The Covenant Renewed (Part 1)

In 1976 a book entitled

How Should We Then Live was published having been written by Francis Schaefer.

That particular book actually started with a concept that came from his son who came to him in 1974 with this idea and the idea that was behind it in Schaefer's own words was to use his study over the past 40 years of Western thought and culture as a base that we could attempt to present the flow and development which have led to 20th century thinking and by doing so hope to show the existential answers to the question how should we then live.

The title of that book is taken from a passage in Ezekiel specifically in Ezekiel chapter 33 verses 1 through 11 which is dealing with Ezekiel's call by God to be a watchman for Israel and his whole purpose in being a watchman for the house of Israel was to hear the

Word of God to deliver the Word of God to the people in a warning and in a warning and so what we see in that passage is that as he delivers this message

God explains to Ezekiel that that by delivering the message the people have heard then the fault becomes theirs and not his and so it deals with the wickedness of the people.

Now leading up to verse 10 again God explains all of these things to Ezekiel and then in verses 10 and 11 we read the following he says in Ezekiel 33 verse 10 now as for you son of man which was a title for Ezekiel say to the house of Israel thus you have spoken saying surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us and we are rotting away in them how then can we live say to them as I live declares

Lord Yahweh I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live turn back turn back from your evil ways why then will you die

Oh house of Israel and then later in verse 19 Ezekiel writes but when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does justice and righteousness he will live by them this particular question then comes to us and it came to Ezekiel and to the people of Israel to understand that how to understand and seek to understand how we live in accordance with what

God has done and who God is and it's a question that is framed to the people of God ultimately it's even the question that faces

Israel as they reside again at Sinai and as God reconciles them to himself in fact when we come to Peter's second letter to the church we come to one of the most familiar passages in 2nd

Peter in the third chapter where Peter deals with the day of the

Lord now one of the most one of the one of the most argued passages in Peters writing is contained in this third chapter but in the context of what we see it is obvious that Peter is addressing the fact that there are many mockers in the church who were being influenced by or many people in the church who were being influenced by those that Peter calls mockers we would call them false teachers they're spreading another gospel the same gospel that Paul alludes to when he talks up into the

Galatians and says I'm surprised that you are so quickly turning to another gospel not that there is another gospel so Peter is dealing with this other gospel that is being given and as he does so he reminds the believers who were identified in verse 1 of that chapter as beloved okay which is one of the clues that tell us that Peter is writing to believers in this entire chapter to recall the

Word of God now by the time we get down to the ninth verse which is the verse that everybody gets their hackles up about we again that Peter has developed this argument based on God based on what

God reveals about himself in his word and in verse 9

Peter speaking to believers again this is a critical thing to understand writes these words the

Lord is not slow about his promise as some consider slowness but is patient toward you not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance now again it's critical to understand that Peter is writing this to believers he is talking about the elect he's not talking about all as in the sense of everybody everywhere in every time and in every place he is talking about all of those who he has chosen before the foundation of the world now as first of all again we know this from two places one we know it from the context of second

Peter secondly we know it from the verse itself notice in the verse that he says his promise promises of God are only for the people of God so Peter is not going to share a promise of God with people who are not believers of God they're not going to share in that they come by faith they receive they trust they're made are they reconciled then those promises apply getting past verse 9 however we need to also understand the rest of what this verse teaches the rest of this passage says but the day of the

Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be found out since all these things are to be destroyed in this way and this is the question what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness or in other words how then should we live in light of who

God is and in light of what God has promised to his people and in light of what

God is doing with his people and in light of what God has done in your heart and in your life the question is how then should shall you live now the response to the question is an interesting one because you see the response to the question actually doesn't begin with you

I know it's a shocker I know it hurts your feelings to think that something is outside of your control

I know it is a challenge to think about the fact that something moves and acts on us first before we ever can do anything else in order to be able to respond to the question it depends on God it depends on God who as it says in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 4 and 5 is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ he didn't ask us he just made us alive together with Christ this is actually the same place that we find

Moses and the people as they stand at the foot of Sinai as we pick up our text this morning just as a recap you should recall

Moses is standing on the top of Sinai he has had the glory of God revealed to him and if you will remember the very last verse of our text from last week

Moses concluded his prayer to God with these words and pardon our iniquity and our sin and take us as your own inheritance the request by Moses was truly that God would fully and completely redeem the people of Israel and return to them as he had once been that that the covenant would be restored that the fellowship would be remade and he would once again be their

God as he would be as they would be his people so as we look at this text for today

Exodus chapter 34 beginning in verse 10 down through 28 as we study this text we see that although people never really asked this question

God provides the foundation for them anyway as he instructs them how to live in this renewed fellowship reconciled to God and so if you will turn with me to Exodus chapter 34 beginning in the 10th verse we will read down through the 28th verse we will actually cover half of this in our message today and then in a few weeks we will deal with the remainder so having found your place in God's Word please stand in reverence for the reading of God's holy inerrant infallible authoritative sufficient complete and certain word beginning in Exodus chapter 34 in the 10th verse we read these words then

God said behold I am going to cut a covenant before all your people

I will do wondrous deeds which have not been created in all the earth nor among any of the nations and all the people among whom you live will see the working of Yahweh for it is a fearful thing that I am going to do with you be sure to keep what

I am commanding you this day behold I am going to drive out the Amorite before you and the

Canaanite the Hittite the Perizzite the Hittite and the Jebusite beware lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going lest it become a snare in your midst but rather you are to tear down their altars and shatter their sacred pillars and cut down their

Asherim for you shall not worship any other God for Yahweh whose name is jealous is a jealous

God lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods and one of them invite you to eat of his sacrifice and you take some of his daughters for your sons and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods you shall make for yourself no molten gods you shall keep the feast of unleavened bread for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread which

I commanded you at the time appointed time in the month of Abib for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt the first offspring from every womb belongs to me even to of all your male livestock the first offspring from cattle and sheep and you shall redeem with the lamb the first offspring from a donkey and if you do not redeem it then you shall break its neck you shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons none shall appear before me empty -handed you shall work six days but on the seventh day you shall rest even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest and you shall celebrate the feast of weeks that is the first fruits of the wheat harvest and the feast of in gathering at the turn of the year three times a year all your males are to appear before the

Lord Yahweh the God of Israel for I will dispossess nations before you and enlarge your borders and no man shall covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before Yahweh your

God you shall not offer the blood of sacrifice with leavened bread and the sacrifice of the feast of the

Passover shall not be left over until morning you shall bring the very first fruit first of the first fruits of your ground into the house of Yahweh your

God you shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk then

Yahweh said to Moses write down these words for in accordance with these words

I have cut a covenant with you and with Israel so he was there with Yahweh 40 days and 40 nights he did not eat bread or drink water and he wrote on the tablets the words of the

Covenant the Ten Commandments Almighty God we counted honor and privilege to enter into your gates with thanksgiving and into your courts with praise

Lord we acknowledge that you and you alone are the one true God creator and sustainer of all things

Lord we know that it is by your word all things hold together commend that word to us today that as we open these pages so the

Holy Spirit would open our hearts to receive in our minds to comprehend your great truths or grant us your strength to apply this word to our lives so that our lives are molded and shaped according to your will the power of your spirit in accordance with your truth well we pray that as this truth is commended to our hearts that we would grow in our love of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that as we walk forward in your truth emboldened by your spirit and resting in Christ that we would show the world what it truly means to submit and follow or may we speak truth to them in love never allowing ourselves to be ensnared by the world we thank you for your truth and for this time for us to gather together well we ask again for your guidance in your strength we ask all of the things in the name of your blessed

Son our Lord Jesus Christ amen may be seated so as we look at the world around us the one that we are sojourning through it becomes very obvious how easily our

Christian lives can be influenced on every side and in all of these influences all of these things that are marketed to us as Christian that are delivered to us as supposedly truth the reality is is that in so many of these beneath the surface underneath the pressures that we face lies a single root cause and that root cause is sin it is the sinful nature that every distortion that we see flows from it is the sinful nature that creates havoc in the lives of believers and because of this havoc we have this question and so as we move from this foundation of sin as being the root cause and we see all of these things that are out workings of that sin manifestations that come to us in so many different ways we have to ask ourself how then shall we live in his book

Francis Schaeffer describes for us this power of the presuppositions in our lives so before I read his quote let me just make sure that we all understand what a presupposition is this is something that you suppose pre before you ever even begin to engage with something else a good example of this may be that you see someone who who fits a specific stereotype that you're familiar with and you immediately label these people as being such and such because you presuppose that just because they look a certain way they are a certain way so that is a presupposition

Francis Schaeffer writes this regarding this question and these presuppositions people are unique in the inner life of the mind what they are in the thought world that determines how they act maybe you're familiar with the scripture that says something around the lines of as a man thinks so he is the results of their thought world flow through their fingers or from their tongues into the external world people have presuppositions and they will live more consistently on the basis of these presuppositions than even themselves may realize by presuppositions we mean the basic way an individual looks at life his basic worldview the the grid through which he sees the world presuppositions rest upon that which a person considers to be the truth of what exists people's presuppositions lay a grid for all they bring forth into the external world the presuppositions also provide the basis for their values and therefore the basis for their decisions this grid that Schaeffer references this grid shapes everything it shapes how we hear things it shapes how we relate to things it shapes how we hear the gospel when it is proclaimed it shapes how we hear and understand scripture it even shapes how we respond to God's truth give you an example all of you are familiar with your specific address you're probably also familiar that your address places you squarely in the middle of what is known this in this country as the

Bible one of the dangerous presuppositions that that is the belief of Christians and I want to use

Christians loosely here and you'll see why in a moment one of the dangerous presuppositions by Christians in this area is that they have become a

Christian by heritage rather than regeneration in other words they were born into it

I'm a Christian because grandma was a Christian grandpa was a Christian his mom and daddy and so on and so forth for generations backwards some on the outside suppose that being raised within the church guarantees a spiritual advantage but this is only true if the church is truly rooted in scripture and rightly understands and applies the

Word of God to the lives of those who form its congregation and then it is then taken into the homes and moves so further out as one reads through Paul's letters in the

New Testament you will see Paul addressing many presuppositions that are deeply ingrained in the life of these cultures that Paul is ministering to he also works through how to overcome so many of these things personally

I experienced this back in beginning in 2011 where I was exposed to beliefs that were opposed to the firm beliefs

I had concerning salvation and as I wrestled with these things for a few years wrestling between resisting and submitting until eventually the old framework was torn down and it was rebuilt that grid was rebuilt by the

Word of God restructuring my worldview so that it is through the lens of scripture and that I'm not viewing scripture through the lens of the world that's a very difficult thing for people to do over the past few weeks as we have looked at the life of Israel we as they have been camped around the base of Sinai what we have witnessed is a people who were enslaved for 400 years in captivity who had been delivered by Yahweh who had been drawn into covenant relationship with him only to then turn around and break that covenant and retreat back to what they had learned and grown up with in the nation of Egypt and as a result of these things we saw

God declare that he would remove himself from their midst yet even in the midst of all of this what we see is

Moses interceding pleading for grace pleading for the glory of God to be revealed we see

Moses now standing here before Yahweh again as God himself restores and reconciles the people now what would it what is easy to fall into the trap of is giving

Moses the credit Moses is the one after all going to God Moses is the one interceding on behalf of the people

Moses is the one standing in front of God Moses is the one that's asking the questions Moses is the one that the man did

God show him his glory Moses is the one and so it would been have been easy for these people to walk away with the idea that Moses is the reason but you see

God makes clear to us in verse 10 that Moses is not the reason notice he says

I am going to cut a covenant

I am going to do these works God himself is the one who will accomplish these actions notice what the people were commanded to do first of all they were commanded to behold to behold means to watch to see not to act not to participate in a way of accomplishing something but to simply observe what it is that God has done

Moses is told here that God would display deeds before these people the likes of which the world has never seen never seen now that's a lot if you think about what we've gone through in Exodus right that's a lot

I mean think about we've already worked through the ten plagues God decimating the

Egyptian pantheon of gods we've seen him deliver the people from bondage in Egypt without them lifting a finger without them so much as brandishing a sword and walk away having plundered the nation which means that they walked away with the treasures as if they had won the battles we saw

God move through with them in the wilderness part the Red Sea sweeten the waters at Mira Mara bring water from a rock so that they could have something to drink descend on the top of Sinai and now

God says after all of these things I'm gonna do some wonders and deeds in front of your people the likes of which the world has not yet seen now what these specific actions are is a little challenging because he doesn't really tell us but the point behind the passage is not the actions not the deeds not the wonders we get caught up in wonders and deeds and the miracles that that's where we want to focus and we miss the reality behind them maybe this verse sounds a familiar to you

God spoke to Moses very similar to this all the way back towards the beginning of Exodus Moses stood before Pharaoh in Egypt and delivered these words that he had been given by God from Exodus chapter 7 verses 3 through 5 but I will harden

Pharaoh's heart with stiffness that I may multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt but Pharaoh will not listen to you and I will set my hand upon Egypt and bring out my host my people the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt by great judgments then the

Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midsts here in verse 10 of Exodus chapter 34 just as in this earlier passage the point of the signs and the point of the wonders was not that the people would be amazed was not that we would have something to ooh and ahh at was not that we would have a story to tell for generations about how the waters parted but that we would have a story to tell about the waters that parted that proclaims

God that makes him known the point of both of these verses is that God will be made known that he would reveal himself and here he says not just to Israel notice in the he says that have been created nor among in all the earth nor among any of the nations all of the people of whom in which your people live will have this demonstrated this truth revealed to them to know

God like we talked about last week means to seek the truth of who he is as he reveals himself in his word one of those ways is is immutability is immutability the fact that he does not change you preach

I don't understand the correlation between the two well think about it this way we've gone through this study multiple times in the book of Exodus we've we've worked from Exodus chapter 1 verse 1 all the way down to Exodus 34 verses 10 through 28 verse by verse we have labored here to demonstrate

God now truth what we see here written many times is written for a specific people at a specific time thinking about things like the judicial and the ceremonial laws but there are truths that sit behind those things that transcend those temporal situations and then are applied across all of time and all of history and all of humanity and so it's helpful as we think about these things to know that God does not change because the fact that he does not change allows us to see that which he reveals him about himself is true not just today not just yesterday but tomorrow and forever it is this that declares that he is

God alone and there is no other that it is by his hand that these works have been accomplished verse 10 makes it very clear that all of these things this entire work this effort with the people of Israel was to glorify and make known the name of God you say well that's great that's

Old Testament we're a New Testament Church be careful how you say that around me you might get punched

I've heard it enough listen God doesn't change his mission doesn't change his name is still be to be proclaimed maybe you recall that verse in fact

I love the fact we just talked about it a few minutes ago in Sunday school Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 through 20 the

Great Commission the whole command of you to go and make disciples teaching them all things you haven't made a disciple until you have done the thing which

God commanded you to do to make all things otherwise you've just made somebody that could sign their name on a piece of paper but this is the proclamation of his name in the effort to accomplish this task the first and foremost thing that we have to recall the primary truth of understanding has to be that God himself is the source of all truth and the only one who moves that it is he and he alone that works for the redemption of his people now notice as we transition to verse 11 in verse 11 of this passage

Israel is given a reminder it's in the very first calls or sentence be sure to keep what

I am commanding you this day make sure that you are obedient now their obedience was part of the requirement of the

Covenant but here's something I don't want you to miss their obedience was not merely a requirement of the

Covenant their obedience was also a response to God's gracious initiative without God cutting the

Covenant with that without his sovereign work they would have neither reason nor ability to be obedient if God doesn't cut this

Covenant why bother following his commands this is the result of grace if you remember just a few verses ago we talked about how

God was gracious and poured out his grace most translations recall this as being favor but the word there is the same word that we use for grace it is unmerited undeserved favor something that we cannot earn just the fact that God chose to cut this

Covenant with these people just the fact that God chose to cut the

Covenant the new Covenant with you and I through Christ our response from grace is that we should be obedient listen it is only through the work of the

Holy Spirit in the life transforming hearts regenerating us remaking us making us new so that we can even hear and believe so that we can receive this gift of faith that allows us to receive grace and be saved to the uttermost and so the question is how do you respond again let's go back to the question now then should we live how should we live in response to what

God has given and done in our lives we live in obedience the response of the people to the grace of God is is not a

New Testament concept it is a biblical concept it is something that occurs that finds its true source in the understanding that it is

God and God alone that acts it is God alone that moves it is

God alone that supplies and meets all of our needs Paul declares in Romans chapter 5 verse 10 for if we were enemies while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life see the pattern is the same

God moves first God makes the covenant

God acts through Christ to redeem a people for himself and those people then live forward in obedience you say but how do you know it's about obedience

I'm glad you asked now hopefully as we read this passage many of these verses sounded very familiar to you because as we went through this there is little here that is not included elsewhere in the book of Exodus as the law is given to Moses we see much of this language delivered through the first 40 days on Sinai and so the question that we have to ask is why these now we can take two approaches to this first we can take the approach that some theologians take and go well

God didn't really add these this was Moses he did it later he just kind of took a a broad view and picked the passages that he thought would best fit the narrative or we could take the biblical view and we can understand that God placed these specific truths in this specific place for specific purposes now as we answer that question we're actually going to jump forward a little bit and deal with a couple of things and then come back so we're going to jump to verses 27 and 28 for just a moment you'll notice in verse 27 that God supplies a final command to Moses and then in verse 28 we see

Moses being obedient to that command verse 27 should remind you of a verse that came earlier as God commanded

Moses to write these words because they are the basis for the covenant now although it is not specifically written here it is likely based on the time frame that all of what

Moses has previously been given is given to him again this again flows from the fact that the second visit to Sinai lasted just as long as the first visit which means it's likely that he received all of the law again all of the instructions regarding the tabernacle everything in an effort to reset back to where the people were whether this is specifically true or not that's not verifiable from the text but what is verifiable what absolutely can be known is that once again the importance of the word of God to the people of God is on display it was the

Word of God that served as the foundation of the first covenant it was given to Moses to give to the people note again the phrase that he says this is the covenant

I have cut with you and with Israel secondly verse 28 verse 28 contains an interesting statement it says that he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant the

Ten Commandments now there is a debate here whether or not he refers to God or whether it refers to Moses personally

I think we can be 100 % sure and here's why not because the

Hebrew language is specific but because the Word of God is specific if you recall back in verse 1 of 34

God explicitly told Moses I will write on the tablets the words of that were on the former tablets which you shattered those former tablets as you will recall we were told in verse 12 of chapter 24 now

Yahweh said to Moses come up to me on the mountain and remain there and I will give to you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which

I have written for their instruction in 31 verses 18 when he had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai he being

God gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony tablets of stone written by the finger of God Exodus 32 verses 15 through 16 then

Moses turned and went down from the mountain and the two tablets of the testimony were in his hand tablets were written on both sides they were written on one side and the other now the tablets were the work of God and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets by contrast to those references we see in Exodus chapter 24 a separate written record that is not engraved in stone and Moses refers to that as the book of the

Covenant so what we see here in chapter 28 or chapter of verse 38 verse 28 of chapter 34 we'll get it all right in a minute is

Moses not being instructed to engrave the tablets in verse 27

Moses is great and instructed to write down what God says nowhere does he say use tablets what we do have is an overwhelming amount of evidence that God himself is the one who writes

Moses writes the words on whatever medium that he used

God himself writes the Decalogue the Ten Commandments upon stone why is that important and what does it got to do with obedience well it's important first of all because the stone tablets signify the moral law of God that is the unchanging foundation upon which all of God's Covenant rests but think about it this way as we work through the the giving of the law earlier in Exodus the first thing that is given to us is the

Ten Commandments then out of the Ten Commandments comes the judicial and the ceremonial laws they the moral law written by God's own hand reflects his own character and so the repetition of this command here underscores this truth those whom

God reconciles are called to live obediently to live according to the moral law of God in fact this didn't end this pattern didn't stop a lot of times we have people who will say in churches today well you know what

I don't have to obey the law well let's get clear on what you're talking about here if you're talking about the moral law of God you are absolutely 100 % obligated to be obedient if we're talking about the fact that you need to go get a goat and sacrifice it as it's described in the ceremonial law probably not because that sacrifice has been made and it's sufficient we have an obligation to be obedient Paul writing in 2nd

Corinthians verse 5 17 through 18 therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old things passed away behold new things have come now all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation just as Israel was reconciled and obedience was commanded so too are we reconciled and obedience should flow from that our obedience today is not something that leads to salvation let me repeat that again because this is this is where we have some arguments in church right this is not a works -based salvation it says if you go out of here and you can obey all of the

Ten Commandments perfectly for every moment of every second of your life from now and forever and all the way backwards then you're good and you got to do that and that's the only way to be saved that's not what we're saying the truth is we know that we cannot and because we cannot we have been separated from God who in his love and mercy has set his electing love upon us to reconcile us and as a result of that reconciliation as a result of that salvation as a result of being made just the obedience in our lives is the fruit of being made into a new creation to be alive forgiven and reconciled through the finished work of Christ our obedience flows from this but it start with God it starts with God honestly it's not a truth that can be beaten into our heads we need to be reminded because we're so pragmatic and we're so focused on our accomplishments and our abilities that we think it is something that we have done and even when we don't think it's something we've done we are in a danger to move in that direction so we need to be reminded that God accomplishes this redemption of Israel God accomplishes our redemption through the completed work of Christ Colossians 3 verses 1 through 4 therefore if you have been raised up with Christ keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God set your mind on the things above not on the things that are on earth for you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God when

Christ who is our life is manifested then you will be manifested with him in glory and so it begins with God we see that in verses 10 and 11 at the beginning of Exodus chapter 34 or at the this section of Exodus 34 and then beginning in verse 12 we begin to see this outline of the life that is to be lived now this is the part of the text that we're going to break up a little bit so the basic outline is here that in verses 12 through 16 we see

God dealing with one truth and in 13 down through 26 we see

God dealing with a slightly different truth but that they are both interconnected one depends on the other and so God begins for us here in verse 12 through 16 where a section of the text that deals with the people keeping themselves apart keeping themselves pure that not just apart from others but keeping themselves separated ensuring that that there is no remaining tenants of the former inhabitants of the land now there are these laws again are specific to a specific group of people and so God's not calling us to do exactly what is listed here in the in the exact form that it's listed but there is an underlying principle that applies

God's not calling us as born -again believers to go out and violently murder anyone to blow up destroy property take land by force but we are called to holy lives that are different we are called to holy lives that are set apart that makes us stand out from the world one of the first questions that you can always ask yourself as a believer and if you're trying and struggling with this thought of being obedient is if I was a person on the outside could

