Well this morning, we start a new study. So I'm glad you're here. So at least somebody can hear it. It's going to be on the book of Exodus. So we're going to, our scripture passage today is going to be Luke 9. So let us all stand. to hear the Word of God. Luke 9, beginning with verse 28. And some eight days after these sayings, it came that he took along Peter and John and James, and went up to the mountain to pray. While he was praying, the appearance of his face became different, and his clothing became white and gleaming. Behold, two men were talking with him, and they were Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep, but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him, and they came about as these were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it's good for us to be here, and let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Not realizing what he was saying. And while he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them. And they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son. This is my chosen one. Listen to him. You may be seated. Now why start a study on Exodus by reading the ninth chapter of Luke? Well, every one of us know about the transfiguration. At particularly high point in Jesus' life, when he was praying with Peter and James and John, and lo and behold, who should appear but Moses and Elijah. I've always wondered how Peter, James, and John knew there were Moses and Elijah, but nevertheless, There was Moses and Elijah. And then Jesus' countenance started shining brighter than the noonday sun. And the glory cloud of the Old Testament engulfed all of them. The glory cloud was that pillar of fire that led the children of Israel through the wilderness. that on occasion would fill up the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle in the temple. So the cloud engulfed all of them. Peter, James, and John, and Jesus, who was shining, his face was shining. I mean, his humanity couldn't hold back his deity. That's the way I look at it. That he was a man, but his deity could not be held back by his humanity. I would love to know what they were talking about, don't you? Elijah, Moses, Jesus, Peter, James, and John. I know what they were talking about. Luke is the one gospel writer that tells us what those men were talking about. They were talking about, and notice how it says it here, They were talking about, verse 31, they were speaking of His departure, which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. Now, I'm going to give you the Greek word for departure. And you tell me if you know any English words that sound like this Greek word. Exodus. That was the word. They were talking about Jesus exodus that was about to take place in Jerusalem. You know, the Old Testament prophet said that as important as the exodus was under Moses back in the days when the people of Israel were in Egypt, as important as that was, there's coming another exodus that's going to so overshadow that when the people are going to forget about the first exodus. And the second Exodus was when Jesus led the people of God out of the slavery of sin and death into a proper relationship with God. And he did it by means of his death and his resurrection. So we have these men talking about the main point of the book of Exodus. And that's where we're going to study the book. I can't think of anything more important than to talk about how Jesus Christ accomplished our liberation and our exodus out of sin and death by his own humiliation and his own exaltation. So what we're going to do today mostly, we're going to go through the New Testament. and look at passages that have to do with Moses and Jesus. Because most people today drive a wedge between the two. You get Jesus or you get Moses. If you get Moses, you got a bunch of laws you gotta worry with. If you get Jesus, you got love, joy, and peace. So we have Christians today who think those two are incompatible, that Jesus came to bring in a whole new religion, a whole new God, a whole new way of thinking about salvation than Moses did in the Old Testament. So I want you to turn with me. I want to look at some passages that have to do with Moses and Jesus, and I think some of them will surprise you. At least they'll surprise most Christians today. You know, you can't make it without Moses. Can't make it without Jesus. But you can't make it without Moses either. So let's turn to Luke 16 and read some verses. This is the great story about the rich man and Lazarus. One was in heaven, one was in hell. So go to the 16th chapter of Luke. And let's read verses 19 through 31. And see what Jesus says. And see if it's what we would say today. Verse 19, Now there was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores. and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table. Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. And it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out, and he said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame. Abraham said, Child, remember that during your life you received good things. And likewise, Lazarus, bad things. But now he is being comforted, and you're in agony. And besides all this, between us and you, there's a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us. And he said, then I beg you, Father, that you send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment. And Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. He said, No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to him, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead. You know anybody that rose from the dead? Hear this man in hell, and it is sort of a parable. teaching you how terrible hell is and how wonderful heaven is. This guy's praying, I have five brothers. I don't want them down here in this grave with me and burning in this fire with me. Send somebody, raise somebody from the dead and send them to my brothers. And Father Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets. If they won't believe Moses and the prophets, they're not going to believe the one who arose from the dead. It's a pretty strong statement, don't you think? That here you see the importance of believing in Moses and the prophets, that is the Old Testament, but he specifically mentions Moses. If you don't believe the Old Testament, And most particularly, if you don't believe Moses, there's no gospel for you in Jesus Christ. Now let's go to Luke chapter 24. In Luke 24, verse 44. Now he, that is Jesus, said to them, These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.' And he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day. And that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning with Jerusalem. So Jesus is teaching His disciples in Emmaus. The Old Testament is basically about me. It's about other things, too. But the Old Testament, and they didn't call the Old Testament the Old Testament. They called it the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. There were three major divisions of the Old Testament. Law of Moses, Prophets, and the Psalms. And Jesus is saying, the Law of Moses is about me, the Prophets are about me, and the Book of Psalms and all related poetic books are about me. So as you see, there's no disharmony, there's no conflict. between Jesus and Moses at all. He's saying, Moses wrote about me. All right, now turn to John chapter 1. John chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse 14. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Verse 17, For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth were realized through Christ Jesus Christ. Did you hear me add a word that's not there? Most people read that verse as if it's a contrast. Verse 17, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth were realized through Jesus. There's no conjunction there. There's no but there at all. This is not a contrast between Moses and what Moses gave, and Jesus and what Jesus gave. Both of these are important. The law that came through Moses as an instrument is from God. But Jesus Christ was not a mere instrument. Grace and truth were realized through Him. He is grace and truth. So you see, it's not a contrast between Moses and Jesus. It's simply saying Moses and Jesus are both important. Jesus is just more glorious. Let's go to the fifth chapter of John. Fifth chapter of John. Verses 45 through 47. Jesus is talking, Do you not think that I will accuse you before the Father? The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, How will you believe my words? So he says, the problem with you Pharisees is not that you believe Moses. The problem with you Pharisees is you believe that you're going to be saved by the law that came through Moses. And that's never been the intention of God, to save people from their sins. through the law that came through Moses. That's your problem. Your problem is not that you believe the writings of Moses. The problem is you believe the writings of Moses, apart from Christ, will save you. And it won't. So Jesus looks at him and says, and if you do not believe the writings of Moses, how in the world will you believe any of my words? No contrast. There's no disharmony between them. If you don't believe Moses, you're not going to believe Jesus. If you're going to believe Jesus, you will believe Moses. Now let's go to Acts. This is a great sermon preached by Stephen, first Christian martyr. And he got killed for preaching on the Old Testament. This is a great sermon on the Old Testament. Someday we'll preach through the whole thing. But I want to read just one verse, Acts 7, 38. Speaking of Moses, it says, This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness, together with the angel who was speaking to him in Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers, and he received living oracles to pass on to you." Now, there's two things I want you to notice about it. It's a statement about Moses, and notice it says that he was a member of the congregation in the wilderness. If you knew Greek, underneath that English word congregation, is a Greek word called ekklesia, which is the Greek word for church. Ecclesiastical, ecclesiastics, we use it a lot. So Moses was a member of the church. That's not all. Notice the last part. And he received living oracles to pass on to you. Living oracles, what are those? Those are living words, divine verbal revelation from God. In Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, Moses received them from God to pass on to you. Who's the you? Everybody on this side of the resurrection. So those are two great statements in that Act 738. Moses was a member of the church and he received theonomy from God to pass on to you. When you want to look at somebody to, somebody argues with you about whether or not the laws of Moses are for Christians today or whether they ceased with the Old Testament times, just take them to Acts 738, where it says Moses received these living words, these laws from God. Now let's turn to Hebrews chapter three. Now what are we doing? We're showing that there's no disharmony between Moses and Jesus. Jesus is more glorious than Moses, but there's no disharmony between them. They didn't teach different religions, they didn't teach different ethics, they didn't teach different gods. Let's look at Hebrews chapter 3, and let's read the first six verses. See if you can see why I'm reading these verses. Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, Consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. He was faithful to him who appointed him, as Moses also was in all his house. Capital H. You see the capital H before his house. For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, for just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. where every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later. But Christ was faithful as a son over his house, whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and boast of hope firm until the end. So here you have a figure of speech. Jesus and Moses are building a house. They're not building two houses. They're building one house, the same house. Only difference is Moses is a mere carpenter. Jesus owns the house. and lives in the house. So what do you think the house is that both Moses and Jesus are working at building? It says right there, you don't have to guess, in verse 6, that Christ was faithful as a son over his house, whose house we are. Who's the we? Those who believe in Jesus Christ, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So here's the picture. Both Moses and Jesus are at work building the church. What Moses does contributes to the advance and well-being of the church. It's the same church. It's not two houses. It's not that Moses is building a house for Jews who obey the law, and Jesus is building a house for those who believe in him by faith. One house, two people building it. Only difference is Jesus lives in the house and Moses is a carpenter. That's a pretty strong verse, don't you think? A pretty strong verse to impress us with the harmony between what Moses did and what Jesus is doing. All right, let's look at one more. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Now, I like the New American Standards translation of this better than others. This is the New American Standard version. So let's see what it says here about Moses. Verse 23. Chapter 11 is a list of the great men and women of faith of the Old Testament. Verse 23. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith Moses, Notice the emphasis on all these men and women. It's faith, faith, faith, faith. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Did you know Moses was a Christian? Did you know Moses would rather endure ill treatment and give up all the wealth and prestige of being raised in the house of Pharaoh He would rather give up all those for the sake of Christ. And it says Christ. Verse 26, if you see in your margin, the word Christ means Messiah. So why did Moses do the things that he did? Because he was trying to make points with God. Because he was trying to merit salvation. You have all these little laws and sanctions and all these things that he gave, and you have to obey all these laws in order to be saved, and that's what he was living for, to impress God with how good he was. He was willing to give it all up. You remember the story. We'll get back to it another day. You remember Pharaoh wanted to kill all the little boys babies, Hebrew babies. They were getting too numerous. And this Pharaoh during Moses' day wasn't the same Pharaoh under Joseph's day. This was a Pharaoh who didn't know about Joseph. He couldn't stand the Hebrews. And so he persecuted them. treated them as slaves. And the Hebrew people themselves weren't being faithful. There was an Egyptian policeman beating up on a Hebrew, and Moses comes and defends the Hebrew. And the Hebrews didn't like it, that he was trying to assert some kind of authority on the rest of the Hebrews. It says here in Hebrews 11 that Moses defended the Hebrew from the policemen by beating up the policemen by faith. It was an act of faith. And even the Hebrew people of that day were not prepared to receive his leadership. So he goes off into exile for 40 years. And they have to keep in slavery for 40 more years. But the point I want you to see is, Moses was a Christian. Moses loved Christ. Moses was willing to give up anything and everything for the sake of Christ. Doesn't sound like a legalist to me, does it to you? Doesn't sound to me like somebody who loves law more than he loves Christ. So, we can spend the rest of the time going through the books of the New Testament showing you the relationship of Jesus and, oh, let me look one more. Turn to Revelation chapter, I think I got it right, chapter seven. Revelation chapter seven, I think and I hope. If it's not that, I promise you it's in here. They talk about a song. It's not in that chapter. But in the book of Revelation, it says that the people of God in heaven sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. One song two themes, Moses and Jesus. It wasn't that they sang a song about Moses and then sang a song about Jesus. There was no conflict in their mind about singing about Moses and about Jesus. Let me look one place and see if it's in Deuteronomy 5. Okay. All right, so there it is, Moses and Jesus. Now what I want us to do the rest of the time today is just introduce the book of Exodus. And the first thing I want to point out, so turn to the first chapter. The first thing I want to point out is we've been studying Genesis. And we've been studying the covenant, the Abrahamic covenant. over and over and over, almost in every chapter. It talks about this covenant that God made with Abraham and it talks about the promises that God made to Abraham and to his descendants. And now we're coming along in the book of Exodus and we're going to study about another covenant. We're going to study about the covenant of Moses, covenant with Moses. Mosaic covenant. Now you have people today, Presbyterians too, who believe that there are two entirely different covenants. That the covenant God made with Abraham is a covenant of faith and grace, and you're saved by faith alone. And the covenant that God made with Moses was one based on law. And so it's not by faith, it's by law. So what we do is we overlook, jump over the head of Moses, and get back to Abraham. That's what the Book of Romans is all about, they say. I'm being sarcastic. They say that the Book of Romans gets us back to the covenant of faith with Abraham and jumps over the head of the covenant with Moses because it was a covenant by law, a covenant of merit, two entirely different covenants. I'm going to disprove that in one word. I'm