as well. So in the 20th chapter of Exodus, we have what is commonly known as the Ten Commandments. So I want to read this evening the first three verses. I'm not sure that I'll finish verse three, but we will venture through it, and then we'll pick up again this coming Sunday evening. And here, Moses records, and God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. The last time we met, we closed with this particular slide. And as we move forward, just as a point of review here, what we read the law in the Old Testament because we are believers and our souls have been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Quite often we read them and we understand some of the impact that is here, but we kind of pass over them too. The Lord intended us or gave them to us for a variety of reasons. But that very first bullet there, it's important for us to know, to understand, to receive, and to obey all these commandments in a fully biblical perspective. And that's one of the things that in studying over the past couple of days that became pertinent to this series of slides. And that is that the impact of these commandments, even though some of them were initiated prior to what we see here on Mount Sinai, but the impact of them has carried throughout history for literally thousands of years, and they still impact us today. So when we look at the law from a biblical perspective, I've got here that we take into account the rest of the book of Exodus, which is quite a bit of law as well, or instruction on how to worship. And the New Testament never says that the law has been has been sidestepped by Jesus. What Jesus did was fulfill the law. And we'll see that as we journey through some of these scriptures, if not tonight, then Sunday night. They were never given, the ten were never given by God with the intent that if we obey them, we'll go to heaven. That's not the intent. And the covenant, and that's what we see here, this is a Mosaic covenant, included more than just these 10, and as I mentioned the last time I taught this, this is probably very similar to our Bill of Rights in our Constitution, but it carries more impact than the Bill of Rights. So there are some sacrificial systems that are part of this covenant. They were not mentioned in detail in the book of Exodus. Leviticus goes into quite a bit of detail about them. But there's a sacrificial system because God certainly knew before he gave Moses the law that no one in Israel, nor in America, nor here at Flat Creek can live this. And so there has to be some type of, some substitute to take away the sins, our sins, in the event that we can't live them, and we know, of course, that we can't. So the sacrifices depended on innocent victims, and a couple of weeks ago we preached about Christ as a great high priest. We know the wonderful story of that. And then the Ten Commandments were summarized, and we closed out with this here a couple of weeks ago, Matthew 22, by the Lord Jesus when he spoke to the rich young ruler about saying that all the Ten Commandments were summarized in the Great Commandments. which are the Shema, hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God, and you are to love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and being, and then the second one is you love your neighbor as yourself. So all these laws that we have here, the 10, and we'll break them down here as we go through these slides, but these 10 show us that in order to live them, either to God or to one another. We have to do that in love. That's what Jesus was teaching. So God has a desire for his people to know this and he wants us to promote that with others in the congregation here and in our families. So a tremendous understanding of what God expects of us. Let's see. Yeah, maybe not. Everything is on, but nobody is at home. Just hit the down button, brother. I don't know what, it's probably operator error. That's it, that's good, yes, thank you. So, thank you, sir. We know that our Lord was the only one that kept the law perfectly. And that accounts for either the 10 that are here or the two that Jesus mentioned in Matthew. And we learned, of course, a couple of weeks ago, looking at Jesus as high priest, that he had no need to offer a sacrifice for himself, and that was because he's sinless and we're not. So, let's see, turn with me. I want to look at two passages. Let's go first to Romans 8, a very familiar passage, and then we'll go to Galatians 9. So we preached, obviously, through Romans a few years ago here. Chapter 7 is a very, I guess, for the lack of a better term, it's an encouraging chapter, but it's also depressing in that it displays for us the depth of our sin, the depth and depravity of our sin. And Paul speaks of it quite often in chapter 7. But when we get to chapter 8, Paul is summarizing what he has presented in the first few chapters here. And he says, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. So flesh and law are constantly at, they're enemies of each other. And spirit likewise can come to play in that as well. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. And we'll see in Galatians three here, Paul goes into more detail in Galatians three. Verse three, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. It doesn't mean the law was not good. It just means that our flesh is weak and the ability for us to keep the law as God intended us to keep the law, not the way that we keep the law. And we know that the way God intended was what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Don't lust in your heart, don't kill in your heart, don't be jealous or envious and all of these things in your heart. So it's not the outward inflection, it's the inward reflection of what is taking place. So what we have here is a great summary of what Paul is writing, and it's God's amazing promise to those of us that repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he goes into a little more detail in Galatians chapter three, so turn with me there. Galatians is a small version of Romans. It is thought that Paul, this was the first epistle that Paul wrote. And people had questions. Churches in Galatia, which is present-day Turkey, he had founded a number of churches and people were writing to him and asking him questions. There were messengers that were coming to him with these questions. And so one of the questions that they asked him, verse 19, he says, what purpose then does the law serve? Why is there a law? And so Paul, being an extremely intelligent individual, it was added because of transgressions. Okay, the law, man was always a sinner, but the law was added to reveal to us our sin. And that's what he said, because