I distinguish myself from the rest of the world in other words do I look any different than the world do

I live differently than the world do I act differently than the world do I serve differently than the world the answer should be a resounding yes now there are those who take this to a degree that says well in truth the way we do this and the only way we can be successful at it is if we completely separate ourselves from the world that we don't engage with them that we don't speak to them that we don't talk to them you would definitely be labeled as different in that case but you would also fail the biblical mandate that you have been given to go and make disciples notice the word that God uses over here in verse 15 and in 12 beware lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitants and he repeats that in verse 15 lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitants lest you enter into a relationship that is going to affect your lifestyle recently

I was watching a speech or listening to a speech given by a person now

I'm using the term speech in person this person would use the term sermon and pastor I just don't think they apply so I was listening to the speech given by a person and he was doing really good seeming to be you know laying down some biblical truths but then as he began to move forward into his message and got into the meat of his message in fact he didn't even get to the meat he was just in the introduction and I turned it off and here's why the message dealt with a specific topic it dealt with one of the specific hot topics of the day and and he presented initially the fact that scripture specifically declares this particular hot topic to be a sin and I thought great a man of God actually willing to stand in a pulpit and proclaim that something the world sees as okay as a sin but he didn't shut up he kept talking and he went on to say that if a person is committing this sin that the church's response instead of loving them enough to call out their sin was to do the exact opposite what he actually said was that of this specific group 76 % of them say that they will come back to the church if the people will just embrace their lifestyle and walk with them and then he proceeded to encourage his church to embrace their lifestyle and walk with them beware lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land this is the danger this this is the type of thing exactly that we are being warned about here in Exodus we don't embrace their lifestyle we love them enough to call it what it is sin we love them enough to encourage them to repent and believe we love them enough to demonstrate to them that they should be moving away from this this is the kind of thought that leads to this worship of self and adoration of self rather than God and self is by far the biggest idol that exists we can make idols out of anything we get hung up on terminology we get hung up on the thought that we don't have little statues of ourself around our house so I don't really worship myself think about the world they are worshiping their self and the danger of delivering a message like this person was delivering is one that invites the world into the church and changes the church to satisfy the world and not only are we is

God speak against this here in Exodus but Paul writes about it as he writes to the church at Corinth in 2nd

Corinthians chapter 6 passage of Scripture that you're all very familiar with 9 out of 10 times that we talk about this passage of Scripture maybe 9 .9

times out of 10 that we talk about this passage of Scripture we're referring to people in marriage but the truth is it applies to the church these are the words do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness or what fellowship has light with darkness or what harmony has

Christ with Bilal or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever or what agreement has a sanctuary of God with idols for we are a sanctuary of the

Living God just as God said I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their

God and they shall be my people therefore come out from their midst and be separate says the

Lord and do not touch what is unclean and I welcome you and I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me says the

Lord Almighty this passage just as surely as the passage in Exodus calls the people of God to come out of this sin the message of the gospel is repent and believe the message of the gospel requires repentance the same example is used to illustrate that all of the people in the church the same example of the preacher that was speaking the person that was giving a speech was used to talk about how all the people in the church are broken and imperfect and they are but the fact of the matter remains that we are not called to stay that way we are called to repent and believe the church's responsibility is to call people to repent and believe the church's responsibility even to believers is to remind them repent and believe the gospel proclamation doesn't stop when you sign the card or or say the magic prayer that's why he goes on to say teach them all things that I have taught you not just go up hey give them the old

Romans road give them the the the the color beads give them the little little black green yellow red white card and run through all these things with them make them say yes

I believe have them pray the sinner's prayer and then never see him again that's not what he teaches but that's how we operate we're called to make disciples the message is to make disciples the only way that we do this is that we continually call people to repent we continually remind people to turn from their wicked ways we pull out the sin in each other's lives we look at each other and we go hey brother

