Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleThe Law In Christ's Hand
Bible TextExodus 34:1-11
Synopsis God not only gives the law to shut our mouths and declare us guilty, he also shows us shadows and types of Christ who established the law for us. Listen
Date25-Oct-2020
Series Exodus 2016
Article Type Sermon Notes
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: The Law In Christ's Hand (32 kbps)
Audio CD Quality Listen: The Law In Christ's Hand (128 kbps)
Length 40 min.
 
Title: The Law in Christ’s Hand 
Text: Exodus  34: 1-11 
Date: Oct 25, 2020 
Place: SGBC, NJ 
  
 God made with Abraham an everlasting covenant of grace.  There were no conditions for Abraham to keep.  There were no laws for Abraham to fulfill in order to be saved.  It was an everlasting covenant of grace. 
  
We see a type of it in God’s dealings with the children of Israel from Egypt to Sinai.  God came to them freely—no cause in them.  He loved his elect among them.  They were the least of all nations and God simply loved them because he would (Deut 7: 7-8).  God freed them through the blood of the Passover lamb—a type of Christ our Passover.  He led them by the Cloud and Pillar of Fire—and that was Christ our Shepherd.  God provided Manna from heaven—Christ our Bread.  He provided water out of the Rock—Paul said, “That Rock was Christ.” (1 Cor 10: 4). 
  
Then in Exodus 19: 5 God brings the children of Israel under the Mosaic covenant of works.  From then on conditions were included.  It was a law stating, “This do and live.”  God said, 
  
Exodus 19: 5: Now therefore, IF  YE WILL obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, THEN YE SHALL be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for the earth is Mine. 6: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. 
  
Of course the children of Israel were dead in sins when God gave them those conditions.  So the children of Israel failed.  In fact God gave the law to show them (and us) our sin in Adam.  All the sons of Adam became guilty sinners by one transgression.  We all came forth guilty sinners unable to establish the law by our deeds. 
  
But Christ came and fulfilled the law for his people.  He established the law on behalf of God’s chosen, spiritual Israel.  Now, Christ sends the Spirit and builds us up into a living temple as spiritual stones—rather than the stone temple of that carnal covenant.  He makes us his spiritual priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices accepted by him.   That is what Peter said.  Notice in verse 9 that by Christ’s righteousness and holiness we are what God promised to Israel in Exodus 19:5.  It is not an “if ye will then ye shall”.  It is Christ has done it therefore you are. 
  
1 Peter 2: 4: To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,…5: Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ….9: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 
  
Christ fulfilled the whole covenant of works.  As Gentiles we were never under that old covenant.  But Christ also redeemed us from the curse of Adam.  He took away all our sins.  Christ took away that unbearable yoke.  Now by his Spirit in us we have been freed from “the law of sin and death”  and are under the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.”  So that by his Spirit leading us we, now we live unto God our Savior who loved us and gave himself for us. 
  
Back in Exodus 34, we behold God giving the covenant of works at Sinai. 
 
Proposition: God not only gives the law to shut our mouths and declare us guilty, he also shows us shadows and types of Christ who established the law for us. 
  
John declared “the law came by Moses but grace and truth came by our Lord Jesus Christ.”  So let’s see a shadow of Christ in Moses. 
  
Exodus 34: 1: And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. 2: And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. 3: And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. 4: And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.
 
THE LAW IN CHRIST’S HANDS
 
Exodus 34: 1: And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. 
  
In establishing the old covenant of works the first thing the LORD God did was look to Moses.  In that we see a shadow of Christ.  God our Father put the work of establishing the law in the hands of his only begotten Son, Christ Jesus. 
  
And the LORD said unto Moses…”  This was the very first work of establishing the old covenant of works—the LORD looked to Moses.  The LORD told Moses his mind and purpose concerning how he would establish that covenant of works. 
  
So it was, in establishing the everlasting covenant of grace.  The first thing God the Father did was look to his Son, Christ Jesus.  God the Father and God the Son entered into covenant in eternity, the Father making known to his Son the end from the beginning. 
  
Psalm 89: 19: Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. 
  
Hebrews 2:11  For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, 
  
The LORD put the work of hewing the tables into Moses hands and no one else—"Hew thee two tables of stone…And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.”  
 
Like as God looked to Moses and no other man, God the Father put the work of fulfilling the law and bringing in the new covenant of grace in Christ’s hands—no man but Christ the GodMan established the law.
  
Psalm 14: 2: The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3: They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 
  
Isaiah 63:5: And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. 
  
God said that “No man can even be seen throughout all the mount”—Christ alone worked the works of God.  God said, “not even the herds and flocks can feed before this mount”—not even Christ’s own elect sheep can find food and life in Mt Sinai, in the law.  Christ is our Shepherd who feeds us from Mt Zion with the gospel of his saving covenant of grace not from Sinai with law. 
  
GREAT DIFFERENCES
  
There are some great differences between Moses and Christ. 
  
One, Moses could not be a true mediator because Moses was only a man; Moses being a man could only represent men; Moses was not God so he could not represent God. 
  
Galatians 3: 19: Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. 20: Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. 
  
The Mediator had to be able to represent both parties.  He had to be both God and Man.  Moses was only a man, and a sinful man at that.  But the Lord Jesus Christ is the GodMan, Mediator.  He is the Daysman who can lay his hands on both God and his elect men. 
  
1 Timothy 2: 5: For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6: Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 
  
Another difference is that Moses was called to this work after the children of Israel had broken the law.  Remember they had already danced around a golden calf.  But God called his Son before as yet Adam had ever broken the law in the garden.  Before sin ever entered in there was a Savior.  There was a Savior before there was a sinner.  Eternal, sovereign God does nothing as an afterthought.  He chose Christ and chose his people in Christ and purposed how he would save before he made the first grain of sand.
  
The next difference is that the LORD himself wrote the law of the covenant of works and he wrote it on tablets of stone—"I will write upon these tables the words.”  Christ had the law in his heart.  His nature is holy, just and good like the law he came to fulfill.  As for the everlasting covenant of grace, God the Father gave his Son the honor of writing the new covenant on fleshly tables of the heart
  
2 Corinthians 3: 3: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. 
  
Also, we see a difference in that Moses was only used to establish one covenant.  He was used to establish it the first time and the second time—"I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables”—but it was still the same law.  The Lord Jesus established the first covenant which Adam brake redeeming us from that curse (including the law of Sinai) and he might establish the last, everlasting covenant of grace. 
  
Hebrews 10: 9: Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 
  
Another difference is that Moses broke those stone tablets himself—"and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.”  Moses was a sinner like the children of Israel that he represented. Christ Jesus came forth Holy.  He knew no sin.  He said, 
  
John 17:19: And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. 
  
Hebrews 7: 26: For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27: Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. 28: For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore. 
  
The only reason our Substitute died is because he bore the sin of his people.  Death had no claim on him otherwise.  He himself knew no sin.  Therefore, he bore our sin and having satisfied justice for us, God could not, would not, suffer his Holy One to see corruption.  He raised him from the grave because death has no claim on anyone who has no sin.  That is how he freed us from death and gave us the victory over the grave. 
 
CHRIST RISEN
 
Exodus 34: 2: And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. 4: And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. 5: And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6: And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7: Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. 8: And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. 9: And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. 10: And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee. 11  Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
  
Moses did as the LORD commanded.  He rose up early in the morning.  When our Lord Jesus came it was the morning, the new day, the day of grace. Our Lord Jesus was ready, zealous.  He said, “I must be about my Father’s business; the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.”  At last he cried, “It is finished!” 
 
Therefore, as Moses went up and presented himself to God so did Christ arise—"And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.”  Moses did all the LORD commanded.  Likewise, the Lord Jesus himself, finished the work of restoring the law.  He is our Righteousness with God.  He now appears in the presence of God for us.  Moses went up with two tables of stone—Christ ascended having fulfilled all righteousness!
  
Notice, when Moses had done this work and went up to God, that is when God’s glory was seen—"And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”  When we look to Christ on the cross crying it is finished; when we look to Christ seated at God’s right hand; in the face of Christ Jesus we behold the glory of God!
  
2 Corinthians 4: 6: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 
  
Moses interceded for the children of Israel—"And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped…O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.”  Christ makes intercession for his people in God’s presence. 
  
Hebrews 7:25  Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. 
  
When the Spirit of God has made us behold the glory of God in Christ our Victorious Redeemer, he makes us bow in faith to him as Moses did, then God makes with us a new covenant—"And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee. Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.”  We will look more at this next time.  For now understand, this was the old covenant.  When God brings us to faith in Christ, God makes with us an everlasting covenant of grace.  There are no conditions for us to meet as there was with the old covenant.  Christ finished all.
  
Like God promised to destroy all their enemies and deliver them into the land of Canaan, God commands us rest in Christ promising us all our enemies are conquered and shall be conquered.  He shall conquer, both, the enemies in our flesh (subdued for now but one day cast off forever) and all our spiritual enemies.  The devil is on Christ’s leash and he shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly—"before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation:…behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.”
 
God did it all.  He delivered them into the land of Canaan though they did not fulfill one covenant obligation.  Now, we know that since Christ fulfilled all, Christ shall deliver us into heavenly Canaan.
  
Romans 8: 31: What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
  
Amen!