[00:00:00 – 00:00:32] uh some of us may not have heard this name Patty Hurst Patty Hurst uh was a 19-year-old teenager he was the Harris of a large newspaper Empire and she was kidnapped by what is known as was then known as The symbionese Liberation Army or the SLA which uh was arguably the most notorious and flamboyant domestic [00:00:30 – 00:01:02] terrorist group in the United States in the 70s but what was very puzzling was this hit the spotlight in National media and very soon what intrigued everyone was they found that she had actually joined this terrorist group once she was kidnapped her images with a black berry and the Machine Gun were stuck around everywhere she even gave herself a new [00:00:58 – 00:01:30] name uh she called her self as Tanya the most amazing thing was when a security camera captured uh when this um symbionese Liberation Army was robbing a bank showing her that she had her own gun and she was no longer a prisoner she became one of her captors and co-conspirators even in her own [00:01:27 – 00:01:58] kidnapping psychologists had wrestling to understand how does this happen how did someone get sucked into it and they say it's actually very normal you know they say it's the way the human heart Works abused people tend to identify with their abusers because there is a capacity in the human heart to lock on to the greatest power centers in your life and identify with them and even [00:01:54 – 00:02:26] seek to become like them thinking thereby that you will get power for yourself that the power they have will come to you not realizing it usually leads to slavery the irony was once she decided in a sense to get power over her captives by joining them it was very hard to rescue her from this group of crazy Looney violent people she was with [00:02:23 – 00:02:56] because she became one of them you know the story may seem very strange and weird but that seems like the story of the nation of Israel Israel too had forgotten who their real God was after being in captivity for so long in fact even after they were freed from captivity and they were in the desert in God's presence [00:02:53 – 00:03:26] richly experiencing everything God gave them they went and complained to Moses saying think that they would rather go back to captivity and have their three meals a day and water rather than be by themselves here in the desert they even in fact right after this created a golden calf very similar to one of the Gods of the Egyptian gods who are their [00:03:22 – 00:03:53] captors wanting to become like them just like Patty Hurst and the story repeats not just with Patty Hurst and the Israelites sometimes even Among Us isn't it so as we are walking through the Bible in the book of Exodus I just want to take a quick minute to give you a brief overview of the book The Book of Exodus can be divided into three parts you know the first 19 chapters of the book of Exodus is the story of how God [00:03:51 – 00:04:24] rescues the nation of Israel and they make their way to Sinai Peninsula where Moses had his first encounter in the buring burning bush with God and he God told Moses you will come back and that's happening right now which is what we are going to go into today the second part of the book talks about Israel's Rebellion against God one more time and how still God goes back and Moses [00:04:20 – 00:04:52] intercedes and restores them as well and then you have um the third part of the book which talks about expanding more more of the law of God and the Covenant of God but today we are going to look at this very pivotal chapter in fact the whole Old Testament is named right after this the old Covenant or the Mosaic Covenant as we tend to call is right here it's one of the most famous [00:04:49 – 00:05:23] chapters in The Bible everybody knows or I've heard about what is known as the Ten Commandments movies have been made about it uh even in the popular world people tend to agree by and large whether they believe in God or do not believe in God that these things are very basic principles but you see one of the things that is happening here and very very striking is how Moses is now wanting to [00:05:19 – 00:05:50] introduce or reintroduce God to them you know when they were back in Egypt the relationship between them and the Pharaoh was that of a master and a slave you do not have a sense of identity you are an object who are assigned a task and you have to do what you asked to do and that defines your identity know that sometimes seems very similar to what we live and experience [00:05:47 – 00:06:17] here isn't it in corporate world where you're just a number with a task and your sense of worth is tied to what you can execute but now Moses M wants to remind them that God their God is not like the Pharaoh that their God is a very loving God and they this God doesn't treat them as mere [00:06:14 – 00:06:45] objects So In this passage that was read to us we want to look at three things about God the book of Exodus is basically a commentary on who God is where God himself is revealing who he is not just just to Israel but to the whole world so we're going to look at how Even In this passage known as the Ten Commandments what we're going to see first is the love of God and second we're going to look at the law of God [00:06:43 – 00:07:15] and third we are going to look at when what happens when someone understand God's law love and his law which is the worship of God the love of God the law of God and the worship of God now the first two verses in Exodus uh if we read it too fast we may not capture the background to it verses 1 and two it begins by saying and God spoke all these [00:07:10 – 00:07:40] words saying I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery here Moses is reminding once again the Israelites remember they are at the cusp of entering the Promised Land he wants to remind them though your forefathers forgot who their God was [00:07:37 – 00:08:08] their understanding of God was more like they think thought of God as a bigger Pharaoh but actually our God is a loving God our God is the one who always initiates a love relationship with us he was the one who took the first step says and God spoke all these words to the Israelite he initiates this relationship he doesn't want to have a relationship [00:08:05 – 00:08:36] with the Israelites as like a a dictator and a slave or a master and a servant he doesn't want to have a relationship with the Israelites as a transactional relationship you know most of the um old Mediterranean uh Gods in the ancient times wanted those who they were devoted those who devoted them to bring them gifts and offerings and you see that in [00:08:32 – 00:09:03] other religions too God is not saying what are you going to bring me and what am I going to give you that's not how God is binding that relationship he wants to bind his relationship in a covenantal way our God is a God who makes a covenant and saying I will be your God you will be my people no matter what and that's why you will see as we read through throughout the Bible again [00:09:01 – 00:09:32] and again and again it is God who always takes the first step and we see that here this and God spoke these words so Moses wants the Israelites to know and you and I to know how special we are to God he wants us to know who we are he wants us to know who our God is and what did he do and and the reason this is very important right now in history for the [00:09:30 – 00:10:01] nation of Israel is they're going to enter into Uncharted territories they're going to become if we have to use contemporary jargon a startup Nation they're going to literally start from scratch you know startups are so hard only one in 20 startups make it even in a small company now how do you try to do a startup Nation with absolutely nothing everywhere you have hostile forces and God is saying you I'm going to make you [00:09:59 – 00:10:31] a nation that's going to be your land and that's who I'm going to make you be and especially since they had zero experience they remained nationless for nearly five centuries and God is giving them a promised land and they have to now know who their God is and they have to show and model to the rest of the world what it means to be a Godly Nation because their [00:10:27 – 00:10:58] calling always was that Israel will be a light to the Nations the whole world is watching so when they read this the thought that is probably going on in their minds and Moses is thinking that will go on in their minds is you lost your parents in the wilderness remember their parents were all dead except as we're going to enter in the only people [00:10:55 – 00:11:25] in their father's generation was Caleb and Joshua and Moses your parents did not get it they did not get me they did not get my plans they did not get my purposes they were not receptive to my Provisions because so far these past 19 chapters if you will read through them quickly what has happened is they [00:11:23 – 00:11:56] escaped through the Red Sea in this Grand flamboyant display of God 's power in one of the greatest acts of history they watched the destruction of the mighty pharaoh and his forces Under the Red Sea archaeologists recently found evidence of that they witnessed Supernatural provision in the wilderness and again and again it was [00:11:52 – 00:12:24] about just two things water and food they would not have water they would not have food and God would super naturally provide them they experience seeing God go as a pillar of cloud by night and Fire by day and after meeting all their basic needs their anxieties and as they are settled and they are here in Mount siai God now wants to tell them all right I'm going to make you ready to start a new [00:12:22 – 00:12:53] nation but first of all I want you to know who you are and who I am and he wants them to to know by saying by she revealing that he's a loving God you know the love of God precedes the law of God if you flip the whole thing around it becomes a completely different religion and to communicate that love God speaks you know in fact Ten Commandments may not be [00:12:51 – 00:13:23] the right description for this because nowhere it says these are Commandments in it are it only says God spoke these were the words of God so sometimes the trans people use the word decalog these were 10 Deca log or logos which is the word of God the 10 words that God speaks the 10 crucial important words he wants them to know so he speaks [00:13:21 – 00:13:51] first and by that he wants to remind them Israel I didn't just create you I didn't just my concern was not just to give you food and Water and Light and sun and rain and then I didn't want to live leave you high and dry in the desert to figure things out I'm making a covenant with you again he made a covenant with their forefathers that they have long [00:13:46 – 00:14:19] forgotten with Abraham Isaac Jacob and Joseph long lost in memory so he is once again making or reiterating his Covenant like we read in our catechism today he is introducing himself to them one more time as their covenantal God and just like how their ancestors who had this covenantal relationship this deep intimate [00:14:16 – 00:14:48] relationship always were able to hear God speak to them God spoke to Adam and Eve he spoke to Noah he spoke to Abraham he spoke to Isaac he spoke to Jacob now God is saying I'm going to speak to all of you and this is the most amazing thing God spoke to Moses and they know this those were all individual experiences of these great leaders but now God is saying I'm going to speak to all of you and you know how many of them [00:14:45 – 00:15:16] there were there were not 10 20 100,000 600,000 men and they say the estimate was around 2 to three million people says I see each one of you I want to have a personal relationship ship with every one of you I want to have a covenantal love relationship each one of you so I'm going to speak to all of you so come around to this mountain and they are gathering around [00:15:12 – 00:15:51] the mountain imagine 3 million people surrounding a mountain that's probably I haven't checked the exact height it's a little taller than Mission Peak 3 million people surrounded by it clouds descend on it lightning and Thunder are going the trumpet is blasting and through that God speaks to every single day all get to see wow this God is real he's actually even speaking to me and there was a reason he had to do [00:15:51 – 00:16:22] that he had told their parents that they are going to be a great nation that was the that was the promise of the Covenant you know in every Covenant God progressively increasingly reveal something more just what is enough for you and I to know you know that's how God always speaks he cannot reveal everything about him to us in one shot we you and I will not be able to understand or take it sometimes we have to be careful what we are asking for and you will see that the response of the Israelites in the end when they heard [00:16:20 – 00:16:52] God speak they said please stop that's too much and so now at this point what they needed to know since they are all already a nation the covenantal promise of Abraham is already seeing fruit they like the stars of the sky and the Sands of the sea God is telling them something more which is now I want to tell you how you can be my people that's his [00:16:49 – 00:17:21] heart his commands were not some arbitrary commands that were meant to make life difficult they were the road map for people to live a life of purpose fulfillment and Holiness say the reason I'm covenanting with you the reason I keep coming after you is I want to make you after my own heart I care about you and my heart and so it begins and this is classic though the word covenant is not [00:17:18 – 00:17:49] explicitly used in this text it has all the elements of a covenant you know the Contemporary word for Covenant is a contract and in olden times when a king conquers a nation he would go and make a covenant where he is the ruler and they are the subjects and he will say if you want to be part of my kingdom and my territory these are the terms so it's sort of similar language but it doesn't have all the elements of it so he [00:17:47 – 00:18:20] identify who he is he's saying he's this loving God and then he talks about what is it that he is expecting of his kingdom people and then begins to talk about the law of God God and that's what we're going to look at if we miss this first part that the reason God spoke was actually an expression of his love the Commandments become completely distorted and we're going to look at [00:18:16 – 00:18:48] these next several verses as they unpack the law of God each of the Ten Commandments reflect God's love and wisdom they're not exhaustive by any means or measure they keep getting summarized as you read throughout the Bible you have here you have the Ten Commandments and after this God is going to continue to speak and give them more Commandments and and theologians say there somewhere [00:18:44 – 00:19:15] around between 602 to 630 commands or laws in the Old Testament and then as several hundred years later the Commandments are summarized and Jesus refers to them later on as what is the greatest Comm commandment which is love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and strength and love your neighbor as it is that's like the summary of all of The Commandments so these 10 are not like [00:19:11 – 00:19:42] the absolute only essential rule of life and people understood it this was common sensical Commandments or principles and that's what God is giving them he's tell telling them now you are here you're going to become a startup Nation I want to help you understand that there is a Divine logic to the [00:19:39 – 00:20:11] order and purpose of these Commandments that I am giving you that if you follow it'll be for your good the logic is in helping you figure out how to relate to God and how to relate to one another these are not just moral codes but it's the covenantal framework for God's people to live distinctive holy lives and there is definitely a logic to [00:20:09 – 00:20:40] the flow of each one of these and if you look at them it's basically God answering the question which anyone would ask how should we live when we go there and that is what God is answering to them here and so each of these covenants has a beautiful logical flow to it you cannot just Sherry pick I like only this and [00:20:37 – 00:21:08] not that this makes sense and that doesn't make sense that's not how it works he's giving them a blueprint of how to build their life in a new country and we all need that isn't it sometimes life can get so busy and we even forget the very basic questions that you and I need to be asking [00:21:04 – 00:21:41] questions such as why am I here what is the purpose of my life what happens to me once I leave this world all of those questions God is saying you have a purpose my dear children and I have a vision and this is how I want you to build your life and it starts first with your relationship with me it first start with you figuring out what is your real purpose you know we were going on a road [00:21:38 – 00:22:11] trip once and it was to Airbnb and the host usually gives a description of how to find the place um I didn't really read that description too carefully we were just so carried away by the pictures and how the house was looking and we had a nice Al car I was so caught up with enjoying the drive and punched the location in Google Maps and we started driving and [00:22:08 – 00:22:39] slowly we started realizing it moved from a highway to a small Road and from a small road to a muddy Road and from a muddy Road into what they call as a tractor Road that's like a road that's only meant for tractors where it's it's very up and down and it started getting scary and it started getting darker and we all got anxious and then I called the host and I said we are lost and he immediately knew he said oh are you on [00:22:37 – 00:23:07] the tractor Road and I said yes how did you know says everybody does this they don't read the plan and the map I have told them do not follow Google Maps follow my instructions and then we opened up and lo and behold he had very detailed instructions and you know men we don't like reading instructions like just do it there's a map and it says clearly do not turn left go straight and [00:23:05 – 00:23:38] thankfully we were able to find our way back and get back on the road we made it a little later after Nightfall you know God doesn't want do not does not want the Israelites to do that mistake I don't want you to start building your life on some things you think is important and then figuring out oops we went the wrong way so I want to give you the blueprint this is the logic of how to build your life how do I live successful life and a [00:23:35 – 00:24:07] happy life and a prosperous life no matter who you are where you are from what you believe what you do not believe God says it starts first with figuring out who do you believe and that's the very first commandment he says you shall have no other gods before me first thing he wants them to know is know your God discover your true north [00:24:04 – 00:24:34] if you're hiking you need to know what is the true north then you need a compass that will guide your true north you need to know the question to the answer what is truth what do I believe about truth is there truth is there something called objective truth in this world it is nice to hear someone say well every all religions point to the same God or all philosophy talk about the same thing well that statement [00:24:32 – 00:25:04] itself needs to be asked is that true even for that statement to be true you need to believe in an absolute truth that's the most important question of your life and you need to figure that out I'm I'm just going to quickly survey through these Commandments at some point I'd love to come back and do a sermon on each one of these so he gives the logic first Israel you don't want to be lost in life life if I the one who created you I know [00:25:01 – 00:25:33] the plan for your life come to me find me get to know me don't go after other things and right after that the logic goes he says you shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the Earth what he's basically saying is don't make anything else more important than me in your life don't trust other [00:25:31 – 00:26:01] things they will not give you what only I can give they are empty and will not give you happiness and joy you know John Calvin um said this say man's nature about man's nature he says man's nature so to speak is a Perpetual Factory of Idols there's a human nature always has a tendency to gravitate towards making an idol out of everything [00:25:59 – 00:26:29] and sometimes you may wonder why is the Bible so repetitive why is it saying the same thing again and again and again well that's because we do the same mistake again and again and again and therefore we need to be reminded of the same thing again and again and again which is a gracious thing isn't it because we perpetually manufacture Idols in our heart you know we can talk a lot about [00:26:26 – 00:26:59] Idols but one of the most contemporary nuanced form of idol in this digital age we live in we can miss is the idea of social media Obsession you know the the constant pursuit of two things one is validation through likes and followers can become a modern form of idolatry where you want to feel that [00:26:56 – 00:27:28] you're valued you matter and the only one who can really give that to you is God not even your spouse or your children or your work or anything but we know that's hard spouses don't easily give you that children make you work for it and you may or may not get it your career may be great or may not be great and it's not always in the right way to make you feel worthwhile so the easiest shortcut is to try to get that validation which God has wired us [00:27:24 – 00:27:57] for through social media obsession I feel I'm worthful if people like me are in relationships going after that where we seek approval from others than God and the second way is through instant gratification it's another weird form of idolatry you know Tim ker says this about Idols he says we think that Idols [00:27:54 – 00:28:27] are bad things but that is almost never the case the greater The Good the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes you see the first thing God says is don't do that they are false they're not going to satisfy you you know what your first purpose on life is for if someone asks you a question what is your purpose on [00:28:23 – 00:28:55] life we usually tend to answer that in a very narrow Way by what we want to accomplish in Life or you know this is a great question always kids get asked I've been asked I'm sure you've been asked and I'm sure our children here are asked what do you want to be when you grow up and that somehow we think defines our purpose I want to be a doctor or an engineer or Silicon Valley everybody wants to be a software it's I I like there's only two alphabets that [00:28:52 – 00:29:24] get used it's either CS or DS everything else doesn't matter isn't it but you know what God says our purpose in life is know me first and that's what the Westminster Confession of Faith Begins the chief end of man is to know God and enjoy him forever says make knowing me as your sole purpose and Jesus says seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these [00:29:20 – 00:29:52] things shall be added unto you you know we tend to pass this idolator and the reason it says if God says I'm the Lord your God I'm a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who ate him he's not saying I'm going to be this vindictive person if you mess up I'm going to go after your kids that's not the interpretation of this the interpretation of this is your decisions affect your children he's [00:29:50 – 00:30:20] telling if you do the same mistakes that your parents did and if the Next Generation perpetuates which is usually how it happens we pass on our idolatry to our children and they buy it because they trust us and then they continue to pass on so they're going to live enslaved lives they're not to go after God and perhaps you were raised and your parents told you Cs and DS is the only purpose of your life and you drank that [00:30:18 – 00:30:49] cool aid but God's purpose for you is to first to know him and to serve him and you have not even thought about that that's idolatry you know ancient people especially in um the time of Israel had three categories of God the three categories uh we'll spend a little more time on this I'm not going to spend as much time [00:30:48 – 00:31:18] on each of them but I think this is important for us is that they all had an individual God they had a family God and they had a national God God including the Israelites and for Israelites the personal God was different sometimes you know they would sometimes call it as Dagon you read [00:31:15 – 00:31:47] about that in Judges chapter 1623 or 1st Samuel verse 5 because that was a God that was giving them something or the golden calf at sometimes and they would sometimes have baale as their family God know their personal God was diing their family God was baale but they would not anytime you ask an Israelite who's your god they would think of God in a big National sense as Yahweh they would always say Yahweh is [00:31:43 – 00:32:13] my God no problem they would never say that they do not believe in Yahweh they had this compartmentalized View of who God was and some of us would be that way isn't it national God is okay I'm a Christian or I believe there is some God no problem about that or some power or [00:32:11 – 00:32:42] whatever it is I agree there is a God out there I grew up in church I believe in the Bible all that great stuff I'm I'm not even you know saying anything about it but then you if you ask about as a family who do you believe and ask them to tell a little bit more about their God that God may sound sometimes a little different than the god of the [00:32:39 – 00:33:10] Bible may sound like this Bale or a God who is like this constant AUM machine giving them everything they want or like a walking ambulance healing all the diseases all the time because I want my family to be fine I want myself to be fine because that's the God sometimes we tend to make up in our imagination ation and you go a little deeper and ask personally who is God to you the image that people sometimes create of a [00:33:07 – 00:33:37] personal God can be so different than who the real God is and all of these are Idols do we have a compartmentalized view of God like the Israelites you know aw toer says this the essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are Unworthy of him or untrue of him you don't have to have a physical Idol you [00:33:35 – 00:34:08] don't even have to have specific other big Idols like success career and all this but if you have this compartmentalized view of God you operate differently in these different Realms then that's idolatry all right let's move forward so he says first is you need to know me so you can know knowing me will give you purpose in life and you need to know what I am and what I am not not go after these other [00:34:05 – 00:34:38] things and thirdly shows them you need to R and respect me please don't take my name in Wayne you know God's name throughout the Old Testament is tied to his attributes names had meanings in the Old Testament you know that's one of the reason even you and I and especially children we should tell them is you don't call people names you don't stereotype people in usually with bullying in schools the first thing they [00:34:34 – 00:35:08] do is to try to pick a name that is pinned to the weakness of a person and call them that so that they can feel intimidated and they can start believing that's who they really are names have meanings so God is saying treat my name respectfully don't misrepresent who I am and and fourth he talks about explicitly [00:35:05 – 00:35:35] again you shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is above oh sorry I'm not um no it moves on to Sabbath it talks about worship says remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy there are only two of the 10 command commments that take up a lot of space one is about worship and the other we're [00:35:33 – 00:36:03] going to come and see is about parenting he's saying once if you want to have this great relationship with me if you want to understand your life know if you keep asking all these questions why am I here for what's the purpose of my life why did bad things happen to me why is there evil in this world why am I suffering so much well you cannot find answers without knowing me and to know me you need to worship me the way I have [00:36:01 – 00:36:37] to be worshiped worship involves stopping giving our attention or time and energy to other things that we normally do during the week and giving undivided attention to God in words and actions that's how all these things can come together in words by coming physically to a place like this singing praying [00:36:31 – 00:37:02] hearing God's word and in action is by resting what he says is not just I only don't want you to treat the Sunday morning church service time as Sabbath the whole day is the Lord's day and the morel and inspiration he gives is to Creation to what God himself did but God rested on the seventh day well God rested on the seventh day from creating anything but he never rests he's [00:36:59 – 00:37:34] continually at work to make sure you and I and this whole world and everything is working to Perfection and if we believe in that God we can rest God designed rest for our good because we can reset every week if we are going to continue to do the same thing we do six days a week even on the seventh day you're going to burn out so that's all these things this is how [00:37:32 – 00:38:04] you want to start when you start building a new nation and unless you know me like this you can't live like how I want you to live and you can't live like me and you can't live for me so get this right and that's why we have these first four as the Commandments because if you don't have these first four right if you don't agree with this [00:38:01 – 00:38:34] or believe with this or resonate with this none of what follows will make sense because everyone you and I left to ourselves I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it and how I want to do it isn't it and especially the that's the ethos of American individualism why should I not lie what's the big deal it's foolish to expect all always say the truth we hear this probably from your [00:38:31 – 00:39:02] colleagues you know we may not murder or steal but will not have any feelings of remorse to steal or present someone else's work as our own and not feel bad about it now this last week I was talking to one of our friends and he was sharing how in his company uh uh uh one entire team shamelessly asked him to use his work and told him we will not credit you we [00:38:59 – 00:39:32] will take it on our credit are you okay with that it's normal if you don't know God it's normal and since I was so encouraged to hear as this friend was sharing that he said please take this I don't need my name because I care about this product I care about this doing something good for the people eventually and I'm sure God will bless that isn't it but if you don't know and agree with this God so what because it's all about me isn't it that's counter Cal living [00:39:28 – 00:40:00] you will not be able to get that so once you have known God and you have set your priorities right you will seek to live for him you will learn to worship Him your life can now spill into showing this love that God has shown you to others as you have discovered him he created you he redeemed you and brought you so far and this is how you're going to start showing your love for others and guess where the first place it starts is the home and that's why [00:39:57 – 00:40:29] it begins with honor your father and mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you and there is a beautiful connection to it you know parents are supposed to represent God and his plans and his thoughts to us as children so love starts at home love begins at home and children this is a very important [00:40:27 – 00:40:59] command that God gives your parents have been expressions of God's love to you and that's the reason you need to honor them and listen to them and the blessing it says is that you will live long in the land it's not talking about individually oh if you honor your parents you'll have long life he's sing as the whole nation I want you to honor your parents who have this long relationship with me who know who my covenantal relationship so that I will [00:40:56 – 00:41:29] honor a covenant and as a nation you will survive you will have longevity otherwise you will be cut off and they did get cut off isn't it and after that this love that starts from the home has to spread out it says do not murder you know there's NIV has a different translation says do not kill there's a difference between killing and murder murder is something you do for your own personal selfish [00:41:25 – 00:41:56] gain and and the root of murder is anger you don't get something from someone and immediately all of that spills into literally taking life away we saw that um in Genesis immediately after the fall the first thing that happens was murder I want something not getting what I want so I will be angry I have the right to be angry and that's the [00:41:53 – 00:42:27] demonstration of absolute lack of love you can literally kill a person or especially in marriage you can kill the spirit of a person with your words that can be as lethal as pointed arrows or worse than bullets from a machine gun that can destroy and kill a person's Spirit CU I don't get what I want self-centeredness and the love needs to [00:42:24 – 00:42:55] be reflected in the most intimate Rel relationship of marriage and it says do not commit adultery he says I want your most intimate relationship to be modeled after my relationship with you you and I don't have a loose relationship where you can decide when you want to walk away or I will decide when I want to walk away I have covenanted myself with you I'm coming after you we are in this together for the long All For Eternity so when you create a marriage [00:42:52 – 00:43:23] institution the tendency is whether before marriage or after marriage wanting to have pleasure without commitment and that's why we don't recommend people to have relationships that are cohabitating together and living together before marriage because you're not really committing you're not covenanting with one another and that's a fake relationship and this whole dating scene [00:43:19 – 00:43:49] is so messed up right now isn't it and that's one of the reasons people are finding it hard to find someone even even online or all the dating apps is because everyone's looking not for a covenantal relationship they want to see does this person take all the boxes that will make my life happy God says no marriage is a covenantal one you cannot find or seek those relationships outside of that and [00:43:47 – 00:44:19] then talks about stealing the root of stealing is jealousy when we steal something it's it's about we take something that belongs to someone and you know what happens they don't have that for themselves to relish and then he talks about false witness saying things that can destroy others as false witness to when you start building a nation people will have issues and you have a civic responsibility to play your words matter [00:44:16 – 00:44:48] but also false witness is saying wrong things about people through slander or gossip and lastly he talks about coveting this is the non-quantifiable one it's the internal heart thing which is wanting what others want which is the root of others so this is how God wants you to live how do you live this can seem exhausting isn't it surprisingly in the New Testament in Mark chapter 10 you see there is a rich [00:44:45 – 00:45:16] young ruler who comes to Jesus and asks Jesus how then should I live and Jesus tells him well you know the old commment you know do not steal do not commit adultery and all of this and and he actually tells Jesus I have done all of these what would you tell Jesus when if Jesus tells you the same question obey all my Commandments and then you will have eternal life that was [00:45:14 – 00:45:45] his question what must I do to have eternal life sounds audacious isn't it and just Jesus cleverly leaves out one of the Ten Commandments which is do not CET and he says go sell all your stuff and then come after and it says he walked away sad because it's impossible for anyone to all the time consistently perfectly obey all of these because that needs love and you and I do not have that and to have a relationship with God he wants this personal perfect Perpetual [00:45:43 – 00:46:15] obedience we keep repeating this so many times isn't it none of us can have that but then there is an antidote for that when you do not have that it says we invoke God's Wrath and that's where we see someone who comes later who actually fulfills this and covers our unfulfilling of [00:46:12 – 00:46:42] these and he doesn't just stop with Mount Si he The Story Goes he creates a tabernacle we will see that afterwards where what happens what do you do when you break these how do you restore how do you come back to God he gives them a Tabernacle and and the temple eventually and gives them a way to get back to him but just all this already is too much for the nation of [00:46:38 – 00:47:08] Israel we read that we are going to move into the third part the response that they have the immediate first response that they have is Verse 18 it says now when all the people saw the Thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking the people were afraid and trembled and they stood far off and said to Moses you speak to us and we will listen but do not let God speak to us lest we [00:47:06 – 00:47:38] die you see what struck them immediately was a sense of awe and fear first time people saw God speaking and heard God speaking one of the questions children ask when they are youngest show me God where is God I want to see God or I want to hear God actually no you do not want it will be unbearable it will be so difficult the the loudness of the [00:47:36 – 00:48:06] lightning you know you you can get a glimpse of it I don't know if you've ever been caught by surprise by a sudden lightning bolt or thunder that shakes the core of your being imagine being in a place like this where there was constant lightning and thunder and in the midst of that was this Extremely Loud trumpet blowing and God speaking through that are our our faculties can't handle that and what God institutes for them [00:48:05 – 00:48:36] they they they first understand experientially God is huge God is big I need to worship I cannot enter into his presence I need a mediator so they tell Moses you go and talk to God and tell us we don't want to come they also realize once they hear these Ten Commandments that they are not perfect that not all these things are hard and just in the previous chapter God tells them don't come near if you're holy and pure if you touch you will die all this Terror incites in them a fear that they want [00:48:34 – 00:49:05] something else in between so that they can worship God thankfully the Bible does not end in Exodus chapter 20 isn't it because several hundred years later someone greater than Moses comes he also goes up to a mountain this time throngs of crowds follow him they're actually able to go up the mountain [00:49:02 – 00:49:33] along with him and draw near to him and this time he also opens his mouth and he speaks and for now there is no lightning there is no Thunder it is pure Marvel because this is now Jesus the one who is greater than Moses who goes up to the mountain on Galilee side and declares what we all know love know as the famous Sermon on the [00:49:30 – 00:50:02] Mount there was something beautiful in what he said the crowds marveled they don't have to be afraid and terrified but God was now he has come in human form in the form and face of his son Jesus Christ and he's still talking to people he talking to you and me because it was Jesus Christ himself and he unpacks the New Covenant for people which is the same it is for all people at all times we can now we now have a way to experience being in God's [00:50:00 – 00:50:31] presence without the terror not only is he on the mountain there he's now willing to come and abide in our own Hearts when we accept what he has said as he unpacks the New Covenant beginning with being poor in spirit humility is the very first step in wanting to have this Rich experience with God and he says if you you will be blessed you can have this blessed life if you are poor in spirit if you [00:50:29 – 00:51:00] recognize you mourn you are willing to repent for your sin if you become a Meek person through that and you've let goone of your pride and if you genuinely hunger and thirst for righteousness you're going to get the blessings of what it means to be in my presence right now and you will be my Covenant people and that's why I have come what the Israelites would never be in the old Covenant through the old Covenant through the [00:50:57 – 00:51:27] law I'm going to open it for each one of you to be as Kingdom people as I have now come to build my kingdom and he calls us his kingdom people we can now speak to this Jesus every day we can speak to him anytime anywhere and he speaks to us each day aren't we grateful for a covenantal God [00:51:23 – 00:51:54] who still wants your heart and my heart and before I close I want to leave some applications for us the first question is what is your true north what do you really believe do you have a compartmentalized view of God in your life is your concept of a personal God and a family God the same as the god of the [00:51:51 – 00:52:22] Bible or is it different reflect on that are is the terror of the old Covenant and the Ten Commandments as it struck you at any point of time in your life and made you feel you can never do it and led you to Jesus led you to examine the Sermon on the Mount I would encourage you to go and read the sermon on the mountain in its entirety you can never get tired of reading it those three chapters [00:52:20 – 00:52:52] Matthew's 5 to7 people who know me are so tired of why I keep reiterating that because that's the the beauty of the New Covenant where God Jesus gives a road map for what it is this is the gospel we we believe at Creed This is Gospel 101 for us The Sermon on the Mount we have a whole series on that there is a playlist I love and encourage you to read this and if you want to become members of our church or if you would like to serve in uh leadership capacities we want you to have an [00:52:49 – 00:53:21] experience of this gospel this New Covenant experience of having this relationship with Jesus thirdly reflect on how you de treat worship and rest and I said last week again but I want to reiterate today Sunday mornings are hard I get it you can't just flip the switch by walking in and immediately think you can [00:53:17 – 00:53:47] worship God isn't it so maybe as a first step to treating Sunday as a god ordained day of Sabbath and it actually should start on Saturday night before you go to bed with eager anticipation God prepare my heart help me to come reverentially to worship come maybe 5 10 minutes before sit down be quiet [00:53:44 – 00:54:15] pray that can be a small first step in treating worship and rest there's no law that says you shouldn't work God didn't say tell them don't do any work they still had to cook they still had to feed their animals they still had to take care of the herds but he was wanting them to not do the same thing they are doing 6 days a week for their good it's for our good you know it's so sad here in Silicon Valley people would love for you to work seven days a [00:54:12 – 00:54:43] week because what is the purpose for any company that you work for they have great vision statements in your company isn't it but all companies have only one vision statement which is increase the bottom line of the shareholders whether you want to change the world or this is is all balloony and if that means you have to sacrifice your Sunday do it and we tend to buy that but God says no he cares for us he says get rest preach [00:54:41 – 00:55:14] Sabbath they try to schedule games for our children on that day they try to put work on that day so that you can always be exhausted and and you know you can ask people how are you I don't know about you every time I ask nine out of 10 people respond to me I am tired let's take Sabbath rest seriously my dear friends and children for you honor your parents and lastly for all of us do you have the practice of being in [00:55:11 – 00:55:42] God's presence every day it's no longer frightening it's no longer terrorizing it's beautiful it's amazing enjoying his communion speaking to him and listening to him he no longer speaks to us through lightning and thunder he speaks to us through his word word and his spirit and it's there for us and if we miss meeting him in those moments your life's questions will never be answered you will not have strength to walk through life's challenges and trials and you can [00:55:39 – 00:55:51] ask yourselves All Those Questions when God has this I've made a New Covenant I have come to make you my kingdom men and women and may that be our heart's desire let's pray