Matt Chandler - The Path of Life

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab those. We’re going to be in Exodus chapter 20. If you don’t have a Bible, there should be a hardback black one somewhere around you; I’d love for you to turn there. Mainly because we’re going to look at this text multiple times in our time together today. My experience when it comes to the Book of Exodus is that most people, specifically those with church backgrounds and maybe even those without, are very familiar with the events that happened early in the Book of Exodus. This might be due to Charlton Heston’s movie or other films that Hollywood has made, or for those of us with church backgrounds, it could be because of Sunday school stories around the Book of Exodus. Many people are aware of Moses as a baby being put in a basket and sent down the Nile, the burning bush, the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, and then they’re aware of this text we’re going to explore together today: the giving of the Ten Commandments. After that moment, it seems like Hollywood, and even those I know who have grown up in church, have no real recollection or understanding of what happens next. It’s as though, collectively, that’s where our annual Bible reading plan gives way. We muscled through, and now we get into the law, and there’s like, «Hey, don’t boil a goat in its mother’s milk, ” and you think, „What is that? I don’t own any cattle or baby goats.“ Well, some of you might out in Argyle or something, but I don’t know what this has to do with me. I’ve found that as I’ve studied and prepared for this series, it’s a shame because the giving of the law and the building of the Tabernacle are some of the most beautiful parts of Exodus. I believe they are key to understanding who we are as the people of God and God’s desires toward us. So as we start to make the turn into the very real unknown of Exodus, I’m excited about what the Lord might show us. I mentioned several weeks ago that when it comes to the law, there are multiple usages of the law, but two primary ones: one is that it acts like a spiritual MRI, showing us that we’re sick; the second use of the law is that it reveals the path of life, guiding us on how to walk in a way that’s pleasing to God. In our time together today, I want to emphasize that the law is the path to life and that in the law is the fullness of life that God has brought to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ. With that said, let’s read Exodus chapter 20, starting in verse one: „And God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved 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. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, 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 thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it, you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days, the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.“ Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid, and they trembled, and stood far off. They said to Moses, „You speak to us, and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.“ But Moses said to the people, „Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear…