The biblical covenants we've been looking at, which is to say those covenants that are specifically mentioned in scripture as the relationship, the stated relationship that God has with his people, both Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants, but also to all nations and all people, can enter into his covenants by grace through faith. And so why are we doing this again? We learn about God, his wonderful perfections. We see his plan and his purposes across time. In fact, he has a purpose. He has a plan. He's not just making this up as he goes along. This is his wonderful, eternal purpose. And so we can trust in that. We can trust that not only he has purposes, but they're good purposes. And not that they're just good purposes, but he's able to do them. I mean, that's always a disconnect, right? We have good purposes. Sometimes we don't even know how to get there. And then We can't do it. We just fail, and it's a problem. But we do also commit to wholly living in this age. If God's promises are sure and faithful, then all of his promises are sure and faithful, even his promises of punishment, eternal punishment for those who disobey the gospel and won't live in a way that pleases him. And so, ultimately, we recognize that God keeps his promises. Again, if that's the only thing you get out of this study, God keeps his promises, that will last you a long time. That will enliven you, that will give you hope when things are downcast and dreary and everything has fallen apart around you. God keeps his promises. God is faithful and we can trust him. Well, just again to remind us in our study, a covenant is a declaration of commitment between unrelated parties using clear language. stating obligations and benefits sometimes within inaugural ceremony, accompanying sign, witnesses, and or self-imprecation or a curse upon ourselves. We looked at two covenants already, Noahic, the covenant that God made with Noah, the covenant that God made with Abraham, and now coming out of the Abrahamic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, and then the other ones that we'll look at in the coming weeks. But you know, there is a relationship between God's promise to Abraham and God's promise or covenant with Moses. If you were to look, for example, in Genesis 15, this is the inaugural ceremony, the inauguration of God's covenant with Moses, and he has a specific process or inaugural ceremony that he works through in that ceremony, and he mentions something. We looked at this last time, but I want to focus especially in these verses 13 and following. God said to Abram, Abraham, Abraham, same guy, know for certain that your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and mistreated for hundred years. But I will also judge the nation to whom they are enslaved, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. But then the fourth generation will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete." So that's God's promise. And you think, well, that doesn't sound very good. What do you mean enslave? 400 years, I'm going to die, and all these things are coming to pass. It's God saying, this is my purpose. This is what's going to be accomplished in and through you. temporary separation from the land. Because remember, part of the Abrahamic covenant is a land promise. God promised that land and more to the north for the nation Israel. And God says, well, for 400 years you're going to be outside of it. It's going to be OK. I'm going to bring you back and establish you in this land. Well, coming from that time, we fast forward 400 some years to Exodus chapter 2. And I'm skipping over some of these things because I know that you're somewhat familiar with these events and the narrative, the historical account. At the end of the, well toward the end of the Exodus, we're still 40 years, well 80 years from it really, but Exodus 2 and verse 23, it happened in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died and the sons of Israel sighed because of the slavery, remember God said they were going to be enslaved, and they cried out and their cry for help because of their slavery rose up to God. And notice this, verse 24. Did you hear that? Four different ways God recognizes. He heard, He remembered, He saw, He knew. especially knew these sons of Israel. And he remembered his covenant, not like he forgot it, not like he has short-term memory problems or long-term memory problems. He remembered he's about to act on it. He's about to honor his covenant that he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He heard the cry of his people, Israel being enslaved in Egypt all those many years. If you fast forward just a little bit, Exodus chapter 6, this just came back with the message of freedom, deliverance, that God was going to provide for his people. Exodus chapter 6 and verse 2, God spoke further to Moses and said to him, I am Yahweh. And I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty. Or Hebrew, you know the Hebrew name, El Shaddai. But by my name, Yahweh, I was not known to them. And I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. Furthermore, if not, excuse me, I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel because the Egyptians are holding them in slavery. And I have remembered my covenant. Verse 6, They therefore to the sons of Israel, I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their slavery. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. Then I will take you for my people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And I will give it to you for a possession. I am Yahweh. And I didn't read the next verse. Do you see that? Verse nine, so Moses spoke this to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their weakness of spirit and hard slavery. Isn't that wonderful? And that was a tremendous message that God gave to Moses. Tell them, I'm about to act. Can't you realize what hard situation we're in, this hard slavery? And besides, we have low morale, as it were, tenderness or weakness of spirit. And so they just couldn't believe. shouldn't you wanna believe Yahweh, your God, who promised these things, who's remembering his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? And so they eventually did believe it. Fast forward, and you know all these things, so I'm kind of anticipating or assuming some things. Remember in Hebrews chapter three, when the writer to the Hebrews says, who was it that died in the wilderness? Who was it? All those millions that came out of Egypt, who were the ones that died? Those who did not believe. those who did not believe God's word, those who constantly were griping and complaining against Him, looking at their circumstances more than God's promises. That's a problem, a problem for Israel. And it's not that Israel is somehow, you know, the sons of Israel are somehow different from all the rest of humanity. No, they have the same issues, same problems, same difficulties, same faults and failures as we do. It's just theirs are written down for everybody to read about. Right? Isn't that wonderful? Wouldn't you like to have your life story written out so everybody, you know, take their Sunday morning meditations on your life story. This is them, but it's really a story of us because we can see ourselves in them and then we can look to the same God who is faithful and so wonderful to answer us. Well, it came to be, and we fast forward again through all the plagues and so forth, that God brought upon Egypt, that the Israelites left Egypt and traveled across the Sinai Peninsula, or if not across, down to the southern extent of the Sinai Peninsula, down to what is called Mount Sinai, the Mountain of Sinai, or Mount Horeb, or the Mountain of God. It is often referred to as, and they came to a place that is not very comforting, not very very happy, and yet God in His mercy met them and brought His Word and brought them to the place of this covenant. God, of course, brought them out to serve Him, right? Say to Pharaoh, let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness. What is God going to do in the wilderness? What kind of service does He need? Serve in that sense is not just serve like, you know, do the dishes or something, but serve as worship and honor and praise and exalt and all these things. Serve God. And so they came to this place very foreboding place, especially when you consider all the thunder and lightnings and a lot of things that were going on. But you come to Exodus chapter 19, and if you were to really narrow down the the Mosaic Covenant, it really is, at least in its its capsule form, mentioned here in Exodus 19 through 24. Exodus 19 through 24 is really the heart of the Covenant, and even beyond that you could summarize it down into Exodus 20, the giving of the Ten Commandments, but here in chapter 19 This is the third month, right, after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, and they came into the wilderness of Sinai. And they set out, and I give some different places that they were. Now, verse three, Moses went up to God, and Yahweh called to him from the mountain, saying, thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel, and see what he says, thankfully. Verse four, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I lifted you up on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. So now then, if you will indeed listen to my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And then he goes on and says, these are the words you shall tell to the sons of Israel. And he goes on and tells them. And again, you can read the narrative more if you were to fast forward to chapter 20. God spoke all these words saying, I'm Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Why does he mention that? Because he has done great things for them. He is a faithful God. He said back to Abraham, if they were to remember what God said to Abraham, you're going to be enslaved 400 years, and then I'm going to bring you out. I'm going to bring judgment upon the nation that enslaved you, and you will come out with many possessions. And so now God says, that was me. I did that. So you honor me. And he goes on, verse 3, you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of fathers and the children and the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of