If you'll please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20, we'll be looking at verses 1 and 2 this evening. Exodus chapter 20, beginning in verse 1 and reading through verse 2. Reminder that this is God's holy and inspired word, which we now gave our attention to. 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 slavery." This is God's Holy Word, His prayer. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would be with us this evening, that your Spirit would teach us from your Word, that we might have open ears and hearts and eyes, that we might behold you, that we might behold your Word and have understanding, that you would use it to build us up in our lives. that draws closer to your soul. We pray this in the name of our great Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. This week we enter into Exodus chapter 20, which of course is very famously the Ten Commandments. So tonight is the beginning of our series on the Ten Commandments, but we're not dealing properly with the commandment this evening. We're dealing only with this first preface, this introduction to this whole chapter. Now, of course, preaching through the Ten Commandments is a daunting task. How does one preach the gospel well, while also literally preaching through the law? These are two things that we often hear spoken of with a strong contrast, and so it's an important task. How do you faithfully proclaim the Word of God, the Ten Commandments, which are important, which are binding, and we'll talk a little bit about that this evening. Also not doing it in such a way that destroys the faith of the believer, but builds it up, rather, and helps us to enjoy and know our God better. I think part of the best way to do that is, of course, these two verses at the beginning of this chapter really help to set the context, along with chapter 19. They help us to see what is the proper place of the Ten Commandments in the life of the Christian. There is an important reason that these verses preface the giving of the Law. The Ten Commandments are not given to us in order for us to earn our salvation. The Ten Commandments are not given as a covenant of works in which our salvation is dependent on how well we obey God. And that's true for Israel here in Exodus 20. We saw that already in the beginning of chapter 19, where God has already delivered them out of Egypt, and He has borne them on eagles' wings and brought them to Himself, and then it's within that context that then the Law is given. And we see that even in our passage for this evening. The passage does not say, if you keep these commandments, then you will become my people, then I will deliver you out of Egypt, then I will deliver you out of bondage. The passage starts, no, I'm the Lord your God who has done all these things for you. I've redeemed you, I've saved you. Therefore, this is how you're supposed to live. This is true for Israel back here in Exodus 20, and it's the same today. It's important to recognize the Ten Commandments are binding on all people at all times. What we have here, these Ten Commandments, are a summary of God's law for all people. They bind us today, but obeying them does not save us in the end. Now just because they don't save us doesn't mean they don't have use. I want to touch on that briefly just as, again, a way of introducing this topic of the Commandments in general. And I would direct your attention as well, our catechisms of the Church, the Larger Catechism and the Westminster Shorter Catechism, have very helpful questions and answers dealing with the topic of the law. And I would especially direct your attention to the Larger Catechism. I want to reference three questions in particular, 95 through 97. But there's a very extensive system there, before it gets into the specifics of going through all the Ten Commandments, that talks about how we are to understand the commandments, the uses of the commandments. They have a whole section on just a preface to the Ten Commandments as well. And questions and answers 95 through 97, part of what makes them so helpful is their summaries of the uses of the law. What's the use of these 10 commandments? And then question 95 deals with the general use. What's the purpose, the use of the law to all people in the world? And part of what the law does is it reveals God's holy nature and it reveals his will. God is God, it reveals who he is, that's part of what the law does. And the law also reveals God's will. And in doing that, for all people, as they recognize God's nature and His will through the Law, it helps to reveal their sin, their need for Jesus Christ. Question 96 speaks particularly to the use of the Law for unregenerate people, those who are not Christians. Is the Law useful for them? I've said it's binding on them. But what's the use of it for them? The use of it, of course, is that it reveals their sin, And it drives them to either one of two things. Either it drives them to Christ, recognizing they need a Savior, and they turn to Christ. Or, if they are unrepentant, the use of the law to them is that it leaves them without excuse. They knew God's commands, they knew what was required of them, and yet they did not obey. And even, they can't say to God, well, I wasn't able to keep it, therefore you shouldn't have judged me, because they should have recognized I need