going to show you in one word that the covenant with Moses is just simply the outgrowth and development of the covenant God made with Abraham. It's not two different covenants. The covenant that we're going to read about in Moses is simply the development and outgrowth of the covenant God made with Abraham. I'm going to prove it with one word. Turn to Exodus chapter one. What do you think the one word is in verse one? By the way, it doesn't say now in Hebrew. The first word of the book of Exodus refused that view. Because the first verse of the book of Exodus begins with the word and. Not but, not a contrast, but and. That here the book of Genesis written by Moses was all about this covenant of grace and now we're going to talk about the outgrowth of that covenant. No conflict whatsoever. And notice the words, and we'll talk more about these next week. Verse 1, And these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob. They came, each one of them, with his household, and they name all the people that were descendants of Jacob. Same people that the book of Genesis is about, the book of Exodus is about. The same God that Genesis is about, the book of Exodus is about. So scratch out that word now and put and, we're just going on now and developing what we learned in the first chapter of Genesis. These are called the books of Moses. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Those five books are the foundation of Christianity. Without those five books, our building has no basis. It has no foundation. Without those five stones, our house is built on sand. Those five books are the foundation of everything we know as Christians. They are the foundation of the gospel. They are the foundation of Christian ethics. They are the foundation of everything else we believe in the Christian faith. And if you reject those five books, you have a house made of sand. Now let's see if we can define what each one of these books is about with one word for each book. We studied the book of Genesis for a long time. What is one word that you think would catch the gist of what Genesis is all about? Covenant. That the whole book of Genesis is about this bond of friendship that God has established in Christ with his people by grace. In that covenant, God and His people enjoy a communion of life together, and God gives them a sovereignly dictated order of life to show the world how the people of God are supposed to live. Everything in the book of Genesis is explaining this covenant. And you know, Presbyterian Calvinistic theology is called covenant theology. That's one of the main distinctives of Calvinism. It's covenant theology. It's not based on individualism. It's based upon a covenant bond that God made with his people. All right, the second word, second book is Exodus. What do you think is a word that would catch the gist of the book of Exodus? You're right. Redemption. The book of Exodus is about the redemption that has the basis of this covenant with God. That covenant of people must be redeemed people. And only God can redeem people. That is, buy them out of the slavery of sin, buy them out of the slavery of death, and make them new creatures in Christ. You see it all worked out in the Exodus where the people of God were redeemed from Egypt by the mighty hand of God. Now let me give you another verse. I'm trying to think about who said this. I wish I did. I wish I could take credit for this. It's a great statement. Which came first, and this also disproves everybody that believes that Moses and Abraham had two different covenants, and the covenant with Moses was based on law and merit, and the covenant with Abraham was based on grace. Which came first? Israel's receiving the law at Mount Sinai, or Israel's crossing the Red Sea? Simple question. Everybody knows about those two things. Which came first? Did the children of Israel cross the Red Sea first and then later God gave them a law on Mount Sinai? Or did God give the children of Israel a law on Mount Sinai and then lead them to the Red Sea? all the difference in the world. Because if God gave the law first and then led them through the Red Sea, that means salvation is by law. And the only people that are going to be redeemed are those who obey God's law and are worthy of it. They crossed the Red Sea first and then gave them the law of Mount Sinai, that means that the law of God was for redeemed people. And it's redemption that's the main thing, and law is based on redemption, not redemption on law. So that's how you refute your dispensational brothers and sisters. Which came first, the crossing of the Red Sea or the giving of the law on Mount Sinai? The giving of the law on Mount Sinai came first. We're not saved by grace. We're saved by making ourselves worthy of it. But Mount Sinai didn't come first. Miraculous crossing of the Red Sea on dry land came first. And the law was given not to redeem Israel, The law was given to a redeemed people that were already redeemed by the Exodus. So the book of Exodus is about redemption. What is Leviticus about? Leviticus is about holiness of life. Our God is a holy God. That holy God demands holiness from His people and a holiness that embraces every area of life. So the first book of the Bible, Covenant, second book of the Bible, Redemption, third book of the Bible, Leviticus on holiness. What's numbers about? Now that's not as familiar as others. The word, the book of Numbers is about inheritance. People of God taking their inheritance. And inheritance in the Old Testament was possession. You possessed an inheritance. And so the book of Numbers is on how, what God has given his people as an inheritance and how they are to take possession of it. Deuteronomy. What would you say the book of Deuteronomy is about? The book of Deuteronomy is about victory and peace. That the people of God are right on the cusp of entering the holy land, entering the land of promise, whipping all the Canaanites, building a Christian culture, and enjoying the peace of God in that land. Genesis, Covenant, Exodus, Redemption, Leviticus, Holiness of Life, Numbers, Inheritance, and Deuteronomy is victory and peace. Now, the book of Exodus is divided into three parts. First part, is chapters 1 through 18. The second part is chapters 19 through 24. The third part is chapters 25 through 40. Clearly delineated. The first 18 verses are about redemption, 18 chapters are about redemption. And the main thing you see there is the actual exodus. the plagues upon Egypt, the destruction of Egypt, the death of the firstborn, the drowning of Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea, the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea by the children of Israel led by Moses. So the first 18 chapters of the book of Exodus are about the actual redemption itself, the historical event That is at the basis of the gospel. Then you have chapters 19 through 24. And what's in chapters 19 through 24? Laws. A bunch of laws. So I would entitle the theme of the second section of Exodus as Reconstruction. The first third is on redemption. The second section is on Reconstruction and how God intends to reconstruct our lives and our culture by the Word of God, by the Spirit of God. So in that section you have all kinds of laws. You know, our enemies, both inside and outside the church, think that we're legalists. I remember when I ran for Congress, and these socialists and liberals were so afraid of They said, Mr. Moorcraft, you're just a moralist. You're just a legalist. I said, you're the legalist. I only have about 300 laws. You read the Federal Register, all the decisions made by the executive branch every year, thousands of them. Read the Congressional Record. thousands of laws by the Congress every year. Who's the legalist? You got thousands of laws and then every year you're going to make thousands a year more. I got one, I got 300. And I'm not going to make any more. We don't need any more. So who's the legalist? It's not the Christian. It's not the Christian that leaves the Bible. The legalist is the person that believes you've got to have laws after laws after laws based upon man. And then the third section of Exodus is about reconciliation. Because what you have in the third section of Exodus is the blueprints for the tabernacle. Building of the tabernacle. the description of all the various rites and rituals in the tabernacle, the description of the furniture that was in the tabernacle and the veils and the curtains, so that the last third of the book of Revelation, 25 through 40 of Exodus, is on reconciliation. We're welcomed back in God's house. The tabernacle is God's house. It's where God lives. Now, because of Jesus Christ, we're welcomed home. Three sections. I may give you a test when you walk out of here. Three sections of the book of Exodus. First section, chapters 1 through 18, redemption. Second section, 19 through 24, reconstruction or sanctification. The last section, on 25 through 40, reconciliation and the building of the tabernacle. Jesus is the tabernacle. Now, Jesus said everything in the Bible is about me. So, how do we relate Christ to the three sections of the book of Exodus? In the first section of Exodus, Christ is presented as our liberator. Just like God liberated His people through the Exodus in the Old Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ liberates His people through His own death and resurrection. And having liberated His people, now He becomes their lawgiver. One that determines how they are to live. So Christ is not only the liberator, Christ is the lawgiver. And thirdly, Christ is the tabernacle. He's where God lives on earth. Remember what it said in 1 John? And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. You know what the word dwelt is in Greek? Tabernacled. And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory cloud. So Jesus is our tabernacle. He is the place where God lives. He is the one where we enjoy fellowship with the living God. Now, does that sound like everything I've just said in the past five minutes? Does that sound like Moses is a legalist? The average person you ask, he wants a book of Exodus about, he's going to say laws. Well, when he says that, it shows me he's never read the book of Exodus. The book of Exodus is about redemption, reconstruction or sanctification, and reconciliation. The heart of the gospel. There's nothing legalistic about that. It is the truth. That's the gospel of grace. That's the gospel of Christ. So you see that what Moses wrote and preached was no different than the emphasis on grace that we read in the Lord Jesus Christ. So memorize these things. I was listening to a sermon I preached on introducing Exodus in 1987. And I'd gone through the same thing I'd gone through now, introducing the book of Exodus. I said, now we're going to see if you can remember all this. John, my son John, I mean, he melted right there. John, tell me what the book of Exodus is about. Fortunately, he was listening. So, Zeke, So you see now when we are studying the book of Exodus, we're studying the gospel. So next week we're going to look at the first chapter, the Lord willing. So you read the first chapter. It's got some great things in it. You read the first chapter and see what you can get out of it. And I'll tell you whatever I can get out of it. So understand that we're not reading this and studying this just to be a bunch of legalists. We're studying this because Jesus loved Moses. Jesus loved what Moses taught. And Jesus and Moses and Elijah and Peter and James and John overwhelmed in a glory cloud. That's how important it was to him. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for this wonderful gift of the book of Exodus. Give us minds that believe it and understand it and believe it. Help us to walk in its light. Be safe. Amen.