WEBVTT 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:07.440 Hello everyone. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:08.960 This is Pastor Benjamin. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:12.000 You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, Orlando. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.439 At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:19.920 For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:25.600 Now please stand for uh the reading of God's Word. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:28.480 Before we get there, we're going to do a prayer of illumination. 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:31.280 Pray with me. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:37.679 Give us understanding that we may keep your law and observe it with our whole hearts. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:42.560 Lead us in the path of your commandments, for we delight in it. 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:50.479 Turn our eyes from looking at worthless things, and give us life in your ways through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:51.359 Amen. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:57.759 Remain standing for the reading of God's word from Deuteronomy chapter five, verses one through twenty two. 00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:07.760 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today. 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:11.599 You shall learn them and be careful to do them. 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:14.959 The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:22.159 Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:33.280 The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain and out of the midst of the fire, while I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord. 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:38.319 For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:45.200 He said, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:47.680 You shall have no other gods before me. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:58.400 You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water underneath the earth. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:00.959 You shall not bow down to them or serve them. 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:16.719 For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to those, to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:24.479 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. 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:29.759 Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:36.240 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord your God. 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:53.120 On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your ox, or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 00:02:53.120 --> 00:03:02.080 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:05.919 Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:16.159 Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God has given you. 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:35.439 You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, and you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, and you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:47.280 These words of the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the and the thick darkness, with a loud voice, and he added no more. 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:51.680 And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:53.520 This is God's word. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:56.159 You may be seated. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:03:59.680 This is Lammy. 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:04.240 Lammy is precious to my daughter Charlie. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:10.479 Charlie is precious to me, and therefore Lammy is precious to me. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:14.479 Lammy is Charlie's oldest and dearest stuffed animal. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:17.439 Lammy is Charlie's ride or die. 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:27.839 A couple of years ago I gave Charlie a rule because Lammy is so precious that Charlie is not allowed to take Lammy outside of the house. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:34.560 So a couple years ago on a Sunday morning, Charlie disobeyed me. 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:38.959 Now, one second and zoom in before we get into the whole story. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:41.360 Why did I give my child this rule? 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:46.959 Was it because I'm mean or arbitrary, or somehow I didn't want what was best for her? 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:48.399 Well, of course not. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:54.800 To all of those, I gave Charlie this rule because I loved her and I wanted to protect her. 00:04:54.800 --> 00:05:02.399 So a couple of Sundays uh ago, Charlie disobeyed my rule and she brought Lammy to church. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:12.480 While in Sunday school with the other kiddos, it's as if I could have predicted this, Charlie lost Lammy while she was out on the playground. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:24.639 And because this is always when parents are informed of these types of news, it wasn't until we were done packing up and getting ready to walk out the door that Charlie had realized Lammy was lost. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:42.480 So it was with tears flowing down her face, knowing that she had directly disobeyed, but also knowing that she needed my help, Charlie came up to me and she shared that she brought Lammy to church, and now Lammy was lost. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:51.759 Now, in that exact and very specific uh moment, was I upset that Charlie had disobeyed my direct command? 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:56.879 Well, church, I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't a little angry, if there was no anger at all. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:09.920 Some anger was a part of my emotional cocktail in that moment, but the vast driving emotion that I felt on behalf of Charlie in that moment was heartache. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:13.600 And behind that heartache was love. 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:19.759 Remember, Lammy, she is precious to me because she is precious to Charlie. 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:27.279 And it was in that moment that I knew I was gonna do whatever it took to make sure we got Lammy back. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:34.720 Now, if you guys would, can you imagine what uh this rule must have felt like for Charlie for just a moment? 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:45.199 Before Lammy was lost, when she is told Lammy, her nearest and dearest stuff animal, you cannot take Lammy out of the house, what must that have actually felt like for her? 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:47.279 Well, why can't I bring Lammy? 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:48.240 I love Lammy. 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:49.759 I want Lammy with me. 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:52.319 What is the big deal? 00:06:52.319 --> 00:07:02.879 My daughter was able to experience the restriction of my rule without understanding the love that produced it. 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:07.600 And I wonder if we do exactly that with God. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:12.800 You see, the text this morning, we're going over the ten commandments. 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:22.800 And I wonder if we too can experience God's commands as restrictive, outdated, arbitrary, or burdensome. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:30.879 And if we do, I wonder if it's because we can evaluate God's commands apart from the heart of the lawgiver. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:43.920 You see, in the story of the Old Testament, it really is this idea, evaluating God's commands apart from the law, uh, the heart of the lawgiver that leads to Israel's two great sins. 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:46.160 One looks like rebellion. 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:52.720 I don't trust what God commands is actually good for me, and the other looks like legalism. 00:07:52.720 --> 00:08:00.480 I don't trust that God already loves me, so I will use obedience to earn God's favor. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:06.319 You see, when it comes to our hearts and when it comes to God's law, I believe this. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:14.240 I believe our hearts resist God's law because we miss the heart of the lawgiver. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:27.680 So this morning we're in the book of Deuteronomy, we're in Deuteronomy chapter five, and I do want to take kind of a 50,000-foot view over both the Ten Commandments and Deuteronomy as a whole. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:32.559 You see, the entire book of Deuteronomy, we might break it down and say, what is the theme? 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:33.919 What is the purpose? 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:37.279 What is this book of the Bible ultimately about? 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:47.440 It's about fresh covenant fidelity to a new generation, not just the one that Moses is speaking to, but to us as well. 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:50.240 So, new city this morning. 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:55.279 Here is what I believe God would have us learn from Deuteronomy 5. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:09:00.240 God's law shows the heart of the God who loves us. 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:01.679 One more time. 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:06.000 God's law shows the heart of the God who loves us. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:10.720 And we're gonna unpack that this morning by looking really at verse one. 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:13.279 There's three imperatives Moses gives us. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:15.519 Let me read verse one for us one more time. 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:25.200 Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:34.000 So we will look through this idea that God's law shows us the heart of God's law by hear, learn, and do. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:37.039 Let's go ahead and jump into the text. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:46.000 The first imperative that Moses gives to Israel here is the word hear, one word, Shema. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:52.799 We've heard this a number of different times uh so far as we've already looked here at Deuteronomy. 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:55.120 Why have we heard it so many times already? 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:58.720 Because this word is a really, really big deal to Moses. 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:03.919 Over 90 times this imperative will be repeated throughout the book. 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:04.799 Why? 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:11.919 Because the book of Deuteronomy is ultimately about fresh covenant fidelity to the Lord, then we learn something here. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:15.600 Covenant fidelity begins by doing what? 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:20.399 By listening, by hearing from God. 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:24.879 But we see here in the text there's actually a problem with that. 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:31.600 Hearing for Israel, hearing from a holy God at least, is somewhat easier said than done. 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:34.559 Look back at verses four and five with me. 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:46.720 The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, while I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord. 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:53.679 For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:55.840 Did you did you catch that? 00:10:55.840 --> 00:11:00.559 What was the obstacle of Israel actually hearing from God? 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:02.159 It was their fear. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:03.679 And why were they afraid? 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:07.600 Well, this is something that we see over and over again in the story of Scripture. 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:14.639 When a sinful people interact with a holy God, they are rightfully so afraid. 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:17.360 And so what is God's solution? 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:20.720 Well, it's also provided here uh in the text. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:23.039 You couldn't basically hear from God. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:24.480 So what did God do? 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:30.720 He provided a mediator that you might be able to hear my word. 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:33.919 You see, this is how God speaks. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:37.919 This is how we're able to listen and to hear from God even today. 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:45.519 He speaks through a mediator, in this case, Moses, and he speaks through his word. 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:52.000 Now much can be said on both of these, but here was what I would want to draw our attention to. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.960 Do you see the heart of God here? 00:11:54.960 --> 00:11:57.919 He wants to be understood. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:13.039 Even when we mistakenly are fearful, or not mistakenly, because he is a holy God, he will go to great lengths, including speaking to us through a mediator that we might hear him. 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:15.919 This will be the rest of the story of the Old Testament. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:27.039 He will continue to speak through prophets, to speak through judges, through kings and through poets, but ultimately one day he will speak his final word through his son. 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:31.360 This is what Hebrews chapter one has to tell us. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:36.480 Our God speaks to us in a way that we can hear him. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:42.559 The question that Deuteronomy will ask over and over again is, will we? 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:52.720 So first we see that God speaks to us through his word, but we also see, excuse me, through a mediator, but we also see that God speaks to us through his word. 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:56.720 One more time, look back at me at two different verses that we read. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:59.759 Verse three and verse twenty two. 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:09.039 Verse three reads, Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today? 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:11.840 And then the very end of verse 22. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:19.120 Uh, and he wrote them down on two tablets of stone, and he gave them to me. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:21.200 Do you see how this works? 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:22.960 Remember, chapter verse three. 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:25.279 Ben talked about this a couple weeks ago. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:32.080 What is Moses doing using contemporary language saying it wasn't to our fathers that God spoke, but it was to us. 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:33.679 Is that factually true? 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:37.919 Well, no, most of this generation, it wasn't alive at the time. 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:43.840 But I do believe what is Moses getting at here is this idea. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:51.679 God continues to address his covenant people through his covenant word. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:55.200 Let me say that slightly different. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:14:01.840 What is this that we are handling when we open what we say is the word of God? 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:12.720 It is not merely God once said, the word of God to each and every new generation is God says. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:23.039 Verse 22, we are told that it is the Lord Himself who writes down his words, he preserves his words. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:24.960 What do we learn from this? 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:33.200 Well, God's word, it's not written directly to you, but God's word, it is written for you. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:50.559 Remember, verse 3, Moses can use contemporary language about the speech acts of God, because God can and does and still is speaking to us through his word as if we are there. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:53.200 So what does it look like? 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:57.759 What does it look like when we actually start to hear from God? 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:01.440 When we actually start to listen to his word. 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:06.720 His name is Brian Guan. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:10.720 You guys can look him up either on Instagram or Facebook if you have such things. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:16.080 I don't, but Amy a couple weeks ago said, hey, you need to check these videos out. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:20.320 Brian said that his friends had been trying to minister to him for a while. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:25.440 They've been trying to share the truth claims of Jesus and the gospel with him. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:32.480 But he said, Well, you know, I'm not totally against Jesus, but Christianity and the supernatural religion? 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:33.360 No way. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:36.480 Here's how he starts out his video dialogue. 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:50.960 He says this I would call myself a faithless Christian, meaning you don't have to believe in the supernatural existence of God and Jesus without admitting that Jesus is a cool person to frame our lives around. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:56.720 I do not believe that he died, that he was resurrected, that he was the Son of God. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.200 I do not believe in heaven and hell. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:00.159 But you know what? 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:04.000 I'll give this idea of listening to God a shot. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:09.279 From there goes the rest of this 30-day uh video diary that he pledged to. 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:10.159 He said, you know what? 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:13.039 I'm going to pretend as if God's real. 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:14.320 I'm going to go to church. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:15.759 I'm going to read my Bible. 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:23.840 I am going to pray, and I'm going to see what this experiment does internally within my head, heart, and my lives. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:28.720 Well, about day 20, he has a different type of video log. 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:31.200 He has a different kind of confession. 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:36.639 He said he went to church, he prayed, he read the Bible, he listened to God. 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:39.200 And by day 20, he said this. 00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:44.799 Jesus is the Son of God. 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:46.240 He died for my sins. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:51.360 He resurrected and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:55.679 By his spirit, I have been resurrected and I have new life. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:57.679 I now walk with him every day. 00:16:57.679 --> 00:17:00.159 Addictions, they are lessened. 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:01.039 I have hope. 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:02.399 I have purpose. 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:05.759 I have Jesus as my Lord. 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:12.640 What does it look like when we start to listen to God? 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:15.440 That is the question here in Deuteronomy. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:19.759 That is the command that Moses has near and dear to his heart. 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:22.880 Hear, O Israel. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:25.599 Why does God speak? 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:32.640 Well, I think we see here in the book of Deuteronomy and in Deuteronomy 5, he speaks because he wants to be known. 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:40.880 And let it be uh let it be said with certainty, one day he will be known by all. 00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:44.480 Why does God preserve his speech? 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:51.359 God preserves his speech because he wants every generation of his people to know him. 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:58.720 The first imperative that Moses gives here in Deuteronomy 5 calls then this question. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:03.599 Will you listen to him? 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:11.440 But having God's word isn't exactly the same thing as knowing God's word. 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:18.480 Remember, that's the whole theme of Deuteronomy, fresh covenant fidelity to a new generation. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:28.960 You see, every generation must not only just simply have God's word, they must be taught to learn the heart of God, of the God who speaks. 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:35.200 And so that's the second commandment that we see, uh, the imperative that Moses gives here in Deuteronomy 5. 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:36.240 Learn. 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:44.400 But before we zoom in and before we talk about that, we have to maybe perhaps question some of our assumptions. 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:55.039 You see, learning here in the Old Testament and learning here and now here at New City, learning is so much more than information transfer. 00:18:55.039 --> 00:18:59.759 Learning is about heart transformation. 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:03.680 One more time, learning is more than mere information. 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:06.720 Learning is heart transformation. 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:08.880 So what are we looking at here? 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:12.240 This morning we went through the entirety of the Ten Commandments. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:23.279 And if by now you haven't caught on, we're not gonna zoom in on every single one of the Ten Commandments, although I hope we certainly do that here at New City one day. 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:24.880 I think that would be good. 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:28.480 But but I do want to focus in on one of them. 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:38.400 I want to look briefly at the fourth commandment and see if we learn a little bit of what it's like to learn God's law. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:50.799 So for uh the observer who noticed, there's actually a little bit of a difference in the fourth commandment here in Deuteronomy chapter 5 and in Exodus chapter 20. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:52.319 Now, what am I talking about? 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:54.640 The fourth commandment is still the fourth commandment. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:57.599 You shall honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy. 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:17.279 But if we were to go back in time and we were to read Exodus chapter 20, we'll see that in the fourth commandment there, the reason that Israel is called to Sabbath is different than the reason Israel is called to Sabbath here in Deuteronomy chapter, uh Deuteronomy chapter 5. 00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:19.200 So what is going on? 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:24.240 Well, I would say there's one theological word for this. 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:26.640 It's contextualization. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:30.319 But let me say this not theologically, let me say it practically. 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:36.000 Moses is teaching the faith graciously to this next generation. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:38.319 Let's zoom in on it. 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:44.400 Remember, the commandment, it remains the same, but it's applied to a new context. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:54.799 This generation is no longer contending with the creative claims of the gods of Egypt and their claim of authority over God's people. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:21:05.920 It's been the last 40 years that they have been walking with the God of creation, and they have been honoring the Sabbath, and they have been resting as they follow the Lord. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:08.000 Where are they at right now in the story? 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:11.759 In Deuteronomy, they're getting ready to enter into the promised land. 00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:19.839 God is getting ready to fulfill these promises that He has been giving to their fathers and to them for generations upon generations. 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:26.079 And as they're getting ready to enter into the promised land, God makes clear they know their identity. 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:36.400 They will not enter and work the promised land as slaves, they will enter and work the promised land as liberated sons and daughters. 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:38.319 What is Moses doing here? 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:41.440 He's giving the man the command to a new generation. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:50.960 And now to this new generation, he doesn't ground the reason for Sabbath in creation, he grounds it in redemption. 00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:53.359 Look at verse 15 with me. 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:59.519 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God. 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:04.319 Brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:09.839 Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath holy. 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:15.920 Israel, in other words, they know what it is to be a slave who isn't allowed to rest. 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:24.400 Now, as they enter into the land and start living the way that God has called them to live, they will learn to love their neighbor. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:28.720 The command remains the same, but it's applied to a new context. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:43.039 The God who gives you rest cares about not only your rest, but the rest of your servant, the rest of immigrants, the rest of animals, the rest of your neighbors. 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:50.000 You see what happens, New City, when we look at just one of the Ten Commandments with a microscope? 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:55.839 We see that the law God gives is not arbitrary or cruel or mean. 00:22:55.839 --> 00:23:01.920 The law that God gives is intentional, and it's intentionally good. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:09.759 And I think there's something for us to learn here in what Moses is doing with this idea of contextualization. 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:12.799 You see this Sunday, it's a family worship Sunday. 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:17.200 We have parents in the room and grandparents in the room and children in the room. 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:22.400 And for just a moment, I want to speak to the parents in the room. 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:24.480 Do you see Moses' technique? 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:26.400 Do you see what he's doing here? 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:35.599 We're not called to merely repeat Christian information when we hand down the faith to our children. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:46.240 We're called to help our children understand the unchanging truth of God in the world that they are actually living in. 00:23:46.240 --> 00:24:01.279 That is what contextualization, the truth doesn't change, the commandments of God do not change, but we work hard to help a new generation see why all of them are true, beautiful, and good. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:29.119 Now, if you don't know this about me, I can be quite stubborn and I can make quite outlandish points. 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:36.160 I think a direct quote when I was 16 years old was Blink 182 is better than the Beatles. 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:42.240 Stray Light Run, they have more catchy keys than Elton John. 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:49.279 And Jack White, well, he could probably teach Jimmy Page a thing or two about guitar. 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:53.279 The absurdity of my comments. 00:24:53.279 --> 00:25:07.039 Needless to say, this particular uh debate, it left neither my father nor I persuaded, but rather both of us more stubbornly assured of our own point from our own context. 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:16.640 But imagine for just a second, if the conversation had been slightly more uh generous and gracious from both of us. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:24.240 Rather than us trying to prove the superiority of both of our generation's music, what if we cooperated? 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:30.640 What if I listened to my dad and I realized the music that I loved in my own upbringing? 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:32.720 Well, it didn't come from nowhere. 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:34.079 Because here's the truth. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:40.240 Mark Hoppas from Blink182 actually probably learned a thing about being both a frontman and a bass player from who? 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:42.640 Paul McCartney, who came before him. 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:56.000 The piano-driven rock music that I love from Stray Light Run owed something to Elton John, and Jack White is only Jack White from the White Stripes today because Jimmy Page came before him. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:06.480 You see, maybe instead of defending my generation against his, I could have begun to appreciate the inheritance that had been handed down to me. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:14.079 Now, for sake of full disclosure, uh, the Lord has been kind to me and he has given me wisdom in my age. 00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:15.839 And my father was just correct. 00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:17.839 Uh, I had much to learn on that. 00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:22.160 May the Lord give me grace when it is my turn for these conversations. 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:28.559 But you see, this is part of what it means to teach the faith graciously. 00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:37.599 Parents, we're not trying to make our children experience faith exactly the same way we experienced it. 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:45.920 We're trying to help them see the beauty and goodness of the same God in the world that they are growing up in. 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:54.960 We teach the faith graciously, praying that by God's grace, our children will own the faith personally. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:58.640 And that is really what we see here in the text. 00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:02.720 One more time, would you look at verses two and three to with me? 00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:06.160 The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:13.680 Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:17.759 So here we are one more time with this apparent problem. 00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:20.000 How does this actually work? 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:28.000 How can Moses use this contemporary language to a generation that most of them hadn't even been born yet? 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:50.799 Old Testament scholar Eugene Merrill, comment commenting on these uh two verses, says this it was the responsibility of every Israelite in every age to identify himself with his ancestors and to participate in memory and in faith and in their experience of God's deliverance. 00:27:50.799 --> 00:27:53.680 Said in other words. 00:27:53.680 --> 00:28:00.319 You see, their parents' faith in one sense, it genuinely is their faith. 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:03.279 This is covenantal language. 00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:07.440 You see, this generation they've been born into the covenant community. 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:11.680 They've inherited its promises, its word, its story. 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:17.759 They've been wandering their entire lives, being led by the God of their parents. 00:28:17.759 --> 00:28:23.599 But inherited faith calls for personal fidelity. 00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:31.759 While we have parents and teachers and educators and grandparents here in the room, we also have kiddos here in the room. 00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:36.079 And so, kiddos, I want to address you here for one moment. 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:42.880 You are here this morning because your mom and your dad brought you. 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:47.200 You're here this morning because your parents believe in Jesus. 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:57.039 They pray for you, they read the Bible with you, they bring you to church, and what an incredible gift this is. 00:28:57.039 --> 00:29:03.519 But your mom and dad cannot know and love Jesus for you. 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:06.000 You see, here's what your parents can do. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:17.599 They can teach you about Jesus, they can show you about Jesus, they can pray that you will know Jesus, but there will come a time and a day where you have to ask, do I believe this? 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:19.440 Do I love this God? 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:22.079 Will I follow Jesus? 00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:27.680 Because one day you won't be sitting next to mom and dad when you have to make a hard decision. 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:32.400 They won't always be there when someone challenges what you believe. 00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:41.359 They won't always be there every time that you're afraid, you're tempted, or when you are wondering if God is good. 00:29:41.359 --> 00:29:49.039 So, what does Moses call this generation and what does Moses call you to this morning? 00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:52.079 Well, you need to know that your parents' God is your God. 00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:55.680 You need to know that Jesus is your savior. 00:29:55.680 --> 00:30:02.480 You yourselves need to learn to trust him, to love him, and to follow him. 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:13.200 Your parents, they can give you an incredible inheritance of faith, but at some point you must love the God that they love. 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:26.720 Looking simply here at the fourth commandment, looking simply here at the way Moses can address a new generation with ancient yet contemporary language, what do we learn? 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:40.400 Parents, if if our children are going to learn who the God of the law truly is, well, when we teach the faith, we must teach it to them graciously in the world that they are living and growing up in. 00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:46.880 But children, you yourselves, your parents' faith is not merely enough for you. 00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:50.640 You must own this faith yourself. 00:30:50.640 --> 00:30:59.839 But we see here in Deuteronomy, eventually faith, it has to move beyond what we've heard and even what we've learned. 00:30:59.839 --> 00:31:07.200 You see, in Deuteronomy, covenant fidelity ultimately it takes shape in an actual life. 00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:10.880 It's about what we actually do. 00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:15.920 And that's the third and last imperative that Moses gives us here in verse one. 00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:18.160 Be careful to do them. 00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:19.119 Why? 00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:25.519 Why do we need to do God's laws or practice or obey God's laws? 00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:27.279 One sentence. 00:31:27.279 --> 00:31:31.599 Because obedience leads to life. 00:31:31.599 --> 00:31:34.000 Obedience leads to life. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:47.200 Now, if you have been at New City for any amount of time, or in fact, if you have belonged to a Christian church for any amount of time, you might be saying, hey, this feels incongruous with what I think I hear every single week. 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:49.039 Obedience leads to life. 00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:50.160 What do you actually mean by that? 00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:55.359 Because isn't it the message of the gospel that we're not obedient, but Jesus is? 00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:56.720 Yes. 00:31:56.720 --> 00:31:59.920 So let's see if we can unpack what I mean by that. 00:31:59.920 --> 00:32:01.759 And we need to know these two things. 00:32:01.759 --> 00:32:09.119 First, life is a prerequisite for obedience, but obedience is a response to life. 00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:16.240 Life is a prerequisite for obedience, but obedience is a response to life. 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:25.920 After Moses gives his preamble, before he begins with the first of the Ten Commandments, verse 7, you shall have no other gods before me. 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:28.000 Moses does what? 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:30.559 He gives Israel an imperative. 00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:33.119 And it's not Moses, it is the Lord. 00:32:33.119 --> 00:32:42.640 Verse 6 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:47.039 You see, this is how a relationship with God works. 00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:50.079 Key word there being relationship. 00:32:50.079 --> 00:33:00.559 Both for Israel in the Old Testament and for us here and now, we are not called to obey that God may love us and give us a relationship with Him. 00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:03.359 We obey because God goes first. 00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:07.119 Here in the text, it's the indicative and it's right before our eyes. 00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:12.960 I am the Lord your God, I am Yahweh, and what do I as Yahweh do for you? 00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:19.359 I rescued you, I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 00:33:19.359 --> 00:33:21.039 I am your redeemer. 00:33:21.039 --> 00:33:28.559 Relationship first, then response to this relationship is obedience. 00:33:28.559 --> 00:33:31.279 We see this all throughout the scriptures. 00:33:31.279 --> 00:33:41.359 Before the commandments were given the indicative who God is and what he has done for us, then the call for obedience. 00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:45.839 Because life is a prerequisite for obedience. 00:33:45.839 --> 00:33:53.039 But what we learn here in Deuteronomy, and really the whole entire story of the scriptures for that matter, but not ours. 00:33:53.039 --> 00:33:57.839 Life is a prerequisite for obedience, but not ours. 00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:05.200 See, earlier I told you the story about my daughter breaking the rule and Lamy becoming lost. 00:34:05.200 --> 00:34:09.440 Here's the truth when we look hard at the Ten Commandments. 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:13.840 We break God's rule and we become lost. 00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:25.199 That Sunday so many years ago, for Amy and I to find Lamy, well, it cost us a few hours on a Sunday afternoon when we're already tired and ready to go home and rest. 00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:30.079 For us to be found, cost the Father, his son. 00:34:30.079 --> 00:34:34.719 You see, here's the thing: the Ten Commandments, it's the way of life. 00:34:34.719 --> 00:34:36.000 But here's the truth. 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:38.960 We are the ones who would not hear. 00:34:38.960 --> 00:34:41.599 We are the ones who would not learn. 00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:45.039 We are the ones who would not do and obey. 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:54.239 But the good news this morning, both for God's ancient people and for us now, is Jesus, he is the faithful Son. 00:34:54.239 --> 00:35:00.320 Where we refuse to hear the Father, Jesus perfectly listens to him. 00:35:00.320 --> 00:35:07.679 Where we misunderstand and distrust the Father's heart, Jesus perfectly knows him and loves him. 00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:14.079 Where we fail to obey, Jesus perfectly does the Father's will. 00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:25.840 Jesus gives the Father the covenant fidelity that Israel was never able to give, and that you and I simply won't. 00:35:25.840 --> 00:35:27.199 But do you see? 00:35:27.199 --> 00:35:32.880 Jesus doesn't come merely to show covenant breakers how to obey better. 00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:37.360 The faithful son takes the place of faithless sons and daughters. 00:35:37.360 --> 00:35:42.960 The one who perfectly kept God's law bore the judgment of those who broke it. 00:35:42.960 --> 00:35:54.880 Jesus on the cross, the Lord of life, lays down his own life that sinners enslaved to death may be set free and walk in his new life. 00:35:54.880 --> 00:36:00.960 Jesus doesn't simply forgive us and send us back out to try harder. 00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:07.519 Jesus then goes on, as we read in our call to worship this morning, he gives us a new spirit. 00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:09.519 He gives us new hearts. 00:36:09.519 --> 00:36:17.440 He begins to write God's law on our hearts so that increasingly we want what God wants. 00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:22.800 Because of the work of the Son, we are able to begin to hear. 00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:25.920 We are able to begin to learn his heart. 00:36:25.920 --> 00:36:29.360 We are able to begin to do his will. 00:36:29.360 --> 00:36:44.800 And lest we go back into that legalistic temptation, which many of us are so tempted by, myself included, be reminded, not so that God will love us, but because in Christ He already does. 00:36:44.800 --> 00:37:04.159 And because we know the heart of the lawgiver, then obedience stops looking like something like God is keeping us from life, we begin to see and discover that his commands, they're actually showing us the way of life. 00:37:04.159 --> 00:37:10.320 You see, that's really the heart, that's what's behind all of the Ten Commandments. 00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:13.360 Obedience is a response to life. 00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:19.119 And even here in the Old Testament, why does God say He gives us these commands? 00:37:19.119 --> 00:37:41.519 Well, it wasn't part of our scripture reading, but if we jump ahead to the very last verse of chapter 5, verse 33, we read this you shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess. 00:37:41.519 --> 00:37:43.440 Do you hear? 00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:46.800 Do you see the heart of the lawgiver? 00:37:46.800 --> 00:37:49.599 He gives the law for your good. 00:37:49.599 --> 00:37:52.880 He gives the law for your life. 00:37:52.880 --> 00:38:07.199 So when he calls for us to hear, learn and to do, it's not out of legalism, it's not because he's looking to punish, it's not because he doesn't want our thriving, but he wants our thriving. 00:38:07.199 --> 00:38:11.679 And can you imagine that for one moment, New City? 00:38:11.679 --> 00:38:27.519 Can you imagine if our in our own city here in Orlando, if we actually took this to heart, if every man, woman, and child knew the heart of the lawgiver and therefore loved his law, what would Orlando look like? 00:38:27.519 --> 00:38:37.679 Imagine with me for one moment, what would Orlando look like if we worshiped God more than we did career, money, politics, or success? 00:38:37.679 --> 00:38:41.440 What if God's name was treasured above all names? 00:38:41.440 --> 00:38:46.000 What if exhausted people received rest and gave rest to others? 00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:51.840 What if children honored parents and parents lived lives worthy of honor? 00:38:51.840 --> 00:38:56.719 What if we actively protected and preserved our neighbors' life? 00:38:56.719 --> 00:39:02.000 What if we protected and strengthened one another's marriages? 00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:06.960 What if we actually sought our neighbors' prosperity instead of taking from them? 00:39:06.960 --> 00:39:12.320 What if we protected our neighbor's reputation instead of tearing it down? 00:39:12.320 --> 00:39:19.840 What if someone else's blessing actually gave us joy and made us happy? 00:39:19.840 --> 00:39:22.480