Youth & Outreach Director, Hunter Newton, preached this message on August 24, 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Audio Transcript
Internationally, but we get to do and carry out the same work of the gospel right here, too. Friends, we’re going to be continuing our series on covenants, so you can start making your way in your bibles to Exodus 19. Let me just give you some time as we get there. Let me just say, too, for the average American, I think, if you like, if you look at the Pew Research Studies, you look at Lifeway, Barna, various research groups, if you were just to ask, just a stranger, what’s the line like, if. So assuming somebody believes in some sort of afterlife, some version of heaven, like the common consensus is, okay, well, basically, if you ask him who’s good enough, a lot of people will say, as long as you’re not an axe murderer or something terrible along that lines, you’re probably good enough.
You’re probably. Well, this idea of their God would say, well, just as long as you’re not really terrible, you’re good, you’re good to go. And that’s how some of us probably believed too, before we knew Christ. Because the secular worldview has no framework for an infinitely holy, wonderfully beautiful God. And we’re naturally really good at justifying ourselves, aren’t we?
I didn’t do it as my sibling. I know I can have that extra piece of cake. I walked 2/10 of a mile today.
I can just go a little bit further. I can have a little bit more. We’re good at that, aren’t we? We’re good at justifying ourselves and thoughts like this about how am I good enough? I mean, they track.
If we have no concept of an infinitely holy God, then, yeah, it makes sense why we would believe what we do. But so much of why our Bible is written, friends, is to push back what we naturally think God is like with what he’s actually like with who he actually is and then who we are in light of that reality. In this series on covenants, we’ve been looking at these promises of God that He’s made with his people throughout redemptive history. And today we turn our attention to the Mosaic covenant that he makes with Moses on Mount Sinai. And so we’re going to be in Exodus 19 through 24, we’re not going to read and pick apart all, all of that like we are probably accustomed to us doing here.
We typically do what’s called expository preaching, taking a line or two or maybe a paragraph of scripture and pulling out the meeting. Right? Expositing the meeting. And today it’s more of a topical, okay, what is this whole topic of the Mosaic covenant, what does that mean? And why does that matter for us?
Why did it matter to the people then? Why does it matter for us today? Here’s what I’m gonna argue. Cause I think the text is trying to communicate most primarily is the big idea of the Mosaic covenant is that God wants his people to know they need him. God wants his people to know that they need him.
We’re going to stop in a few different spots in Exodus, and then we’ll finish our time in Hebrews 9. In Hebrews 19:1 8, we’ll look at the fact that God roots his this covenant, but this covenant in particular, but his covenant in promise. That’ll be in Exodus 19:1:8. Then we’ll move to. We’ll read the majority of Exodus chapter 20.
And there he lays out the basic framework of the Law. And the law really starts in Exodus 20 and goes through 24. And we’ll see there that the standard for receiving the promise of the Mosaic covenant is so totally unattainable. And then we’ll turn to Hebrews 9 and see that only through Christ, the perfect covenant keeper, can we receive the blessing of the promise. So that’s where we’re going.
We’re trying to explain this morning the big idea of the Mosaic Covenant is that God wants his people to know they need him. And like I mentioned earlier, it’s different than our typical Sunday morning. That’s kind of how our whole series has been. So we’ll read a portion of Scripture, explain it, apply it, and then move on. So we’re going to do our first thing first.
We’ll go to Exodus 19:1 through 8. And there we’re going to look at how God roots his covenants and promise. Exodus 19:1 8. God’s word there says, in the third month from the very day the Israelites left the land of Egypt, they came to the Sinai wilderness. They traveled from Rephidim, came to the Sinai wilderness and camped in the wilderness.
Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Moses went up the mountain to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain. This is what you must say to the house of Jacob and explain to the Israelites. You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you out to myself. And here’s the promise that he makes in verse five and six.
Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation. Notice he keeps saying my, my kingdom, my holy nation. These are the words that you were to say to the Israelites. Take us to verse 7 and 8. After Moses came back, he summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.
Then the people resounded together. We will do all that the Lord has spoken. So Moses brought the people’s words back to the Lord. Our big idea. God wants people to know they need him.
One way that he explains that, that he shows that he roots his covenant and promise. And the promise of the Mosaic covenant right in verse is here in verses five and six. There’s three things that he lists here. He promises to make his people a kingdom of priests, to be his prized nation, to be a holy nation, to be his. And he uses that.
We pointed out he used that word. My, my, these will be my people. It’s an intimate, wonderful knowledge that God wants to have of Israel. What’s the stipulation, though? They have to keep his covenant.
They have to hold up their portion of of the agreement. The exact makeup of what is all expected of them we’ll get to in our next point. But God roots his covenant in this promise of grace. He says he roots his covenant in his promise of you will get me, you will get blessing. You will get these things that are far better than you can imagine or come up with on your own.
He offers this wonderful gift, a tremendous prize to his people. He offers to make them a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, his people. Every promise, friends, is not. Every promise of God is not hollow lip service. Maybe some of us have had friends or family or acquaintances at work that have made lofty promises, but we know they don’t mean it.
That’s not how it is with God. Numbers 23:19 says God cannot lie. In the New Testament, Paul writes that every promise is yes and amen in Jesus. We like to say around here that every promise of God either has come true or will come true. So God’s not offering these things and not intending to keep good on them.
God’s saying, I’m a guaranteed thing here. If you keep your portion, I’ll keep mine. And he’s giving this to his people. It may be a helpful more to offer an in depth explanation of exactly what’s going on we’ve talked about. A covenant is like a sacred oath.
It’s the closest human comparison we have to it is covenant of marriage. It’s not something that’s flippant. It’s more than a contract. And he offers in verses five and six here, let’s just read again. Now, if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine.
And you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation. He offers us to them. So what exactly does that mean? Well, to be his people, his possession. Maybe it’s helpful to think of as the.
Think about the most intimate, wonderful relationships you have on this side of heaven. Like they’re close. You don’t wonder where you stand with a good relationship, do you? You come back to and say, I know that I’m his and he’s mine. Or whatever, whatever situation it exactly is.
We don’t have to wonder, am I good today? Are we on good terms? Like if you have a good, wonderful, close knit relationship. Yes. Like you shouldn’t go out.
We shouldn’t go out of our way to commit terrible things to that person. But a few of those is not going to damage the relationship. That’s what God’s offering his people. He wants to be so intimately, delightfully ours. And we get to be his.
It’s an absolute privilege. And Douglas Stuart, writing for the New American Commentary, then he goes on to explain what does it mean to be a kingdom of priests. He says priests stand between God and humans to help bring the humans closer to God and to help dispense God’s truth, justice, favor discipline and holiness to humans. So not only is he saying, I want you to be mine, I want to know you personally, well, intimately. He says, I want you to stand in the gap for me.
I want you to show the world, show everyone who I am. But he doesn’t stop there. He says to be. And then we keep going. The third promise, right?
To be a holy nation, to be a set apart people. At its core, that’s what holiness is, is set apartness. And if we’re being honest, it’s like Godness. And if we’re being really honest, it’s okay to be really honest in church. We should be really honest in church.
Holiness often means weirdness, like for just being truthful, you’re going to look weird. If you care about holiness. Being holy is a call to be like God into a watching world that’s gonna look different. I promise you, if you’re a young person and you refuse to sleep with your boyfriend or girlfriend that you are not married, you’re going to look weird. If you don’t cheat on your taxes when it could help you a lot, a bit.
You’re going to look weird if you refuse to bad mouth someone at work, even though it could gain you a promotion. You’re going to look kind of weird. It’s not going to make sense. God is offering his people that. He says, I want you to be so totally not only mine.
I want you to stand the gap for me, but I want you to be my people who are not only mine, who are standing in the gap for me, but are looking more like me. These are wonderful promises, are they not? To be known by God, to serve God, to be like God.
All this is what he’s offering to the people of Exodus 19. This is the divine promise of the Mosaic covenant. He says, if you are faithful to me in my covenant, then I will make you my possession. I will make you a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And this is an incredible promise that God makes himself.
It’s good he’s going to give it if they hold up their portion. I mean, the problem is, as you can probably see, where I’m going is there’s no chance that they’re going to hold up their portion. There’s no chance that this standard is even remotely attainable. Let’s turn our attention to Exodus 21 through 21. Let’s see what the standard that he expected them to keep.