a Savior. to Christ at the end. And then the final question I'm referencing, 97, it speaks of the use of the law for the believer. Part of what the law does for the believer is it helps us to see, besides the general uses, the general uses apply to all, reveals God's nature, reveals His will, things like that. But for us in particular as Christians, part of what the law does is it helps us to see what Christ has done for us. Because when we just read the Ten Commandments on our own, disconnected from everything else, we recognize pretty quickly we're in trouble. We've not done all these things. And the law condemns. The law not only doesn't tell you what's required, but what the law does is it condemns us for not having obeyed it. But as Christians, when we read the law, we recognize Christ has saved us from that He has kept the law perfectly on our behalf. He did not break a single one of these commandments. So we see what Christ has done for us, and the law then motivates us to a thankful obedience. The law does reveal God's will. We talked about this when we were dealing with some of those messages in John 14, when Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Part of how we express our love and thanksgiving and praise to God is through striving to obey Him, to follow Him, to be like Him. And so I say all those things just by way of introduction. We'll pick up some other things as well as we go through the various commandments. But the Ten Commandments are good. They reveal God to us. They reveal His will. And even though we are sinners, as we walk through these commandments, I don't want us to walk through them And at the end of the day, constantly be coming back to we're not good enough. Of course we're not good enough. That's why we have Jesus. He's the one who has saved us and motivates us to be able to keep these commandments well. So tonight we're considering the preface to the Ten Commandments and how this sets up the whole context for all the commandments that follow. And we see here in this preface three things I want to focus on. in many ways, motivations for our obedience. We see here, especially in verse 2, God says, I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. The first motivation we have for obedience here, coming here from the preface, is we obey, or are called to obey, because God is the Lord. God is the Lord. You may notice here in your Bibles that the word Lord in verse 2 is in all capital letters. And the significance of that, just in case you don't know, is that in our English Bibles, where the Lord is in all uppercase letters, that's our way of demonstrating in English that this is God's special name, what we may sometimes refer to as Yahweh, taken from Exodus 3. This is where God says, I am who I am. And so, one of the ways we demonstrate that in English, the Lord is a fine term to use there. I won't get into all the history for that. But we differentiate the regular word Lord and the special name of God, translated as Lord, with the all capital letters. Part of the significance of this is that the name, this name of Yahweh, I Am Who I Am, reveals who God is. Specifically, some of the things that He reveals to us is His all sufficiency in his self-existence." He explained what this means. This is the idea that God is above everything. He is the Creator. He is the Lord. He is the Sovereign. He is not dependent on anything else. He does not need anything or anyone. He exists completely and totally in and of himself because he is life and being himself. This is very different from us. We have a beginning. We will die one day. We are dependent on food and other people for our own survival. We are very, very dependent creatures. One of the clearest examples of course is a child. A child can't do anything themselves, and when we grow up we start to think that we're a little bit more independent, but the reality is that's not the case. We always will be, just because of our nature as creatures, dependent on other things around us, and ultimately we're dependent on God himself. But God is not like that. He does not need food, he does not have a beginning, he's not dependent on any thing or anyone else out there, He is life and being in and of Himself. And part of the significance of that is that He has established the way things are and the way that things should be. All creation has its life from Him. This is what Hawkins say in Acts, in Him we live and move and have our being. Everything that exists is completely dependent on God for its existence. And so God has created this world. He has established the way things are, and the way things are supposed to be. The commandments, then, are a, they're not creating the way things are. They are telling us the way things are. They are telling us, they are revealing to us the way things are supposed to be. God is revealing truths of what is right and wrong. And these are not up for debate. We don't get to argue with God about, you know, this commandment over here, I'm not quite sure that's really the best way for us to live. Because what can the, I mean, to borrow Paul from Romans 9, what can the pot say to the potter? Why have you made me this way? The potter is the one who's in charge. He makes things the way they are, and that's the way it is. You don't get to disagree with him. And that's the same way with