of transgressions, because of sins, still the seed, capital S, speaking of Jesus, should come to whom the promise was made, and it was appointed through angels by the hands of a mediator, by the hands of the Lord Jesus. Now, mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. It is a law then against the promise, is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. Now this summarizes how necessary it was that Jesus died. I forget that sometimes. It was necessary that Jesus died. If God could have transcribed either verbally or in written form, a law that would save, he would have done that. But he didn't. Because it was necessary that the Son of God die. That's basically what that says. If there had been a law given, which could have given life truly, righteousness would have been by the law. But the scripture has confined all under sin. And that's all, regardless of whether they have the law or not. This goes back again to Romans 1 and portions of Romans 2. Scriptures confound all unto sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Wonderful, beautiful verse. But before faith came, we were not born with faith. Faith is a gift from God, just as grace is. And before faith came, Faith in whom? Jesus Christ. We were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed in the person of Jesus, revealed to us through the word of God, so that we might repent and believe. Therefore, the law was our tutor, Old King James says, our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. So even though we still are impacted by the moral implications of the law, the judgment of the moral implications of the law was placed on the Lord Jesus Christ for believers, and for believers only. And when people repent, that is part of the transaction that takes place, a supernatural transaction. We talk, we call it imputation. Our sins are imputed to him. His righteousness is imputed to us. And this is a beautiful, beautiful look at how Jesus supersedes the law. Now he kept the law because that's what God intended, his father intended. But he also supersedes it. And here in Galatians, it defines the law as a teacher that points to Christ. Now the Israeli people back in Exodus didn't know that at the time. Perhaps Moses didn't know it at the time. But they would learn it over a period of time. Before God's plan of salvation in Jesus Christ was revealed fully, we were under the law. We were kept bound by the law. And that's what is called conviction. And conviction, again, is the grace from God. It is a good thing. It's not a bad thing. It's a good thing. Law must be taught. Law must be preached. because it's used by the Holy Spirit to convict sinners, and until we understand the gravity of our sin, no one will ever be saved. The law, through its revelation of God's character and exposure of our sin, is one of the, it's the main tool, and the law, of course, is what we're studying there in Exodus 20, but really, it's the biblical theology that we see throughout the Bible. through the revelation of God's character. It exposes our sin, it prepares us to come to Jesus. That's what Paul is saying here to the churches of Galatia. But after we have come, we no longer have to live under our tutelage of the law. Again, we don't sweep it under the rug, we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. But we ought to remember that the behavior was commanded by the law. It is interesting that when some of the individuals came to Jesus on the Gospels, they would, the rich young boy, you remember, he came to him and says, I've kept all the law from my youth. And then Jesus asked him, well, how do you read the law? And that's when Jesus went on to point out that he was desperately ill with self-righteousness, which is sin. So we no longer live under the tutelage of the law, but we are to remember the behavior that is commanded by the law, and that is important. Are we going to live it completely? No. But thankfully we have an advocate, we have a mediator in Jesus Christ that has. Three great purposes of the law. It's a guardrail. We were coming off the mountain in Pigeon Forge Monday morning, and for the most part the road was clear, but there were still some icy places. And no guardrails on these roads. So you sort of take your life into your own hands. Dean and Megan were in front of us. We topped a hill and started down where there was nothing but ice. They transversed it without any problem and got the car in first gear, had my feet off the brake and it still was sliding. And thankfully, if it had gone to the left, now the road was sloped from left to right, which is good, if it had gone to the left, we may not be here tonight, or at least we would be somewhere else. But the car slid and eventually hit the bank. It was a wonderful time, and Robbie was very complimentary of my driving. So she continues to fulfill that great promise that when you get married, you have a constant driving teacher for life. So she was teaching me that. So it's a guardrail. It keeps humanity on a moral path. Paul goes on and speaks more about that in Romans chapter eight as well. Second thing, it's a mirror. It shows us our moral failure and our need for a savior. When we look at the law, one of the person that we should see, not necessarily ourselves, although we should see ourselves, we should see Jesus. Because the law is a reflection of his high character, his impeccable character. Guardrail, mirror, it's a guide. It shows us the heart and desire of God for his people. The Lord did not leave the Hebrew people, the Israeli people alone. What he did obviously was, the very first thing, he spoke to them and he said, I'm the God that brought you out of Egypt. Not only did I bring you out of Egypt, but I brought you out of bondage. You were slaves and you're no longer slaves. And so I'm going to give you this covenant that will make you more free than you ever imagined if you live it. What a great, great promise. Next slide, Brother Josh. Alan Redpath said this. He said, the great message of the Christian faith is, therefore, that we are free from the law's condemnation in order that we may be able to fulfill its obligation by the power of Jesus within us. Is there an obligation to the law? Yes. We are obligated because it is the reflection of God's character. If we're in the image of God, and we are, then his image is obligated to keep his law. We may be able to fulfill this obligation by the power of Jesus within us. When I'm obedient, that's not a legal thing. but inspired by love and empowered by God's Holy Spirit. And he goes on to say, does New Testament grace allow a lower standard than Old Testament law? The standard under grace is higher. The answer to that is no. Grace does not lessen our obligation. If anything, grace increases our obligation. And this is a good thing for us to learn. It's a good thing for us to share with our children and our grandchildren. Grace is the gift through Jesus Christ that permits us to fulfill the obligation of God's law. All right, so let's go back to Exodus. Let's see, I think we'll cover this slide and then close for this. Go back to Exodus chapter 20. So there are several things here that are grouped in these Ten Commandments, and that's what we'll cover here in the next few minutes. In the very first verse there, it says, I am. So this is the same connotation that Yahweh used before Moses in Exodus 3. So Yahweh revealed himself to Moses as the covenant God, And then for the time being, however long that time was, when he went to Egypt and Aaron was with him and the plagues took place and so forth, it could have been a year, may have been a couple years, we don't know, but anyway, it was some period of time Apparently only Moses, maybe Moses and Aaron, Joshua, maybe a few others understood this. But it wasn't until we get now to Sania that you got a million or so people that God is ministering to through his servant. And so the first thing he says, I am, okay, I am that I am, I'm always with you. the unchanging one, and I am the Lord that speaks. And that's what it says. And God spake all these words, saying. So he communicates. We want a God that communicates. We don't want the gods of Acts 17 on the Areopagus. We don't want the gods of dollars and finance and entertainment and so forth. We want a God that can speak to us, who loves us, and who will guide us. And this was the God that we had. So these 10 commandments are segmented into two groups. Our conduct before God, which are the first four commandments, and that makes sense. If you're not gonna have any other gods before me, then the first thing that God addresses is our conduct before God. He has spent some time from Moses going before Pharaoh the first time until the last time, and then them making their journey here to Sinai. He has spent some time reflecting to them his goodness, his mercy, and his grace. And now he says, okay, guys, now this is what I've done for you. These are my expectations for you. You don't get a free pass. I'm your God, and as God, I want a certain conduct. And then the second, the six that follow these four are our conduct before other people. If two great laws that Jesus talks about, and the second one is love your neighbor as yourself, if that is of primary importance, and it is, then what we learn about God needs to be reflected in our love toward people. Because all of us are in God's image. Now that's hard sometimes when we look at other people and obviously we make judgments and so forth. But that is what the Bible says. So conduct before God, conduct before people. In verse 1 through 11, he says, I am your God because I am. I am the eternal, existent one. And I'm never going away. I have always been, always shall be. And regardless of what you attempt to do, I am your God because I am. And the second thing here, the sixth commandment's regarding a conduct before people, which is seen in verses 12 through 17. He says, I am your law because you are my people. So my expectations for your conduct before me is also reflected in your conduct to other people. And this is obviously family. This is spouse relationships, spousal relationships, parent and children relationships, work relationships. Every relationship in our lives is a reflection of our conduct before God. Sometimes we lose it, and so we don't reflect the character of God, and we don't reflect the image of God as we should. But these six commandments are given here as those guardrails. And in the close of this chapter, it's very unique. The physical manifestation of I Am results in great fear. And look for a moment, just drop down to verse 18. After these 10 had been given to Moses, okay, all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, the mountains smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Very similar to what occurs at the end of chapter 19. So here at the end of chapter 20, this continues. So this is a physical manifestation of the I Am. When Moses saw the I Am, the physical manifestation was the bush that was burning that wasn't consumed. God is a great inextinguishable, if I could say that word, fire, cannot be put out. And here we have a physical manifestation of Yahweh, and notice what they said, when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off, and I think we probably would have too. And they said to Moses, you speak with us and we will hear you, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. So the Lord has given them 10 commandments, And they are fearful of what's taking place. Had this occurred right after they left Egypt, they probably would have just done a 180 and headed right back to Egypt. But God's got them right where he wants them, which is in a wilderness area. They were several days journey from water. We've already seen them in the preceding chapters. The food was given and brought to them by the grace of God. God has them right where he wants them. And as we go through these chapters, and we see this not only in the latter part of the book of Exodus, but also in the book of Numbers and Deuteronomy, some of these people don't like this at all. Some are worshiping God. And others are, hey, we don't want this man to rule over us. Very similar to what the Jews told Pilate. So look at verse 20. Moses said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, so that you may not sin. Okay? So that you may not sin. That's the purpose. So that you may not sin. Because God's holy. So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. So in these verses, the Lord says, I am your law, therefore you are to fear me. And we'll see this in the commandments as we head through. So I didn't get to chapter, verse three tonight, didn't think I would, but any comments or questions? Let's pray. We thank you this evening for these great truths. When we think of the physical manifestation and the incarnation of Jesus Christ, we see in him all that you are because you and he and the spirit are one. So we thank you and we praise you. Although we struggle to understand and comprehend, we know that what we're reading here is good. It's given to guide us. It's given to guard us. It's given for us to see the reflection of our sin. I pray that you would abide to be with everyone here this evening. Keep us safe as we depart this place. Prepare our hearts to worship you on the Lord's Day. In Jesus' name we pray.