3 Reasons God Gave the Ten Commandments

Hey, we're Todd and Julie Mullins, Senior Pastors here at Christ Fellowship Church, and we're so glad that you're tuning in for service today. Yeah, Christ Fellowship is one church that meets in lots of different locations, including right here with you. Yeah, and our prayer for you today is that you would sense God's love for you. See, I don't personally know all that you're going through today and what you're up against, but God does. And He hears your prayers, and He knows your name, and He's right here for you today as you call out to Him. Yeah, thanks again for joining with us today. We love you, and we're praying for you. God wants to exceed your expectations this year. What are you expecting God to do this year in your life? Those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish. We are a church for the one who is lost, that they will be found, and they will find their purpose in Jesus. The one who gave it all so that we could experience life and life to the full. God is more in store than you have in mind, and I believe so much more that it's going to blow your mind. Come on, church, can we sing today? Well, church, we're grateful today that we can look at what the Lord has done. We can sing in freedom today. I'm free, thank God I'm free. Come on, is anybody free today? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, I'll carry me. I'm free, I'm free, I'm glad I'm free. If you look at what the Lord has done, I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe.

I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood and now the sin of cancer. ♪ My debt is paid and my record is clean ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you did it for me ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your body ♪ ♪ You shed your blood on the sin of guessing ♪ ♪ My debt is paid and my record is clean ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you did it for me ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your body ♪ ♪ You shed your blood on the sin of guessing ♪ ♪ My debt is paid and my record is clean ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you did it for me ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you did it for me ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you did it for me ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you did it for me ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you did it for me ♪ ♪ Draw those chains that once held me ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ My sin is gone, how can that be? ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ Look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free ♪ All the time, the church is more than a building that you walk into, it's a family that you belong to. There we go, it's a family that you belong to. And today we're gonna celebrate a family moment and that's the symbol of baptism.

Baptism is this, it's celebrating what Jesus has done for us. I want you to picture everybody that gets in the water, think of them in the water and Jesus on the cross. And as Jesus was crucified and buried, we're gonna go under the water. But how many of you know, as Jesus rose to life again, we're gonna come up out of the water signifying the resurrection power that is inside of us. So I need your help. We're gonna celebrate two of my friends I've got right here, Gabby, you're getting baptized today. Would you share with your church family a little bit about why you're making this decision? So I grew up in church, I grew up around God but never really knowing him for myself. And being in this new life transition, I know that I can't be the same person I was. And I'm just celebrating the fact that he has me now and I'm gonna trust in him. Oh, we're so excited for you. You were telling me when you turned 19 years old, you said, if I'm going in to the next couple of decades of my life, I'm going in with Jesus and we're gonna celebrate you today. Come on, let's celebrate today. ♪ I'll sing, I'll dance cause I believe ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ My purse demanding, my reckoning is clean ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for me ♪

♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for me ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for me ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for me ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for me ♪ ♪ Look at what the Lord has done you ♪ ♪ I'll never go back to the way I was ♪ ♪ Looking what the Lord has done you ♪ ♪ Looking what the Lord has done you ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ Oh, looking what the Lord has done you ♪ ♪ I'll never go back to the way I was ♪ ♪ Looking what the Lord has done you ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was Come on, I'm never going back This is life change Only what God can do Yes, I know the name Every voice I can't silence her Yes, I know a name Yes, I do I can't empty out her grave I know a name It's the only name It's the only name that saves And it's worthy of all praise I call you Jesus I call you, I call you healer Raising and reigning in power Something comes out of the grave

Every time I call you Jesus I call you, I call you Savior Worthy of glory forever Something comes out of the grave Every time I call your name I have a King With a million over dead He holds the key In His holy hands He is the healer That has crushed the serpent's head How resurrected great I am I call you Jesus I call you, I call you healer Raising and reigning in power Something comes out of the grave Every time I call you Jesus I call you, I call you Savior Worthy of glory forever Something comes out of the grave Every time I call your name Chains break, dry bones awake Every time I call your name The gates of hell shake Every time I call your name Chains break, dry bones awake Every time I call your name The gates of hell shake Every time I call your name I call on the name of Jesus

There's so much power in the name Come on, we are a church that can call on the name of Jesus today Sing where all death is now your sting And where all grace, joy and victory Sing it again Sing where all death is now your sting And where all grace, joy and victory Sing where all death is now your sting And where all grace, joy and victory Dead things come alive In the name of Jesus Dead things come alive I call you Jesus I call you, I call you healer Risen and reigning in power Something comes out of the grave Every time I call you Jesus I call you, I call you Savior Worthy of glory forever Something comes out of the grave ♪ Every time I call your name Yes! Come on, let's take a moment. Because where the name of Jesus is proclaimed, there's freedom and there's victory. And I don't want to go on another moment or another minute without just declaring that name over our church today. Because we gather for a reason. We know that Jesus, he's alive and well and he reigns above all and holds all things together.

I want you to know today that you are not hidden from his gaze today. And you are not too far away from his power. So if today you came into this place and you felt maybe bondage, you felt like you were not free in this place, or maybe your story like Gabby and Gary behind me who got baptized today, your desire is to draw close to Jesus, I just want to declare that name over you today. So Father, in this house and those watching and participating and joining and singing your name online right now, I just proclaim the name of Jesus. Your name is victory. Your name is a strong tower of safety. You are almighty God. And so today this church proclaims your name, lifts up your name high and declares freedom over every life, over every relationship today. Over the work of the hands of your people today, I proclaim the name of Jesus that hell would shake as they walk. And that everywhere that they would go, they would proclaim the freedom that they find in your name. Lord, we want to be more like you. And we thank you for holding moments, moments of mercy in your house today. We dedicate our songs to you.

We take a pause. We stop drinking coffee. We take a moment to focus on your name. There is a reason, a purpose for this moment. So may we make much, may we be moved in our worship and our offering today as we give you praise and honor. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. Come on, let's make much of him today. He is worthy. You are so worthy. Let it be more than a song. ♪ I'm here and I'm open ♪ ♪ I'm fully devoted ♪ ♪ I just want to look like you ♪ ♪ Now pour out and purify with your holy name ♪ ♪ You're refining fine, I just want to look like you ♪ ♪ And as you're holy, make me holy ♪ ♪ And as you're pure and lovely, Jesus, purify me ♪ ♪ I want to be mine, you're in my heart ♪ ♪ Still I'm holy, stand apart as you're holy ♪ ♪ Make me holy, yes ♪ ♪ Sing make me holy, oh it's my prayer today ♪ ♪ Set me apart, make me holy ♪ ♪ Oh, make me a selfless priest, make me entirely yours ♪ ♪ I just want to look like you ♪ ♪ Oh, do what you need to do, oh this is your space, oh Lord ♪ ♪ I just want to look like you, oh so holy ♪ ♪ As you're holy, make me holy ♪ ♪ Make me holy, as you're pure and lovely, Jesus purify me ♪

♪ I want to be mine, you're in my heart ♪ ♪ Still I'm holy, stand apart as you're holy ♪ ♪ Make me holy, yes, make me holy, oh it's my prayer today ♪ ♪ Oh, make me holy, yes, oh set us apart, oh you're good, good father ♪ So give me clean hands, pure heart, honest intentions, keep me faithful, powerful, humble before You. Give me clean hands, pure heart, honest intentions, keep me faithful, powerful, humble before You. Give me clean hands, pure heart, honest intentions, keep me faithful, powerful, humble before You. Give me clean hands, pure heart, honest intentions, keep me faithful, powerful, humble before You. Humble before You, Lord. So ask Your Holy, make me holy. Ask Your God and He'll be. Jesus, You're right in front of me. I wanna be what You want me to be. Till I'm holy, set apart. Ask Your Holy, make me holy. Ask Your Holy, make me holy. Oh, we wanna be like You, Lord. Come on, that is our prayer. We wanna be holy just like He is holy. As we were singing this song, I was thinking about my girls. We have two little girls, seven and three. And they're not, we don't share biology with our girls. I didn't birth them. But a lot of people, when they see us around our girls, they're like, gosh, you guys look so much alike. You look so much alike. You've got similar smiles and you guys talk similarly or you act, you have similar gestures. And, you know, it's because I spend every day with them. I spend so much time with them every morning, every day, every night. And the same is true when we cry out, make me holy, Lord. Give me clean hands and pure heart and honest intentions.

The only way we start to look like our Father is when we spend time with Him. When we ask Him, God, be with me. I wanna enter in Your presence every morning, every day, every night. I'm gonna be faithful to be with You because I wanna respond like You. I wanna talk like You. I want pure intentions like You. So if we wanna be made holy, we've gotta be with a holy God. So let's pray this morning. Jesus, we wanna be like You. And so, God, we know we have to be faithful to be with You. The only way for us to look like You is to be committed to being in Your presence. Here on a Sunday morning, but also Monday morning when we wake up tomorrow. God, help us to wake up and be with You, Lord. We wanna look like You and talk like You and act like You and respond like You and serve like You. And we wanna be a people that look like You. So make us holy, we pray. In Jesus' name, the church said, amen, amen. Come on. Happy Sunday. I'm so glad to be in church with you. If I haven't got the chance to meet you yet, my name is Carissa. And me and my husband, Cole, we serve as the campus pastors here at the Gardens Campus. I wanna shout out everybody joining us online, the men and women in the United States Armed Forces serving and worshiping with us this morning. We love you. Hey, before you take your seat, why don't you say hey to someone? Say happy Sunday. Give them a high five. Hey, hey. Just honestly, as I know

Broken by the days gone by Spirit, help my soul to rise Oh, they're saying it's endless Oh, they're saying it's endless ♪ Impossible to ever save a sinner's soul ♪ ♪ But my God sets to the prodigal ♪ ♪ My beloved one, you're welcome home ♪ ♪ My beloved one, you're welcome home ♪ ♪ Your mercy triumphs over judgment, I'm wider than horizons ♪ ♪ Stronger than all sin, I'm stronger than all sin ♪ ♪ Lord know your kindness, your belief has to reflect it ♪ ♪ To the heart of God, your heart O God is all I want ♪ ♪ All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give ♪ ♪ I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live ♪ ♪ I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live ♪ ♪ All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give ♪ ♪ I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live ♪ ♪ I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live ♪ ♪ Your mercy triumphs over judgment, I'm wider than horizons ♪ ♪ Your mercy triumphs over judgment, I'm wider than horizons ♪ ♪ Stronger than all sin, I'm stronger than all sin ♪ ♪ Lord know your kindness, your belief has to reflect it ♪ ♪ To the heart of God, your heart of God is all I want ♪ Man, I'm so grateful for the heart of our God that His mercy triumphs over judgment, that it's His kindness that leads us to repentance. Are you grateful today for a God who is kind, and loving, and just, and caring? And Jesus, today we're grateful for who you are, that you are kind.

That is the word that we can use to describe every part of your nature. God, you're kind when we fall. God, you're kind and you are present, you are there in every moment of our life. God, your heart is for us and with us. I love in your word that says that there's no weapon formed against us that'll prosper. God, that your heart is for us and for your people. And today, I pray that you bless us. Today, I pray that you'd speak powerfully in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen, amen. Come on, can we give Jesus all the praise today? You guys can grab your seats. I wanna welcome everybody here at the Gardens Campus, as well as everybody joining with us online today. So excited to have you with us. We're in week three of this series, Moses, a Marked Man. We're taking some time to journey through one of the most iconic, legendary, and well-known characters in all of scripture. Pastor Ryan kicked us off, did an incredible job just kind of talking about the life story of Moses, how he was rescued out of an incredibly difficult season in Egypt, how God spared him and used him in a powerful way. But then he had some moments in his life that caused him to run away, to run away from his calling, to run away from who God called him to be. And then last week, Pastor Tyler did an incredible job helping us to see that God transformed Moses' life.

And all of a sudden, the very guy that wouldn't even say yes to God. God audibly speaking to him out of a burning bush was standing in front of the Red Sea, leading millions of people to freedom. God's done some incredible things in Moses' life, and I wanna encourage you over the past two weeks, if you haven't been with us, to jump back online, to watch those messages, but it's important to know that we are not simply studying the life of Moses, but we are here to meet with the very God who marked him because he wants to mark us too. I don't know if you know this, but you have access to everything in the Bible that Moses had access to, the transformative power, the miracles that were breaking out, the leadership that Moses was given, the confidence, and I love that if you read the story, he goes from the guy who wouldn't even say yes to leading millions of people through dry ground in the middle of the Red Sea for God to work a miracle for people. What is important to us to realize today is that Moses was marked for a purpose. He was marked for a reason. And up until this point, we've been looking at the life of Moses. We've been looking at what God's been doing inside of his life, but now the story is shifting. Now the focus goes back to the people,

to the millions of people that God has rescued out of slavery, out of Egypt, and again, Moses was marked for a purpose, for a reason, and the people find themselves standing at a crossroads. God's done this transformative work inside of Moses' life, but now you've got millions of people who are now leaving Egypt, the life that they had known, 400 years of slavery. They're not yet where God is calling them to be. They're caught at a crossroads between where they were and where they were going, who they were and who they were going to be. And what God did for Moses was not just isolated to him. He wanted to do it in every single one of his people. He wants to do it in you today as well. Every generation that had passed by in the 400 years of slavery, they had gotten further and further away from the life that God had originally designed for them. If you think about it, every generation that had passed by was slowly removed. They had no idea what it looked like to live free. They were free, but they didn't know what that meant for them. They had had 400 years of indoctrination, 400 years of bondage, 400 years of slavery, and now they're finally free, but they have no idea what to do with it. And have you ever known a person that maybe got free from a toxic relationship,

but then like immediately jumped right back into another toxic relationship? Or maybe there's a person, you know, that like finally got their spending habits in order and they got out of debt, or maybe somebody blessed them and they got free, but then just a few months later, they were right back into the same spending habits, right back into debt. I've seen this in my own life time and time again, where God has set me free from something. Maybe it was the generosity of somebody else or the kindness of somebody else. God bailed me out, he helped me, he got me free, but I stepped right back into the same mistake that I was making again. God knew that he didn't just need to get them out of Egypt, but he needed to get Egypt out of them. Let me say it like this, I mean, a different way. It's that they didn't just need a new place to live, they needed a new way to live. God was not pleased with just rescuing them out of bondage, out of physical slavery, he wanted to set them fully free. He wanted them to live the life that God had for them. They were living so far below what God had originally designed for them. It was not what he intended. It was not what he had for them, and what he had done for Moses, the confidence he'd given him,

the freedom that he'd given Moses from his past, the calling that was now on his life, the confidence to step out in faith and to lead people. He wanted to give his people that as well. And for me, one of the most heartbreaking things that I experience, not just as a pastor, but as a Christian is watching people live below the life that God has for them. I don't know what you've been told. I don't know what kind of home you grew up in, what kind of church you may have been a part of before this one. I want to tell you today that God has incredible things in store for you, that God has freedom for you beyond your wildest dreams, that you don't have to live bound up by anxiety or depression, that you can walk in freedom, that they may have been your story, but it doesn't have to be your story, that you may have been under the bondage and slavery of debt, but it doesn't have to be your story, that you can actually live in promise and provision. God was teaching them. It wasn't just getting out of slavery. It was now teaching them the way that he wanted them to live. Because what a tragedy it would be for us to be set free and still live like a slave. So how does he do it? This moment in scripture is so incredible

because for all of history up to this point. God had spoken to people or persons. He had for the first time grabbed Adam and Eve, and he would talk to them in the garden, he would walk with them. And then he met with Abraham, he met with Noah and his family. But for the first time in history, God was going to speak to everyone. And the first time God ever does anything in scripture, I think it's important for us to pay attention to see what he's saying. Because again, for the first time, he's speaking and I'm hanging on every word as I read through this story to know why it is that he would speak in this moment and what it is that he would say. God leads his people to the base of Mount Sinai. And he comes down in a cloud and he actually begins to speak to Moses on behalf of the people. And here's what he says. You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. He takes a moment just to remind them of what he's done for them. He takes a moment just to tell them, it was me who brought you out. It wasn't your own work.

It wasn't your own effort. It was my power by my hand. Now, if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations, you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites. This moment is incredibly powerful because God is declaring to his people who they are going to be. What's interesting to me is that they're standing in the wilderness probably questioning every word that God is saying. They don't even know how to live free. They don't know what freedom looks like. And here God is saying that they are set apart a special possession different. I can imagine they were wrestling with the same insecurities that Moses was wrestling with back at the burning bush. And I can imagine even as you hear those words today, whether you're joining with us online or in the room at gardens, you're probably hearing those words and questioning that yourself because you know your past. If you're anything like me, I know the mistakes that I've made. I know the problems that I've caused for myself. I know the ways that I've abandoned God, the times that I've walked away even when I knew better,

the times that I was not faithful to him, but he was always faithful to us. And in this moment, God is rewriting the narrative saying, no matter who you were or where you were or what you did, you are mine. You are chosen and special and set apart. This moment is about to change all of history. But why would God do this next? What he does is he brings Moses to the top of Mount Sinai and he actually hands them something that we would be very familiar with today. And whether you are a Christian or you've been around Christianity, you've been to Hobby Lobby once in your life, you have seen the 10 Commandments. God's next step after declaring who these people were, telling them how amazing that they are, they will be set apart, they will be a holy priest, they will be his special people. The very next thing that he does is he gives them the 10 Commandments. Basically new house rules. And if you know them, you may have memorized them by heart. Pastor Tyler sang a song for us last week that I wasn't even familiar with, Pharaoh, Pharaoh. I don't know the 10 Commandments song. My wife could probably teach it to us. She's teaching one to her kids, I'm sure. But thou shalt not have other gods before me. Thou shalt honor your father and mother.

Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. And God begins to just rattle off what seems like new house rules. But the question that I'm asking myself and the question we should ask today is why in this moment in history did God see it necessary to give these rules to his people? Why now of all time, why would he take this moment to bring Moses up, to give him the 10 Commandments, to take back to the people? It's almost as if God said, congratulations, you're free. Now here's a list of rules that you need to follow. Congrats, you've got all the freedom in the world to go wherever you want and do whatever you wanna do, but you can't do these things. It's almost like we're asking the question, why would a loving God give commands to a people that he just rescued? But if we see it that way, then we miss the heart of God entirely. What's actually evident in every single command is God's love and his kindness and his mercy. Today, we need a perspective shift. I love the word of God and I'm kind of a Bible nerd and my hope and prayer for the Gardens camp and for anybody joining us online is that you'd be a Bible nerd too because it would change your life.

I love when I'm reading through scripture that God will point something out to me and it just jumps out and it comes alive and there's revelation that happens inside of my life. The Holy Spirit, he can do that for you. We don't read it. it through our own lens and through our own filter, God speaks through his word. It's active and it's alive is what God's word says. I go back to Exodus chapter 19. I want them to put that verse back up on the screen. And I love the word of God, because if you look at that word, obey my commands, which again, God was very clear when he said that you are my special people, my chosen possession, but if you obey me fully. It seems like a caveat to the freedom that if you're fully committed to me, and I know many of us in the room are watching online, joining us online, you're probably saying I can't commit to everything that God's asking me to do. That's okay, because that word in the original Hebrew is the word Shema, and it would have been said twice when God was speaking, and he would have said Shema, Shema, it means to willingly hear, to understand, to be connected to. It's actually the same word, this is what I got excited about when I was studying. It's actually the same word that was used

in Genesis chapter three, when Adam is walking in the garden and he hears God walking with him. What God is saying to his people is that if you would hear me, if you would understand how much I love you, how much I care about you, how much I am for you, it will change everything. If you hear nothing else that I say today, what I want to say is that God's law is for your good. It's for your good. Now, not a lot of amens in this Presbyterian church today, and I understand because my whole heart and my entire desire and every prayer that I've prayed this week bringing this message is that if you would understand this truth, it will change everything about your life. Why did God give them the law at this moment? Why did he take this moment in the wilderness, not even in the promised land? They weren't even where they were supposed to be going yet. They were still wondering what it is that they were doing at the base of Mount Sinai. They didn't know what the promised land was gonna look like. They didn't know what God had in store for them. We know the whole story. Can you imagine the people questioning God? God didn't give them the law to limit their freedom. He gave them the law to learn how to live in it. God's word, his law, the 10 commandments,

all of it together is synonymous with God's heart for you and for me. These commandments, they seem like rules and regulations until we realize that God's way is better. I'll never forget July, 2023. I was 30 years old and I thought that I was invincible, but for anybody who's under 30, enjoy it while it lasts, okay, because you hit 30 and everything just breaks. All right, so I haven't hit 40 yet, but we'll see what happens when I get there. And I'm a very competitive person. I love sports, I love following sports. Vamos Argentina today, hopefully, we'll see how that goes. If you're a Spaniard or a Spain fan, I love you as well. All right, but I'm just the kind of person that I loved being in competitive environments. So I quickly jumped into the world of powerlifting and weightlifting, Olympic lifting. And when I first started, I was so incredibly careful to listen to every single coaching thing that every coach or person around the gym would give me. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know how to do any of the lifts. I didn't know what it looked like. And every time that a coach would say something, I would be so cautious to make sure that I listened to it. But as time went on, year after year, I grew a little bit stronger. I grew a little bit more confident and sure of myself. And I began to abandon the coaching cues that I was given.

I actually had people in the gym that would say things like, hey, I would just be really careful. I see you're doing a little bit more weight than you've been doing. Like, you only have one back. Actually, I remember vividly, Pastor Todd said that to me two or three times. Like, Cole, I saw the video of you lifting. Like, man, you only have one back. Make sure you're really careful. And I just thought, I'm 30. What could possibly go wrong? I pushed myself. I pushed, I pushed. And it wasn't until July on a Thursday. I don't remember what day it was, but I know it was a Thursday because of the workout we were doing. I did a lift that I'd done thousands and thousands of times before, but I had just forgotten the coaching cues. I had abandoned all of the caution and care that I had put into it so many times. And as I began to lift, the only thing that I could describe is it was like somebody put a knife into my spine. And for over a year, I was not able to run. I was not able to step up onto a curb. And it actually prevented me from being in the gym for almost two and a half years.

Now, praise God. And I always get this question when I tell a story like, I'm back to like 90% and God's done incredible work in my body. And I did a lot of physical therapy and everything's okay. But the point of this is that I lost two years of my life because I didn't listen to somebody who knew better than me. I wasn't able to sit in a car and ride with my kids without being uncomfortable. I had to wrestle with whether or not I had to go in for procedures or not. I wasn't able to pick my daughter up for over a year and a half without complaining about it. And it's because I didn't listen to somebody who just knew better than me. It wasn't that they were trying to prevent me from being fit. It wasn't that the coach was trying to prevent me from doing better or being an athlete or being athletic or competitive. They knew better. They knew the consequences of my actions. And today, I wanna tell you that God's heart is the same as those coaches, that he knows better about this life. He made it, he created it, he knows the best way to do it. He simply wants to help you not waste years of your life with an injury. It's God's pathway, it's better. God's law, the 10 commandments, God's word,

it was given to us for three main purposes. And the first one is this, that God gave his people the law for the purpose of distinction, to be set apart, to be different. When something is distinct, it means it's not like the things around it. In other words, God was teaching his people how to live differently. He didn't want them to look like the Egyptians. He didn't want them to look like the people that they would meet in the promised land. God was letting them know, you can't follow me and blend in with the culture around you. It's evident in the very first commandment that he gave, you shall not have any other gods before me. This would have been radical for the Israelites at the time. Why? Because again, I want to go back to saying that after generation and generation and generation had passed the Israelites, the kids, the young adults, even the kind of middle-aged people, they never would have known what it was like to follow Yahweh, to follow the God of their ancestors. They would have known the gods of the Egyptians. Here's what the Egyptians believed. You better pray to as many gods as you possibly can just to make sure you cover all bases, all right? So if you want to get pregnant, you better pray to that God. If you want to have crops, you better pray to that God.

If you want Argentina to win, you better pray to that God, right? It was just like, you better cover all your bases. And God was making a distinction. He was saying, you don't need options, you just need me. You don't need to cover your basis, I have them covered for you. This would have been radical to them. And I think, again, because of the way the enemy works, and I think even in our Western modern society way of thinking, we see scriptures, we see verses, and they become so common to us that we actually lose the power of what it means. When God says, you shall not have any other gods, little G, before me, he's saying, nothing takes the place of the center of your heart. There is nothing in this life that is worth giving up, trusting in Jesus fully, because they will always let you down. I can't tell you how many times I've sat with business leaders who are worth more than every person in this room combined, and they're gone, just missing something. I can tell you the people that just prayed desperately for a family, and they finally got one, and they were still missing something. The young adult who just wanted to find that job, or that career path, the person who wanted to be in that relationship,

and it always lets you down, because that is supposed to be a benefit from the giver who is God. He wanted them to be different. Another law that he gave them, one of the 10 commandments, is that you shall honor the Sabbath. Again, this would have been radically different for them, because they were slaves. There was no day off. There was no overtime. There was no, I clocked in five minutes early yesterday, and I'm gonna leave five minutes early today. They got up, and they worked. They went to bed, knowing they were gonna get up to work the next day again. God is actually teaching them that you don't have to grind when I'm your God. You don't have to work your fingers to the bone, because I actually provide for you. These people thought that if they didn't make a way for themselves, it would never happen. Do you hear the heart of our God in this? Going like, you don't need to work for seven days. Can I tell you today, and I wanna help you. I love you a lot. I love you as your pastor, if you consider me that. Let me tell you something. Six days with God is far better than seven days on your own. And until we understand that,

until we learn the rhythms of how God created this life to be, you will be perpetually exhausted, and you will not know why. A vacation is not a remedy for a lack of rhythm in your life. Taking six weeks off at this time, or taking a week off at this time, it doesn't make up for the times that we just grind without giving God that place. Why, because it's trusting God, saying, God, I will give you this time, knowing that you're better. He gave them this law, so that they could live life the way that he initially designed it. The New Testament echoes this idea of distinction in 1 Peter 2, verse nine, but you are a chosen race, a priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You are different. If you follow Jesus, if you know him, I don't care what anybody has said to you recently or at some point in your life, you are different. You are set apart. You are valuable to the place that Jesus would leave heaven to walk your story, to give his life for you. The purpose of distinction, that you're set apart.

It's God's heart. It's his care. The second purpose is this, is that God gave his law for the purpose of protection. I love this one because when we finally understand that God is trying to not keep us from experiencing life, but actually helping us experience the life that he designed, when we understand that it is not something that God wants from us, but it's the life that he has for us, when we understand this, everything changes. These laws that he gave the Israelites, they were not meant to be punitive. They were meant to be protective. If you go through the 10 commandments and you look at it, every single one of them, every thou shalt not is actually speaking against something that was destructive to human flourishing. Let me give you a few examples. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Anybody who's experienced infidelity in their life, in their marriage, in their friends' lives around them will tell you that the pain that comes from those decisions that were made, but God is going, hey, my way is better. It's not a suggestion. It's the way God designed it, to honor your father and your mother. Honor protects families. It creates a bond.

When you honor the people around you, it's actually a blessing. It's encouraging to the people around you. I love that truth protects trust, that you shall not lie, you shall not steal. These things are exactly what we want in life. We just have to put those things together to understand it's for our protection that he says these things. I know for all the parents in the room, you're gonna resonate with this, because I find myself saying things to my kids that I never thought I'd have to say in my entire life. All right, and it's gotten to the point where it's just like if I tell my eight-year-old not to run on the road one more time, I'm gonna lose my mind, because I'm like, that semi truck cannot see you, but she doesn't understand, okay? And I get it, and that's how most of us are. We don't understand the protection, but I find myself saying things like thou shalt not. And I grew up in a thou shalt not church, all right? A church that does a far better job at reciting things rather than revealing the heart of the God who said it, right, so we just recite things, well, you shouldn't do that, or you should. It's actually not just thou shalt not, it's thou shalt not so you can. So let me give you an example of that. Thou shalt not run in the road is what I'm saying to my kids. Why?

So you can live. Thou shalt not have ice cream for breakfast. Why? Because I'm a mean, grinchy, fun killer? No, I want you to have teeth when you're 25. Like, and it has gotten to the point where like, my three-year-old, God, y'all pray for us, please, Jesus, because I'm just trying, she doesn't know, and it goes back, oh, I love this. It goes back to like, when you're free, you just don't know how to live. She learned how to use a spoon. She's doing all the wrong things with it, okay? So like, for example, watermelon and ketchup, favorite snack right now. No! There's a better way. I took this picture at Tijuana Flats the other day, and it was just like the perfect image. Now, this picture is of my daughter, Mickey. She's super cute, and that spoon looks harmless. It looks totally okay, but I want us to zoom in a little bit. What you're seeing there is sour cream and applesauce. There's a better way. It's not that my heart isn't to go, baby, I don't want you to enjoy food. I'm going like, there's better food. Watermelon and ketchup, sour cream, and applesauce is not the way that God designed us to live.

There's a better kind of life out there for you, but we have to understand that it's God's heart. Now, that's funny, but like, we as human parents, if we're doing our best to protect our kids, to point them in the right direction, how much better is your heavenly Father trying to point you in the right direction? How much more is he going like, don't run in the road because there's better for you? Don't step into that relationship because you know it's actually gonna damage the relationship that you have that I gave you. Don't steal in your business because I actually have a blessing that is far beyond what you could ever ask, think, or imagine on this earth. Don't steal in your business because I actually have a blessing that is far beyond what you could ever ask, think, or imagine on this side of it. But we have to trust that God has given us these laws and these rules for a purpose, and the purpose is protection. Thou shalt not covet. Why? Because contentment leads to peace. I don't know if you've ever had a moment like this in your life. Many times in mine where God has given me something

so incredibly generous that He would give me anything because I know myself. But then I see something that somebody else has and all of a sudden the joy and the peace and the hope that I had just ripped out of my hands and I got to fight it and go, no, I'm grateful for what God has given me. It's meant for the purpose of protection. He wants what's best for you. He wanted what was best for the Israelites. They didn't know they were living a sour cream and applesauce life in Egypt, but there was so much better. And this is the hard but beautiful truth for us today is that God's protection is most often disguised as obedience. God's protection for you, the life that He has for you, it's most often disguised as obedience. It's not hidden because Deuteronomy chapter 10, another book that Moses would have written says, God speaks through Moses again and says, now Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord by walking in all His ways to love Him and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul? Keep the Lord's commands and statutes I am giving you today. Say that with me, for your own good. It's not disguised because God hid it, it's disguised because we can't see it. What a disguise does is it simply blocks us

from seeing the truth in front of it. Just it's a veil over the truth and what the enemy would love nothing more is to show you that your way is better, to make you think that God's just being punitive, that He's just punishing you, but no, it's protecting you from the truth. Protection is disguised as obedience and we choose to obey His ways. The benefit far outweighs the cost. These commands are about controlling people. They were revealing His heart to care for them. So God's purpose is for distinction, it's for protection. And finally, it's for revelation. And revelation simply means this, it means to reveal the truth about something, for us to see it clearly, to see it fully. But just as these commands reveal what God values in His perfect character, they also expose our inability to ever measure up. I've worshiped other things more times than I could ever possibly count. I've lied, I've cheated, I've stolen. I could never measure up to these laws. And when Jesus came, He didn't even lower the standard, He actually raised it. Scripture would tell us that when He came, He would say things like, if you've even been angry, you've committed murder in your heart. If you've lusted after a woman in your heart,

then you've already committed adultery. Jesus came not to give us a pass, He actually came to say, yeah, none of you can measure up to the truth of what God has said. The Israelites were never gonna be perfect on their own. God, He gave them the law to help them live life the way that He designed it, but it was not the law that was going to save them. All of the Old Testament is just a shadow of what was to come. It was Jesus. He came. Scripture tells us that when Moses was riding, or was up with God in Mount Sinai, Exodus 31, 18 says something interesting about these 10 commandments, and I want us to pay attention to this today. Scripture says, when the Lord finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant written by the finger of God. The finger of God doesn't show up very often in Scripture, and if you think about what a finger does, it's often used to point out or to accuse somebody of something. Pointing out flaws, pointing out things that we see, and this is exactly what the law does. God's heart was to care for us. His heart was that we would live the life that He has,

but God wrote with His finger on those tablets, and it's almost as if He was going, these are the things that you're gonna deal with. But the problem is, if you're anything like me, we immediately picture God as that type of person. Accusing, blaming, for me personally, this was how I viewed God almost my entire life, was that I could never measure up. I knew that, and this is true. None of us measure up. Romans would tell us that all have sinned and fallen short, but God is a measure of us, and He's a measure of us. God, he gives us the law, and it points to our flaws and to our failures. But the problem is if we view God like this, as someone who is angry and frustrated, who's sitting in heaven pointing down at us, that you've never been good enough, that you can't follow the things that I've done, that you've made too many mistakes. If we view God that way, we've missed who our God is completely. And I will never forget in my life when for the first time I understood that God was not pointing at me, but he did something instead. He pointed at his son who was sitting at his right, and he said, instead, he will go and he will take the blame for you. And then Jesus came onto the scene.

And here's what Jesus so easily could have done. He knew the law. He was the law. Scripture says that he was the word, and the word was with God. Jesus was perfect on our behalf. And who else in history but him could have so easily said, you've missed it. You failed. But instead, Jesus, instead of doing this, he points to himself and he says, I'll take the blame. I'll take the costs. And then instead of a posture like this, he took a posture like this and took the cross for our sin. If we understand that God's way is better, that his law is good, if we understand that it actually points to the fact that we need a savior, if it all ended there, it would be for nothing. But it points to the fact that we need a savior. And then Jesus became that for us. The Israelites, as great as they had it, and as great as Moses had it, and Elijah, and so many others that would come after him, David, so many incredible people in the Bible, they didn't have it as good as we do. Jesus stepped onto the scene and he offered salvation for each and every one of us. That today, no matter what you've done in your life, no matter what you've experienced,

no matter what's been done to you, Jesus is here with arms stretched wide to welcome you home. Today, I wanna encourage you just to evaluate what your view of God is. For me, when I understand that his commands are for my good, when God finally opened my eyes to see that every time that he says not to do something, it's so that I can experience a life I didn't even know possible. Every time that I think that something is restrictive, but actually it's freeing, every time that I understand that he wants me to be different from the world, every time that I see that my love for God grows deeper and deeper, my gratitude for him, it expands beyond what I can put into words. And that's exactly who he wants to be for you today. I don't know what you were taught about God. I don't know what you were taught about the 10 commandments or about God's word, but it is for your good. This is nothing short of a letter of kindness and hope and redemption. And it says hard things, but it protects you from harder things. Today, whether you're joining with us online or here at Gardens, I wanna encourage you to bow your head for just a moment and I just wanna take a second to think about

what we think about when we think about God, to reflect on what we've been taught about his word and what our perspective is. And right now, maybe for the first time today, you just need to ask God to help you to see clearly. If you're anything like me and you grew up just thinking that it was restrictive and that God was actually taking away your freedom and that this is not loving, but it's actually harmful, if that's you, I wanna encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to open up your eyes. I wanna pray two prayers today. The first is I'm gonna pray for every person in the room that we would just see God clearly. The second, in just a second, maybe you're here and you just, for the first time, understood that Jesus came for you, that he came to offer you freedom, that he didn't come to accuse you, but he came to actually take your place. And if that's you, in just a second, I wanna pray for you. But right now, if that's you and either you're joining with us online, there's a way that you can connect there and maybe you're in the room here. If that's you and you just go, yeah, I wanna step into a relationship with Jesus. I never understood that he loved me like that and I wanna know him more. If that's you today, I wanna encourage you

to lift your hand right now, because I wanna pray for you. Yeah, thank you, thank you. Yeah, saints go up. This first prayer is for every person in the room. God, I just pray for every person here that we would understand your love and your message. God, I pray that we would understand your heart to know. that you are good, that you are kind, that your ways are better. God, I pray that you'd open all of our eyes to love your word and to see you clearly. Now, if you raised your hand a second ago, this prayer is for you, and all of us are gonna pray this together. But if you made that decision, it's between you and God, and I want you to let us know today. After service, our prayer team is gonna be down front. I'd love for you to come down and meet us. You can click the button there that you made a decision online as well. But let's all pray this together. Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me. I know that I need you, that I don't measure up, but that you still love me, that Jesus came for me. I wanna become a Christian, and I will follow you as best as I know how for all my days. It's in Jesus' name everybody said, amen, amen. Come on, can we celebrate those that made that decision today?