The Story October 5, 2014 Chapter 5

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"Rules"

Key Question

How do we fulfill the purpose to which God has called us?

New Commands and a New Covenant

(In the garden there was only one rule, but there was only Adam & Eve.)

Kingdom of Priests: Pages 59–61

Three months to the day after escaping Egyptian slavery, the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai is probably another name for Mount Horeb, where Moses had seen the burning bush. God told Moses to explain that to which He was calling them. God called the Israelites to obey His commands and be His treasured possession—a nation He cared for and blessed. They would be a kingdom of priests—a people set apart for God’s service, making Him known to all people groups, and teaching what was right and wrong in God’s eyes. They would be a holy nation—a land set apart for God’s purpose. But to fulfill their calling, they had to obey God fully. Only then could other nations see the result and wisdom of God’s laws. Jesus later told his disciples that if they held to His teaching (that is, obeyed Him), then they would know the truth and the truth would set them free from slavery to sin (John 8:31–34). 

Moses later explained it this way: See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to Him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? - Deuteronomy 4:5–8.

The New Testament tells us Christians are likewise “chosen…for obedience to Jesus Christ.”  (1 Peter 1:2, 15)  It says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). 

From the base of Mount Sinai, God spoke. Now, a child might know her parent loves her and wants the best for her, and yet fear her loving parent’s discipline if she does wrong; that fear keeps her safe from the consequences of wrongdoing when she doesn’t yet understand the reason for her parent’s commands. The Israelites had come from a land that neither knew nor followed God’s laws, and they weren’t going to understand God’s reasoning behind all of them. They needed to understand that God’s power to punish rebellion was real. 

Moses had already chosen to obey God even when he didn’t understand the reasons, and he had seen God act powerfully, benevolently, and faithfully. Consequently, he trusted God and didn’t fear approaching Him. Therefore, the people begged Moses to mediate between them and God as they “remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.” Exodus 20:21

The Ten Commandments: Pages 61–62

God gave the terms of the covenant He offered.

1. God’s first four commands told the Israelites how they should relate to Him.
2. God’s last six commands told how the Israelites should relate to each other.

The Covenant: Pages 62–64 

Along with the Ten Commandments, God gave Moses the Book of the Covenant. (Exodus 21:1–23:19)  Moses repeated the Lord’s commands and laws to the Israelites, and they agreed to obey them. He wrote everything down. The next morning, Moses built an altar to God and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. He sacrificed animals and sprinkled half the blood on the altar. In ancient times, covenant making involved oaths accompanied by blood sacrifice. The blood symbolized the parties’ agreement that they deserved death if they broke the covenant. Thus the Lord God made a covenant (Christians now call this the “Old Covenant”) with the Israelites and they became His people. 

God called Moses up Mount Sinai where he remained forty days and forty nights while God showed him how to make a tabernacle, furnishings for worship, and the ark of the covenant. He also gave him instructions on the priesthood and how to worship Him acceptably. The tabernacle was a copy of a real, heavenly tabernacle, and therefore Moses had to ensure the Israelites made it just as God had instructed. (Hebrews 8:5) When God finished speaking to Moses, He wrote the Ten Commandments on two stone tablets.

The Golden Calf: Pages 64–67 

The Israelites weren’t expecting Moses to be gone so long, and they began to doubt he would return. They told Aaron to make them a god to lead them.

Forty days after making their covenant with the Lord God, the Israelites broke it. 

Moses descended the mountain and in disbelief beheld dancing and revelry and bowing before a golden calf. He hurled the stone tablets to the ground. They shattered, symbolizing the broken covenant. He cried out for any who were still for the Lord. The Levites ran to him. He told them God’s judgment, and they put to the sword three thousand of those who had broken their oath to worship the Lord God alone and make no idols.

The next day Moses went before the Lord to intercede for the people. The Lord kept a book with the names of those who were truly His—for not all descendants of Israel were such. (Later God will reveal more about the book of life, for the Promised Land to which God was bringing the Israelites was a type of a heavenly dwelling promised to those whose names are written in the book of life. See Romans 9:6.) God told Moses to lead the people to the Promised Land—He would not wipe them out. But He said He would not go with them. 

The Glory of the Lord: Pages 67–70 

Moses went into the tent where he regularly met with God to intercede for the people and ask God to go with them on their journey. After this assurance, Moses asked to see God’s glory. God told him to ascend to the top of Mount Sinai the next day with two more stone tablets to replace the broken ones. Moses did so. Moses worshipped God, and God wrote the Ten Commandments on the two new stone tablets. Moses stayed on Mount Sinai another forty days, pleading with God on behalf of the people. When he finally descended, his face was radiant. He guided the people in making the tabernacle, furnishings, and ark of the covenant. When they finished, he placed the stone tablets in the ark and placed the ark in the holy of holies within the tabernacle. 

The Israelites were now ready to set off for the Promised Land where they could fulfill their purpose of being a kingdom of priests making the Lord God known to the world.

Chapter 5 Calls us to: 

Be Different

Just how “set apart” (different) are you from the world today?

"For centuries, men have been surrounded by Christianity, but Christ has not penetrated. Christ does not live within them."

(The bishop to Don Corleone in The Godfather III)

A pattern, or cycle, began to emerge here in chapter 5 — one that will be seen over and over again throughout the Israelites’ history - and ours.


There are three (3) Key Components to this cycle:

1. The gravitational force of sin. Gravity gives weight to physical objects (situation) and causes them to fall toward the ground when dropped.

400 years the Israelites were in bondage! Forty days after making their covenant with the Lord God, the Israelites broke it. 

1: “You shall have no other gods before me.” 

2: “Do not make yourself idols of any kind.”

When we don’t LOVE GOD – we won’t LOVE OTHERS!

What did we learn last week about God and the other gods in our life?

• Last week we saw the deliverance from Egypt and how God teaches us to be careful of the gods we construct, because He has a rather harsh way of dealing with competition.

• The cycle had begun; and as we see through the present day, nothing really changes. Through the ages, we have built deities of affluence, power, adulation, busyness, and addiction. As much as the Israelites wanted freedom, they wanted familiarity more. Such is the nature of the gravitational force of sin.

The gravitational force of sin is something that each of us must reckon with. As defined by Dummies.com by Richard Wagner. Sin is any deliberate action, attitude, or thought that goes against God. You may think of sin as an obvious act, such as murder, adultery, or theft. Although that's true, sin is also wrongdoing that's far subtler and even unnoticeable at times, such as pride, envy, or even worry. Sin includes both things you shouldn't have done, but did (sins of commission) and things you should've done, but didn't (sins of omission). 

The Apostle Paul did his own dance around a golden calf: The trouble is not with the law but with me, because I am sold into slavery, with sin as my master. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong…But I can’t help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things. -Romans 7:14-17

Things haven’t changed when it comes to the effects of sin. Listen to Aaron when Moses confronted him about the golden calf: Aaron answered, “Don’t be angry, master. You know that these people are always ready to do wrong. The people said to me, ‘Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don’t know what has happened to him. Make us gods who will lead us.’ So I told the people, ‘Take off your gold jewelry.’ When they gave me the gold, I threw it into the fire and out came this calf!” - Exodus 32:22-25

Aaron gave Moses the same excuses we use today when we try to diffuse mistakes or deflect bad choices:

a. “You know how it is…”

b. “What have you done for me lately?”

c. “Well how did that happen??”

Our first point today is that the nature and effects of sin never change — its gravitational force pulls us away from God and if we’re not careful, our sin nature wreaks havoc in our lives and the lives of those around us. 

Where is sin’s gravitational force the strongest in your life?

• The struggle between the sinful and regenerated spiritual nature in a Christian will be quite evident to a person who has been born again, but such a battle will not occur in a person who has not become a believer in Christ. They remain spiritually dead and are not sensitive to sin as a Christian is. The story is told of a man who once came to a preacher and said, “You talk about how heavy sin is, but preacher, I don’t feel a thing.” The preacher thought for a minute and then asked, “If we put 400 pounds of weight on a corpse, do you think he’d feel it?”

2. The second phase to fill in on the cycle is intercession. 

After the people’s disobedience, Moses intercedes for Israel. Moses reminded God of His oaths and then, after destroying the golden calf, went back to the Lord and intercedes again by offering himself to be “blotted out of the book you have written.”

What or who is this a very clear picture of?

• Moses, as a very clear forerunner of Christ, was the intermediary who brought the will of God down from Sinai (after 40 days alone with God—sound familiar?).

• Last week we saw God give the whole thing away when He told the story of Moses, as a very clear forerunner of Christ. This week, we see the parallels between Moses and Jesus even more clearly: Moses was the intermediary that brought the will of God down from Sinai—after 40 days alone with God. 

• After their disobedience, he intercedes for Israel and reminding God of His oaths, just as Jesus did in the entire 17th chapter of John’s Gospel. He prayed for Himself, His Disciples, and all believers. 

• Then after he destroys the golden calf, Moses goes back to the Lord and intercedes again by offering himself to be “blotted out of the book You have written.”

Our lesson this morning says that just as Moses interceded for his people, pled their case, and offered himself, you and I must be intercessors for others as well.

Equipping Point: Be an intercessor.

Well how do I do that?

Webster: “to act or interpose in behalf of someone in difficulty or trouble, by petition; to attempt to reconcile differences between two people; to plead on another’s behalf.”

How did Moses do it?

• Spend a lot of time with God, and then share with others what you sense from Him. 

• When others sin, remind God of His promises of mercy and grace to all of His children. 

• How about the offering yourself up part? Offer yourself to God and ask Him to change you.  

As a spiritual leader, called to influence others, just as Moses was called to be the spiritual leader of Israel, you are to be an intercessor.

The last phase of the cycle is the best. 

• After we sin

• Christ intercedes and takes our punishment and our place

• God leaves a magnificent gift 

3. The gift of His presence. 

God gives His people the most valuable gift He could possibly give: His presence. God’s presence was the third element of the repeating cycle throughout the Bible. 

How did He do this and what did He promise?

• A Tabernacle, was constructed where the Lord would be seen and heard. Thus began the post-intercession promise of God: “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” This is echoed again in Matthew’s account, where Jesus invites all into his presence: “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.” Immanuel, God with us. 

Just as the Tabernacle ushered in the actual presence of God among His people, we begin to see a permanent, eternal template being established that points 1,500 years later: the problem of sin, an Intercessor who, with a radiant face on a mountain, descends to usher in not a set of laws but a Kingdom of grace, by taking the people’s sins Himself. 

How is this Tabernacle represented today?

• As Moses the Intercessor led the people through their wanderings until they reached home, so our Intercessor today does the same through Holy Spirit who lives within us. 

• The Tabernacle is transformed: it is no longer something made with hands, but something much more: by the Holy Spirit’s residence, we are now the Tabernacle—God living in us, talking to us. The cloud has become a voice within, so that “your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left” (Isaiah 30.21).

Such is the case of the Almighty: a God who doesn’t just hand down rules, but extends His own hand. Because it’s not just about restrictions; it’s about redemption. It’s not about going to church, it’s about being church - because God Himself has made His Tabernacle within you.

Has anything really changed today? No, but one thing has always remained the same:

God's Amazing Grace!

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See you on Sunday!

In His Love,

David & Susan