God. God is the Lord. He has created everything. He has created the way things are, the way they're supposed to be. He's this sovereign Creator, glorious, far above us. And our job as creatures is to submit to Him, to bow to Him in obedience. This is part of why the Ten Commandments are binding on all people, because the Ten Commandments are revealing God's nature and will for everything in creation. And there's no creature who can say, I'm not dependent on God. They can't say, God is not the sovereign over me. They can't say, God is not my Lord. No, He has been from the very beginning. We are all, every person, believer and unbeliever, is dependent on God and owes Him complete and total obedience. He is the King of the world. No subject in a kingdom gets to say, I don't want to do what you say, and so I disavow you as my king." No, a king is the king, and he tells the subjects the way things are. Thomas Boston has a quote that I like, describing this greatness of God, and also describing the monstrosity of our rebellion, that we would think that the sovereign Lord of the universe would say things about the way things are supposed to be, and we would talk back. we would rebel against him in sin. And he describes this monstrosity of our rebellion as worse, quote, that if a glowworm should contend with the sun in its meridian brightness. A glowworm, this crawly little creature in the dust of the earth, trying to talk back to the God and say, it is greater than the sun. It's nonsense, and yet that's what we do with God. But God is the Lord. God is the Lord, the God of the whole universe. And so as he reveals these commandments, he is revealing his will, he is revealing his character, he is revealing this is how, as humans, we are supposed to be. One thing to remember about the Ten Commandments, this is going back to what our original life was supposed to look like. The Ten Commandments would be no problem if sin never entered the world. We would keep them perfectly. These commandments would describe our lives. Lives of faithfulness, of loving God and loving our neighbor, all those things. It's only because of sin that the commandments then become a problem. The commandments come from the Lord, the God of the whole universe, and so we are bound to keep His law. Second point then, is that we obey because God is our God. I am the Lord your God, he says here. So you have first generally this relationship of God over all things, and so all are bound to obey him. But here he then references his personal relationship with his people. In fact, as Christians, we should take the law very seriously because God has a special claim in us in a couple ways. We'll talk about the next one later. But he has a special claim on us in our obedience. God's law is binding on all people because of the nature of who he is. He is God, what he says goes. But it is especially binding on his people because of the personal relationship that exists between Him and us. Israel just doesn't obey because He is the Creator. They are called to obey because He is their God in particular, and because they are His people. They don't belong to someone else. They don't belong to any other God out there, of course, there is no other God, but there's no other authority that has a claim on them, but they have a particular relationship I think a helpful illustration, again, to use the idea of a king, all children in a kingdom owe obedience to the king. Right? All children owe obedience to the king. But the son of the king especially owes obedience because of the nature of the relationship. All children owe obedience to the king because the king is the king. But not all children are the son of the king in particular. And so there's an extra motivation and reason for why the son is supposed to obey, and why it's especially grievous if the son of the king is rebellious and does not live well. In fact, we can see that talked about in the New Testament, because this, again, this claim is on us as well. We are the children of God. We are adopted as His sons and daughters. And one of the things the New Testament talks about is, again, not to earn God's favor, but the world blasphemes God when they see His children living lawless lives. It brings disgrace to His name. And so He's reminding Israel here, I'm not just the Lord, a far-off, distant God over all the world. I am your God. I belong to you. You belong to me. There's a special relationship that exists here. And this relationship is established by the covenants. God has made a covenant. He has made promises to His people to care for them, to save them, to bless them, and all these things, and in response, the people are called to follow Him. Well, this is true of Israel, and it's true of us. As Christians, God has placed His name on us, through baptism, in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So we are all members of the covenant of grace, the covenant of salvation, that we belong to God, He belongs to us. And so we are specially called to live as God's people. To not live as the world lives, but we are being renewed, we are being redeemed, we are now a new creation, as Paul said. And so this covenant, this relationship that God has with us is a calling on us to live a different life. A life powered by the Holy Spirit. We never live our own. Remember, we're dependent. We're dependent creatures. It's true in nature, and it's true in redemption. Through Christ, we are now made able to live godly lives. Not perfect lives, but godly lives. And since God has placed His name on us, we have a responsibility, we have a calling to be faithful in following after Him. And the law shows us what we are supposed to be. All the corruptions of sin, we still have remnants of that that are trying to pull us away. But as we look at the law, again, we don't look for the law to justify it. But the law reveals to us who we are supposed to be in the end. In a sense, this is becoming more of like what we were originally created to be. God created us to be perfect, in that we've fallen because of sin, and now, through Christ, we are becoming more like what we were supposed to be. And that brings me to the third point that we see here in the preface. We obey because God has redeemed us. I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." Because of this special relationship that God has with his people, God delivered them out of Egypt. God had promised Abraham years ago that they were going to be slaves for a while, and he was going to bring them out, and he made all these promises, and here he is fulfilling those promises. He redeemed them, he saved them. and therefore they're supposed to live a certain way. Of course, through our series through Exodus, we've talked about this many times, that that work of bringing Israel out of Egypt is a picture of the work that Jesus Christ has done for us. He has brought us out of the bondage and slavery of sin. He has delivered us from the power of satan, just like he delivered Israel from the power of Pharaoh. And as we read from Hebrews earlier, what a great And because of that salvation, because God has redeemed us, because God, through Christ, shed his blood and bought us, we are called to follow him and to obey him. Various cultures and literature, you may be familiar with the idea of a life debt or a life oath or something like that. The idea being that you're in a bad situation, and someone comes along and saves you from death. And at that point, you owe the entirety of your life to them, and you pledge yourself to their service and to help them, because you would have been dead otherwise, except the fact that they saved you. It's kind of the idea we have. We deserve condemnation and destruction, and Christ came and saved us, and we now owe everything to Him. We owe everything to Him, and so because of His salvation, we are called to obey. Notice again the order. This is important. Salvation comes before the giving of the law. God saves them, and then He takes them to sin. This is part of the use of the commandment for us as Christians. We don't earn our salvation through obedience, but we obey because we can save. Charles Boston, again, very strongly emphasizes this order. He says, quote, the true way to attain to the obedience of these commandments is first to believe that God is our God in Christ, and then to set about the performance of them. First to believe, then to do. Of course, the problem is sometimes we end up trying to go the opposite direction, and he says, well, that's the wrong way to do it. That's entirely contrary to what God says. But believing strengthens us and enables us to obey. Through faith we are able to follow after Christ. It's important to recognize here that though the law is not of faith, as Paul says in Galatians, the way of salvation of obedience is completely opposite of the way of salvation through faith. The law is not contrary to faith. But rather, as we believe and trust in God, that's how we are able to follow after God. So as we go through this series through the Ten Commandments, as we think about the Ten Commandments, I don't want us, at the end of the day, to all be depressed because of how sinful we are. Now, we are going to be convicted because we are sinful, and that's part of the use of the law. If we're not convicted by the end of this series, there probably is a little bit of a problem. But the goal is not for us to just wallow in conviction by the end. The goal for us is that, in our conviction, we go to Christ, We recognize what He has done for us. We believe and we trust in Him. And then, free from the condemnation of the law, free from the guilt of the law, we turn back to it and say, how do I follow God better? How do I grow as a Christian? We believe and we trust in Christ, and then we seek to obey and respond. And again, not in our own strength, but in the strength that Christ gives us as He is renewing us. The old man is being killed every day, and we are being renewed in the new man, after the image of God, to grow in our beings. Let us not end in despair, but through faith in Christ, let us approach the Lord as what we have been saved from, and as what we are now growing in, to follow after I have a father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you have revealed yourself to us, that you've revealed your will for us through these commandments. We ask that you would bless us as we study your word, that we would grow in our faith, that we would find comfort in the work of Christ, and that you might help us to grow as Christians, that we would not bring shame to your name, but that the world would see us and give glory to you, our Father in heaven. We pray this in Jesus' name.