I love you and I know I'm messed up and I know I got a lot of things I need to work on but I just want to share with you this concern

I have I've seen you do X brother that's a sin the gospel says repent and believe be obedient to that sin or be obedient to God not to the sin obedience to God not to sin hey obedient to God that's one of the wonderful things about speaking live sometimes you just mix up your words but all of these things come back to a knowledge and understanding of who

God is if you'll notice the focus in verses 12 down through 16 is ultimately that God is

God alone that there is no other God notice here he talks about to begin with that you becoming committing a covenant with them and it being a stare in your midst but rather destroy these things in your midst get them out all of these things that he references here idols pillars ashram are all tools of worship of these nations that God is going to drive out he says

I'm gonna drive these people out of your land but you get rid of the stuff that remains behind that could cause you to come into a problem he goes on to tell them why verse 14 why for you shall not worship any other

God for Yahweh in other words there is no other

God but Yahweh why why should this happen why should this be a truth because Yahweh is

God and there is no other and he gives to us another attribute of his that he is a jealous

God but the term here actually points to something else that we can spend a lot of time on but but it points to adultery it contains the same language as adultery and the punishment for adultery in the

Old Testament was death and so as someone commits adultery because this is what

God is describing people committing adultery his people committing adultery with other gods then they are worthy of death or he is a jealous

God he is the only God as he continues in 15 and 16 it's the same thought but just expand it out from the people to their children to help them understand that this is a perpetual thing and these are ways that you are to guard against these things happening again all of this shows us and leads us to the understanding that there is but one

God Yahweh the next section of verses the ones that we will deal with in a few weeks verses 17 down through 25 talks about turning

Israel's call to exclusive loyalty and then the outward the outworking the practical outworking of that exclusive loyalty to God into right worship that there is one true

God and we are called to worship him rightly the first set of commands establishes it the second set instructs how that one true

God is to be worshiped but for now it is enough for us to see that reconciliation reconciliation leads to right worship both for Israel and for us it leads to obedience which brings us ultimately to the heart of the matter to one outside of Christ if you're outside of Christ you remain unreconciled you remain unable to acknowledge him as the one true

God you remain unable to be obedient you remain unable even to go forward and worship him rightly that the truth is the same

God who restored Israel promises that in Christ God reconciled the world to himself the world is not a general statement there it is specific to his people look to the one who sheds his blood to make you new to bring you near in Christ alone is forgiveness in Christ alone is restoration in Christ alone is newness and only through Christ can true worship really begin so the question that confronts you this morning is in the light of God's sovereign grace his finished work in Christ his call to holiness his unchanging truth how then will you live will you live as one who is truly reconciled living in obedience to the one true

God rightly worshiping or will you drift toward the snares that God warns his people to tear down God has acted decisively to redeem and restore he has moved in his people will his people obey and live as the reconciled people that he has created us to be let's pray father in heaven we bow before you in humble gratitude or we acknowledge that every good work in our salvation begins with you you alone are

God you alone are the one who redeems who restores it is you who wrote your truth upon the hearts of your people father we thank you that like Israel at Sinai we are not left to ourselves but we are brought near by grace that we are reconciled through Christ that we unlike they are sustained by your spirit

Lord as we consider the weight of your word today impress upon us the holy calling that belongs to a redeemed people guard us from the subtle snares of this world from the idolatry that seeks to capture our affections from the temptations to compromise with those things you command us to cast down shape us

Lord into people who delight in your truth walk in holiness and worship you with reverence and joy father again we ask that you strengthen us to live as witnesses of your glory testifying through our conduct our obedience our lives that you alone are

God that we are faithful in the proclamation of Christ steadfast in our resistance of temptation and sin and joyful in our service of you may our lives display the wonder of your grace and the power of your covenant love we ask these things through Christ Jesus our