We could turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 5. We're going to start a new series going through the Ten Commandments. I feel like I said everything I could say from the book of Proverbs, and I do like to make sure that Sunday nights are devoted to practical stuff, sort of practical Christianity. And I thought the Ten Commandments, though I preached on them a few years ago, certainly bears repetition every few years or so. So I want to read Deuteronomy chapter 5, and our focus this evening will be on verses 1 to 6. So beginning in verse 1, And Moses called all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive. The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain. He said, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it, you shall do no work, you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness with a loud voice. And he added, no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. So it was when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness while the mountain was burning with fire that you came near to me. all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said, Surely the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man, yet He still lives. Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire as we have and lived? You go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it. Then the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever. Go and say to them, return to your tents. But as for you, stand here by me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I am giving them to possess. Therefore, you shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for this written word of the living God. We thank you for these commandments. And God, help us to use them properly. Help us to understand their utility in the Christian life, their function, the threefold use of the law. Give us grace, Father, to see this revelation of who you are in these 10 words. And may it be the case that we would respond with this sort of fear before the living and true God. As well, may that be mingled always with great joy and thanksgiving, because you have saved us by your grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. You've called us to follow, you've given us the Holy Spirit, you've provided all the resources necessary. So God, again, forgive us for our sins and our transgression now, and help us as we study your word, and we pray through Christ our Lord, amen. Well, I just want to take a moment just to sort of locate the book of Deuteronomy in and amongst the other books of Moses. We know that he, under the inspiration of the Spirit, wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Essentially, we have the book of Genesis, which is the book of the beginnings, the creation of the world, the rebellion of man, and then God's plan and purpose to bless the nations through the seed of Abraham. And then the book of Exodus is composed, or the book of Exodus, the Exodus ultimately takes place in 1445 BC. And then the tabernacle was completed one year later, Exodus 40, 17 tells us. Now Leviticus picks up where Exodus leaves off to basically describe or define or indicate how sinful man can dwell in the presence of God. That's why Leviticus, the emphasis is heavy on sacrifice, on approach to God. Exodus ends with God dwelling among the people of Israel, but no one can meet with him. That's where Leviticus comes in and prescribes the rules by which the people of Israel can enjoy communion and fellowship with God. So Leviticus takes about, I'm sorry, Leviticus, there's no geographical movement in Leviticus. They stay there at Sinai. Now Numbers begins one month later at Sinai. So Numbers then engages or shows or demonstrates the 40 years that the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness. So Deuteronomy begins. 40 years later after numbers in the plains of Moab and the time of the date is 1405 BC. And essentially, Deuteronomy, this big book, is three addresses or exhortations by Moses. It's three addresses or exhortations by Moses to the children of Israel, that second generation, to prepare them for their tenure in the land. for their entrance into the promised land. Obviously after Deuteronomy, the passing of Moses, the successor is Joshua, and then the book of Joshua indicates the conquest of the land. So Moab is preparatory, the plains of Moab, where Moses is getting them ready so that they can embark on that conquest, where they can dispossess the land of Canaan from the Canaanites, and then they can occupy the land as God had promised them. So these speeches, these instructions, these exhortations, the first one is sort of a historical rehearse, a review in chapter 1 to chapter 4. The end of chapter 4 to chapter 28, the biggest of the addresses, is basically an exhortation to covenantal faithfulness, fidelity to God. And then the last one is from 29 to 30, where Moses is essentially calling them to summarizing and concluding all that he had said. So as we look now at Deuteronomy chapter 5, it is a second giving of the law. The law is initially given by God in Sinai at Exodus chapter 20. And then after Exodus chapter 20, you have 21 to 23, where those case laws or that judicial law is sort of explained for the children of Israel. They're tied into the Decalogue in the 10 words in chapter 20, but it defines for them the parameters on how they're to function when they come into the land. Exodus 24 is ratification of the covenant. That's when the people swear that everything that Yahweh has commanded, they will do. That obviously does not last long. By the time you get to Exodus 32, they're dancing around a calf. and ascribing to it the power of having brought them out of Egypt. So when we come to Deuteronomy, we know that the first generation passed away. They were judged by God. They were