A Unilateral or Bilateral Covenant?

Grab a Bible, something to write with, and we're going to get started. We'll note that last week we didn't get too far.

Our text launched us into a conversation that seems to have taken up most of the class.

So we'll do a little bit of review as to what we read last week that was so inspiring as part of our conversations this morning.

But let's pray and then we'll get started. Eternal God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, grant us your

Holy Spirit who writes the preached word into our hearts so that we may receive and believe it and be gladdened and comforted by it in eternity.

Glorify your word in our hearts. Make it so bright and warm that we may find pleasure in it and through your inspiration think what is right.

By your power, fulfill the word for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

All right. Standard operating procedure.

Were there any questions that popped up in your mind as a result of the sermon? All right.

I would say that either it was too confusing and you guys didn't like it, or I was really crystal clear and somehow it stuck the landing.

The work on the apparatus was a little jittery, but that's okay. We're back in Exodus 23 today.

Exodus 23, verse 23, we'll pick up where we started last week and then keep moving forward.

We were talking about idolatry and how God himself does not permit idolatry and does not consider worship of men through false gods to actually be worship, and that God's people are called to not be idolaters.

This is all first commandments. We'll have no other gods before me. So Exodus 23, verse 23, when my angel goes before you and brings you to the

Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, and of course you always have to throw in the

Malaikites and the Amortites, and I've blot them out, you shall not bow down to their gods or serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them, break their pillars in pieces, you shall serve

Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and that will take sickness away from among you.

Now note, this is a very important aspect of the Mosaic Covenant, is that the Mosaic Covenant is not a covenant of grace, it is a covenant of works.

It is a bilateral, not a unilateral covenant. And so, God's blessings in the

Mosaic Covenant are contingent. So God has promised to take sickness away, the contingency though is you have to obey me, and first commandment is first order of business, you worship other gods and serve them,

I'm in no obligation to banish sickness. So God has made conditions, prosperity, health, and other things like this are promised in the

Mosaic Covenant, but it's not a covenant of grace, it's a covenant of works, so they have to keep their end of the bargain.

And you're going to note then, that as we work through the other details of the

Exodus, in the broader sense, not just in the book of Exodus, but like when we get into numbers, that the children of Israel in their wilderness wanderings, and you think of like the fall of Jericho once they get into the

Promised Land, fall of Jericho, the next battle was

Ai, a small place. The children of Israel lost the first battle of Ai, why?

Why did they lose? You guys remember this?

We're in Joshua, and I think we're going to be in chapter 5,

I'm doing this, let's see, maybe 6, it's a great story by the way, the weirdest battle plan ever, and the one of those things that is quite fascinating and supports the biblical narrative, but Joshua chapter 6,

Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, none came in.

Now this is at the tail end of their wilderness wandering, so they've crossed the Jordan, they're now in the

Promised Land, first town to go is Jericho, and there's certain things that they have to do with the first battle.

He says, See I have given Jericho into your hand with its king and mighty men of valor, and you shall march around the city, all the men of war, going around the city once, thus shall you do for six days.

Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horn before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.

And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat.

And the people shall go up, everyone straight before him. So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them,

Take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horn before the ark of the

Lord. And he said to the people, Go forward, march around the city, let the armed men pass on before the ark of the

Lord. And just as Joshua had commanded, the people, the seven priests, bearing seven trumpets of ram's horn before Yahweh, went forward, blowing the trumpets with the ark of the covenant of the

Lord following them. The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark while the trumpets blew continually.

But Joshua commanded the people, You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth until the day

I tell you to shout, then you shall shout. So he caused the ark of Yahweh to circle the city, going about it once.

And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. So day one.

Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of Yahweh, and seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ram's horn before the ark of the

Lord, walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. The armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of Yahweh while the trumpets blew continually.

On the second day they marched around the city once, and returned to the camp, so they did for six days.

On the seventh day they rose early, at dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times.

It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets,

Joshua said to the people, Shout, for Yahweh has given you a city. And the city, and all that is within it, shall be devoted to Yahweh for destruction.

Only Rapha, the prostitute, and all who are with her in her house, shall live, because she giveth messengers whom we sent.

But you keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest, when you have devoted them, you take any of the devoted things, and make the camp of Israel a thing of destruction, and bring trouble upon it.

So you know, the fall of Jericho, everything is devoted to destruction.

Nobody gets no plunder. It's a terrible grammar, but you get the point. You don't get to keep nothing.

Everything devoted to destruction. And I would argue that based upon what we see here, and considering the timeline, this is now the children of Israel triumphantly going into the promised land, that the fall of Jericho is in type and shadow a picture of Jesus' return.

This is a picture of the angels of God encircling the globe and blowing their trumpets.

You know, fast forward to the last day, that Christ will descend with the shadow of the archangel, with the trumps, with the trumpets, right?

So what we're seeing here in type and shadow is like a human reenactment, or dress rehearsal for the day of judgment.

And on that day, the whole earth is destroyed. And so you're going to note that there's a circling language there.

Circling city. Just like the planet itself is a big circle, ball in space.

So this is a type of shadow of what it looks like on the day of destruction. And the only people who survive, the only people who survive then are

Rahab and her family. She has a scarlet cord hanging out of her apartment, which is built into the wall.

She is a prostitute. And her and her family, they survive. And because they gave the spies, they welcomed them into their house.

So think of it this way. When a pastor, a preacher, or in the ancient world, the apostles were sent out, they were like the spies sent out to spy the promised land.

And when somebody receives them, and listens to them, and protects them, and hears them, and believes in the one

God that they are bringing tidings from, that's like, you know, it's like what

Rahab did with the spies. You kind of get the picture of this. There's a connection then between the spies and the preachers of the gospel today.

So, you keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, so everything's got to go, lest when you're devoted to them, you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction.

But all the silver, the gold, every vessel of bronze and iron are holy to Yahweh. They shall go into the treasury of Yahweh.

City number one, everything belongs to God. So the people shouted. The trumpets were blown.

As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout. The wall fell down flat. So the people went up into the city, every man straight before Him, and they captured the city.

And they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys with the edge of swords.

But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, go into the prostitute's house, bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.

I love this picture, always worth pointing out. When you read the genealogies of Christ and the

New Testament and the gospels, guess whose name shows up in that list? Rahab the prostitute.

Isn't that interesting? Rahab the prostitute shows up. She was the mother of Boaz.

And Boaz is the man who married Ruth. So keep that in mind.

So a good way to think of it then is that, remember we're following the scarlet thread, the genealogy of Christ through the

Old Testament. A good way to think about it is with the fall of Jericho, the prostitute becomes the bride of Christ.

She marries the man who is the direct descendant of Jesus Christ. She marries into the lineage. She marries the forerunner of the

Messiah himself. So it's a beautiful picture, a type of shadow. And we learn all of this through the genealogy as well as the story of Ruth and Boaz.

So go into the prostitute's house, bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.

And so the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her.

And they brought all of her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel. They burned the city with fire, everything in it, only the silver and the gold and the vessels and the bronze, finally put into the treasury of the house of the

Lord. But Rahab the prostitute and the father's household and all who belonged to her, Joshua, stayed alive.

And she lived in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out

Jericho. Joshua laid an oath on them that time, saying, Cursed before Yahweh be the man who rises up and rebuilds the city of Jericho.

At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay his foundation. At the cost of his youngest he shall set up its gates.

And this is fulfilled later in the Old Testament, by the way. Somebody does descend to rebuild Jericho. And it does cost them these things.

So Yahweh was with Joshua. His fame was in all the land. I mean, it just sounds like a total victory.

The end. Moving on to the next town. See, there's a but. And the but comes in chapter 7.

But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things, and the anger of the

Lord burned against the people of Israel. Now, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on a second.

Who's responsible? Who did this? Achan. Achan. Achan did it.

Who's being punished for his sin? The whole people.

So this is what you kind of have to get about sin. Is that no sin is committed by anybody in a vacuum.

Achan is the only fellow. Out of all of the people of Israel, one guy decided that he was going to sin.

And so all of the people of Israel are seen by God as having broken the covenant.

Now, this starts to create a magnitudinal factor when it comes to obedience.

And remember the Mosaic Covenant. The Mosaic Covenant is a covenant of words. And so as we're reading in Exodus about God saying, if you obey my voice,

He's not talking about you as an individual, or you as an individual. He's talking about you as a people.

And if anybody among you as a people breaks this covenant, despite the fact that it's one individual, everybody will be seen as being disobedient to the

Lord. Such is the nature. Because God didn't make it with individuals.

This covenant is not made with individuals. This covenant is made with a group of people.

The people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham. So at any time can we say the children of Israel really, truly, perfectly obeyed all of the stipulations of this covenant?

No. And that was not why it was given. It was given for a specific purpose.

Now, I mention all of that for a reason. Because if you ever watch Trinity Broadcasting Network, you look at somebody like a

Benny Hinn, or a Kenneth Copeland, they will invoke passages of Scripture like we were reading in Exodus 23, where it talks about how if you obey my voice, then

I will banish sickness. And so the issue here, hang on a second here, ESV, I don't want to, let's try that again.

So, so he says, I will take sickness away from among you, none shall miscarry or be barren,

I will fulfill the number of your days. So all of these promises, what they do, this is how the prosperity gospel works, and it's a false gospel.

They say to you, God promises in Exodus, He promises in the book of Deuteronomy, He's going to take sickness away from you.

He's going to make you prosperous. He's going to make your crops multiply. There will be no blight, or insects, or diseases, or mold, or mildew.

You will fill out your days. See, this is what God wills for you. And they leave out all of the fine print.

Number one, these promises were not made to you and I. These were promises that were made to the people of Israel, and they weren't promises.

They were God's part of a bilateral covenant that He promised to do His part if they did their part, and their part required them to obey.

And they don't. And so as you look at the history of the people of Israel, you get into the book of Judges now, after the conquering of Canaan by the

Israelites in the book of Joshua, you get into the book of Judges, and it has this constant refrain.

It's like every story kind of launches into a cycle that you keep hearing over, and over, and over again.

All the way through, not just in Judges, but all the way through 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2

Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles. The people of Israel did what was wrong in the sight of the

Lord. They worshipped the Baha 'is. They sacrificed their children to Moab. They worshipped the starry host.

They did this. They broke covenant. So God sold them into slavery to Midian.

He sold them into slavery to the Hittites. And then God raises up a judge, and the judge is given the assignment of releasing them from slavery, becoming the hero who releases them from bondage.

He judges Israel for a short amount of time, and then the whole cycle starts again.

And in the case of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Israel, David's your high watermark, and it just keeps tumbling down from there.

And in the midst of their moral spiraling down, kind of culminating then in the

Babylonian captivity, Nebuchadnezzar conquering Israel and taking a remnant, only 10 % of them lived through God's judgment, into captivity of Babylon.

All during the spiral, God is sending prophets. Prophets like Isaiah. Prophets like Micah and Amos.

All of the Old Testament prophets, the major and the minor, these are the guys God has sent to make an appeal.

Repent! God will forgive you. Turn away from these worthless idols. These idols are nothing.

This is their constant refrain. They're, in a sense, kind of like God's spokesman calling them back into the covenant, calling them back to be forgiven, telling them of the mercy and grace of God, and what do they do?

No. We want our idols. And the last in that group, then, is

Jeremiah, who wrote Jeremiah and the Lamentations. And Jeremiah is the guy who was given the unenviable task of preaching the word of God, and God told him ahead of time, at his commissioning as a prophet, that he would preach the word, and it would result not in their repentance, but the further hardening of their hearts.

This is why we call him the weeping prophet. He was sent out to preach the word, and told that that word would not result in revival.

It would result in God's judgment. And on Jeremiah's watch, Nebuchadnezzar sacks

Jerusalem. We don't even know how he died. We honestly do not know what happened to Jeremiah.

Some people say that after the fall of Jerusalem, he survived, and then he made it to Egypt. There's something in the text that kind of hints at all that, but we don't know what happened to him ultimately at the end of it.

We don't know. He just kind of disappears off the pages of history. We don't know how he perished.

So you kind of see the pattern there. So, the Mosaic covenant, bilateral covenant, and then we'll do a little bit of cross -reference work here in the book of Galatians, which is vital.

Galatians chapter 3, Paul writing to the churches in Galatia, spends chapter 3 and 4 then explaining why the

Mosaic covenant, why the law, why the Torah, what was the purpose that it was given. You see, because the

Judaizers in the time of the Apostle Paul, they had come back into the churches that Paul had planted and told the people in the churches, unless you are circumcised, you cannot be saved.

You have to keep Torah. You've got to keep the commandments of the Mosaic covenant.

And watch what Paul does here. We'll start in chapter 3 because we want to grab our context.

He says, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

So let me ask you this. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?

What do you think the answer to the question is? By hearing with faith. So, are you so foolish having begun by the

Spirit? And you're going to note here that the Apostle Paul makes it clear, in his epistles, he's talking about doing things by the

Spirit. That is a synonymous phrase with believing by faith. To do things by the

Spirit is to believe by faith. Those are two synonymous phrases. And it doesn't mean that you're supposed to babble in coherently like so -called charismatics do.

That's not what it talks about here. So, are you so foolish having begun by the

Spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain?

Indeed, it was in vain. Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and work miracles among you do so by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?

Which is it? It's the second, by hearing with faith. Just as Abraham believed

God and was counted, or you can say credited, to him as righteousness. So know then it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.

And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify, now a big word there, dikayaho, justify means to declare righteous.

That's that phrase that we keep coming back to. It's the judge putting the gavel down and saying, not guilty.

That's what justify means. God who justified the Gentiles by faith, he preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed.

So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

All who rely on works of the law are under a curse.

Now, important thing. It doesn't say all who obey the Ten Commandments are under a curse.

That's not what it says. It says all who rely on works of the law.

Rely is to say, I'm saved by being a good boy.

I'm saved by being a good girl. I'm saved by following the rules.

You're relying on works of the law for your salvation. And everybody who is relying on works of the law, they're under a curse.

For it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the law and continually do them.

The Ten Commandments are not part of a checklist that you can say, okay, I've done it now.

I've done my salvation. All who rely on them have to keep doing them and keep doing them and keep doing them.

They're under a curse. There's no freedom there. That is evident. No one is justified before God by the law.

Does it get any clearer than that? No one is justified before God by the law.

Abraham wasn't. David wasn't. Moses wasn't.

Nobody is justified before God by the law. For the righteous shall live by faith.

The law is not of faith. Rather, the one who does them shall live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.

For it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. So that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the

Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith.

Faith. Not by works. So to give a human example, brothers, even with a man -made covenant, and you can say contract here.

DFAK could be a contract. Contract and covenant are kind of the same idea. Even with a man -made contract, no one annuls it or adds to it once it's been ratified.

In other words, once you have the contract signed and the ink is dry, you can't go back and change it.

That's the idea. So to give a human example, even with a man -made contract, no one can annul it or add to it once it's been ratified.

Now the promises, they were made to Abraham and to his offspring, singular,

Zerah. It does not say into offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, and to your offspring.

And that offspring, by the way, is Christ. So this is what I mean. The law, the Mosaic covenant, which came 430 years after Abraham, does not annul a covenant that was previously ratified by God so as to make the promise void.

For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by the promise.

But God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

You see how the argument is developing and unfolding. All who rely on works of the law are under a curse.

The law, which was given 430 years after the promises were made to Abraham and salvation was promised to Abraham as a gift, by grace, through faith, in the

Abrahamic covenant, which was not a bilateral covenant, it was a unilateral, God promising everything.

Abraham was sound asleep while God walked between the split pieces of the animals in that covenant.

God is the one making the promises. And so that covenant cannot be overthrown by the

Mosaic covenant. So this is why we as Christians, because Paul teaches us to do this here in Galatians as well as Romans, the covenant that we look to as the precursor to the new covenant that we are in is the

Abrahamic covenant, and that covenant is a covenant of grace, purely as a gift based on the promises of God.

And Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, which means Abraham was saved by grace through faith.

David was saved by grace through faith. Moses was saved by grace through faith.

Joshua, the same. Then you get to all of the good kings of Israel, Hezekiah and others, they were saved by grace through faith.

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, saved by grace through faith because the

Mosaic covenant could not overturn the Abrahamic covenant, which then begs the question, okay,

God, we get it. The Abrahamic covenant cannot be added to or taken away from, and salvation is given as a promise, as a gift by you in the

Abrahamic covenant. So why did you give the Mosaic covenant? What's the purpose of that thing?

Because nobody was keeping it, and it seemed like quite a burden to those who were under it, or who were in it.

That's the question that's kind of before us, and we'll get to that in a second. So if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by a promise,

God gave it to Abraham by a promise, verse 19, so why then the law?

It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring, that's

Jesus, should come to whom the promise had been made. It was put in place through angels, by an intermediary, now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

So is the law then contrary to the promises of God? No, certainly not.

For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.

But the scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

So now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.

So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, you have put on Christ.

Another great text giving us the promises regarding our baptisms. So there is neither Jew or Greek, there's neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, you're all one in Christ.

And there's that one theme again, that we heard in our epistle text today, regarding the fact that we are a one body.

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, and you are heirs according to promise.

Now that's quite the statement. When we think of Abraham's offspring today, we think of those who are genetically

Jewish. No. Being a genetic

Jew does not give you an in with God. You are Abraham's offspring, children according to the promise, if you believe in the one whom the

Father has sent, that's Christ. You are saved by grace through faith, and you've been grafted into Israel.

You guys are the ones who are Abraham's offspring. Chapter four, makes the point a little bit finer.

So I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave.

Now this is where it gets interesting. The picture changes a little bit to that of a guardian. And we've seen the movies, or we've heard the stories.

You know, a story of a kingdom, where the king and the queen are tragically killed, or they die.

And the heir to the throne is only five years old. And of course, all kinds of intrigue and political machinations occur in a situation like that, where the monarch is too young to reign.

So what happens then to that young monarch? He's put under guardians. And so the way the stories always go, he goes from being five years old to maybe 13.

At 13, he's learning how to use his sword. And then something terrible happens, right? Somebody usurps and takes over the throne, and this kid has to flee for his life.

And then the way the story always resolves, at least the fairy tale story version of it, is that the rightful king finally returns.

He's no longer under the guardians. He is old enough and mature enough and wise enough and has suffered enough to be a good monarch.

And he defeats the bad guy, comes back to the throne, and they live happily ever after, right?

So you're going to note then that the way this is talking is that all of humanity, and specifically the

Jews, the Torah, the Mosaic covenant, was the guardian. It was the tutor.

And the way it describes this tutor is kind of like a very, very, very strict, straight, unbending, unyielding, never -smiling schoolteacher who will wrap your knuckles with a ruler or a yardstick if you step out of line.

Teacher, why do we... Whap! Stop asking stupid questions. Ah! Right?

That's how the Torah is described. So as long as the heir is a child, he's no different from a slave, though.

He is the owner of everything, but he's under guardians and manners until the date set by his father. So in the same way, we also, when we were children, we were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.

Now, a little bit of a note here. Tell me what's the cross -reference in your Bible to the tail end of verse 3 of chapter 4.

Enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. Remember, Scripture interprets Scripture. What's the cross -reference?

Anyone have a cross -reference on that? Let's see.

Elementary principles of the world. Um...

All right, let me see if I can find it. Hang on. I think it's going to be in Colossians.

Here it is, Colossians 2 .20. So watch how Scripture interprets

Scripture. And this is an important thing you have to pay attention to when reading Paul's epistles, is that Paul sometimes will throw a phrase out and you sit there and go, what does that mean?

What is the elemental principles of the world that he's referring to? Thankfully, he tells us in Colossians 2 .20.

So, if with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, there it is again, same phrase, different letter, and this will help shed some light.

Why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teachings.

These indeed have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self -made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

So the elemental principles of the world kind of goes like this, if you were using a modern example from my own life.

I talked about it this morning in the sermon. When I was in a different denomination, I was growing up, I was told,

Christians do not dance, Christians do not smoke, Christians do not chew,

Christians do not drink, Christians do not play cards, Christians do not go to movies rated higher than G.

That list is a list that fits into the category of the elemental principles of the world.

Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. Do you think for a second that I was more like Jesus when

I wasn't playing cards on a Friday or Saturday with my friends? Yes or no?

No. Do you think telling me that I cannot dance as a teenager made me closer to Jesus and helped me control the sinful passions that I have because of my sinful nature?

No. Not at all. In fact, I can tell you this, the school that I went to was a

Christian school. We were not allowed to have a prom. We had a junior -senior banquet and they would usually pick some really nice hotel, banquet hall.

One year they had it in Newport Beach. When I was a junior in high school, I wasn't able to go because I got the chicken pox the week before, which is no fun.

But, so senior year, Barb and I go to the junior -senior banquet. It's in Newport Beach, California.

It's at a beautiful facility and everybody there is circulating a flyer.

Did you see this? Did you see that? Did you see that? As soon as this thing is over, there's a place up about 15 miles from here, somebody's rented a warehouse, we're going to have a dance.

And we went and we danced. And you know what?

The whole time I was dancing, I felt like I was going, to the school and its rules.

That's not exactly holy, is it? You see? And that's the thing.

So many people who call themselves Christians, they try to boil Christianity down to, here's the list of things we don't do, rather than the list of things we believe.

And because we believe, then the things that we do. Sanctification is not merely a matter of,

I don't do these things. It's me actively loving and serving my neighbor in good works.

Caring for their needs. And as we read in our epistle text today, patience, kindness, eager to maintain the bond of peace and unity.

Bearing with one another. Believe me, bearing with you all is very difficult. I'm joking.

But that's the idea. We all bear with each other. Because we're all sinners and we're all weak.

We all step on each other's toes. If we were dance partners, we'd have to wear steel -toed shoes because of how poorly we dance and are constantly stomping on each other.

Such is the nature of being a Christian here. So then, coming back to our text now, now we know what

Paul's talking about, the elemental principles of the world. So in the same manner, verse 3 of Galatians 4, in the same manner, we also, when we were children, we were enslaved to the elemental principles of the world.

Do not handle. Do not taste. Do not touch. But, when the fullness of time had come,

God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem, and there's that slaving term, to redeem, is to purchase somebody out of slavery, those who are under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of a son into our hearts, crying,

Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, you are a son.

And if you are a son, then you are an heir through God. And you get a note then.

God sent His Son to redeem us, to adopt us, and now we've been written into the will, we have an inheritance, we're part of the family, we are sons and daughters of God and heirs through Him, and this is not something we've earned, it's given as a gift.

So formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not

God's. But now that you have come to know God, or rather, to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

You observe days, months, seasons, years.

Think of the Passover, think of the Feast of Booths, the Feast of Weeks, the Shabbat. I'm afraid

I may have labored over you in vain, brother, so I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are.

You did me no wrong, you know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first.

Catch that, look at that. Paul came to them in weakness with some kind of a physical bodily ailment.

And though my condition was a trial to you, in fact, it was such a terrible bodily ailment that it was difficult for them to care for him.

You did not scorn or despise me, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

So what then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you, if possible, that you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.

Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? The answer to that is, it sure does feel like that at times, right?

So they make much of you, the Judaizers, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.

It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you. So my little children, for whom

I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

So tell me, you who desire to be under the Torah, do you not listen to the Torah?

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.

But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through a promise.

Now this may be interpreted allegorically. These women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery.

She is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, by the way, Galatians tells us where Mount Sinai is.

It's not in Egypt. It's in Arabia. She corresponds to the present

Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free.

She is our mother. For it is written, Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear. Break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor.

For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband. Now you brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, so also it is now.

But what does the scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit the son of the free woman.

So brothers, we are not children of the slave, but of the free.

So you'll note here, the Mosaic covenant was never given for salvation. It was given to be a tutor.

Through the law comes the knowledge of sin. To keep people under it in slavery until the seed would arrive, and that seed is

Jesus. And now that he has arrived, the promises of faith have been revealed and given.

And we are not under the Mosaic covenant. Period. This is why we do not keep the

Passover. This is why I don't have to travel to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost.

Or have to camp out in the wilderness of Judea every summer for the Feast of Booths.

This is why I can work on a Saturday. You see the idea here?

We're not under the Mosaic covenant. And it was never a covenant given for salvation. It had a purpose, and that purpose never was to overthrow the promises given to Abraham.

So then coming back to our Old Testament text. So you shall serve

Yahweh your God. He will bless your bread and your water. I will take sickness away from among you.

And this is again part of the bilateral Mosaic covenant. None shall miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.

I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come.

I will make all of your enemies turn their backs to you. I will send hornets before you which shall drive out the

Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. I will not drive them out before you in one year lest the land become desolate and wild beasts multiply against you.

Little by little I will drive them out from before you until you have increased and possessed the land.

And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines and from the wilderness to the Euphrates. For I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand and you shall drive them out before you and you shall make no covenant with them and their gods.

They shall not dwell in your land lest they make you sin against me. For if you serve their gods,

I will surely be a snare to you. Next chapter.

So then he and Moses said to Moses, Come up to Yahweh, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy of the elders of Israel and worship from afar.

Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near and the people shall not come up with him.

Moses came and told the people all the words of Yahweh and all the rules. And the people answered with one voice and said,

All the words that Yahweh has spoken we will do. How long did that last?

I mean, it didn't last very long. Moses goes up on the mount. Forty days later they're worshiping a golden calf.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

And what's interesting though, we didn't do the resolve on the story of Achan. When Achan is punished for his sin and dies, then the curse is lifted and God is now helping the people of Israel again.

So Achan, in some weird way, becomes a stand -in for Christ and we see then the collective nature of sin.

Isn't it funny that so many people say, you say to somebody, What you're doing is wrong.

They say, It's not hurting anybody else. It's not hurting anybody else. Balag na.

That's not how you pronounce it, I know. Your sin impacts other people, even if nobody else knows what your sin is.

There is not only an individual aspect to the consequences of sin, there's a collective.

Your sin impacts other people in ways you cannot even begin to imagine.

Nobody sins in a vacuum. Our sins hurt each other, even if you don't even know what the other person's sins are.

And you don't need to know. That's the nature of sin. So Moses came and told the people all the words of Yahweh, all the rules, all the people answered with one voice, all the words the

Lord has spoken we will do. And Moses wrote down all the words of Yahweh. He rose early in the morning, built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Now this is loads of fun. You remember in Galatians, where did

Galatians say Mount Sinai was? Arabia. I'm going to go on a little bit of a tangent here and see if I can do this properly in the small amount of time that I have allotted for our thing here.

And I have something, and you can pass this around and share it. I've showed you this before, and I will continue to make reference to it because I'm absolutely convinced that the

Bible's right, that Mount Sinai is in Saudi Arabia. And the place that I point to, and others have pointed me to, for the

Mount Sinai that is in Saudi Arabia, Jabal al -Lawz, there's a very fascinating feature of that particular place, and that is that at the base of that mountain we have an animal chute that leads to an altar, and that altar, let me find this, maps .google

.com, and that altar, at the base of it, there literally is, no joke, 12 pillars at that site.

I'm going to do this this way. Okay. So here's what we're going to do.

I'm going to pass this around. And this is it in three dimensions, and you can take a look around.

I'll start over here. And I'll show you what you're looking at, but I want you to see it in 3D.

If you go to maps .google .com and type in Moses' altar, now look towards the kitchen and you can see the altar bases.

And give me a second because the internet is really slow out here. No, it's not. It works just fine.

What's in it, though? Trust me, that's what you think some days when you live out here. Yeah. Okay, I'll show you where that's located, but I want you to see it in three dimensions because I think it's very fascinating.

And so what we're going to do, we're going to go to Moses' altar, maps .google

.com. You have to look towards the kitchen. So the animal chute, you notice, has two lanes going up and then it goes up to an altar.

And then at the beginning of the animal chute, somewhere near the kitchen, you can see the 12 pillars that were set up.

It's very fascinating that people have gotten into... Oh boy, it's not letting me look for it there, so let me do it this way.

Did they change Google Maps on me? All right.

So let me show you what we're looking at here. The crossing of the

Red Sea, this is the Red Sea right here, and it's going to take me a minute to kind of get this to come into focus because it's loading at, you know, the speed of smell.

The crossing of the Red Sea occurs right here at a place called

Wasit. And the crossing... So this is the Egyptian side, this is the side on Saudi Arabia.

And so the crossing of the Red Sea occurs here. The children of Israel come down to the springs of Elim and then follow a wilderness trail which takes them to this area right here.

And that area right there is where the Split Rock of Horeb is. And then Mount Sinai is where Jabal al -Lawz is.

And so what we'll do is we'll zoom in a little bit here. I'm going to switch this over to satellite view because I actually want to see the satellite in position on it.

And you can tell where Mount Sinai is because the top of the mountain is burnt.

Okay, so I'm going to zoom in on this feature over here. And you're going to note the top of Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia, this is totally burnt.

This is not a volcanic mountain. This mountain is granite. It's an interesting pink granite.

But the top of it is totally charred. Very fascinating feature of it.

Elijah's cave, which is one of the features that you would expect, is actually on this little outcropping right here.

And where Elijah heard the low whisper. And people who have actually in the past posted photographs of it.

And those got taken down when Google changed their photographic service. And so we're waiting for people to put new pictures up of Elijah's cave.

But it's over there. But so here is where the stone, where the... You know what you see over here?

We can't see that little arrow thingy. Could you take your finger and point to it? Sure, sure, absolutely.

Absolutely. All right, so I'll come over this way. All right, so Moses' altar, this is where the golden calf altar was set up.

And the Saudi government knows that this is an important archaeological site. And they've actually built a fence keeping people from going up to the base of Mount Sinai.

Here, this is the area where Elijah's cave is. It's exactly where we would expect it to be.

And then the animal shoot altar that we hear about the sacrifices that are taking place with the stone pillars, this is up in this area right up in here.

So when you're looking around and taking a look, you're at the base of Mount Sinai right here.

And the 12 pillars are exactly where they should be, adjacent to an animal shoot altar.

And let me see if I can pull this up now. Let's see if my internet connection is gonna let me do this a little bit easier.

But I need to zoom in just a smidge so you can kinda see where the altar itself is.

There's a little crook in it. Here it is.

Okay, so, gotta get my bearings here.

Okay, because this one's tricky. Okay, so what you guys are looking at is right here. The animal shoot starts down here.

And the 12 pillars that you see towards the kitchen, those are down in here. And then the animal shoot leads up to a sacrificial altar right there.

Did it close itself again? No? Okay, we're done. All right. So you kinda get an idea of what's going on here.

So it's kind of a fascinating little feature, right? You guys were able to see it okay? Yeah? All right.

Now, let me see if I can pull it up here so that we can kinda take a look around just to...

I know you said that they closed this off. Oh, yeah, the Saudi government does not allow people up here. And so the people who've taken these photographs have jumped the fence and somehow not only gotten into Saudi Arabia, but gotten out, which is...

That's crazy. Huh? I think visiting there at all is a dicey proposition, and I do not recommend anybody try that.

Now, let me show you this real quick. And there's a group of people who actually got into this portion, too.

They also jumped the fence, which I think is very fascinating. Why is that doing that?

Moses is alt. Can I give a second to load?

All right, we're almost out of time. I knew this was gonna take a minute. Well, the

Internet's too slow for me to kind of finish this out. Moses is alt for Saudi Arabia. There we go. Okay. So let me show you what we were looking at in using the

Google Cardboard, and you'll see this. Takes a second to load.

All right, this is what you guys were looking at inside of this, and it's coming into focus now.

Very slow. There we go. So you're gonna note this guy here. So this is heading towards the...

back into the valley, and then behind it, going in this direction for me, is going up Mount Sinai.

And so you're gonna note the 12 pillar bases right here, exactly where they should be.

This, then, is the animal chute that, you know, they led these sacrificial animals up through this chute.

A little bit of a bend in it, and then up to the altar, which is up here, and it takes a minute for it to load, and you can kind of see what this all is.

Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia. This is the site. So if you ever go on a tour of the Holy Land and they want to take you to Mount Sinai, and it's in Egypt, that ain't

Mount Sinai. None of the features of that mountain actually fit anything that's in the scriptures.

This is the site. So discovered archaeology are the people who kind of, you know, they jumped the fence and took this panoramic photo so that we can see it.

So the animal chute then leads up to this altar up here, where they were slaughtered, and you can see the guy taking the photo up here.

They took extensive photos of this site. I think illegally, to be honest with you.

This, by the way, is the split rock of Horeb, which is very near to this site.

That's the rock that God split and then caused the water to come flowing out of it.

It actually created a little mini lake in the process. And then talking about one of the things that's kind of a fascinating feature of the wilderness wanderings of Israel are the petroglyphs that they left.

You'll note that this is a petroglyph of a sandal print. And these are all over Saudi Arabia.

There's a particular way you can follow your way around the outer rims of the Saudi Arabian Peninsula, and you can find these petroglyphs.

Anyone have a guess as to why it would be a sandal print? Well, why?

Yeah, exactly. And here's the reason why. God says, wherever you set your foot, I will give you that land.

And so as part of the wilderness wanderings, and you find these throughout Saudi Arabia on a particular trail, that's the sandal prints of the

Israelites. Saying, wherever God causes my foot to stand, he's going to give me that land as an inheritance.

So they're marking their territory. Yeah, they're marking their territory. Also, the Saudi Arabian government wants this all hush -hush because it gives

Israel legitimacy in regards to claim to swaths of land. So anyway, that's the site.

And next week we will pick up and read some of the details of then what happened at this site in Saudi Arabia.