Right. Like I said before, 20 through 24 is really all the law he’s talking about. But this is a helpful summary.
Exodus 21:21. Then God spoke all these words. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. Do not have other gods besides me. Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth.
Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the Father’s iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands. Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name. Remember the Sabbath day. To keep it holy, you were to labor six days and do all your work.
But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work. You, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock or the resident alien who is within your city gates. For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything in them in six days. Then he rested on the seventh day.
Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy. Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony against your neighbor. Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the ram’s horn, and the mountains surrounded by smoke. When the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. You speak to us and we will listen, they said to Moses. But don’t let God speak to us or we will die. Moses responded to the people, don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you so that you will fear him and will not sin.
And the people remained standing at a distance as Moses approached the total darkness where God was. Even if you’re not familiar with Christianity, it’s probably safe to assume a lot of people have heard at least of the Ten Commandments. Some states will have it on the wall of public school. I think that’s fairly misguided. You can’t impose Christianity on people who didn’t sign up for Christianity.
It’s the difference between sharing and the Bible teaches a pretty clear separation between church and state. It’s a kind of a side note, but at least we’re familiar with it. Heard of it, it’s basic law code, and that’s not right. We talked about that. Doesn’t cover the entire of law, but it’s a good summary, a good start of God’s moral law.
And Jesus fulfills the moral law. We’ll get to that more in a bit here. But nowhere does it say that people weren’t supposed to keep all of these. He’s supposed to keep all of these. And then also what we see in all of 23 through chapter 24.
The standard is so high. Standard is perfection. The standard is God himself.
So let’s go through these, these commands, these, these expectations. Let’s see how we stack up against them. I’m just going to read 1 through 10. And again, these aren’t even the entirety of the law they were supposed to keep. Let’s just go through the 10 commands, see how we do.
Okay. One, have no other gods. Basically, don’t value anything more than God. Okay, I guess a lot of us, all of us really striking out on number one. Have no false or graven images of God.
Do not misuse the name of God. In other words, no swearing by it, using it to cuss, etc. 4. Remember the Sabbath day. 5.
Honor your father and mother. 6. Do not murder. 7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Do not steal. 9. Do not lie. 10.
Do not covet your neighbor’s stuff or relationships. How’s that working for us? I’m guessing nobody in here has the perfect scorecard. Actually, I know that for certain because Romans 3:23 says that no one, no one, sorry all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It’s okay.
The Israelites didn’t. They didn’t measure it up either.
They couldn’t. And God knew this when he made this covenant with them. He’s not sitting in heaven wondering, oh, well, there’s a lot of them. I thought at least one or two, maybe a couple thousand, would be able to keep my covenant law. He’s not wondering how this happened.
Because, friends, God wanted his people to see his faithfulness in this. Because when Moses comes down the mountain with the two tablets, anyone else think for a long time that tablet one was for commandments one through five and the other tablet was for commandments six through ten? At least I did for a long time. But. But the two tablets were promises of the covenant.
Because when you made a covenant, both sides had to have a copy of it. And both those tablets go in the Ark of the Covenant later in the book of Exodus, Because God wants the people to say, hey, the sea. He’s going to be faithful to keep this. We maybe haven’t kept our portion, but God continually perfectly has. Even when they weren’t faithful, he wanted them to know that he would be.
Because, friends, the moral standards of God are laid out as perfection. He is the standard. God is holier than our words can do justice to. The standard for keeping the Mosaic covenant was and is totally unattainable. We should not encounter this and think, oh, I must try harder and do better.
No, we shouldn’t encounter this and say, there’s no way I could do this. It’s not reachable. But why then would a holy God make his covenant with a sinful people? Well, he wanted them to see that they needed Him. The response should be, I couldn’t keep this.
God, I need you. Because only, friends, only through Christ, the perfect covenant keeper, can we receive grace, can we receive the blessing of the promise, we turn our attention now to Hebrews 9, 11, 22.
But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, and the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is not of this creation. He entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and ashes of a young cow sprinkling those who are defiled sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more would the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciousness from dead works so we can serve the living God? And friends, the news just keeps getting better. Verse 15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Pause. Every time the first covenant is referenced in the New Testament, almost always is referring to the Mosaic covenant. We continue verse 16 where a will exists, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will is valid only when people die, since it is never in effect while the one who made it is living. That is why even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood.
For when every command had been proclaimed by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of goats, sorry, calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool and hyssop, sprinkled the scroll itself. And all people saying, this is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you. That’s how the first covenant was inaugurated. And then verse 20 we see how the new covenant is inaugurated. In the same way he sprinkled the tabernacle and all the articles of worship with blood.
According to the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. What we could not do in our flesh, Christ did for the totally unattainable law for us. Christ kept an then some for us. God knew that no one could ever keep this covenant, because Jesus came and being fully gone and fully man, he did what we could not do, died the death that we deserved to die. And then he rose again, victoriously, ushering in the new covenant for us.
And friends, this is good news. It’s spelled out wonderfully here, but then also even more in particular with the Mosaic Covenant spelled in 1st Peter 2, 9, 10. Listen to this. It says, but you were a chosen race A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession. He’s quoting from Exodus here so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. What God had promised to his people in Exodus 19 comes to fruition for us in the new covenant. And some I wonder if some people have struggled to believe, is this really for us? No, it must only be for the Jews.
But that seems to be a divorced opinion from scholarship and scriptures themselves, because Dr. Tom Schreiner helpfully puts it for us this way. He says, today most modern scholars agree that the readers were mainly Gentiles. The evidence in support of this is compelling. He says that they use the phrase ignorance. And this is a phrase that’s typically categorized of a Jewish conception of Gentiles.
Even still, friends, even if you don’t care about the scholarship debate, it’s not only asserted firmly in 1st Peter 2, but also Titus 2 and Revelation 6. God wants us to see that the promises, the Mosaic covenant are now for us in Christ.
Let us then rejoice, friends. Jesus has accomplished this for us. What we could not do, Jesus did. Let that never become old news. That’s continually good news for us.
He offers a free gift of his grace, a free gift of relationships are stored with him to how it’s supposed to be far better than we could imagine or deserve.
This is ours because of Christ’s perfect obedience and because of our union with him, which is really the summary of the entire Christian life, our union with Christ. Ephesians 1:3 says that every spiritual blessing that belongs to Christ now belongs to us.
God made this covenant with his people because he wanted them to see that they needed Him. They could not do this on their own. And one of my favorite things to see in the Scripture is to see Old Testament figures like be forerunners of Christ, Moses, right? Giver of the law. And Jesus comes along in the Sermon on the Mount and he doesn’t make it easier.
He doesn’t say, well, we’ll scribble out part of it. I know that part was unattainable. No, he makes it even harder. He says, you’ve heard it said. And he’s quoting Scripture there.
He said, you’ve heard it said that you shouldn’t commit adultery. He says, well, I tell you, if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you’ve committed adultery. And then he’ll Also say you’ve heard it said that you should not murder. But I tell you, if you look at someone with anger in your heart, you’ve murdered them in your heart. He doesn’t make it easier.
He says, it’s hard. And he’s doing this not only as the prophet, but he’s doing this as a true and greater Moses. He’s trying to help us really see we can’t do this. The whole point of the Sermon on the Mount is similar to the point of the Mosaic covenants. We should look at it and say, wow, God is holy.
But also we should look at it and say, there is no chance I can take care of this on my own. God, I need you. And then Jesus says, this is why I’m here. He says, I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law. I’ve come to do this for you.
He’s giving direction to our lives and how we should live. But we should respond not, wow, I could never do that. We should respond, God, I can never do this. I need you. I need grace.
And so there’s really only a few ways to respond to this, friends. Some people respond with what’s a fancy term called legalism? Just trying to earn God’s grace, like, hold it over God, I’m going to keep all the law perfectly. Friends, do not read this and think, I can keep this perfect. If you think you can, I’m going to be honest with you.
There’s a serious pride issue in your heart. We can’t keep it perfectly. So that’s one way you can respond, I suppose. And then the opposite of that is a fancy word called antinomianism. That’s a theological term for just saying, well, I can’t keep it, so I’m not going to try.
I’m just going to bank on grace and live and live sinfully how I want to. I guess that’s a response, but that’s in a way just the inversion of legalism. But the proper response is to say, God, I need you. I couldn’t do this. I never had a chance to do this.
Can someone do this for me?
We’ve seen God’s incredible promise here tied to the Mosaic covenant. We’ve also seen the fact that the standard for keeping that on our own is just so totally not attainable. That’s why only through Christ, the perfect covenant keeper, can we receive this blessing of promise. And typically, where we give application kind of as we go, but it just. The sermon feels more fitting to give at the end.
And none of these commands are directly in the text, but they’ve been implicitly there. There’s at least three ways I think that we can respond.
One, acknowledge that God is holy. We read in the Ten Commandments. We read in all of the Mosaic Law. We should not look at that and say, wow, I’m great. That’s why you’re walking out here this morning, man.
You were not listening. But we should read the standards for God’s Covenant Law and say, wow, God is holy. He is so wonderfully. Other. Acknowledge that God is holy.
It’s what he desires for us. Two proper response would be confess to God that you don’t measure up to that standard of holiness. Nobody does.
Nobody could do it. Nobody could keep it. And God knew that. That’s why he sent Jesus. The law is meant to be used as a mirror, friends, to show us who we actually are, to show us, wow, there’s some glaring flaws here.
But then, three, that’s where we get to enjoy this. We get to repent and enjoy the grace for us that’s been won by Jesus. We should look at the law and say, wow, I can’t get my act together. 3. But thankfully Jesus did.
To turn away from sin and self worship and say, God, I want to be you. Will you take care of this for me? If your hope and trust is in him. Friends, the promises of the Mosaic covenant now belong to you. This is good news.
This is what is most deeply true of us. More than a relationship status, more than a position at work, more than dollars in our bank account. What is most deeply true of us is what God’s word says about us. And we’re looking at this morning that it calls us a chosen people, a holy nation, a kingdom of priests. We belong to God.
If we know Christ, how will that shape our today? That has to shape our today. It must shape our today. Knowing that we belong to God and are his delight should affect how we live, should it not? We don’t have to try to manufacture approval from elsewhere because we know God already loves us deeply in Christ.
We know that we are hidden with him. Galatians 3 says we are rich heirs of the promise of God. Friends, this is what the Mosaic covenant is all about. Isn’t it wonderful to see all the way from Exodus 19, God’s plan come to fruition, to see how this is ours now in Christ? Isn’t it wonderful to live on this side and look at and trace God’s hand and his handiwork throughout the promises of Scripture.
He wanted his people to not only see their need for grace, but he wanted them to see that in the new covenant, as he always does, he has something far better for them. Brothers and sisters, we get to enjoy this grace now in Christ. As we get ready for our final song, I want to encourage you to do at least one of a couple things. Really. It’s just one thing is take time to do business with God.
You’re welcome to remain seated, you’re welcome to stand, but just take even for a brief moment, ask God, how do I need to respond to your word? I’ve given you three applications that I think are there at least implicitly from the text. Maybe the Spirit will give you another one or two, but find okay, God, how do I need to respond to your word proclaimed this morning? Okay, have I been living like, I don’t see a need for you? Maybe for some of you, that’s the first time say, yeah, I’ve never confessed that God’s holy.
No, I’ve never repented. For those of us who do know Jesus, maybe there’s an area of our life where we’re not living like that’s true. So we’re gonna give you the space to do just that. As the worship team comes and leads us in a final song, I’m gonna pray and we’ll give you the chance to do that. God, we love you and we thank you for you and man, we need you more than we.
More than we want to know or realize so much of the time. But we thank you that you care for us, you know us, you love us so deeply, and you are God and you are good and that you want us to see our need for you because you want to help. We pray for hearts in this room that haven’t trusted in you. We pray that they would do that. They confess their sins and put their trust in Jesus and they would tell someone about that here this morning.
We pray for those of us who do know Jesus, that we would take this time to confess sin and maybe seek the help of a brother or sister in Christ and so that we can just continually realize more of our dependence on you. God, we love you and we are delighted to be yours. It’s in Jesus name we pray. Amen.