told they would not enter the land. This is the second generation. There's a couple of differences in the Decalogue, not differences in terms of contradiction, but in terms of amplification or a bit of a different emphasis that we'll note as we move through the commandments. But tonight I want to consider first the command to observe the law in verses 1 to 5, and then secondly the preface to the Decalogue. We don't just jump into the first commandment, but we need to see the preface. That's found in verse 6. So we have the command to observe the law in verses 1 to 5, we have the preface to the Decalogue in verse 6, and then we have the uniqueness of the Decalogue. Now, Decalogue simply means 10 words. That's all it means. If I say decalogue, that means ten words. I guess if I say ten words, that means decalogue. So the same is true either way. It just means the Ten Commandments. The commandments are called the Ten Commandments in a couple of places. They're called ten words in a couple of places. And over the history of interpretation, just a helpful identifier to sort of put on the Ten Commandments has been the decalogue. So if I say decalogue, everybody knows that I'm talking about the Ten Commandments. Note first this command to observe the law. All Israel is called upon here. Notice in verse one, Moses called all Israel and said to them, here, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them. and be careful to observe them." So all Israel is summoned to Moses on the plains of Moab to instruct them in their responsibilities to their covenant God. So it is heavy law. The emphasis is heavy on how God wants them to conduct themselves in a general sense with reference to the Ten Commandments, and then in a specific concrete way with reference to the rest of this section. As they go into the land, they need to function the way the Lord of the covenant has called them to. And when he says, hear, when he says, hear, O Israel, the idea is hear, understand, but also observe and do. That's the emphasis in the section. Meredith Klein says, hear, learn, keep, do. This chapter opens and closes with a charge to follow carefully the divine stipulations of the covenant that was in the process of solemnization. We need to observe not only what God says, but we need to put it into practice. And that's the emphasis here in verse 1. Notice as well, there is this emphasis on the ear. Go back for just a moment to chapter 4. In chapter 4, verses 10 to 14, we learn something interesting. concerning Yahweh of Israel. Verse 10, especially concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, gather the people to me, and I will let them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children. Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form. You only heard a voice. See, our religion, the religion of God most high is one of hearing. It's not of one of image making. It's not one of trying to capture what Yahweh looks like and bowing down to that. The prohibition of the second commandment is absolutely crucial. We see no form. We haven't appreciated God looking at us or having this sort of apparition to us. And then we fashion an idol. He goes on in verse 13. So he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform. the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess. In verses 2 and 3 in chapter 5, he reminds them of Horeb. Now, I should tell you that Horeb is synonymous with Sinai. It's called Horeb in Deuteronomy, but in the book of Exodus, it's Sinai. It's Mount Sinai where God reveals his law to the children of Israel. So anytime you're reading the book of Deuteronomy, I think there is one mention of Sinai in Deuteronomy, but for the most part, Sinai is referred to as Horeb in the book of Deuteronomy. It's the same place. It's not different. It's not contradictory. It's simply the way that Moses chooses to reveal this in the book of Deuteronomy. And then when he says in verse 3, the Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, I think we should understand what most commentators understand. He didn't make this covenant with our fathers only. It wasn't just with them, but it was with us as well, as Moses is saying in this particular instance. It wasn't that they were without covenant, it wasn't as if they didn't swear fidelity to Yahweh in Exodus chapter 24. I think the emphasis is specifically, He didn't make this covenant with them only, but, middle of verse 3, with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive. And then in verses 4 and 5, we see the goodness of God to His people. And this is something I think we under-appreciate at times. We don't always reflect on the blessed fact that God has revealed himself. God has given us scripture. God has given us his mind. God has given us his word. This is what produces in David that celebration of Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is essentially 176 verses of praise and adoration and worship to God for God's having spoken to us. We shouldn't under-appreciate the fact that we have the Bible in our lap. We shouldn't under-appreciate the fact that we have, from Genesis to Revelation, a God-inspired book that is infallible, it is inerrant, and therefore it is trustworthy in all its parts. It is trustworthy in history and science and doctrine and ethics, religious practice, or any other topic. We should praise God Almighty that He has given us this word, and while we ought to to certainly appreciate it as is consistent, we ought to make use of it. So notice in verse four, the Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. Again, God is spirit, it doesn't mean that they saw him, they didn't see the sort of big face up in the sky, but as Gil says, it means publicly, audibly, clearly, and distinctly, the children of Israel Heard these ten words now it evoked in them great fear as we continue in Deuteronomy chapter 5 and they themselves cry out for a mediator Who in the world could hear the very voice of God and live? So then Moses is appointed as the mediator to communicate on behalf of God to the children of Israel the various statutes and judgments and laws that that sort of unfold the Ten Commandments but in terms of the Ten Commandments all Israel heard this And this is what they're being reminded in the plains of Moab. The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire and you did not go up the mountain. The people feared God, so Moses mediated between God and them. And that certainly teaches us something that scripture everywhere affirms. We don't just wander in to the presence of a thrice holy God. We don't just sort of say, what's up? How are things going? We need a mediator, and Christ is the mediator of the new covenant. We come to the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. That's not just to emphasize the triunity of our living and true God, but it is to highlight the way of access. Sinful man cannot stand in the presence of a holy God without a mediator. and the mediator is Christ. He is prophet, priest, and king. He is the one way alone by which sinners find themselves accepted in God's presence. Now let's move secondly to the preface of the Decalogue, the preface of the 10 Commandments. Notice in verse six, it sort of sets the context for the law that is to follow. And that context is one of grace. In other words, we see something at least consistent with New Covenant salvation. We're justified freely by God's grace, and then God calls us to live in a particular manner. In other words, sanctification always follows after justification, and that same sort of pattern is observed in this instance. Notice what we have in the preface. It says, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. That is an act of grace. That is an act of redemption. That is an act of God's liberating his people. This isn't liberation theology, but the language certainly holds. It is liberation in the sense that they were in bondage, they were subject to the Egyptians, they were in that state of slavery, and God freely, graciously, and mercifully delivers them from that. So this law code that follows is not, now I want you to do this in order that I will redeem you. No, God's redeemed you, now this then is how you ought to live. It's not absolutely positively 100% consistent with our new covenant salvation, but there's certainly a parallel to a degree. So we've got grace first, and then God calls them how they ought to function. Now with reference to the preface, note the identity of the lawgiver. He says, I am the Lord your God. The giver of the law is God. Now, it's often called the law of Moses, and that's not incorrect. It's not heretical. It's not bad to say it's the law of Moses insofar as Moses was a mediator, insofar as Moses was a communicator, but it's not Moses that wrote the law. It's not Moses that came up with the law. It's not Moses who put this law together. It was God the Lord who gave it. And that is highlighted in this particular preface. He said, I am the Lord your God. This points to his authority. The fact that the name Yahweh is utilized there in verse six highlights the fact that he is their covenantal Lord, their covenantal God. You'll know that this language Yahweh or this term or identifier comes from Exodus 3.14, when God said, I am who I am. Now, how do we define that? Well, we ask, Charnock, Turretin, and Boving. Charnock says it signifies, this name Yahweh, his immutability as well as his eternity. Turretin says, but since eternal existence, omnipotent power, and immutable truth belongs to God alone, the name Jehovah, which embraces all these three, ought to be peculiar to him alone. Boving says Yahweh describes him as the one who in his grace remains forever faithful. Now, someday, as we continue in our Wednesday night studies, we're going to get to Exodus 3. You know, unless we all die or, you know, we're raptured before then. Little joke, don't, don't, you know, tar and feather me. But we'll eventually get to Exodus 3.14. That is a huge statement in Holy Scripture. one that demands the attention of God's people, and one that demands accurate interpretation and articulation. I think one of the things that, as I'm musing on this series on the Ten Commandments, a gift given by the Reformed faith to the rest of the Christian world is covenant, and from covenant comes a proper understanding of the law of God. I don't know how Lutherans, and I don't know how, you know, Anglicans, and I don't know how Catholics really get into all these particulars in terms of the law, but the Reformed emphasis on the law in a proper covenantal context is absolutely brilliant. It is absolutely consistent with what we find in Scripture, and I commend it to you wholeheartedly. Our confession of faith, chapter 19, is certainly a high point of Christian interpretation of the law of God. I would suggest chapter 7 as well, of God's covenant. If Christians get their heads wrapped around those two chapters, in particular, I think a lot of questions concerning the law, concerning application of that law, would be answered. So if you don't have a copy of that confession, I would encourage you to take one. But we see the giver of the law is God Almighty. The authority of the law giver is highlighted. And then notice the personal nature of this God. He says, I am the Lord, your God. I am the Lord, your God. We have a religion. of personal pronouns. We have a religion where the Apostle Paul can say that concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved me and who gave himself for me, we have a religion where Thomas, who at one time was doubting, one time was sort of incorrigible with reference to the resurrection of our Lord, when he lays his eyes upon the Savior, he says, my Lord and my God, not some far removed nebulous concept of deity, but he's my Lord and my God. And the same obtains here on the plains of Horeb, it obtained at Exodus 20 at Sinai. I am the Lord your God. Now notice the activity of the lawgiver. Verse six, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. His personal involvement with his people. Now, I realized that We don't always appreciate this as well. And I'm not chiding anybody. I'm not saying you guys are all messed up. You know, in preaching, I'm preaching to myself also. But Psalm 103, David muses on the fact, rehearses the blessed truth that God pities his children. God knows our frame. He knows that we're but dust. He is intimately familiar with each and every one of us. And the same sort of thing is seen here in God's involvement with the children of Israel. He saw their suffering. You can turn to Exodus chapter two. Exodus chapter two. is to see his personal involvement in the lives of his people. And I hope that this is an encouragement to understand his personal involvement in the lives of his people didn't cease with the collapse of the theocracy of Israel. It continues in this new covenant era. He is personally involved in the lives of his people. He knows us. He cares for us. As Paul says, he loved me and he gave himself for me. But here his involvement is seen when he views and observes the suffering of the children of Israel. Notice in Exodus 2.23. Now, it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. Same emphasis in verse seven of chapter three. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. That's a blessed statement, isn't it? Not just corporate Israel knew, or God knew their sorrows, but he knows the sorrows of his church. He knows the heartaches of his people. He knows the afflictions that we undergo. And he does pity us. He does remember us. He does know our frame. and He's there to sustain, encourage, and grant perseverance. This is the same true and living God that is over us. Exodus chapter 6, same emphasis in verse 5. Exodus chapter 6, And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. Spurgeon says this is the privy key of heaven. Heaven must act when we ask God or invoke God to remember his covenant. This is what he is bound to do. As well, he acts on their behalf. He not only observes. Imagine if I saw your suffering and your misery and your heartache, and I said, that's really too bad that you're going through those sorrows. And then I just sort of walked away. You'd say, well, You know, that and five bucks can get me a cup of coffee at Starbucks. I mean, it's not really helpful. You see, God not only sees the sorrow, God not only observes their suffering, God not only remembers his covenant, but he acts on their behalf. And that act is personal. Again, it is providential and it is most powerful. Look at sort of the end of the plagues in Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12 at verse 29. I think this underscores the providential, powerful, and personal act of God on behalf of his people with reference to his involvement. in Exodus chapter 12, 29. And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Turn to Numbers 33 as well. Numbers 33, just to see God's personal involvement in the lives of His people. And Numbers 33 is basically a triptych. It's basically a review of where they had been. But there's this statement in verse three that I think should cause the people of God to stand in awe, or three and four, that should cause the people of God to stand in awe. Look at verse one of chapter 33 in Numbers. These are the journeys of the children of Israel who went out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the Lord. And these are their journeys according to their starting points. They departed from Ramesses in the first month on the 15th day of the first month. On the day after the Passover, the children of Israel went out, notice, with boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians. How did they go out with boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians? Well, verse four tells us, their God is God Almighty. Their God is in the language of Melchizedek and Abram, God most high. He acts providentially, he acts powerfully, he acts personally for his people. Verse four, for the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn whom the Lord had killed among them. Also on their gods, the Lord had executed judgments. I realize that this is not something that would encourage an Egyptian, but the Israelites would revel in this. They would delight in this. They would rejoice in this. An act of judgment against the enemies of God and his people is an act of mercy to them. The constant refrain in Psalm 136, for the mercy of the Lord endures forever. One of the stanzas says that God destroyed Pharaoh and his armies, for the mercy of the Lord endures forever. Not if you were an Egyptian, but if you were an Israelite, if you were the covenant people of God, your God acted on your behalf. And he does it personally. It's the Lord who killed these enemies of the church. It was the Lord who dispatched these persons that held them in bondage. God works for his people, and that is communicated to us in the preface of the Ten Commandments. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And he does this for his glory. Turn to Exodus chapter nine. Exodus chapter nine. passage that the apostle Paul appeals to in Romans chapter nine. But in Exodus chapter nine, we see some of the sort of motivation. I don't know if that's the correct language, driving force. God is concerned, obviously, with the sufferings of his people, and he wants to vindicate them and free them from bondage. But God as well is also communicating, declaring, and demonstrating his own glory to his creation. And in verse 13, we see in chapter nine of Exodus at the seventh plague, then the Lord said to Moses, rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me. For at this time, I will send all my plagues to your very heart and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. You see, it was not only to deliver his people from bondage, but it was also the execution of judgment against the gods of Egypt. They had a pantheon. They had a whole host of gods. Scholars and commentators tell us that each one of the plagues answered to a particular god that the Egyptians held near and dear. And so God is showing them that he is supreme. God is showing them that he is alone, the true and the living God. As we continue on in this passage, notice. Verse 15, now if I had stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up that I may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth. We should never think that man's happiness, man's felicity, man's beatitude and blessing is inconsistent with the glory of God. God's glory is achieved in the vindication and salvation of His people. This is why Paul ends Romans 11 with doxology. Having trafficked in the great truths of predestination, sovereign grace and election, he ends on that note for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. God's glory is demonstrated in the salvation of his people and that's one of the driving forces in his liberation of the children of Israel from this house of bondage. He does it as well, consistent with his promise to Abraham. We have been studying that promise to Abraham in our studies and in the book of Genesis, and of course, for their well-being. Now, before we conclude this particular point, again, I want to highlight, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. I think we ought to appreciate the commandments in this light. At one point, they were in a place where they couldn't freely worship Yahweh. They were not free to engage in the worship of the living and the true God. So when that first word comes to them, you shall have no other gods before me, I think we take the commandments at times. We see them as burdensome. We see them as oppressive. We see them in a manner that they're just heavy and they're just weighty. This was a declaration of liberty. I have brought you out of that house. Now you shall have no other gods before me. That's a blessed joy to the redeemed heart. When God says don't make idols, they had been in an idol factory. This would be welcomed by that. When God says don't blaspheme my name, again, it's not heavy, it's not oppressive, it's not burdensome. When God says remember the Sabbath day, the issue isn't, oh, I can't go to the lake, oh, I can't go to Tim Hortons, oh, That's the way we approach the law of the living and true God, and it is fundamentally flawed. John the Apostle tells us that his commandments are not burdensome. They're not grievous. If you, as a redeemed sinner, look at the law of God and find it to be anything other than a delight, repent. forsake your sin and embrace the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, who says in John 14, 15, if you love me, you'll do what? You'll keep my commandments. You won't whine, grumble, complain. Oh, certainly there is remaining corruption. Certainly there is that proneness to wander and proneness to leave the God that we love. But the overarching concern of the people of God is, oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation day and night. When it comes to that fifth word, that's not an act of oppression. It ensures goodness in the lives of families and goodness in the life of society. Murder, oh wow, what an oppressive thing. God doesn't want us to kill anybody. I hope that's not our attitude. You shall not commit adultery. Why any person with the spirit of the living God in their heart would ever even begin to think that way shows us how twisted and deformed we are. God's given marriage and the marriage bed for the joy of his people. And then that eighth word, we're not supposed to steal. Again, this idea that the commandments of God are grievous or are burdensome or are heavy completely obliterates the reality that in a sense, it's a declaration of liberty. I have brought you out of this and now I'm calling you to live in a particular manner. I'm not preaching we can be saved by law. I am preaching, however, that those saved by grace ought to have a keen appreciation for the law. So remember the context that the preface affords to us as we move our way through the commandments. And then, I want to just quote a couple of guys. Walter Kaiser says, "...the lawgiver places his law in the environment of grace, for it was his gracious act of redemption and deliverance from Egypt that revealed his name Yahweh." So please don't bypass the declaration of liberation in verse six, jumping right into the law and then saying, wow, this is oppressive. Wow, this is a burden. No, we ought to pray or say with David, oh, how I love your law. And then thirdly, and finally, in terms of the uniqueness of the Decalogue, I mentioned this morning that there's a threefold division of the law. It's not only moral law, but there's ceremonial law and there's judicial law. The moral law abides. The moral law does not depend upon the covenant for its validity or utility. It's trans-covenantal. So if it's old covenant, it's the moral law, the Ten Commandments. If it's new covenant, it's moral law, the Ten Commandments. You know this from Jeremiah 31. When Jeremiah, under God, says, I will write my law in their hearts, they didn't wonder, what law is he talking about? It's that law that they couldn't keep in their own strength, but through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the work of God most high on the hearts of sinners, regenerating them, giving them faith, giving them that knowledge of God, giving them that forgiveness of sins, and internalizing that law, he makes them willing in the day of his power to do what he has called them to. So moral law abides. Moral law is for us. There is never a time when we are out from under the moral law. The ceremonial law was fulfilled by Jesus. We are no longer under that ceremonial law in terms of the food laws, in terms of fibers, in terms of the sacrificial system, in terms of having to bring a goat on on a Saturday to the priest and cut its throat and offer it up and all that sort of thing. Those things prefigured and those things typified the coming of the Lord Jesus. So Christ fulfills that. And then as I said this morning, there is that judicial law, those rules, those statutes, those judgments that would govern their life in the land. They were not supposed to be like the Canaanites. There's this common sort of misconception out there that, you know, God just commanded Israel to go in and commit genocide, go and obliterate all those nice and innocent Canaanites. I mean, these nice, innocent Canaanites that had their lands, they had their families, they had their businesses, they were not nice, innocent Canaanites. Leviticus 18, we learn that what God wants is for Israel to be His means of justice and judgment to bring to bear His wrath and His righteousness upon those wicked Canaanites. Now, when Israel functions in a like manner, When Israel apes the Canaanites, and when Israel engages in idolatry, and Israel engages in a rebellion against the living and true God, he then raises up the Assyrians to drive out the northern kingdom. He then raises up the Babylonians to drive out the southern kingdom. You see, this was to be a law that would govern them in the land, that would distinguish them from the pagans around them. When there's the prohibition against bestiality, for instance, that's not given in a vacuum. That's what Canaanites did. Not every Canaanite, but that certainly was practiced. Witchcraft, soothsaying, all these particulars that God speaks against in the Old Testament, it's not that he's just sort of making things up. It's when they go into the promised land, they are going to be confronted by these things. And so that judicial law was to govern their conduct toward one another in the land in a manner that was consistent with the Decalogue and with who God is. He didn't want them to go into the land and live like Canaanites. He wanted them to go in the land and live like his covenant people. He says as much in this particular chapter. So the moral law abides. Our confession says the same law that was first written in the heart of man continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall and was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai in 10 commandments and written in two tablets, the four first containing our duty towards God and the other six, our duty to man. Notice the consistency there. It links it with Adam. What law was Adam given? Adam was given the same law. John Lightfoot says, Adam heard as much in the garden as Israel did at Sinai, but only in fewer words and without thunder. Now, when we talk about the two tables of the law, it is very common to talk about the first table, which is our duty to God, those first four commandments. And then the second table, which is our duty toward man. Now, in terms of the two tablets themselves, it probably wasn't four and then six. It was probably ten and ten. See, in a covenant, in a contract, in an agreement, both parties to that contract get a copy. Both parties to that contract get a copy for their own records. Both of these are placed in the Ark of the Covenant, God's copy and the people's copy, to show that agreement is binding. It is, in fact, a covenant that holds. So don't think four, then six. Think 10 and 10, and both are placed into the Ark of the Covenant. The one copy is the Lord's, the other copy is Israel's. But the convention of speaking in the first table and second table, that's good and consistent. So the ceremonial law is abrogated because of Jesus Christ. The judicial law, again, our confession. To them also he gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people, not obliging any now by virtue of that institution, their general equity only being of moral use." Now I would suggest that last phrase is loaded. That last phrase is huge. And it's certainly not in my place to try and unfold it all tonight. Their general equity only being of moral use. What exactly does that mean? We'll ask five different theologians and you'll probably get five different answers. But the point of the confession is simply this. The judicial law expired with that commonwealth. The general equity means that the wisdom of God revealed in that judicial law is for us today. As I mentioned this morning, if God says put a fence around your roof so people don't fall off and die, we should certainly put fences around our swimming pools. We should certainly make sure that we see the connection to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments that these case laws go back to. And by God's grace, we ought to follow those sorts of things. because it's wise, it's good, and as John Gill has rightly pointed out, it would certainly discourage the litigiousness of modern society. Now, as we finalize this particular point, one of the things that's intriguing about the Ten Commandments that sets it off from the ceremonial and from the judicial is that they're written with the finger of God. This comes up often. In fact, there's a great book on the threefold division of the law for those so inclined by Philip Ross, and it's called The Finger of God, or From the Finger of God. If anybody's interested in studying this stuff out further, I can't recommend that book highly enough. It is most excellent, but there are several instances where we see that they are written with the finger of God. Notice in Exodus 34. Just to see the uniqueness. You don't get this in the prohibition against shellfish. Not that that isn't God's word, but there is a distinctiveness about the Decalogue of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 34 verse 28. So he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tables the words of the covenant, the 10 commandments. I'm sorry, this is the identification of the 10 commandments. In Exodus 34, 28, and then Deuteronomy 4, 13. For the finger of God, go back to Exodus 24. Exodus 24. Verse 12, then the Lord said to Moses, come up to me on the mountain and be there. And I will give you table or tablets of stone and the law and commandments, which I have written that you may teach them. The language of the finger of God is not there, but I have written them. Again, not that he's not the giver of the ceremonial and the judicial, but the 10 commandments are set apart. The Ten Commandments are highlighted as directly coming from God himself. And then we see it as well in 3118. 3118 in the book of Exodus. And when he had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. Exodus 34, verse 1. And the Lord said to Moses, cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Verse 28. So he was there with the Lord, 40 days, there it is at the end, and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Deuteronomy 4.13. Deuteronomy 4.13. Again, this idea that the commandments, the Ten specifically, are written by God, written with the finger of God. Verse 13 of Deuteronomy 4, So he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. You see it there in our chapter in chapter five at verse 22. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. Again in Deuteronomy chapter nine and verse 10. Then the Lord delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God. And then again in chapter 10 at verse four. And he wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the 10 commandments which the Lord had spoken. You see, again, God is sovereign and the giver of the ceremonial and the judicial, but specifically speaking with reference to the Decalogue, He writes them. It's His finger that pens them, that shows that they are in some sense offset from the others. It is abiding. It is forever. And then the placement of these tablets in the Ark of the Covenant. Exodus chapter 40, you see it as well in Deuteronomy 10. And then Hebrews chapter 9 tells us that these tablets were placed in the Ark of the Covenant. So there's a uniqueness to the Decalogue which highlights its abiding perpetuity in the lives of God's people. It is simply not the case, as some would like to have it, that the Ten Commandments were for Israel and not for the Gentile Church. That is incorrect. That is false. That is not what the Bible teaches. The Ten Commandments are always for God's people, no matter what covenant they find themselves under. If they're in the Old Covenant, it's the Decalogue. If they're in the New Covenant, it's the Decalogue. And we need to appreciate that consistency because it is, in fact, the revelation of who God is. Well, in conclusion, we need to, first of all, appreciate the threefold use of the law. As we move our way through this, There's three ways that persons use the law. You've probably heard me say this before. It bears repetition because that's how we're going to treat the law. There is in the first place what's called the civil or the political use. That means God's law is given to sort of restrain creatures. If you lived in a society where there was no law, I mean, on the one hand, that sounds good, but on the other hand, it's not good, because men are lawless, men are wicked, men do need restraint. Do they need the sort of restraint that we see in modern governments? I would argue no, but nevertheless, we need restraint to some degree or other. Maimonides, the 12th century philosopher and exegete, said there were 613 commandments in the Pentateuch. Now, that may seem like a big number until you consider what modern states have in terms of laws. There's a law prohibiting everything. There's a law, you know, demanding everything today. I can't even imagine how many new laws each year come out in bodies politic. It may sound like a lot, but it's really not. But there is a sense where the law given by God functions as a force for the restraint of sin. So the civil or political use, that's the first use. Secondly, there's what's called the pedagogical. Let me define that. A pedagogue is a teacher. A pedagogue is a child tutor. A pedagogue is one who instructs little ones, and the law functions that way, and particularly to show us our sin so that we'll see our need for the Savior. This second use of the law is crucial For unbelievers, we need to tell them how they have sinned and violated God's law so that we can press upon them the glorious truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. It's useful for the believer as well. We need to be reminded. that Christ is the end of the law, that Christ is the one to whom we are to go as guilty, vile, helpless sinners. The pedagogical use is most crucial in terms of handling the law. As Moeller says, it's the use of the law for the confrontation and refutation of sin and for the purpose of pointing the way to Christ. But Heidelberg asks the question, how do you know your sin and misery? How do you know? By the law of God. When I see that God demands love to him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and when God demands love from me to my neighbor as myself, I see how far short I have come and how much I need the Redeemer, the Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. Augustine says, through the law, God opens man's eyes so that he sees his helplessness and by faith takes refuge to his mercy and is healed. John Bunyan said, the man who does not know the nature of the law cannot know the nature of sin, and he who does not know the nature of sin cannot know the nature of the Savior. And I think this is one of the places where at least, maybe not hopefully in reformed churches, but in the evangelical world, I wonder if the law is being preached as a pedagogue. I wonder if people are being told that they're sinful, they're guilty, they're vile before a holy God, and they need Jesus Christ. As one is well pointed out today, the church is all about telling people to be happy, happy, happy. We need a righteousness that avails with God that is only through the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And so we need to know of our unrighteousness, of our lawlessness, of our abject misery before we'll ever look to Christ. It's a very simple thing, isn't it? You want to show somebody their need for a remedy, you tell them their problem. And if we're not telling them their problem, if we're telling them their problem isn't that they're as happy as they could be, then we're gonna prescribe the wrong remedy. That second use of the law is vital. And then the third use, we call it the normative, which simply means the normal, day in, day out use of God's law in the lives of his people. So it kind of goes like this. Prior to our salvation, the law comes and tells us how bad we are and how much we need Jesus. By God's grace, he gives us faith and repentance so that we believe in Christ and close with Christ. And then Christ gives us his spirit and points us to his law and says, this is how I want you to live. Not that you're going to be perfect and not that you're going to be, you know, absolutely sinlessly great, but this is the pattern for our sanctification. Sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is truth. Again, Augustine says the law was given in order that we might seek grace. Grace was given in order that we might fulfill the law. It's a really simple procedure. Civil use, it restrains the abject wickedness of man. Pedagogical, we publish the law so that sinners see their need for Christ and by grace flee to Christ. When they come to Christ, Christ says, okay, this is how you're supposed to live and he gives us the spirit and he gives us this desire to comply. Turretin says, before it, the law, was an instrument of the spirit of bondage to throw down and bruise man. But afterwards, it becomes the instrument of the spirit of adoption to promote sanctification. Thus, the law leads to Christ, and Christ leads us back to the law. It leads to Christ as the Redeemer, and Christ leads to the law as the leader and director of life. So God willing, as we move through these commandments, we're gonna look at each of these uses. How do we use the first commandment? Well, there's the civil use, there's the pedagogical, and there's the normative, and we need to understand those things, hopefully, so that we'll grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus, and be further conformed unto His glorious image. Now, one final thing, and I mean it this time. The Westminster Larger Catechism, along with several Reformed authors, give us a list of rules on how to understand the law, how to understand the commandment. Not a list of rules like, you know, you're a fool and you need me to come. Just some hermeneutical help, some principles of interpretation. I think it's Larger Catechism number 99. Calvin deals with it at length. Turretin deals with it. Hodge, Dabney, Brockle. And again, this is to me, if I were, anybody ever asked me, what gift has the reformed world given to the church? A good appreciation of God's law. A good appreciation of how to deal with the various commandments and statutes and judgments and laws that we find in scripture. The one that I'm gonna say that we're gonna follow, we're gonna try to follow all of them, I don't wanna give you eight or nine, from the larger catechism and then have a quiz next week because I don't think any of us would pass. But the one thing we need to appreciate, where a duty is commanded, the contrary sin is forbidden. And where a sin is forbidden, the contrary duty is commanded. So some of them are negative only. You shall not murder. But a proper interpretation of that law not only sees the prohibition against ending someone's life, but positively we ought to promote life. Positively. The confession, for instance, talks about how men should eat properly, men should exercise. I don't mean men alone, men and women. a moderate use of the various things that God has given. So it's not only a prohibition against ending life, but it's a positive statement on extending life and caring for oneself. When it comes to not committing adultery, yeah, you're not supposed to actually go into the bed of another human being who's married. But positively, we're supposed to be chaste, we're supposed to be moderate, we're supposed to be modest, we're supposed to engage in the sorts of things that are pleasing to God. So that's what that rule specifies. If it's a negative, then the implication is there's a positive inverse. And that's how we'll treat, God willing, the commandments as we move through them. Well, let us close in a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for The Decalogue, we thank you for these 10 words written with the finger of God. And I pray that you'd bless this study. I pray that you would give us wisdom, not only to hear and to understand, but to apply the things that are written in the scripture. I ask that you would fill us with the Holy Spirit, that you would keep us by your sovereign grace, and even now go with us and cause your face to shine upon us, help us to know your peace and your involvement in our own lives. And we ask these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation.