Exodus 34:10-35 "A Covenant Remade"

[Music] let's give our attention to god's word tonight from exodus 34 and we're going to look at verses 10 through 35 together exodus 34 verses 10 through 35. where god's word reads as follows and he said behold i am making a covenant before all your people i will do marvels such as not have 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 asheram 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 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 after their gods and make your sons after their gods you shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal you shall keep the feast of unleavened bread seven days you shall eat unleavened bread as i commanded you at the time appointed in the month of abib for in the month of abib you came out of eat out from egypt and 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 the lamb 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 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 all 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 unleavened or let the sacrifice of the feast of the 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 40 days and 40 nights he neither ate bread nor drank water and he wrote on the tablets of the words of the covenant the ten commandments when moses came down from mount sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with god aaron and all the people of israel saw moses and behold the skin of his face shone and they were afraid to come near him but moses called to them and aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him and moses talked with them afterward all the people of israel came near and he commanded them all that the lord had spoken with him in mount sinai and when moses had finished speaking with them he put a veil over his face whenever moses went in before the lord to speak with him he would remove the veil until he came out and when he came out and told the people of israel what he had what he was commanded the people of israel would see the face of moses that the skin of moses face was shining and moses would put the veil over his face again until he went in to speak with him so far the reading from god's word this evening may he add his blessing to our hearts well in all of the relationships that god has had with man there are two basic agreements two basic agreements that form the foundation for all of the relationship that god has had with man there is the covenant of works or other people call it the covenant of life which was in place when god created man in the garden of eden and of course this covenant was broken by adam and eve in in the garden that that was the covenant that said do this and live god said don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the day you eat of it you shall surely die that's the covenant of works that's the covenant of life of course when adam and eve fall into sin the fall makes the conditions of this covenant impossible for man to keep there's no man in the entire world who can overcome his corruption and live in such a way that he perfectly keeps all the commandments of god and god according to his plan of redemption so this is not god surprised by a failing of men god according to his plan of redemption then institutes another covenant the covenant of grace and the obligations of the cr of the creature to the creator are really not any different they're not really different the difference is in the person who satisfies it so in the covenant of works for the covenants of life man could satisfy the demands of perfect obedience but after the fall man could no longer do that it's not that god doesn't demand perfect obedience it's that man is not able to fulfill that and and so god provides another who will do what man is unable to do and that changes the condition the condition for the covenant of works was was perfect obedience from man there is still a condition of perfect obedience but it falls on christ and so in our relationship with god now under the covenant of grace our obligation is faith the the thing that is required of man to receive the blessings of god's covenant is is faith faith which is actually given to us by god so under the covenant of grace all of it is from from the lord in our text we're dealing with a re-establishment a re-articulation of this latter covenant this covenant of grace on the people of israel israel had denied this covenant they had become covenant breakers by their idolatry with the golden calf uh and and and and now this covenant of grace is is being reestablished we have to remember though as we go into this text that when we're thinking of the benefits of the covenant of grace they are earned by christ they are not earned by israel they are not earned by us today so so we're not looking at the blessings earned but at the same time from our text we recognize that there are expectations for god's people so so where is the context of this expectation where do we have this expectation if the covenant of grace is to only have as an obligation faith why are we talking about these rules why are we talking about these laws well what we're going to see is that these rules and these laws and these are all expressions of faith they flow from the faith that israel is supposed to have god is demanding that they live according to the profession of faith uh under the covenant of of grace and and so what we want to see as we come to this text as the the the account of the golden calf is finally coming to a close we want to see the people of god living under his glorious covenant again and we want to see them as those set apart from the world in doing so and we want to see them distinct in their actions so so there is a sense where the covenant of grace is being lived out god is giving different ways that the people of israel can live out their faith in him under the covenant of grace and and so to learn that lesson we want to first see god's covenant in verses 10 and 11 then we want to see israel's distinctives in verses 11 through 26 and then we also want to see moses face and looking at moses face really will help us to understand the glory of god in his relationship with with man so we want to see that the people of god live under his glorious covenant as those set apart and distinct in their actions we want to see god's covenant in verses 10 and 11 israel's distinctives in verses 11 through 26 and then moses faced in verses 27 through 35. so let's begin by looking at god's covenant in verses 10 through 11. in our text where we look at our verses we pick up where we left off and god is speaking in verse 10 god says behold i am making a covenant as part of god's covenant promise as it's rehearsed for us is this this this marvelous work that he's going to do things that have never been seen and things that are described in the text as awesome now awesome of course is an overused word these days it would be truly awesome that this little slave nation would come out and and displace all these more powerful kingdoms that were in the land of of canaan so so god is going to do that as part of his covenant promise to to israel he's going to defeat the nations of canaan these these different nations that are that are listed in our texts the the amorites the canaanites the hittites the parasites the hivites and the jebusites god is going to to drive all of them out now it's important that we see the focus on god in verses 10 and 11. the first person singular pronoun is all throughout verses 10 and 11. i am making a covenant i will do marvels in in verse 11 i will drive out before you all of these benefits of the covenant of grace are being established by by god israel's job is to respond in faith to put their feet in the jordan river right to walk around jericho those are the ways that that god has set aside for israel to conquer these nations they are manifestations of israel's faith that they follow after the lord so god does the work and man is responding by faith that is the great blessing of the covenant of grace now the temptation for us of course when we come to verse 10 is is that we think of god's dealings with israel at this point as something brand new it says that i will i am making a covenant meaning that there was nothing in place beforehand that god is simply establishing something new for for the people of israel but when we come to the old testament when we whenever we hear god talking about making a covenant whether it be with abraham or noah or israel or david or in the in the new covenant in jeremiah 31 he is building on what has gone before and the same thing is true here in exodus 34. it's not that he's built making something brand new it's not a new covenant in its totality but there are new parts to what god is revealing it's kind of what we were talking about this morning when we talked about the christian religion as progressive that god makes it known in stages god manifests to his people the benefits of salvation in stages he doesn't tell abraham that jesus of nazareth is going to be born in bethlehem and that from him will come salvation to all people that is revealed gradually over time through the through through prophets and and through what's called progressive revelation and and so that's what we're seeing here in in exodus there's the promise that god's made for example with abraham in in genesis 15 and there god promises to abraham land but he doesn't just promise land to abraham generically he is specific in how he identifies the land that he's going to give so for example in genesis 15 verse 18 and following god promises to abraham the land of the amorites the canaanites the gergescites and the jebusites that's the same land that's being discussed here in in exodus 34 verse 10 and 11. it's the land that belongs to these tribes they're the same tribes so there's the same promise also when god is dealing with israel right from the beginning of the book of exodus exodus 2 and verse 24 the reason god hears the groaning of the people of israel in egypt is because of the promise that he had made to abraham and isaac and jacob so when god is dealing with the land he's dealing with the same promise and when he's dealing with the people of israel he's dealing with the same people it's not a brand new covenant it's a continuation of what has been established in the past and so the people and the promise are not new what we're looking at in exodus 34 is simply a re-establishment a re-establishment of god's steadfast love with his people despite their unfaithfulness in their dealings with the golden calf you see israel is a nation of covenant breakers and in a sense when when moses dashes the first tablets of stone in pieces at the foot of the mountain he is unintentionally maybe he is showing the condition of israel's relationship with god the words of the covenant are on the tablets of stone and and moses breaks them in pieces when he sees the idolatry of the people of israel and so god is re-establishing re-establishing something that had been already set up in genesis god is establishing reestablishing a continuation of his promise to abraham this promise of land and seed which would lead to them being a blessing to all the nations through his his offspring it's a continuation of god's promise after the fall that the the seed of the woman would crush the head of the seed of the serpent it is a continuation of what will lead to david being able to show to the rest of the people of israel that the kingdom of god will be a spiritual kingdom because david's heir will be an eternal heir something that's not possible for any human being and so you see this continual building and development until eventually you have the words of the new covenant where christ comes as the new and better mediator not of a complete replacement of what has gone before but the fullest expression of of what god has been talking about since the fall and so this is the covenant of god not a brand new work here in exodus 34 but but a continual growing and developing and re-establishing of god's faithfulness even when his people are unfaithful to him god is doing what he has promised even when his people fail to do that very that very thing so god is renewing what has been broken by israel's sin it is a is a covenant in which god works gloriously this covenant manifestation is to show something not only of of god's mercy but of his glory not only in his treatment of these nations where god's going to do truly awesome deeds uh before israel as he casts out the canaanite kingdoms but also in who he is as we see that later on in in moses shining face this is the continued promise of truly an awesome god a god who is beyond description who is amazing in all that he is it is a renewal of his promises because god is a god of steadfast love so that's that's god's covenant but in light of that covenant we still see god placing demands on israel there are not demands to get them into the covenant the covenant's already established they are demands that are placed on the people of god because they are in covenant because they are in covenant there are certain things that are expected that god expect it almost sounds like is optional that god demands of his people there are certain things that should set apart the people of god from from the rest of the world now the temptation when you talk about the covenant of grace is to get to the point where you minimize expectation on the people and in some sense you can understand how that happens because in the covenant of grace it's all god's work he does all of it he even gives us the faith so what is there left for man to do well in verse 28 of our text it talks about the words of the covenant it talks about the summary of the covenant that god makes here's a document when we when we have when for example when you sell a house when you buy real estate there's many documents for you to sign many documents to make sure that that everything is taken care of and that there's no way that this that there can be any kind of foul play and and we we appreciate that even though we don't appreciate it when we're getting writer's cramp after page 75 of this packet that we're working through in god's covenant with men in his agreement with men he has two tablets two tablets of stone they are the words of the covenant and they are the ten commandments the ten commandments are a summary of god's covenant with israel so you see in in that alone you see that there's an expectation of response from the people of god when they enter into covenant but you see it in our text before that even in in verse 11 it says observe what i command you this day as god renews the covenant he turns to his people and he says observe what i commanded would i command you to say now this is not the observe in terms of pay attention to right we can we can use the word that way you can observe another person's mannerisms when you first meet them or you can you can praise another person you can admire another person because they are very observant about their surroundings they notice things that are around them they they see what's around them and they process that data that's not the kind of observe that's in this text the observe here is more in the keep family you observe you keep the commandments of god in deuteronomy 5 and verse 12 when it comes to the fourth commandment in the in in the exodus version it says remember the sabbath day to keep it holy in deuteronomy 5 when it comes to the fourth commandment it says observe the sabbath day to keep it holy that's that doesn't mean notice the sabbath day to keep it holy it means obey it it means keep it so so in verse 11 when it says observe what i command you this day god is saying to his people keep what i command you today god is going to give his people a list of commandments and the people are expected to obey what god says so god establishes his covenant he promises to do the work of deliverance but he demands obedience from his people now what do we make of this obedience well first of all we can see that it is an obedience that follows god's promise so that's very important for us to understand whenever we're dealing with covenant under the covenant of grace and the commandments that god gives to us we have to recognize that obedience always follows promise god promises establishes covenant first and then he gives obligation to his people after to make it clear that our keeping of his commandments is never unto the covenant but because of the covenant and and we have to keep that distinction before us if we don't we're gonna we're gonna fall into works righteousness that's that's what's gonna end up happening and and that's not what god's commandments are for god's commandments are never there since the fall they're not there for us to say i have done enough so that god owes me and so it's an obedience that follows god's promise the second thing that we can notice about these commandments is that it is an obedience of faith an obedience of faith and and not merit and obedience in the covenant of grace is always a statement about the recipient's understanding of god so when we as christians obey the commandments of god after christ when israel obeyed the commandments of god before christ if they were keeping the commandments in any kind of real spiritual way it is because of what they believed about god that they were keeping their commandments and the same thing is true here uh of israel they are not keeping it out of in or in the sense of trying to earn merit they're keeping it out of gratitude because of what they know to be true about god and so the obedience of the people sets them apart not necessarily because of what they do but because why they do it obedience from the people of god if it's true obedience is it is an obedience that comes out of faith it is an obedience that comes out of gratitude to god and so the remarkable thing is not that you perform a certain action the remarkable thing is about why you perform that certain action so true covenantal obedience is always an expression of trust in the god who makes the covenant it's to believe that the god who has promised will do what he has said in essence obedience to the commandments is an expression of faith faith always has an expression and faith's expression is always seen in the way that life is lived and true faithful living living in response to god out of faith is lit is living in the way that god commands now in this text god doesn't say everything that he would have his people do but but he does list eight distinctives that he expects of his covenant people in the first place in in verses 12 through 16 you see that god expects from israel separation separation from other nations god god makes a promise a covenant with the people of israel and as a result he expects them not to make a covenant with anybody else they're not to make a covenant with others verse 12 take care lest you make a covenant so so the thinking is if god makes a covenant with israel how could israel make a covenant with anybody else and there's the additional caution in our text that if israel were to make a covenant with everybody else that it will inevitably lead to compromise they will denounce god worship idols and compromise themselves with these other nations and so god says to the people of israel there's no borrowing from any of the ways of the nations not in terms of worship and not in terms of marriage god says you're not to worship any of their gods god says you're not to offer your sons to their daughters or your daughters to their sons and yet there's so much temptation there you see it repeatedly in the history of israel you see that temptation today in in the church as well the people of god are always tempted to think that they're just a little bit smarter than the lord himself in the way that they structure their worship or or in the way that they craft the message that is proclaimed or in the minimizing of the differences between the church and and the world between god's people and the canaanite nations well god says you are in covenant with me you're to be distinct you're to be separate from all these people you are to be different in worship you're to destroy their false gods you're not to intermarry with them you're to be different you are mine you are in covenant with me so they're to be separate from other nations the second distinctive that god expects of his people is that they're to have uh no idols and you see that in in verse 17 you shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal the thing that distinguishes a people is seen in who or what they worship so the gods of a nation determine her priorities whatever the gods are of a nation that will that will determine the activity of the nations so ask yourself what are the gods of our nation maybe it's sports right we have these glorious cathedrals built to our idol all throughout our our nation we we spend millions even billions of dollars on on these entertainment complexes and and and we we forsake worship for the lord to attend to our favorite sports and and all those things the activity of our nation is controlled by the gods of our nation or maybe our nation's idol is money right and you see people consumed with the desire for more money and they structure all their days all their time so that they can have more of it the the god that you worship organizes your time uh so so to speak and the god of israel is concerned with deliverance and salvation he is a god who is patient with sin and who as a respon as a result of that calls them to holiness that will shape what is expected of the people of israel their gods are not to be idolatrous god gods offering a salvation that is false you would see that in the canaanite gods right these gods of fertility or these gods of of war that the egyptians and the canaanites had that structured the behavior of those nations as well but israel was not to have those kinds of gods israel was not to have gods of of caste medal there is only one god to be worshipped and and he is to be worshipped according to how he has revealed himself and he has not revealed himself in physical shape he has revealed himself through his word and in his works that is the god that israel is supposed to worship and in worshiping him it will shape the way they act the third distinctive that we see for the people of israel is the keeping of the passover in verse 18 it is the keeping of the feast of the unleavened bread in our text the same thing as the passover and the passover reminds israel of where they came from it reminds israel how they came out of egypt it reminds them that this deliverance out of egypt came from the one true god and and there is a constant need for reminding among god's people that deliverance only comes from the lord there's a constant need to remember that the only reason there's any freedom at all is through god's work whether it be the ten plagues that that god visited on the egyptians or or the different things that he does later on in this case god is reminding israel remember the passover that night when god sent the angel of destruction and the firstborn every firstborn of slave king beast was was killed in the land of egypt that you would be set free they're called to remember that every year that they would be distinct from all the other people that they would remember their covenant obligations to god the fourth thing that we see god asking israel to do to set themselves apart is found in verses 19 and 20 in the dedication of the firstborn at this point israel has become a great nation six hundred thousand men so there are well over two million people when they leave egypt but all of these people through the dedication of the firstborn all of these people are known to belong to god the god who enters into covenant with them he claims all of them the firstborn belongs to him it reminds them that life is a blessing and life is a gift and israel is called to exercise their faith by remembering that their firstborn belong to the lord they are gods already and they're asked simply to reclaim them the fifth way that god asks for israel to express its faith in covenant is in the keeping of the sabbath in verse 21 six days you shall work but on the seventh day you shall rest in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest i hope as we've worked our way through the book of exodus that we see the centrality of sabbath keeping in the book of exodus the centrality of sabbath for israel appears all throughout exodus now why is that it's that israel would remember that their expression of faith shows that they know that their time belongs to the lord israel doesn't exist to satisfy itself to use its time for itself but to glorify god with their time to serve the lord with their time and what's remarkable here in this text and there's much more you could say about it but we have another section on the sabbath next time we're in exodus together in the beginning of chapter 35 but here in verse 21 it says that in plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest that sabbath was expected even in the most urgent of times for agricultural society the places where people would most likely be willing to make an excuse out of necessity for work god expressly says in this text no in those seasons also you're to rest you're not to do any labor your time belongs to me and that's an expression of faith of course because at that point god is asking them not only do you know that your time belongs to me but do you know that your harvest belongs to me that if there's some kind of a problem with your harvest and you rest on the lord's day the sabbath day that i will be able to provide for you the things that you need now if the church was anywhere close to that today when it came to the observation of the sabbath day we wouldn't have a problem right but but the church is so quick to make compromises on on what sets them apart in covenant with god this day of rest that god has given to us as his people and there's a lot more we could say about that but perhaps we'll touch on it when we get to the beginning of chapter 35. uh the sixth way that god asks the people to express their faith is in the keeping of the feast of weeks and the feast of in gathering these are feasts that are bookends to the harvest right one begins at the at the opening of the wheat harvest and the other comes at the end of the year when all the harvest is done those are festivals that remind israel at the beginning of their harvest and at the end of their harvest that they receive that from the lord's hand israel's faith is expressed in in recognizing that god provides their food that that god provides all of their food from from beginning to end uh the seventh way that israel is called to express its faith is in the appearance of all their men in jerusalem three times a year three times a year all the males of israel were to gather in the place that god decides it's going to be the place jerusalem where the temple is tabernacle will be moved there during david's reign all the men are together in jerusalem three times a year now faith is expressed in that gathering the gathering of israel is a sacred event this coming together is a sacred event in in his israel's history it it comes with these religious festivals uh three times a year israel's men are to gather for festival now you can imagine the military risk that that provides for a nation when all their men go to one place three times a year a predictable time of year all the nations around israel could know exactly when all the men of israel are going to be in one place it left the country in a sense very vulnerable to attack but what's amazing in verse 24 is not is that god not only does something in israel by asking them to come to jerusalem but he actually does in some something in the nations around them to make it possible in verse 24 it says that the nations who live around them won't covet their land when they go up to appear in essence god puts a curbs the greed of the nations around them so that israel can express their faith in covenant now we don't think of gathering with that level of intensity or importance especially these days right we we are a church of of zoom we are a church of of of live stream and and you can see it happening where people are becoming more and more comfortable with that kind of private christianity you worship when you want if you don't feel like being up at that time you can catch the recording of it and and you can worship when you want and and you can worship how you want does it matter what you're wearing it doesn't matter if you pause 20 times during the service so long as you you're you're able to sit through it but but israel is reminded of the corporate nature of being a covenant people the expression of faith of all the men in this case gathering jerusalem three times a year you see the advantages of covenant are not just individually they are they are corporate what do i mean by that well we said earlier that israel had six hundred men when they left egypt god doesn't make six hundred or six hundred thousand men when they left egypt god doesn't make six hundred thousand individual covenants with each israelite family he makes one covenant he makes one covenant with the whole nation and so even though we understand that there is a individual salvation there is a corporate aspect to covenant that god establishes he makes one covenant with the entirety of the nation now what's interesting in the north american context is that some of the most zealous people about their theology are the most sloppy about their corporate participation in the body of christ that there is a sense of individualism that has crept into the north american church that is foreign to the expectation of the expression of faith that god demands of israel where the people come together and they gather together and so when we think about how we express our faith at least in israel's case here in exodus 34 it's a corporate event where all men gather together and then verse 25-28 there are different ways in which god demands that israel demonstrate their faith to him by worshiping him in his way it's about worshiping god according to his desires not not man's desire so not offering anything with leaven in it no leftovers for the passover lamb don't boil uh goat in its mother's milk these are all things that god demands of his people where they are to worship him according to his demands on them and and all of them seem fairly plain just a quick word about the boiling the young goat in its mother's milk because that can be a puzzling phrase that was the practice of pagan fertility worship that they would they would boil a young goat in its mother's milk and and god is saying to israel you are to be distinct you're not to worship in according to the customs of other people according to the customs of your own desires you to worship god you're to worship me according to my own commands all eight of these things are implemented after the covenant is already made they are instruments by which israel can show their faith not instruments that would cause god to give them faith they flow from faith they don't cause faith and so the god they serve gives to them reasons for gratitude through his faithfulness and covenant despite all of israel's sin despite all of israel's failings in the wilderness so far god says to them i will make my covenant with you and so israel can respond in gratitude they can know that they serve an amazing god they can know that his works are truly awesome and and as a result faith and gratitude and love are expected from israel by god but finally in our text we see something more of god's glory not even in terms of what he does for the people of israel but just in who he is and the splendor that he has in and of himself in our text beginning in verse 29 the glory of god is really seen in an unusual way there are different places in the bible where god manifests his glory kind of partially where he manifests his glory indirectly but but it's it's his glory so for example exodus 3 in the burning bush right god manifests his glory through this bush that that doesn't burn up and and moses falls down on his face before he takes off his sandals because he's walking on holy ground or last lord's day in in exodus um 34 the beginning of it we saw how moses saw the back of god and he wanted to see the back of god but as soon as he saw it he bowed his head and he worshipped or you can look in judges 13 verse 21 and 22 when the angel of the lord appears to sampson's parents samson's father manoa realizes that he's seen the angel of the lord and he says to his wife we're gonna die because we saw god or in first kings 19 you have the low whisper in which god reveals himself to elijah on the mountain and elijah covers his face when he hears the low whisper and he bows down and he worships god all of those in the old testament the new testament of course well known the transfiguration of matthew 17 where the glory of god is seen in the transfiguration of christ there are all different ways in which god's glory is seen indirectly but as coming from him in our text we see something indirect god isn't even there it's seen in the glowing of of moses face moses had been with god and it doesn't describe god's glory when moses is with god in great detail but when moses comes down from the mountain his face is still glowing from being in the presence of god now when you read that that sounds pretty impressive sounds pretty amazing maybe but moses face was such that grown men fled from him okay aaron and the rest of israel was afraid of him that's what his face looked like the glory of god god wasn't with moses anymore in the sense of god is everywhere okay but he wasn't with moses in the sense as he was on the mountain god's glory wasn't shining on moses in that moment and yet even god removed the reflection of his glory it's terrifying to the people of of israel it's so disturbing to the people of israel that they can't approach moses when he calls them he adjusts he accommodates himself to their fears in that he veils himself this is the indirect glory of god indirect glory of god when seen by man is too much for him to handle it that's how glorious our god is that's how amazing our god is the god who enters into covenant with man is an awesome god and moses shining face reinforces that it adds of course to the understanding of the glory of his covenant if you understand the god who gives the covenant as being glorious and majestic then the fact that he enters into covenant with sinful man becomes even more remarkable the god who is so awesome that he causes a man's face to shine from being in his presence whose indirect glory makes people afraid enters into covenant with those people promises an arrangement with them so that they can be in fellowship with him if this amazing god didn't reach down from heaven through covenant to be in relationship with you it would never happen and he is so amazing not in the kind of flippant way but truly amazing he is so remarkable he's so awesome he is so glorious and merciful and steadfast in his love that glorious as he is he still enters into covenant with man it underscores the grace of the covenant of grace it is in that gracious relationship that god's people understand what they're receiving that they understand what they're receiving from god's hand one who is far above them who comes and dwells among them and that's why god's people can have love and gratitude and faith in their obedience while they live in covenant but the shining face of moses goes beyond that it actually is used in the new testament to help us to see what we have in christ in second corinthians corinthians 3 and verse 7 it shows us that what what israel had at sinai is far surpassed in christ what what israel had at sinai is enough to make the church see how much greater the promise of the presence of god himself will be and it says in in that text now if the ministry of death carved in letters of stone came with such glory that the israelites could not gaze at moses face because of its glory which was being brought to an end will not the ministry of the spirit have even more glory that's what we learned from moses shining face whatever the israelites were so afraid of in moses that they fled from him because of his face the ministry of the spirit is far superior to that it is it is way more glorious than what aaron and the rest of israel saw when moses came down from that mountain and that's always true when you move from old testament to new testament it's it's not that the message is different the message is the same but the glory from one to another is far surpassed the glory of god revealed in new testament far superior to the glory that he shows of himself in the old testament in fact what's amazing when we think about the old testament sometimes when we think about the old testament we think of wow the people in the old testament saw some amazing things they saw these amazing signs and wonders but what we have in the new testament far surpasses anything that is in the old testament the old testament is just a hint of the actual glory that is in christ through his spirit and so when we come to the covenant that god makes we see a glorious and majestic god making covenant with a sinful and rebellious people he does that graciously he does that out of his own free will he does that out of his own compassion and his mercy but when he makes this covenant with his people he has certain expectations from the of them and i want us to consider by way of application one of them and that is the first one where god demands that israel keeps itself distinct from the world and that's important for us as a church also to recognize that we remain distinct from the world the people of god are to be distinct from all other nations all other citizens because we are the citizens of the kingdom of heaven and everyone else is a kingdom a citizen of the kingdom of this world the christian church should be distinct from the world the christian church should be distinct from the world now we don't do that very often and our impulse is to want to be like the world or to dress ourselves up in a way that is acceptable to the world the impulse of the church in our time is to make itself as much like the world as possible and that's reflected in church architecture we have stages for performances we have we have backdrops that look like trade shows with cool graphics we have sermons replaced with dialogues and and talks and we have songs that are packaged to sound like the songs of the world and the world thinks uh the church thinks it needs to look like the world and sound like the world and feel like the world and and relate like the world and the question that this text should make us ask is why why would we want that why would a person from the world come to what they already have the church is to be distinct from everything that a person already has in this world when the church tries to be like the world they make themselves like what the person already has in their home they don't need to come to church they have they have that already we're not to be imitators of the world but the world is to see and to hear and experience within the walls of the church something completely different they're to see a picture of god's people meeting with their god and the holiness that belongs to him is unlike anything that the world can ever offer they can't find it there they won't see it there and when the holy spirit finally brings a person to an end of himself when he walks through the doors of any church he should see a god who is awesome and mighty and amazing and we can rob them of that by making ourselves look like the world instead the church is not to imitate the world the world is to see in the church the meeting of god's people there to see what it means for a sinful people to be forgiven there to see when a sinful people comes together trusting in promised deliverance there to see what a sinful people receives from the hands of christ there to see how the what they receive from the hands of christ impacts the sinful people how it makes their hearts glad and joyful and grateful before the lord they should see a humble people before a majestic god and we should never ever give the world an opportunity to say when i came to church i didn't see that i couldn't learn that so we are always to keep life distinct from the world it's not saying be isolated from the world right it's be distinct from the world okay so that's the first thing the second thing that i want us to focus on by way of application also comes from being distinct from the world but i want to address it primarily to singles and young people and that's this that the christian cannot be joined to an unbeliever in marriage and it's very easy for you to nod your head to that when you're single and you haven't met anybody yet but if you begin by considering the unbeliever as a possibility for marriage i guarantee you your emotions will get in the way and so the commandment of god must come first one of the ways that god's people are to remain distinct is through marriage so young kids it doesn't matter how old you are this question will probably be asked of all of you at some point and that is this is this person a godly spouse for me and the first question that you must ask yourself and the answer to which will either partially qualify or at least allow them to move to the next interview it either qualifies them or it disqualifies them altogether is is this person a believer and if this person if you ask yourself is this person a believer that means you have investigated and you have spoken to them about the things of faith and you have sought out their heart on their on the worship of the living god and if that answer comes back in any way shape or form as no or as in doubt you must at this point say to yourself i may not pursue that person because it puts me outside of the covenant bounds as you look for a future spouse whether or not he is a believer or not is the number one consideration you cannot marry an unbeliever what does our text say is the reason for that why would you never marry an unbeliever because the unbeliever will tempt you towards idolatry because the unbeliever will tempt you away from the lord so as maybe point b of life as distinct in the church of the lord jesus christ that's the question for you young people is this person that i am interested in is this person a believer and you must convict yourself at this point you must promise yourself at this point that if the person is not a believer that you cannot pursue because it puts you outside of the covenant bounds okay so we serve a mighty god and he is gracious to us and that he despite our sins he he enters into covenant with us if ever there was clarity regarding the grace of god's towards its people it comes when he continues in covenant even after they have been unfaithful it's in the great sins of the bible's accounts that you see the great mercy of god the account of the golden calf is one of them despite israel's workings and desires in the golden calf the people of god live under his glorious covenant and they do so called by him to a different life a life that is distinct a holy life a life that's set apart from the rest of the nations they're called to a life in which they conform themselves to god's commandments not unto the covenant but because of the covenant they are called to live for the lord as a grateful expression of their faith of faith and trust that they have in the lord because he promises steadfast love to them let's pray together

Channel: Cliffwood Presbyterian Church

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Id: q2jnk8V6tRE

Length: 56min 25sec (3385 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 06 2021