Yahweh your God. In it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle or your sojourner who's waiting in your gates. For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that's in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. honor your father and mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. If you were to read forward on that, he's not just speaking that like I'm giving you a pretty mild conversation. Verse 18 says, all the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, and that wasn't computer generated. And it wasn't something of their own imagination. It wasn't a hallucination. This was a real event. God has come down, and he is magnificent in his display. And he gives them what we refer to as the 10 commandments, the 10 words mentioned in Exodus 20 and then again in Deuteronomy 5. We, if we fast forward again, Exodus 24, and we're gonna review a couple things back from chapter 19 here in just a moment, but Exodus 24 is the inauguration of the Mosaic Covenant. Remember when, a lot of times when the scripture talks about establishing, making a covenant, uses the word to cut a covenant. And we saw it back in Genesis 15, how Abram was instructed to bring various animals, cut them in half, lay them aside, and then Yahweh was the one who entered and walked between them saying, I'm the one, Obliging myself to fulfill this covenant here though. It is indicating this is both a conditional covenant There are expectations that God has put upon Israel the sons of and there are It's a bilateral thing. It's not just God declaring. It's you've got to commit to it, too. So the The inauguration of this covenant has both parties involved. So we have, let's see, chapter 24 and verse 5, we have Moses sent young men of the sons of Israel. They offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings. Moses took half of the blood, verse 6, and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. He took the blood of the covenant, read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, and wouldn't I mean, this is this is wonderful. This is great. All that Yahweh has spoken, we will do and we will be obedient. Good answer, good start, but pretty bad, under-impressive performance as we go along. And again, not finding fault with them. Would you have done any better? When we have the perfect law of God, which is wonderful, and it gives us clear instruction on what does God expect in our lives, and we say, yeah, we're gonna do that. We're not gonna do that stuff over there anymore. We're done with that. We are with you, God. We want to say that as well. But man, we need help. Man, we need grace from Him. All that Yahweh has spoken, we will do, and we will be obedient. Verse 8 says, So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which Yahweh has cut with you in accordance with all these words. So Exodus 24 speaks about that cutting of the covenant. Now, there are many aspects to this covenant, which I'm not going to review. if not the most significant aspect of the covenant is this idea that Yahweh is king. Yahweh is the king of Israel. He is the one that has brought the people out. He is the one who has committed to dwelling with his people because another aspect of the whole Mosaic Covenant is this temple or tabernacle as it started and there was eventually a temple that Deuteronomy talks about. But it was a place for God to have his physical presence among them because remember when he brought them out of the land of Egypt he appeared before them as a pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night, and that continued until When did it stop? When did it stop? You see that He is present with His people all throughout those 40 years of wilderness wandering, as we call them. His presence is there and it is seated or enthroned on the Ark of the Covenant, pictured here. How do we know what it looks like? Well, because we have a pretty good description of what it was and how it was built and its dimensions and how it was carried and even what was on top. Well, there are a lot of aspects to this, two things in particular. The Ark of the Covenant is the box itself, and then on top is the place of atonement, the cover that goes on the Ark. That is the throne of God. He has established himself as king over Israel. He has established himself as the one who is the judge, the lawgiver, and the king, Isaiah 33 verse 22 says. Now, did you notice anything about that? Yahweh is our judge, our lawgiver, and our king. Now, we have a government based on this idea, not the king part so much, but the executive branch, the judicial branch, the congressional or Congress legislative branch of our government follows after what God had described about himself through Isaiah the prophet. Yahweh is our judge, our lawgiver, our king. And if you were to put the three of the various offices in ancient Israel together, prophet, priest, and king, you'd come up with these ideas. The prophet is the one who is the lawgiver, like Moses was the lawgiver. He proclaimed the law to the people. And then we have other prophets who said, you're not doing what God said for you to do. Come back. Turn