christ were not doing so to try and establish the worship of some other, false god. They were doing so out of a zeal for the true God. Paul even almost defends them in such a way in Romans 10:2—They have a zeal for God. They thought they were doing good. But they did not realize that Christ did not come to destroy the Law and the prophets but to fulfill them. And so they killed their Messiah. BUT—God does still have people among the ethnic Jews. And one of the strongest declarations that God is not done with ethnic Israel is Romans 11, and it is another chapter I would recommend reading, because it shows that even after all of the spiritual adultery, even after their fathers delivered their Messiah to the Gentiles to be scourged and murdered, God is not done with them. Romans 11:1-5—1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 3 "LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life"? 4 But what does the divine response say to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 

Even after 3000 years of spiritual adultery, even after they went after Baal and Ashtaroth and the pagan gods of their neighbors, and even after they sent the very Son of God to be delivered to wicked men to be scourged and beaten and crucified, God has reserved for Himself a remnant among the Jewish people. They are not saved because they are Jewish; they are saved the same way we are—they are saved because they have been chosen by God, according to the election of grace, to believe in Christ.

To finish up on the passage we started with, we were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But as we will see next week, we Gentiles who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. We were aliens and strangers to the people of Israel. But now, we are brothers and sisters with all those of Israel who believe in Christ and we are now invited into a new and better and everlasting covenant with them, Christ being the Mediator of that covenant.

Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.