There Is Only One God: The story leading up to the Ten Commandments isn't just the story of Israel: it's the story of God, and therefore of Christians throughout all of history. We see that the Ten Commandments follow the same pattern as the Gospel of Jesus: first, God rescues his people by grace, then He gives a law to show how we ought to live. Because we have already been saved by grace, we are called to love God and to love our neighbor. Recorded on Jan 29, 2023, on Exodus 19:1-8; 20:1-3 by Pastor David Parks.

Ten Commandments: Learning the Law of Love is a sermon series on the most influential legal code in human history. Why should we learn about the Ten Commandments today? Because they reveal God’s will for how human beings ought to live: to love God with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. Ultimately, the law of love points us directly to Jesus.

Sermon Transcript:

All year, we’re focusing on Learning the way of Jesus. And today, we’re starting a brand new sermon series on the Ten Commandments in the OT of the Bible. The Ten Commandments are really the cornerstone of the most famous/influential legal code in history. And you might wonder, “Why should we learn about the Ten Commandments today?” We have our own law in the US, but even as Christians, wasn’t the law a bad thing? Or isn’t it kind of like the opposite of the gospel? And the answer is that the Ten Commandments matter today because they reveal to us God’s will for us and how human beings ought to live. They reveal what is right and wrong according to God, both for individual people and for society. When Jesus was asked how to summarize the OT Law, he said it all came down to two principles: to love God with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. And as we’ll see, the first four commandments of the Ten reflect our vertical oriented relationship, our relationship with God, and what it looks like to love God with everything in us. The remaining six commandments of the Ten, reflect our horizontal oriented relationships, our relationships with other people (friends and family, neighbors and coworkers), and what it looks like to love our neighbor as ourselves. But ultimately, as we’ll repeatedly see in this series, the Ten Commandments, points us directly to Jesus — to our need for Jesus because of our failure to perfectly obey this law of love, but also to the power that is available in Jesus for us to learn to follow/obey everything that he has commanded. With that, if you have a Bible/app, please open to Exodus 19:1. We’ll get a little of the context from chapter 19 and then we’ll jump down to chapter 20 where the Ten Commandments start.

Exodus 19:1-8; 20:1-3 (NIV), “On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. 2 After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain. 3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” 7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. 8 The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord…And God spoke all the...