back to him. So we have the lawgivers. We have the judges who are really the priests. The priests, if you read all in the Mosaic Law, they were judging things. They were judging between clean and unclean. They were judging between pure and impure, all these different things, and teaching the gospel, teaching the gospel, teaching God's Word to the people. So they are the ones who are proclaiming these things, what is right, what is just, and so forth. And then you have the king aspect that we see in David. We'll see the Davidic covenant here shortly. But Yahweh is that king. He is the one who enforces all these things. He's the one who is the the figurehead of all these wonderful, wonderful realities. Now we see that Yahweh is king both in Isaiah's statement of verse 33, chapter 33, but also very familiar passage in Isaiah 6 when he has his vision and the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord and he says, woe is me for I'm unruined. I'm a man of unclean lips. I've lived among a people of unclean lips. Why? For my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Hos. And Hos doesn't mean, well, he's a great, you know, hospitable. No, it means he is the Lord of armies. He is the Lord of the military branch. And so he is Yahweh with, you know, enforcement abilities. He is the one who can do all these things. And so we recognize, wow, Christ, God, the Father, Yahweh is King of Israel. And one thing for you to consider, and it's not mentioned a lot in scripture, but the way that God manifested, one way that he manifested his direction upon the people of Israel, definitely through prophets and the priests and so forth, but through the, what are called the Urim and the Thummim. You know, these things, the Urim and the Thummim, these things that God used to communicate his will to his people. And we read about it in Exodus 28 and Numbers 27 and other places where God is communicating his thing, his will for his people. Now that's a key idea because it's not like God has abandoned these people to their own devices. He's not just saying, you know, I brought you out, you can do whatever you want. Now you're free, do whatever you want. He says, I'm king. I am king, and what I say goes. And when you obey my word, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bless you so much. You can read about that all throughout scripture. But Deuteronomy 28, particularly the blessings, but also in that passage, the curses that God will bring. And they're essentially, take the blessings and negate them. It's the curses that God brings upon his people. God in his enthronement, both in the tabernacle, because again, I didn't look at it, but Exodus 40 is the actual time when God comes and dwells, takes up his dwelling in that tabernacle. And it's just magnificent. And he doesn't leave. In fact, the whole idea of how do they know when to leave? move camp. It's when the cloud comes up off of the Ark of the Covenant and and then they follow God to the next place. We see that again that God is good, He is faithful. If you were to look much forward, Ezekiel. Ezekiel is prophesying at the time of the Babylonian captivity and he details marvelously but tragically the glory of God having been dwelling in that temple. Remember First Kings? I remember where it's recorded. It's like 8, 9, 10, when God himself comes and dwells in that temple that Solomon built. Well, God is there. He is there from Solomon's time through all, until you get to the last kings of Judah, and Ezekiel's prophesying, and he sees, Ezekiel's already been taken off to Babylon and is captive, but he sees in a vision the glory of God leaving the temple, leaving his throne in Jerusalem and banning them, giving them over to the destruction that Babylon will come upon, bring upon them. We see that God is faithful to his promise. Man did he bless. Oh, he blessed the people when they were obedient, but he cursed them. And one key element of the curse that God brought upon the nation Israel is bringing them out of the land, bringing them out entirely from what God had promised to give to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So we think, oh, so God is done with Israel now, right? So we can just disregard them entirely. God is not king of Israel or king of his people. Zephaniah, Zephaniah was a prophet a little bit earlier than Ezekiel, during Josiah's reign, one of the good kings of the southern kingdom. Zephaniah was prophesying to Judah during Josiah's reign, and he says in chapter 3, chapter 3, verse 14, sing for joy, O daughter of Zion, make a loud shout, O Israel, be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. Why? Because Yahweh has taken away his judgments against you. He has cleared away your enemies. Now wait a minute. This is like 630, 640 BC. Babylon hasn't even come to do anything yet. But God says, no, I've taken away your judgments. I've cleared away your enemies. The King Yahweh is in your midst. You will fear evil no more. And that day it will be said in Jerusalem, do not fear, O Zion. Do not let your hands fall limp. Yahweh your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. He will be joyful over you with gladness. He will be quiet in His love. He will rejoice over you with joyful singing." And you think, well, that sounds good. When did we ever see that in history? Has that been fulfilled? Not yet. That is the time that we look forward to when God is still King of Israel. He is the Lord. He's the Master. And He will, in that future day, be fully committed to this taking away judgments, clearing away enemies, and he will exult. Can you imagine Yahweh singing? We like to sing to him, but he's going to sing over his people and bring that deliverance. So in other words, did Israel violate the law so much that God has forsaken them? Not at all, because we look back to Exodus chapter 19. This is what I mentioned. Look back just briefly. How does God describe Israel as they would be before him? He mentions several aspects. This is Exodus 19 and verses 5 and 6. You shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. He mentions wonderful realities about this. A treasured possession, or like the King James, has a peculiar treasure. A treasure is good enough, but something that is special to God, something his favorite, you could say, that at least is very special, a special relationship that God has with his nation Israel. Now this doesn't mean they have a special relationship with God and Israel's sons and daughters of Israel, Jacob, do not need to repent and believe in Christ. No, that's not what we're talking about. They do have a special relationship, but not to assume Well, we're fine. We're fine. We got an in with God. No. I mean, really, truly, look at how Jesus interacts with his people. How does John the Baptist talk to them? Repent, you sinners, you sons of Jacob. That doesn't make you accepted before God. You've got to respond in faith. But God, declaring his people as his treasured possession, he says they are chosen by God. to receive his blessings and to be a channel for his blessings upon all the nations. God has made a unique relationship with Israel that is not, ultimately, it is not based on their performance. It is ultimately not based on their fulfilling the conditions of God, because the promise of God making blessing Israel precedes Moses. It goes back to Abraham, which is an unconditional covenant. Now we could look at some conditional parts of that, but ultimately the underlying reality is God's going to do it. He is faithful to his promises. Israel may forfeit this blessing, this privilege status for a time as they have been set aside. Romans 9, 9, 10, 11 describe that setting aside of Israel. But there's a time when Romans 9, Romans 11 again says God will save all Israel, not just save from their enemies, but save from sin, which is a key element of the new covenant that we'll look at in a few weeks. So they do have this special relationship such that Zechariah, not Zephaniah, but Zechariah, describes Israel as he who touches you, Israel, touches the apple of his eye. I mean, Israel has a tender spot of the sons and daughters of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have a special relationship with him, a treasured possession that Israel is to God. The second classification is a kingdom of priests. A kingdom of priests mentions not just the Levites and not just the sons of Aaron, but the whole nation are supposed to be priests before him. How's that supposed to be? Not like Levitical priests who are sacrificing, presenting the sacrifices at the altar in the temple or the tabernacle of the temple, but those who act as priests before God and man, and not just this nation, but other nations. Remember, part of the Abrahamic covenant is, I will bless other nations through you. This is Israel's responsibility to be a kingdom of peace mediating between God and man, particularly the non-Israelites, the Gentiles. In fact, you could describe all of human existence, well, post-Abraham, of course, as either Jewish or Gentile. If you're not Jewish, you're Gentile. And if you're not Gentile, you must be Jewish. And so we recognize that God is saving people through his nation Israel, both in their strategic location, that they were planted by God, not just in a backwater place, now some places you might consider backwater, but they were on, you know, in our perspective, I-75, right on the corridor, major north-south traffic, if you're a little bit farther north, east-west traffic as well. It's just, wow, they were right on the place, because it combines the continents of Africa to the south, Asia to the east, and Europe to the north and west. So much so that so many people have described this place, Israel, Canaan, as the land between, the land between all these different places. So you have nations and military and kings that are parading through this small little region so much. You have the Arabian Desert, which is unsafe for travel. Don't go through there. Or the Mediterranean Sea, which in our perspective, oh, we can manage that sea, no problem. But in the ancient world, It's a barrier. The desert is a barrier. The Great Sea is a barrier. And so the land traffic was really funneled down into that narrow corridor. And even within this corridor, you really only have two major routes, north-south around Canaan. And so Israel was very strategically placed by God to be his witnesses. And Christ himself, remember when Christ was born in Bethlehem, then settled back in Nazareth. Nazareth is rather backwater. You really have to want to go there to get there. Versus when he moved his ministry and his family over to Capernaum. Well, what's the big deal with Capernaum? Capernaum is on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee and is right on the international route. Everybody's gonna come through Capernaum. So how do people know, how do people hear about this Jesus of Nazareth? Because he moved to Metropolitan Capernaum, right on the main road. And so news of him traveled a lot, and that's exactly what God wanted for Israel to be a kingdom of priests, so that his truth, his character, his perfections, his promises would be taken forward to so many different nations. God made them to be a missionary nation to the Gentiles, teaching his word, testifying of God's wonderful work. Also, they were to be a holy nation. So if you were to consider my treasured possession is Israel's relationship with God, kingdom of priests as a relationship that they have with other people, a holy nation is what they are in themselves, what makes this all possible. You've got to be holy. You've got to be holy as I am holy. In fact, Leviticus 19 verse 2 says, God says to Moses, you speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, you shall be holy for I, Yahweh your God, am holy. You want to have a relationship with me? You want me to come and dwell in your midst? I can't dwell with defiled people, those who bring wickedness. wrenches your heart to read Ezekiel 9 through 11, and what God was living with in Jerusalem. And you think, well, that was horrible. What does God live with with you? What do you bring? What do you bring into the relationship? He says, God, you know, I have this, I have that, it's my filth, but you put up with it. You're a gracious God. He says, I'm gonna take that and Get rid of it. I'm gonna discipline you. I'm gonna make you holy in your affections, in your words, in your actions, decisions, relationships, all these things. God wants us to be holy. And other aspects of this. Peter mentions that in 1 Peter 2. Moving forward here, we recognize a question. Hey, some people do it. I'm gonna skip over this or mention it briefly. Is there just one law or three? Oftentimes people, identify a ceremonial aspect of the Mosaic Covenant, a moral aspect, and a civil or social aspect. That, you know, all the sacrifices and stuff, you know, that's part of the Covenant, but not the whole thing. Or there's the moral aspects, the Ten Commandments, for example. Or there's the social, civil, you know, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, property, you know. Are those different aspects? I would say, no. It's one law. It's one law that God has given to his people, and therefore it is one law that can be fulfilled and it can be terminated, not just in parts. For example, it's not just the ceremonial part of God's covenant with Moses that has been terminated or nullified. It is the whole aspect. You remember James 2, verse 10? If you stumble in just one point of the law, you're guilty of the whole thing. Well, I thought, but it was just a property dispute between people. No, you violated the whole covenant, but you're one thing. So you're guilty, guilty, guilty. And we need a righteousness. And so again, that's the provision of the sacrifices to the priests and all these things, not that they could ever take away, as Hebrews says, not ever take away the guilty conscience, but to lead us to the solution that God provides through Christ. Here's an idea, and we read a portion of it this morning already, Matthew chapter five. Oh, I thought the covenant was just an external, you know, rules and regulations and so forth. It never was about that. It never was about what God is requiring of us. He is after the heart of his worshipers. It's not just about external performance or relationships or do this or do that. It is about the heart. Even from the very beginning, what is referred to as the Shema, the hero Israel, the Lord our God is one. You shall love, wait a minute, you shall love Yahweh your God? With all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might? There's this idea of love. And again, there's so much you could consider. Deuteronomy 10, at the end of that chapter, brings out or amplifies. What do you mean by love? I mean, we can talk about love being whatever, but this is how God describes it. This is what characterizes or animates or gives life to the Israelites' relationship with God. Deuteronomy 10 and verse 12. So now Israel, what does Yahweh your God ask from you but to fear Yahweh your God? Notice all these commands. Fear Yahweh. Walk in all of his ways. Love him. Serve Yahweh our God, with our heart, with all your soul, keep His commandments and His statutes, which I'm commanding you to for your good." So we have this fuller expression. Oh, love is not just to have tender feelings toward God, but to fear Him. And fear doesn't mean just, you know, abject terror. There ought to be part of that because you're dealing with God. You're dealing with God who can come down and have thunder and lightning and rumbles and all this stuff at the Mount Sinai in this age, but he is fearful and yet he says, come before me, walk in my ways, serve him, keep his commandments, love him. This is what your love looks like. It's obedience. In fact, didn't Jesus say, if you love me, that's good enough. I'll take whatever you offer. No, if you love me, you will keep my commandments." And he says elsewhere, my commandments aren't burdensome. It's not like it's hard for you. It is something that is your life. And so the idea of external regulations upon us, it was never from the beginning, never God's intention for that use of the law. He says in verse 16, circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer. Be the ones who deals diligently with sin and be humble before God. Don't be obstinate, don't be rebellious against him. And he says even practically, show love for the sojourner, verse 19. Show love for the sojourner, for you who are sojourners. And what does that have to do with anything? Do you remember when Jesus was asked, what's the greatest commandment? Love God, right? And he says, I'm going to tell you the second commandment. You didn't ask me, but I'm going to tell you the second commandment. Love your neighbor. This is what God is describing right here in Deuteronomy 10. Love God and love the sojourner, love the stranger, not just your family members, easy people to love. But, well, maybe they're easy, I don't know. But the sojourner, the foreigner, you don't even know who this person is. How can we show the demonstration of our obedience to the Lord, loving Him, loving others? Well, we recognize that Israel violated this law so much, almost from the get-go. They said, oh, the Yahweh's commanded, we will do and we'll be obedient. It didn't last very long. Deuteronomy 31 describes God's expectation. They hadn't even entered the land yet. You're right, they're over on the other side of the Dead Sea, opposite Jericho, and God says in Deuteronomy 31, 19. So now write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel. Put it in their mouths, so that this song may be a witness for me against the sons of Israel. Oh, so witness in a court of law kind of thing. For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them and spurn me and break my covenant. Then it will be, when many evils and troubles have found them, that this song will answer them as a witness, which shall not be forgotten from the mouths of their seed. For I know their intent, which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore. God knows what they're going to do. He knows what we're going to do. but he is a gracious, forgiving God. I'll just mention it. You can look it up yourself. 2 Kings 22, when that King Josiah, alive during the ministry of Zephaniah, found, or his people cleaning the temple, they found the book of the law. Well, they hadn't read the scriptures in years. They didn't even know what God expected. When they read the book of the law, and they thought, we are done for. We are wicked people. God is going to bring his judgments upon us. And he did, but not in Josiah's lifetime. Because Josiah, when he heard this news of the covenant and God's righteous requirements, he repented. Ahab even repented back earlier, but Josiah repented, and God says, I'm not gonna bring judgment upon Judah in your lifetime, but in the lifetime of your couple generations after that, very soon after that. I didn't mention that the sign of the covenant is the Sabbath day, which is a key idea to that whole thing, because when we get to this idea, when we refer to the Old Testament as a shadow, you know, the shadow is the Old Testament. Well, Really, there are only two places, well three, I guess, three places where that word shadow is used to describe the Old Testament. And it's in Colossians chapter two, here, two and verse 16. Therefore no one is to judge you in your food or drink, respect to a festival or new moon or Sabbath day, things which are only a shadow of what's to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. This is the reality of what the substance is, or excuse me, the shadow is, it refers specifically to the Mosaic Covenant. It's not all the Old Testament are shadows. It's the Mosaic Covenant is the shadow. In the substance is Christ himself. In fact, if you were to look at a shadow, maybe not today because it's kind of cloudy, but if you were on a bright sunny day, you look at a shadow and you follow, where does that shadow lead? leads you back to the substance. It doesn't lead you somewhere else. It leads you back to what is casting that shadow. Or what is that shadow supposed to represent or communicate in this life? It's Christ himself, right? Christ is the substance. He is the one to whom we give honor and preference, and he is the one that the whole Mosaic Law should lead us to. Hebrews 8 and verse 5 and Hebrews 10 verse 1 are the other two places where this idea of shadow, and it's again relationship to the Mosaic Covenant. My point is you can't just take the whole Old Testament and say, well, it's just a shadow and a type and we can't really figure out what it's about. No, it's the Mosaic Law that is the shadow, and that shadow has its fulfillment, its realization in Christ Himself as a person, in His person and His work both in past time and present time and in future time. He is that substance because the Mosaic Covenant has been terminated, it's done for. It is called in Hebrews the first, it is called the Old Covenant, 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 14 describes it that way. Even Jesus in John 5 says to the religious leaders, you search the scriptures, again the Mosaic, Moses and the prophets, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. It's not in the scriptures you have eternal life, it's in me. These bear witness about me and you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life. In verse 45, he says, Good question. Moses prophesied of Christ, and even, remember the two guys who stood with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration? It was Elijah and some other guy. Oh, it was Moses. Moses is there talking with Jesus about the redemption, or really the exodus he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem, this wonderful salvation that God was going to do through Jesus in fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant, the Noahic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, and the others yet to come in our study anyway. Jesus is that fulfillment. One last text for us and we'll be done. Romans chapter 10 really answers this excellent perspective. Okay, the heart of the law should lead us to Christ. It should show us our sinfulness. It should teach us that God does expect holiness in our lives. Well, what's the problem with Israel? What's the deal with them? Why aren't they Why aren't they walking worthy of the Lord? Because they fell into the trap that all of us would fall into, that somehow, by our own effort, by our own performance, that we could earn, justify, or even keep our justification before God. So Paul in Romans 10 says, brothers, my heart's desire, my prayer to God for them, he's talking about the nation Israel, is for their salvation. And you think, well, I thought they already had a special relationship. My treasure is not unto salvation. It is unto the blessing that God provided to them and obedience and blessings to the nations. Verse 2 says, I testify about them. They do have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For not knowing about the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. We have a righteousness granted to us by grace through faith, having a zeal and a passion, all the law keeping that people can do and have done, and even adding to the law. That's not where righteousness comes. Righteousness comes for those, to those who believe. And so that idea of faith is so central. Why didn't God say that? He said fear and love and keep and all these things. Why didn't He say to believe? Because He did say to believe in them, right? Where we are commanded as Abraham, believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. That idea of faith we want to respond to. Galatians 3 is another text you could look at. Again, the contrast between the law and obedience in that regard versus the faith that we have in Christ that leads to obedience. Not like, oh, we're saved, we can do whatever we want. No. Just like Israel was saved, now come and do my word, do my will. We are saved, now we are able for the first time in our lives, really, Romans 8 says, to please God, to do what honors him and bears fruit for him. The gospel is what leads us to salvation, it leads us to salvation in Christ. He is the one who is both the the savior of our sin who suffered on the cross, who bore our sin in his body on that cursed tree, and he is the light of the world. He is that one who is promised to bring all the shadows of the old covenant to fruition in himself and righteousness granted to us not on the basis of bulls and goats and gold and silver and the priestly whatevers, but through Christ himself who is our salvation. So at this Christmas time we want to honor Christ who is God's faithful messenger, his faithful servant, The One who has purchased salvation for us to rejoice in Him, to believe in Him, and to live to honor Him. Our Father in Heaven, we're so grateful for the gift of your life, the life of your Son, and the promises that you are fulfilling, have fulfilled, and will fulfill in and through Him. We pray that each soul here will be resting wholly in Christ, a righteousness that comes not by our works, not by our performance, not by our relationships, but through Christ alone, through faith in Him, turning from our sin, turning to Christ in humility and grace. We're so grateful for the promise that you have made, and we pray that you would come and bring salvation to your people Israel. There's still descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob around who have not bowed the knee to you. We pray that that day would be soon. We pray that you'd come to your people and bring salvation. I pray in Christ's name, Amen.