”The God Who Legislates”

The God Who Is There
Written By D. A. Carson

“The God Who Legislates”: Chapter Four

Truth, Inclusion & Exclusion

• Is it possible to be completely open and inclusive?
• Is it possible to have a “group” without any boundaries?
• What is truth and where do we find it?
• Is freedom completely without boundaries?

God and Truth

• If we reject God as Creator, then our search for truth and meaning will be elusive.
• God has spoken and has legislated. He lays down laws…for our good.
• God’s law is bound up with the joyous freedom of life lived under the God who made us.

From Eden to Sinai

• Creation
• Fall
• Call and Covenant with Abraham
• Abraham’s Descendants
• Slavery in Egypt
• Call of Moses and God’s deliverance
• The Sinai Covenant

The Ten Commandments

• First Four: Relationship with God
• Second Six: Relationship with People
• The Ten Commandments are not the whole Law but serve as its foundation and core.
• The other commandments stand in relationship to these Ten.

The First Four

• 1: No other gods: God’s exclusivity
• 2: No idols: God’s transcendence
• 3: Not using God’s name in vain: God’s importance/honor
• 4: Honor the Sabbath: God’s right of reign, including over our use of time

The Second Six

• 5: Honor Parents: Respect God-appointed authority
• 6: No Murder: Respect human life made in God’s image
• 7: No Adultery: Respect marriage and family and covenants made
• 8: No Theft: Respect others’ property
• 9: No False Witness: Respect truth and justice
• 10: No Coveting: Respect and guard your own heart by learning contentment with God’s good gifts

Observations

• God speaks and commands
• Central in Old Testament
• First four lead to the next six
• Flow out of God’s deliverance of his people
• Don’t introduce a new morality, but codify God’s expectations for his covenant people

Ceremonial Law

• Tabernacle and Furnishings
• Most Holy Place
• Ark of the Covenant
• Priests and Sacrifices
• Day of Atonement
• God holds his people to account.
• How can you be reconciled to God?

Exodus 32-34

• God cannot be worshiped other than in the way he has prescribed.
• God is holy and must judge sin, but he is also merciful and forgiving.
• The Day of Atonement holds these aspects of God’s nature in tension…
• Until they reach final resolution in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus.