Covenant Renewed
Exodus: The Presence of the Savior • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
There are two types of people in the world - those who put to-dos and reminders on paper, and those who prefer electronic to-do lists. There is also a third type of person - those who don’t use any to-do lists at all!
Ever commit to do something and totally forget? Perhaps you meant well when you committed, and you even truly wanted to, but you were distracted or plum forgot?
ILLUST - Uncle Billy in “It’s a Wonderful Life” - always trying to remember but he forgets the money for the deposit he is supposed to make is in a newspaper when he is distracted by Mr. Potter
1 Corinthians 10:1–14 (ESV)
7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”
11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
While the word for last week was confession, the word for this week is commitment.
Today, we will see:
God commits His glory and goodness to those who are committed to Him.
As we make our way to the end of our journey in Exodus when the presence and glory of God pervaded everything, we come expecting, longing for the same in our lives — first with awareness of who God is, then confession, and now commitment (or recommitment)
Here’s the reality: Following a moment or season of confession, many believers begin the carving process again, fashioning an idol to take the place of the last.
They get into a pattern of re-confession instead of stopping to recommit their lives to Christ.
Exodus 23:20-31 -
God promises to go ahead of the Israelites to prepare the Promised Land
And he warns them:
Exodus 23:32–33 (ESV)
32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
Exodus 24 - the Covenant is confirmed with the people
Exodus 24:3 (ESV)
3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”
Exodus 24:7 (ESV)
7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
Ex 24:8 - Blood of the covenant
Ex 24:9-11 - Moses, Aaron and his sons, and the seventy elders meet with God and have a covenant meal together.
They have committed to the covenant
Ex 25-31 - God calls Moses up the mountain and gives him instructions for the tabernacle
Moses is gone for 40 days
Ex 32 - Episode from last week:
Last week we looked at:
Why the cow?
They were impatient with God’s timing.
They were confused about God’s plan.
They were following men and not God.
WE BOW TO OUR HEART’S DESIRE
Though the people were out of Egypt, Egypt was not out of the people.
We are shaped by our loves and we are motivated by our desires.
We desire what we believe is most valuable.
PRAYER BEGINS THE PROCESS OF CHANGE
v. 11: “But Moses implored the LORD his God. . .”
v. 14: “And the LORD relented. . .”
THERE CAN BE NO COMPROMISE WITH SIN
Compromise with sin looks like:
Covering the sin
Blurring the lines
Blaming others
Excusing yourself
**Holiness at any cost is always worth the cost.**
Ex 33:7-33 - God meets with Moses, and Moses intercedes on behalf of the people of Israel that, though they had sinned, God might be with them and go with them as they continue their journey.
Exodus 34:1 (ESV)
1 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
The people have walked through their sin and now they will recommit themselves to the covenant.
Exodus 34:4–9 (ESV)
4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone.
5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” 8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
(start reading)
Exodus 34:10–16 (ESV)
10 And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. 11 “Observe what I command you this day.
God has already committed to the Israelites and plans to display his glory through them.
Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
These are the people currently living in the land of Canaan, the Promised Land where God is leading the Israelites (you can read about the conquest of the land in Joshua)
12 Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13 You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.
When it says God is a jealous God
Ex 34:17-28 - Summary and Restatement of some of the laws God had given to Moses previously
Ex 34:29-25 - Description of Moses’ shining face that indicated he had spent time with God.
Ex chap 24 is the initial commitment to the covenant; chap 32 is sin and breaking of the terms of the covenant; and chap 34 is the recommitment to the covenant.
God is looking for the committed not the “never sinned.”
God is looking for the committed not the “never sinned.”
Remember, these promises of God to bring the people into the Promised Land and to do marvels in them happened after they had sinned.
God is not expecting them to have always been perfect. We are born into sin and by our own desires, we sin.
When we come to trust that Jesus is the Son of God, died to take the judgment for sin that we deserve, and rose again, we may find that we still wrestle with sin that causes us to stumble in our walk to have a truly Jesus-first life.
God is calling them to be fully devoted.
This means: It doesn’t matter what was written in your chapter 32, God is waiting to see what you write down in your chapter 34.
You may have realized your idols and confessed them. the good news is that God wants to use you if you will just commit to him.
What does this mean?
There can be no compromise for the committed.
There can be no compromise for the committed.
Compromise kills commitment.
Exodus 34:10 (ESV)
10 And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant.
God is making a covenant with Israel and so the are not to:
Exodus 23:32–33 (ESV)
32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
Exodus 34:12 (ESV)
12 Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst.
Exodus 34:15 (ESV)
15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice,
This is because, in the end, spiritual compromise is a demonic illusion.
Matthew 6:24 (ESV)
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Worship is either/or not both/and
When something in our lives conflicts with clear teaching of Scripture but we love it or them, we tend to justify why it’s ok.
How compromise creeps in:
How compromise creeps in:
Ex 34:15 -
“You are invited”
(You are open to it)
“You eat of HIS sacrifice”
Probably a reference to participating in his worship more than simply a meal
(You participate in it)
“You take of their daughters”
led to a generational problem.
(You are entangled in it)
Openness
Openness
Participation
Participation
Entanglement
Entanglement
ILLUST - Each of these areas in marriage - not good!
James 4:4 (ESV)
4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
— by “friend” James means a mutually beneficial relationship
You can have friends IN the world without being a friend OF the world.
Jesus was accused of being a friend of sinners but he was NOT a sinner!
Jesus ate with sinners, but he did not take in what they worshipped.
In fact, the model given to us to carry out the Great Commission involves having relationships with those who are sinners.
CAVEAT:
It seems as though some believers equate a lack of compromise with a lack of compassion.
To be without compromise does not mean to be full of Judgmentalistm
To be without compromise does not mean to avoid all sinners
1 Corinthians 5:10 (ESV)
10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
How to cut compromise out:
How to cut compromise out:
Answer is sandwiched between two warnings
Exodus 34:13 (ESV)
13 You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim
All references to worship
Just like last week - no loyalties - nothing left
destroy it - don’t leave it.
God will do awesome things through the committed.
God will do awesome things through the committed.
For God’s glory in the world.
Exodus 34:10 (ESV)
10 And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.
God didn’t say, “I saved you, now you do the rest.” Take the land with your own power
Exodus 23:20–21 (ESV)
20 “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.
God doesn’t leave us on our own after he saves us.
Ephesians 1:13–14 (ESV)
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Acts 7:51 (ESV)
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
First, it’s God’s work
First, it’s God’s work
I am making. . .
I will do marvels. . .
I will do with you. . .
I will drive out. . .
I will send an angel . . .
Second, it’s for God’s glory
Second, it’s for God’s glory
Everyone will recognize that it is the work of the LORD.
Jeremiah 13:11 (ESV)
11 For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.
Isaiah 48:10–11 (ESV)
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
Third, it’s for global impact
Third, it’s for global impact
Psalm 106:7–8 (ESV)
7 Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. 8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power.
1 Corinthians 4:20 (ESV)
20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
I hope and trust you have committed your life to Christ.
After what God has showed us last week and based on what we see this week, the question is do you need to recommit your life to Christ?
‘Fully devoted’ won’t just be a cute tagline for our church
What does it look like to recommit?
(Take communion and stay for commitment)
Response
Time to commit
I believe there are those who need to commit to Christ for the first time.
Time to recommit
I believe there are some here today who need to stop compromising. You need to recommit your life to Christ.
Your next step in a Jesus-first life is to stand and commit to a Jesus-first life.
God is calling you into ministry service.
Communion
Exodus 24:7–8 (ESV)
7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Benediction
Ephesians 3:20–21 (ESV)
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.