Exodus chapter 20. Let me just remind us that last Wednesday
evening we looked at chapter 19 that told us about God coming
down upon Mount Sinai and the fact that no man or beast could
touch that mountain lest that man or animal be put to death. Let me read from the New Testament
how this event is described in Hebrews, how the event with God
coming down on the mountain as chapter 19 tells us. And the
writer here in Hebrews is speaking to believers of what is true
of them, what is true of you as a New Testament, New Dispensation
believer. Let me quote, for you are not
come unto the mount that might be touched. They were, they had
come to this Mount Sinai that could be touched, but it was
on punishment of death if they touched it. For you, you New
Testament believers, you who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and know him as your Lord and Savior, for you, or not come
unto the mouth that might be touched, and that burned with
fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the
sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that
heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them
any more. For they could not endure that
which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched
the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart,
and so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly
fear and quake. But you are come to Mount Sinai. What a contrast, right? You are
not come to the mount that might be touched, that is to Mount
Sinai. but you are come to Mount Zion,
which we know represents the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses in Deuteronomy chapter
33, just before his death was blessing the nation of Israel.
And he said this from his right hand, when a fiery law for them. And that's what we have here
in chapter 20. Now I want to bring out three
things to us from this chapter. First of all, God gave the Ten
Commandments. Let's read this, beginning with
verse one through verse 17. God gave the Ten Commandments. And God spake all these words,
saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt
have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image, or 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. Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a
jealous God. visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them
that love me and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him
guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and
do thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord
thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work,
thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,
nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For
in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that
in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed
the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor thy father and thy
mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the
Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shall not kill, Thou shalt
not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear
false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant,
nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything
that is thy neighbor's. The Lord God gave the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments, now, I
hope you follow with me tonight. The Ten Commandments are part
of the law. that God gave Israel in this
covenant that he made with them at Sinai, the Sinaitic covenant. In a few chapters from here,
God will give Moses the instructions for making the tabernacle. There
are several chapters where God gives Moses the instructions
for making the tabernacle, and you know one very important part
of that tabernacle is the Ark of the Covenant, which was placed,
of course, in the most holy place, the Holy of Holies, covered with
a plate of gold, the Mercy Seat. But in that Ark, now think, the
name is the Ark of the Covenant. What was in that Ark? What was
placed in the Ark? The Ten Commandments. The Ten
Commandments. Look, keep your places here,
but turn with me to Exodus 34, just a moment. Exodus chapter 34. And there's
many verses that say this same thing, but we'll just look at
this one. Exodus chapter 34 and verse 28. And he, that is Moses, was there with the Lord 40 days
and 40 nights. God called him up on Mount Sinai. He was there with the Lord 40
days and 40 nights. He didn't either eat bread nor
drink water. And he, that is God, wrote the
tables, wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the
Ten Commandments. You see that? the words of the
covenant, the Ten Commandments. One thing I want to point out
is that it did not become a sin to worship a false god or to
lie or to murder or to commit adultery when God gave these
Ten Commandments. When Cain, in chapter four of
Genesis, killed his brother Abel, he broke a command. He broke
the fourth commandment as it is given here. He murdered his
brother. And the point I'm making is,
these sins that are mentioned before the commandments were
ever given, In other words, it didn't just become when God gave
the Ten Commandments here on Mount Sinai to Moses, this is
not when these things became sin. They had always been sin
from the very beginning. In Genesis chapter six, where
God said before the flood that the wickedness of man was great
in the earth, the wickedness of man. What did that consist
of? It consisted of breaking these
commandments, of worshiping other gods, of making idols, of taking
the name of the Lord God in vain, of murder, of lying, of adultery,
of covetousness. And then in chapter nine of Genesis,
when Ham, remember when they came out of the ark, Noah with
his three sons, Ham committed some sexual immorality with his
father. He broke what is here, the seventh
commandment, I believe it is. Yes, thou shalt not commit adultery. That command prohibits all sexual
immoralities like sodomy, all the bestiality, all of the things
that fallen man may enter into. That one commandment includes
it all. But the point I'm making is simply
this. These things did not become sin
when God gave the Ten Commandments. They had always been sin, and
men were guilty of sin. Now, that brings us to this truth. There is what men, writers, theologians,
those who study the scriptures, call a natural law. A natural
law. In Romans chapter 2, where Paul
is showing how the whole world is guilty before God. Gentiles
and Jews. And he says this in chapter 2
concerning the Gentiles. Now, they didn't have the law.
Not the law of Sinai. They didn't have that law. But
yet, Paul says, by nature, the things contained in the law. That Gentiles are guilty before
God, he spoke about them doing, by nature, the things contained
in the law. Though they didn't have the law.
And then he went on to say, in that same chapter, show the work
of the law written in their hearts. In other words, there's a natural
law, and it doesn't matter if a person is born in the darkest
part of our continent and never has the word of God, never sees
the word of God, there is a law that, yes, it's not like it was
when Adam was created. It's marred, the image of God
is marred But men have a natural law and there's no society that's
ever been found where they did not have some laws against lying
and stealing and that natural law that men have from being
a creature of God. And we see that it is incorporated
These natural laws are incorporated into the Ten Commandments or
the covenant that God made here with the nation of Israel. It's
also called the law given by Moses. It has three parts. One part is moral, but let me
say this, the law is one, but no doubt there are three parts
to the law. moral, civil, and ceremonial. And God would write these Ten
Commandments on two tables of stone. We saw that. Thus, we
divide the Ten Commandments into two parts, into two tables, because
they were written on two tablets. Remember, the Lord expounded
I'm not going to go through all these commandments and try to
speak on every one of them. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
best commentator on his word, right? And when he was asked,
turn with me if you will, you're very familiar with this verse
of scripture, verses of scripture, but look in Matthew chapter 22. In Matthew chapter 22 and verse
36, he was asked a question. Verse 35 says, then one of them,
which was a lawyer, that was his occupation, studying the
word of God, studying the law, reading it, copying it, no doubt,
expounding the law, he was a lawyer. asked him a question, tempting
him and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the
law? Now, we're going to think of
the law here as the Ten Commandments, the law that God had given to
the nation of Israel at Sinai. Master, which is the great commandment
in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul
and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. Now that would explain the first
four commandments. The first four commandments in
the Ten Commandments. And the second, and this would
include the rest of the Ten Commandments, is like unto it, thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang
all the law and all the prophets. On these two commandments. Now,
if you turn back with me to Exodus 20, the fourth commandment concerns
the Sabbath day. Verse 8, remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and
do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord
thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work,
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,
nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within Thy gates, for
in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that
in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed
the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Well, let me just say this,
first of all. The Sabbath was Saturday, the
seventh day. Sunday's not the Sabbath. I don't
care what people say. Sunday is the Lord's day. It's not the Sabbath. of the
law. The Sabbath was the seventh day. And I want to give us two things
that I see about this particular commandment. First of all, God
declared the Sabbath to be a special sign between Him and the nation
of Israel. Look in chapter 31 here of Exodus. chapter 31 and verse 12. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying,
Verily my sabbaths you shall keep. Now notice, for it is a
sign between me and you. Who's he talking to? He's talking
to the nation of Israel. Israelites. It is a sign between
you and me, or me and you, throughout your generations, that you may
know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. You shall
keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you. Every one
that defileth it shall surely be put to death. For whosoever
doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among
his people. Six days may work be done, but
in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whosoever doeth any work in the
Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore, the
children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath
throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant It is
a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. For in six
days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day
he rested and was refreshed. So the first thing I point out
to us about the Sabbath is very clear to me, and I believe from
the word of God to all of us here tonight, that the Sabbath
was a sign between God and the nation of Israel. And a second
thing, it was a ceremonial command. The command to observe the sixth
day was a ceremonial command. You say, how do you know that?
Well, look with me in Leviticus. Leviticus chapter 23. Leviticus chapter 23, and beginning with verse one,
and the Lord spake unto Moses saying, speak unto the children
of Israel and say unto them concerning the feast of the Lord. Now get
that, he's going to give commands concerning the feast. Now you
know there were three feasts that Every male Israelite had
to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of End Gathering,
and there was another feast, First Fruits, yes. They had to
observe those feasts. Now, what was that? What was
the feast? It was a picture. The feast pictured
the gospel. Just like the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, it began with Passover and then seven days of unleavened
bread. Well, Christ is our Passover.
So that feast, as well as the others, were pictures or types
of the Lord Jesus Christ and his saving work. Now notice here,
speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them concerning
the feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy
convocations, even these are my feast. Six days shall work
be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest and holy
convocation. You shall do no work therein.
It is the Sabbath of the Lord, in all your dwellings." You see,
this feast, the Sabbath feast, they kept all over. Wherever
they lived, they were to keep this feast. Those other feasts,
those three special feasts, they had to go to the place. God told
them in the law, when he gave the law, he would name the place. And of course, we know that eventually
it was Jerusalem. where God placed His name, and
they all had to travel there to Jerusalem. Our Lord, remember,
He went to Jerusalem to observe the Feast of Passover. But this Feast of the seventh-day
Sabbath, it was observed and it was commanded that it be observed
all through the land of Israel. Now, there was a Sabbath a weekly
Sabbath. There was a seven-year Sabbath.
There was a 49th year Sabbath, and added to that was the 50th
year, the Jubilee. Now, in a Sabbath, a person had
to not work. That's number one. No work on
the Sabbath. Quit working. And think about
this. And the 48th, when it came to
that 49th and 50th year, here's the 48th year. They've planted,
they've reaped their crops, they live off of that. That year,
the 48th year, they've got to live off of the fruit. The 49th
year, they've got to live off of that fruit. The 50th year,
the year of Jubilee, and they've got to keep enough seed so that
when they are able to sow their fields again, they have seed.
What were they doing? Well, they weren't working. They
were trusting God. They were trusting God to supply
their every need. We're not saved by working. That's
why I say this was a feast. It was a picture. It was a time.
And like many of the types in the Old Testament, it was a type
of Christ, it was a type of his person and his work of salvation. We're not saved by working. We
don't earn our salvation. This was pictured, no work, no
work. One of my friends, I was looking
at a book that he wrote on the book of Exodus, and he had this
chapter, rest, rest your way to heaven. Rest your way to heaven. You can't work your way to heaven.
Christ is our Sabbath. And we rest, come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. We
don't work for our salvation. Now, after a person is saved,
of course, we have good works. We're ordained to walk in good
works, the apostle tells us, but not to obtain salvation,
but to show our love, our appreciation, our thanksgiving for what God
has freely, freely done for us in giving his son Him shedding
His blood to wash away our sins? Yes. Look with me about this being
a ceremonial command. Look in Colossians. I know you're
familiar with this passage, but turn again to Colossians chapter
2. In Colossians chapter 2, verse 16, the apostle writing
to believers, to the church at Colossae, let no man therefore
judge you in meat. There were certain dietary rules
that were in the law, right? They couldn't eat pork. There
were certain animals, certain birds they couldn't eat, certain
fish. I mean, there was a lot of rules
about what you could eat and what you couldn't eat. Paul said,
let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day,
or of the new moon. That was the first day of every
month, a new moon. It was a feast day. Or of the
Sabbath, and someone has added days, which is fine, but let
no one judge you in respect to a Sabbath. Which, here's the
important thing, which all of these things that he mentioned
there, which are a shadow of things to come. Remember, in
Hebrews 10, the apostle said, for the law was a shadow of good
things to come. And that's what the law of these
feasts and ceremonies were shadows. They were shadows of good things
to come. And the good thing to come, of
course, is Christ and free justification by faith. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. All right, let's go back. Let me get these other two things
in. So first of all, God gave the
Ten Commandments. But again, I'll remind us, these
things that he mentions in these commandments didn't just then
become sinful. They had been sinful from the
very beginning. All right, the second point is
the Israelites saw their need. Look here in verses 18 and 19,
back in Exodus chapter 20, the Israelites saw their need. And
all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise
of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people
saw, they removed and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses,
Speak thou with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with
us, lest we die. In Deuteronomy chapter 15 and
verse 19, I won't have you turn there, but Moses refers to this here, when
the people said unto Moses, speak thou with us and we will hear,
but let not God speak with us lest we die. In Deuteronomy 15,
God told Moses, they have well spoken. As far as I know, that's the
only place concerning Israel when God said they did something
good. they have well spoken. What was
it they said? We need a mediator. We need someone to go for us
to God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, Paul said, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight,
for by the law is a knowledge of sin. The law from Mount Sinai,
the Ten Commandments, was never given to give life, but it does
bring man in guilty before God. Brother Streeter quoted a comment
last Sunday by Brother Mahan, and I'm not sure I have it exactly
right, but it basically was, Henry said, God will not open
our ears to hear the gospel, until he first closes our mouth. Closes our mouth. And how does
he do that? By showing us our guilt. Our
guilt. The law, that's what happened
here. They realized they could not
speak with God. They needed a mediator. They
needed someone to speak to God for them and for them to hear
from God through him. And here's the last thing. God
provides an altar. Notice here in Exodus 20 and
verse 22. And the Lord said unto Moses,
thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, you've seen that I
have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make with me gods
of silver, neither shall you make unto you gods of gold. An
altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice
thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy
sheep, and thine oxen, in all places where I record my name,
I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt
make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone,
for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.
Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness
be not discovered." Robert Hawker's comments on these two things
I found to be a blessing. Number one, an altar of earth. An altar of earth, God said.
And Hawker said, isn't this intended to show that as the earth is
the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and nothing of creature property
is to be mixed with it, so salvation is all the Lord's, nothing of
human merit or work composing any part of it. Salvation is
of the Lord. And then, that no tool in the
hand of man was to be raised Doth, Hawker says, doth not the
prohibition imply that nothing be offered upon that altar which
is Christ himself that sanctifies the gift without polluting it? You know, in Hebrews we read,
we have an altar. The gift, we learn this I believe
in Matthew, the gift is sanctified by the altar. The altar is the
deity of Christ, his Godhead. The gift was his flesh, the humanity,
that humanity that was sacrificed upon the altar of his deity. And that's what gives efficaciousness
to the blood of Christ, isn't it? that it's not just the blood
of a man, it's the blood of the God-man. Amen. Well, I pray the Lord would bless
this study to all of us here this evening.