Well, please open your Bibles now to Exodus 34. Believe it or not, we just have a few more sermons left in this book. I think at my last count, we're somewhere around 80. We will finish before fall. Exodus 34, let's stand and we will read verses 10 through 28. Stand in honor of God's word. Exodus 34. verses 10 through 28. This is the Lord now speaking to Moses. Remember, he is hearing about the covenant that is going to be renewed. He's on the mountain, and here is what the Lord says to him. Behold, I am making a covenant before all your people, I will do marvels such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Take care lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their ashram. For you shall worship no other God. For the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God. lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice and you take of their daughters for your sons and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods. You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal. You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread as I commanded you at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. All that opened the womb are mine. All your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep, the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it, you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem and none shall appear before me empty-handed. For six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. You shall observe the feast of weeks, the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. Three times in the year shall your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders. No one shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year. You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the feast of Passover remain until the morning. The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.' And the Lord said to Moses, write these words, for in accordance with these words, I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. So he was there with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets, the words of the covenant, the 10 commandments, the grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Please be seated. There was an outline out there, I hope, with the bulletins. Did you all see them? Good. All right. Just checking. I actually had a hard time deciding on a title for this sermon. Originally, I was thinking one covenant to rule them all, but that is such an obvious reference to Lord of the Rings. And of course, the ring is evil and the covenant is not. So that didn't work. So I went with the covenant renewed. And this is what one commentary on my shelf says about Exodus 34. Exodus 34 is rather puzzling, end of quote. That's how it started. And I thought, well, good, it's not just me. This is actually a pretty tricky section of scripture. You say, well, how so? It seems pretty straightforward. Well, let me give you some ideas and you can join me in the beginning of confusion and hopefully the clarity of God's word as we go. You notice when we read those verses that it repeats some of the laws that we have already discussed in detail. So I don't intend to retread that tire again. But the question is, why does God pull out of Exodus 20, 21, 22 and 23? Why does he pull out some of those laws and then reiterate them here? What was it about these laws that caused the Lord to renew the covenant in this way? And then in verse 27, God says, in accordance with these words, I have made a covenant with you. Now, what words is he speaking of there? Well, we can assume the words that he just spoke to them, right? Verses 11 through 26, all of these miscellaneous laws that we have already looked at. Well, if that's the case, then what do we do with verse 28? which ends with the saying, and he wrote, that's God, he wrote on the tablets, the words of the covenant. And then we would expect what would follow would be those words that were just referenced. But he says, no, the words of the covenant are the 10 commandments. And then to add a final layer onto that, why if the covenant is the 10 commandments, did God only reference three of them? What is happening here? What's going on? What is God doing in these things? And so we're going to look at this text in a little different way. We're going to ask some questions and then answer them. We are going to look at what is God renewing with Israel? And we know it's the covenant. And what I'm going to suggest and argue for that God is renewing the entire covenant. He's renewing the whole thing with Israel. And then secondly, as we go through this, we will answer the question, why these laws, as opposed to the many others that he left out. And then thirdly, we'll make some observations about the law and the covenant and the way that it applies to us today. So that's the roadmap that we're going to be using. So what you're going to need is your Bible open and your outline in your other hand or by your side. And so let's, let's begin then with the 10 commandments or what we have here is three of the 10. We notice that Exodus 20 verse 3 gives us the first commandment, and God told Israel to have no other gods before him. And that is picked up in our passage, chapter 34 verse 14, and you find the corresponding command, for you shall worship no other god. Now, there's some slight variation here, but it's clearly the same commandment. have no other gods before the Lord, then you will be worshiping no other gods before the Lord. Everyone agrees that this is a reiteration of the first commandment. What was the second commandment that God originally gave to Israel? You shall not make for yourself a carved image. And in the renewal of the covenant in Exodus 34, 17, it says, you shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal. Now you can hang on to that for just a moment because cast metal was an interesting translational decision on the ESV part of things. That is the same word translated golden. Guess where? Chapter 32, right? The golden calf. So I don't know why they translate it, calf's metal here, when it's golden calf there, but you get the idea. And then the fourth commandment. The fourth commandment sets down the following principle. You work six days, you don't work the seventh. You take a break, right? And that is renewed in verse 21 of our passage. Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. So as the covenant is renewed, these three things are singled out as summaries, if you will, of the 10 words that God gave to Israel. And you would ask, well, why does God pick out these three things rather than something from the other seven commandments? And the answer is actually pretty intelligible. What had Israel just accomplished in the first 40 days that Moses was away from them. They had accomplished full-scale apostasy. They were worshiping other gods. They made an image of those gods and they bowed to that image. And the fourth commandment is a little bit harder to understand here, but clearly there was not going to be any rest for Israel if they place themselves under the bondage of these false gods. And there would be no going to the promised land, a place that is characterized as a place of rest and enjoyment for the people of God. So it really does make sense that God would pull these three commandments out of the ten. and reiterate Israel's covenant responsibility. Now, of course, that is not to say that it is just three words in the covenant, three of the Ten Commandments that are required of Israel, because as we see, verses 27 and 28 state very plainly that God is writing the covenant and the covenant is the Ten Commandments. It's to be placed in the ark. So God is reaffirming Israel's duty, not to just keep the three, but the 10, but he's singling out the three because of the disaster of the golden calf. Now it's at just this point where we run into some difficulty. It was one that we didn't bring up when we looked at the 10 commandments the first time. And that is this. If God is renewing the covenant, and as verse 28 says, the essence of the covenant is the Ten Commandments. And number two, if the believer is no longer in this covenant because it is the old covenant, it's the Mosaic covenant, then the question naturally arises. What do these commandments have to do with us today? How how do we look at them? Are we to keep these laws that God gives exclusively or so it would seem to Israel in the Mosaic Covenant, when clearly Paul says things like. You're not in that covenant. You don't belong to that covenant. You belong to the covenant with Abraham, not with Moses. Paul will say repeatedly, you are not under the law. Just think of Galatians 5.18. So what do we make of this? And here are the three questions and the answers. I'll give them to you rapidly. Are the 10 commandments shorthand for the covenant with Israel? Yes. Are we in the Mosaic covenant? Everybody? No. Third question. Are the 10 commandments binding upon the Christian? Yes. You say, wait, come again. The 10 commandments are what appear to be the substance of the covenant. And we're not in that covenant, but you're telling me that I still have to obey the laws of that covenant. And the answer is yes. For centuries, our Reformed theologians have taught and have believed that the Ten Commandments are the embodiment, and we've said this before, they are the embodiment of the moral law of God. That means as a moral law, it is binding upon everyone in every place for every time. You say even for the pagans and the Gentiles who did not know God? Yes, even for them. I found it interesting this week as you look at what God says in that first bit about being careful not to enter into a covenant with these people because they'll entice you to go after their gods. Notice how it describes going after their gods as whoring after their gods. or as committing adultery, being unfaithful. That's what whoring means. Who are they being unfaithful to? God. It wasn't that God set up this law and said only Israel is to keep the first table of the law. No, both our duties toward God and our duties toward one another, they are all part of the moral law that binds everyone together. You say, well, that's interesting. How do you know that? Well, we know this because we look what comes before the giving of the law and what comes after the giving of the law, and we notice that the law is found in both places. So you can go back to Genesis to see that these laws were not only known, but they were felt and at times they were acted upon. when Abimelech takes Abraham's wife, whom he thought was his sister, and finds out that she's not just his sister or half-sister, but his wife, the reason why he gets so upset is because he knows that adultery is wrong. He knows that he is not to take another man's wife. How does he know that? The moral law. Think of Jacob. Jacob was a schemer and he loved to covet. He wanted his brother's birthright. He knew that that was wrong. He knew that stealing the blessing from his brother was wrong. He knew, in fact, that he had to honor his father and his mother, even though he's not living during the time of the law. And when his mom says, this is what we're going to do, we are going to deceive your father. We're going to put goatskin on you so you're hairy like your brother, and that way when your blind dad goes to fill you, he'll think you're Esau and give you the blessing. And he says, what if I am found out and it will be as if I have disgraced my father? Again, what is that? That is one of the commandments. By doing this, he was lacking trust in God. And we could also point to the honoring of God's name in the first table of the law. Was God's name to be honored only among Israel? And did it begin during the time of Israel's stay during Mount Sinai in the wilderness? Well, no. As early as Genesis four, it says that people began to call upon, guess what? The name of the Lord. To call upon the name of the Lord is not just to say the Lord's name, but it's to entreat and to entrust yourself to that one to whom that name belongs. It is to bind yourself to this God. And we know that Abraham does the same thing when he goes through the promised land. He calls upon the name of the Lord. So the specialness of God's name and the careful use of God's name was practiced before Mount Sinai. And then we could say something else. I'm using the first table of the law because that tends to be the more difficult, but even the Sabbath commandment, what is that rooted in? Creation. Where do we find creation? Not Exodus 20, but Genesis 1 and 2. Right. So so right from the very beginning, God is saying these things are not just a special thing for a special people in this special circumstance. These things are for everyone. The truth is, you can find all 10 commandments in some form or other before the giving of the law at Mount Sinai, which raises the suspicion that will probably bump into them when we get to the New Testament. And so we do. Not surprisingly, Jesus will go even deeper in the law and say, not only can you not murder, but if you hate the person in your heart, you've already murdered. Twice in his letters to the Gentile church, Paul will remind children that they are to show their love for Jesus by honoring and obeying their parents, citing the fifth commandment to honor father and mother. And I don't think that as John ends his first letter to the church, a Gentile church of all places, that you could easily detach from the second commandment, keep yourselves from idols. So you get the point here. We don't just see the 10 commandments or the moral law dropping down out of the sky onto Mount Sinai. They were there before and they were there after. They begin in Genesis and they travel all the way through into the New Testament. Now, having said that, we also want to say that there is something unique in the expression of the Ten Commandments that are given to Israel. What is the uniqueness of it? The uniqueness would be this, that while God wrote these things upon the hearts and the consciences of people everywhere, he wrote them on tablets of stone for Israel. And it's like he places it before them, reminding them. So it's not just up to them to remember, but they can see it and be reminded. These are the things that will please our God. God takes what is written on the heart and writes it on the tablets of stone. So this is why our Westminster Confession will say that this moral law that God gave to Israel at Mount Sinai, to it, he adds two other things. He adds the civil laws, which is going to regulate how Israel operates in their life and culture and in their society, and he gives the ceremonial law, which tells them how they are to worship. Those laws were called the Book of the Covenant. And so let's move to the second part of our outline. We see we've answered the question, what was God renewing? We know at the very least he's renewing the Ten Commandments. And we know that these Ten Commandments were because of Israel's sin. He labels the three that would be most relevant to that. And we know, thirdly, that we are to keep the commandments because these commandments are the moral law of God. Now, It's going to be different with the second bit. The second bit has been called the book of the covenant. That's not what commentators have come up with. That's what Moses calls it. Exodus 24, seven on your outline. Then he, that is Moses took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do, and we will be obedient. What did Moses read? He read the Book of the Covenant. What is the Book of the Covenant? The Book of the Covenant was the reading of laws about their civic life and their lives of worship. He read the whole document. And so when Israel swears to keep the covenant, they are swearing initially to keep the words that God has written on stone, the Ten Commandments, and they were swearing to keep the words that Moses had written in a second document, the words of the covenant on the civil and ceremonial laws of God. So God was renewing the book of the covenant. That's what we want to articulate. And again, the verses that we have in Exodus 34 are repetitions. They're renewals of commandments that we've already gone through. picked out a couple of them for you. Exodus 34, 11, God told Israel, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hibbites, and the Jebusites. And you notice on your outline that we have something very similar in Exodus 23, verse 28. I will send hornets before you, which will drive out the Hibbites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. Exodus 34, 12, God warns Israel against making covenants with the inhabitants of the land. That is a reiteration of the covenant that he made with them 40 days prior. Exodus 23, 32, you shall make no covenant with them and their gods. In verses 13 through 16, God gives some very specific commands to start chopping things up and knocking things down, tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim. As a side note, that word to cut down is the same word translated to make a covenant with Israel. God cuts the covenant with Israel. He says, you cut off any covenants with these people. For you shall worship no other God. Well, what is that? That's the substance of Exodus 23, 24. You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. Now I've listed the others for you, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, redeeming the firstborn, not appearing empty-handed before the Lord after redemption, forbidding work on the seventh day, the fourth commandment, the Feast of Weeks in Ingathering, males appearing before God three times a year on an annual basis, instructions about blood and leaven, the sacrifices that are offered, the first fruits, and then that commandment that left us kind of wondering, what does this mean, and I still don't know what it means, boiling a calf in its mother's milk. All of these are lifted out of those laws and reiterated here in Exodus 34. Now, as you look through that list and you think to yourself, why would God reissue the covenant using these commandments? You notice where all of these commandments are coming from. What angle and direction are they coming from? Worship. setting aside a day, setting aside times and seasons coming and bringing your sacrifices and not just any sacrifices, these sacrifices. Why would God do that? Well, again, you ask the question, what had Israel just done? Well, they not only made a golden calf, but they had a celebration, didn't they? They put a new festival on the calendar and they brought the sacrifices that they thought their new God would like. So it is not surprising at all that God would use, not the civil laws, though those are still reasserted in this renewal of the covenant, but he pulls out the ceremonial laws to say, Israel, what you did there, you cannot do when I bring you to the promised land. Right. It's a renewing of the covenant. And it's a reminder, Israel, don't do what you did before. So just like the three commandments that represent all ten. So this selection represents the entire book of the covenant. Now. Having said all that, what what does this convey to Israel? And what does it communicate to us? Because clearly the Book of the Covenant elements are not relevant to us in the same way that they were to Israel. Our Reformed forebears said, except for the general equity principle of the civil laws, that is, if it helps to maintain society and law and order, then they can be used. But these laws were uniquely for Israel. not for the church today so much. So then we have to ask the question, what is it revealing to Israel and to us about God and his nature and his character? Well, it tells us at least two things. When you read the law, it would be easy to conclude that God's primary concern is just that you be good and obey. Just follow the rules. But that's not at all correct. Yes, God wants you to obey him, but the renewal of the covenant was for loving purposes, for redemptive purposes. Despite the legal character of the relationship, this renewal teaches us that God is gracious. His graciousness has already been shown by relenting from destroying Israel. His graciousness has already been shown in that he will go with them and that he will not only go with them and lead them, but he will be in their midst and that he will take them to be his people living in the promised land. The far reaching mercy of the Lord was captured in the words of verse six and seven. He is a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. So even in this act of covenant renewal, God is being gracious to Israel. Even though it has this legal character to it, the very giving of the law comes from a heart of love and mercy towards Israel. He could have treated them like Egypt. He could have just scorched them and set plagues and ended them. He doesn't. So why the legal nature of the covenant? And friends, I would say that this covenant renewal teaches us that it's always been this way. It's always been this way. The God who gives grace, listen, demands obedience. He doesn't hope and wring his hands and beg, maybe they'll like me, or maybe I can give them some things that will help them to like me. No, the God who gives grace demands obedience. And friends, that's the gospel order. This is the gospel according to Exodus. When you look at the book in its entirety, it looks like the gospel of our salvation. How does it work? Deliverance, obedience, forgiveness when we don't obey, and God's presence with his people. That's the gospel of Exodus. That's our gospel. Israel was in bondage. So were we. Because of God's great love, he rescues. He gave them his law so that they could show him their gratitude. So we have the commands of God that we are to obey. And because Israel would surely break those laws, he gives to them a mediator to keep them in his merciful, loving, gracious presence. So also we. Like Israel, you cannot get yourself out of slavery to sin and death. And you can be sure that if you cannot get yourself out of slavery to sin and death and eternal judgment, then you don't have the power to keep yourself in this state of salvation either. We just, we don't have the power to do it. That is why you need a mediator greater than Moses. You need the Lord Jesus to save you. You need the Lord Jesus to break your bondage to sin. You need the Lord Jesus to die for your sins and atone for your unrighteousness. And you need the Lord Jesus to keep you connected to the father by the spirit. God gave Israel Moses as a type of Christ, and in the fullness of time, God sent his son into the world to do all the things that Moses' life and ministry could not accomplish. So then you might be wondering, well, then why does God put all these laws down for Israel to follow? I mean, what's is that a point of frustration, an exercise in futility? Why would God lay these laws down if he knows that Israel does not have the power to keep it? And when I read things like the Sermon on the Mountain in the New Testament, the laws that are handed down there, God knows I don't have the power to keep those things. So why does he say this? Why does he say obey me? And the answer is not so that you can respond. You owe me. But thank you. Not you owe me. But thank you. Thank you for giving me these laws which show me what I'm really like. And I can see I'm nothing holy like you are holy. And thank you for giving me a savior who knew these laws. He knew them well because he gave these laws. And thank you for giving me a savior who kept these laws. And thank you for giving me one who died for the laws that I broke. And thank you for sparing me from your wrath. And thank you for being with me always. And thank you for being my Lord. This is why he gives the commands that he does. It is for your flourishing. It is for your thankfulness. Guilt, grace, gratitude. How do we show our gratitude to God? Well, what pleases him? That's what we do in relationship. How do we show our gratitude and appreciation for someone? Well, if they don't like chocolate, you don't give them a chocolate cake to say thank you. Well, in a very similar way, when you want to say thank you to God and you ask, how do I say thank you to God? The answer is, what pleases him? What does he like? What is he like? Go do and be those things. That is a way to show your thankfulness. And there's one other thing that this giving, this legal character of the giving of the law shows us. It shows us something very clearly. I wouldn't want you to miss this. that God is sovereign, not humans, that God is Lord, that he is the father. We are the children. He is the sovereign. And we are the sons and daughters, his servants. So in this renewal of the covenant, this is the last thing we see God once more reasserting his sovereignty over people. Notice in verses 11 through 17, he's Lord over relationships, just Israel's relationships. No, all of our relationships. He is Lord of our relationships. Israel's relationship with God had implications for their relationships with other nations. And in verses 11 through 17, God tells his people to have nothing to do with the Canaanites. Now again, it's not just because some people are inherently more evil than others as Uriah the Hittite and David the Israelite can demonstrate, right? One was clearly acting more faithfully to God than the other. So that's not the issue. Well, then what is the issue of making this requirement of Israel? It's because of the nation's idolatry. It's it's Israel. If you can't survive in the wilderness with no one around tempting you, you're going to be in a lot of trouble. If you go into that land and make friends with these people and sit with them at their feasts and you end up worshiping their gods, that's the net result. Here's what one commentator said that danger unfolds by stages. First, as a treaty of mutual advantage, right? Well, I'll help protect you. You help protect me. then as an invitation to share in worship, then eating of a sacrifice made to a pagan god or goddess, and finally intermarriage with the Canaanites with the result that all distinctions may in time be expected to dissolve. What begins as an agreement between friends eventuates in the extinction of Israel as a people uniquely covenanted to God. So God, in showing these Israelites His covenant lordship, is showing them His protection. I'm protecting you from these things. And we know that in the new covenant there are changes, of course. We are not to push the nations away. The charter for the church now is the nations are to be brought in, that every tribe, tongue, and language would appear before God and with joy, without any forced submission, say, Jesus is Lord. that has changed, but Paul will also insist on things like believers, not marrying unbelievers. God is Lord of our relationships. So the question you might want to ask is, will this relationship bring honor to the Lord, or will it pull me away from him? That's the principle. Secondly, and we'll go through these a little more quickly, he is Lord of our redemption, verses 18 through 20. We've already said a great deal about this. You don't save yourself just like Israel didn't rescue themselves. And so God calls Israel to reenact certain feasts, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, commemorating Passover. and the exodus of Israel. They're remembering how God saved them. They redeemed the firstborn as a living reminder that Israel's God's firstborn. And he had pity on Israel and saved them from their enemies. Thirdly, he is the Lord over our work and rest, verse 21. He's the Lord over your work as well as your rest. In other words, he is the God who is Lord over time. And by resting one day in seven, his people are showing that their dependence is ultimately not upon the soil or their agricultural sensibilities, but on the Lord who provides for them. And so God, in some ways, puts the clamps on Israel. He says, Even during these times when it is critical man, if ever there's a day that I cannot take off if ever there's a season It's when we're plowing and getting the dirt ready to get these The grain and and the things in the ground the seeds so that we'll have grain for the coming year I can't afford to take a day off. I want to eat And God says, no, set it aside and come and worship me. It's harvest time. You have all this low hanging fruit. Everything is wonderful. Shouldn't we be out there picking before it goes bad? God says, no, I am Lord of your time and I am Lord of your rest. Come and worship me. Exodus teaches us that refusing to rest because there's too much work to be done is really the theology of Egypt, not Israel. It's the theology of Egypt. You were made to work in the strength of the Lord and you were made to rest in his love. Fourthly, he is Lord of our joy and celebrating. I love verses 21 through 24. It's not just God saying, do this and don't do that. He's saying, oh, and celebrate, have a good time, get together, enjoy what I have done for you. Three times a year, Israel was to throw a party, and this is the beauty of it. As they're celebrating, they're celebrating using the Lord's resources. God says, these are the things that I'm giving you, and now you can use them and just have a party, celebrate. Fifthly, and finally, he is Lord of our worship, verses 25 and 26. They were to worship the correct God correctly. How did they do that? according to his word, not according to imagination. And so bringing points two through four together, we can surmise that all these commandments shed light and inform why we are here today. God saved us, so we gather week by week to retell the wondrous story of Jesus and his love. We set aside the first day of the week following his resurrection, after his death for sin, after his shedding of blood for atonement, so that we can come into his presence without fear. and celebrate. And this celebration includes not just singing, which is always good to do when we're celebrating, but in feasting, in eating and drinking at Christ's table. And we worship him according to the Bible rather than the trends of changing times and appetites. Every aspect of our service, then from the call to worship to the benediction, when you look at them carefully, you will find each element in scripture that's deliberate. That's deliberate. We find our yes and amen in what God says, even when it comes to worship. And isn't it fascinating how the reiteration of these laws and the renewal of this covenant ends? like a thundercat for Christians, verse 28. So he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. Friends, who does that remind you of? Jesus, when he was baptized and he went through that water, where did he go? Into the wilderness. How long was he there? 40 days and 40 nights. He ate and drank nothing. We're told that he was hungry. And what was Moses doing here on the mountain? He was communing with God. What was Jesus doing in the wilderness? He was being tempted by the devil. What was he being tempted to do? Abandon the mission. Worship a false god. Cast aside the cross for this easy life, Jesus. You don't need that. Why did Jesus stay the course? It was because of the covenant that God made. And God's word cannot be broken. And so when the father in love predestines us and says, son, now you go be their sacrifice, the son carries it out to the letter of the law to redeem. Son, you will have to live as a perfect man because they're full of failures and sin. Jesus said, I will go. Son, they will need your righteousness. because they've polluted their own sense of righteousness and my righteousness by their actions. They have none. They will need yours. Jesus said, I will go. Son, you will have to lay down your life so that their lives will be spared because the law demands it. Jesus said, I will go. And the father said to the son, I promise you that your suffering on the cross will not be in vain, that it will result in the rejoicing and celebrating of heaven forever. Because by your death upon the cross, the law has been satisfied. Their sins have been forgiven and my presence will seal them forever. And so we are here to say the law teaches us many things. But if you miss that the law is pointing you to this, God is holy and will condemn, but good news, he has condemned his son in your place. And if you will take his son at his word and entrust your soul to him, you will be saved. Why? Because this is the God of the covenant. And the God who makes the covenant keeps the covenant. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you that so much of what you have shown us just reiterates again and again your absolute faithfulness. Because we've come from a week of falling short. And we know that we go into a week that is less than perfection. How we thank You that Your law doesn't sweep it aside and say, oh, there, there, it'll be okay. It shows us what we're really like, but then it points all the beauty and the light upon Jesus who did what we didn't do. who kept Your law perfectly. And so we thank You, Lord, that we have this moment to be reminded that Jesus paid it all and He has washed away the stains and that we are holy before You, not because of what we have done, but because of what He has done. So we wish to thank You again at the start of this week and bless You for Your covenant love and covenant faithfulness. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.