Read Part 8

(8/23) Welcome to Christ’s Community Church. We are continuing in our series Following God into the Unknown, and we are beginning a new chapter in the lives of God’s people. You see, they had been set free from slavery, but even though they had been set free, they were still living in a self-imposed form of slavery and they were unable to realize the hope and the freedom that was theirs. And so, God was about to reboot their lives so that they would learn to develop new habits and priorities that would empower them to live in their new identity as the nation of Israel.

Now, if you are just joining us, I want to give you a little bit of context. It had been 440 years since the end of Genesis and the beginning of Exodus. Jacob’s family of about seventy people had now grown and multiplied to a few million people. They had become a great multitude of peoples and the king of Egypt feels threatened by them because of their great numbers, and so he enslaves them and treats them harshly. The Israelites cried out to God in their misery, begging for deliverance, and he sent a man named Moses to be their savior. By means of many miraculous signs and wonders he led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea and into the wilderness.

Now it has been three months since they left Egypt and they come to the desert of Sinai. Israel camped there in the desert in front of Mount Sinai and the Bible says in chapter 19, verse three, that the Lord called to Moses and said,

"This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:3-6).

You could say that this is the commissioning of the nation of Israel and the image that God gave them was that of an eagle carrying it’s young on its wings. However, at this point Israel wasn’t anxious to leave the security of the nest, they still hadn’t tried using their wings, and so they haven’t enjoyed the freedom that God gave them. In fact, they’re still worshiping the false gods of Egypt, they’re stealing from one another, they’re coveting and lying, and their lives are really just a mess. This nation of a few million former slaves had been set free, but they’re not living free, and so God is going to speak to them much like a father speaks to his children.

In other words, he’s already loved them, he rescued them, set them free, and he has adopted them into his family, but they’re not acting like his kids. And so, he’s going to introduce himself to them, he’s going to give them some rules and help them to learn to walk with him. It’s in that context that God meets with Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai and the Bible says in Exodus chapter 20, verse one that, God spoke all these words saying:

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery" (Exodus 20:1-2).

Now, I want you to recognize that this is unprecedented, this is historically in a category all by itself, because God is speaking to everybody all at once. He gathers his children at the base of Mount Sinai, it’s kind of like gathering all the kids together in the living room for a family meeting, and he begins by telling them who he is. He is speaking to kids who sometimes rebel and do foolish things and he says, "I’m the Lord your God", we are going to sit down on the couch, and we are going to talk about this. But it’s not just to lay down the law, he saying I have adopted you and I need you to do these things because I love you, they’re good for you, and they’re good for your neighbors.

This is a picture of the fatherly heart of God because it’s him saying that he wants our lives to flourish, he wants us to be blessed. He is sitting with us on the couch, telling us how much he loves us, and he lays down some rules. He’s building a fence around our yard, he’s putting some boundaries in place, and telling us that every board in the fence is a law to protect us so that we can run freely without being harmed. I hope you can see this because when you are tempted to sin, you need to understand the father’s heart, that he loves you, and he’s adopted you. In fact, the Bible says he is,

"A father to the fatherless" (Psalms 68:5).

And so, that is his passion, he loves to adopt kids, and when he says, "Stop this or don’t do that", or when you’re tempted to disobey, remember that he gives us these rules for our good and our disobedience is breaking his heart because he knows that disobedience causes suffering.

This is the situation where we find the people of Israel, God had set them free, but they chose not to live free, and so their lives became a series of laps around the desert. God tried to help them avoid the pain and suffering of disobedience, he called them, speaking through the prophet Isaiah:

"I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me" (Isaiah 65:12).

And so, they literally ended up walking around in a circle in the wilderness for 40 years. Some of you know people like that, for others of you, maybe that is your story, you are stuck, you are not learning, you are not growing, and you are ashamed and embarrassed. You would say that you are a Christian, that you worship Jesus, but there are parts of your life that are still in bondage. You have been set free, but you’re not walking in that freedom.

That is exactly where the children of God are, that is Israel’s spiritual condition at the base of Mount Sinai. And so, they are having this meeting with their Dad, he’s encouraging them, telling them: "I am the one that set you free."

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:2-3).

And so, he begins teaching his kids the most important thing, don’t forget this, there is only one God. That’s where he starts, there is a progression, and he gives each command in the order of importance, because this one enables that and that contributes to this. In verse four he continues,

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them…" (Exodus 20:4-5).

"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name" (Exodus 20:7).

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God…" (Exodus 20:8-10).

"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you" (Exodus 20:12).

"You shall not murder. "You shall not commit adultery. "You shall not steal. "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor" (Exodus 20:13-16).

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife… or anything that belongs to your neighbor" (Exodus 20:17).

And each commandment builds on the one before it, the first four are about our relationship with God, and the last six are about our relationship with our neighbors.

Many centuries later, Jesus told the religious leaders, "You’ve got 613 laws describing how to live out the 10 Commandments, but it really comes down to just two big ideas." And then he tells them this in Matthew chapter 22, verse 37,

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-39).

And so, the real issue for many of us is that we’ve been set free, but we’re not living free. We are still in slavery, because we have left Egypt, but we’re stealing, we’re lying, maybe we’ve thrown in a little weird spirituality or made plans for a golden calf. And things aren’t going very well, because we can’t live free until we realize that there is only one God to obey and he is neither you nor me. In fact, God said through the prophet Isaiah:

"To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" (Isaiah 40:25).

In other words, it may be that the reason you are struggling so much is that you have put yourself in the center of your universe and you weren’t made for that, you can’t handle the responsibility, you were made to worship God, to enjoy him, and to glorify him. And so, God tells us in verse three, and this is so important, he says, "There is one God, it’s me, and "you shall have no other (so-called) gods before me" (Exodus 20:3).

Now, intellectually we would all agree with that statement, but the reality is that there’s a big difference between your functional god and your actual God. The Israelites would have said, "We worship Yahweh" but the reality was that they were practicing idolatry, committing adultery, lying and stealing. They were running to functional gods and false saviors, gods that are not God, and saviors that don’t save.

This is what we see in Exodus, God had set them free, but they’re not walking with him, they’re not worshiping him, and they think they are free because God set them free, but they’re not living free. And this breaks our Heavenly Father’s heart and it is for this reason that the apostle Paul reminds us in Galatians chapter 5:

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1).

In other words, he is saying I don’t want any of you to live as slaves, you have been set free, and so, don’t pick up the yoke and carry that burden that Jesus already carried. Don’t go back to Egypt, don’t go back to your sin, don’t turn back to religion, don’t allow yourself to be shackled again by the 613 rules of the law.

Now, we may be thinking we would never do that, but as we turn back to Exodus, God had delivered the Israelites out of Egypt with a mighty hand, now they’re out in the wilderness, and they start talking. They’re hanging out around their baskets of manna, and they are saying, "Remember the good old days when we were slaves?"

"Remember the fish we ate in Egypt … the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna" (Numbers 11:5-6).

And so, they’re like, "We miss the good old days." That’s the conversation they are having in the wilderness, they are looking back on their slavery as if it were freedom.

I wonder if any of you ever do that? You know, where God gets you out of a bad situation, you get away, you’re saved from it, and then you look back and you’re like, "Oh, those were good times." But the reality is that you’ve just got a bad memory, because they were bad days, hugging the porcelain throne, maybe the accidents, the lost jobs, and yet we become Christians and we find ourselves reminiscing about the good old days. Some of you know every time you meet with your old friends all they want to do is talk about the good old days, romanticizing the old days, but the Bible says,

"Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise to ask such questions (Ecclesiastes 7:10).

In other words, it’s foolishness, because it’s a slave mentality. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. And so, you must ask yourself, have you truly been set free or are you looking back to Egypt? Can you honestly say that Jesus is your Exodus, that he is your Passover lamb, and that you have given him your sin?

I want you to think on that, because as we close, we’re going to celebrate communion together, remembering Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is our Passover Lamb who was slain, and as we trust in his death on the cross, God’s wrath is removed because we are covered by his blood. He died and shed his blood so that we could be free from the curse of sin and death.

As we celebrate the Lord’s supper, we remember his dead body and shed blood in the elements, the grape juice and the bread; and so we don’t look back, but we want to look ahead. The Bible tells us:

"Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26).

And so, we look forward to his coming again and the most important question is do you know Jesus? Is he your God? If not, I want to encourage you to give yourself to him right now. If you walked in here apart from him, you can walk out of here with him, because he is our God who will go before you, walking with you, never leaving you nor forsaking you. Would you give yourself to Jesus this morning, committing to a life walking with him and living in freedom?

And then, for those of you who are Christians, you have been set free, and today, by the grace of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit you can live free. You can leave your sin, your folly, and your rebellion here. That’s why God spoke to all of his people, to remind you of who your God is and to counsel you about the practical matters of life. The Bible tells us in Exodus chapter 20, verse 18,

"When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die" (Exodus 20:18-19).

Today I want to give you the good news, Jesus Christ the Son of God came and lived the perfect sinless life, died on the cross, rose again on the third day as a testimony to you, so that you could live and not die. And so, Moses said to the people in verse 20,

"Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning." The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was" (Exodus 20:20-21).

Like Moses you can find your way back to your Heavenly Father, you can approach his throne of grace with confidence, because God has made a new and living way through the veil. But it’s up to you right now, you have to make that decision to surrender your life to Jesus. God spoke once again to Moses saying in verse 22 saying,

"Tell the Israelites this: 'You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven: Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold" (Exodus 20:22-23).

In other words, the choice is yours, but you need to choose between your functional gods and the real God, the actual God. It’s up to you, it’s your decision, and so I want to give you that opportunity right now because God loves you and he created you to have a relationship with him.

If you have never surrendered your life to Jesus Christ and you want to know his forgiveness, you want to know the freedom that he gives, would you raise your hand boldly right now? Just raise your hand right where you are, nobody looking around, this is a holy moment just between you and God. It’s your choice, it’s your decision, God won’t force you, but you need to choose between him and your functional gods, gods that are not God and saviors that don’t save. This is your opportunity, it’s your decision, because God loves you and he died for you so that you could overcome your sin and walk in freedom.

The way that we grow in freedom, walking in freedom, is by understanding that we have been set free to worship God. He gave his people the law at Mount Sinai, because the law shows us our sin and our need for a Savior. As we read the law, we realize that God is holy, and that he has holy demands of us, and yet we have fallen short of his expectation, we have all failed him. But then Jesus comes as our Savior, he fulfills the law, he lived with complete obedience to the law, dies in our place, causes the wrath of God to Passover us, blessing us and setting us free to live a new life as his children. And so, he is our Passover lamb, he is God’s firstborn son who died for our sin, he is the pillar and cloud who walks with us day and night, he is our great Savior who redeems us, but not just us, he redeems billions from every tribe and every nation. And so, as we close, I hope you understand what Jesus has done, what he wants to do for you, what he can do in you, and what he wants to do through you.

Read Part 10

Read past sermons by Pastor John Talcott