1 00:00:05,542 --> 00:00:07,625 Howdy, Pastor Mark here, all sweaty 2 00:00:07,667 --> 00:00:09,167 got done just yelling, 3 00:00:09,208 --> 00:00:11,000 got to start the Ten Commandments series, 4 00:00:11,083 --> 00:00:12,458 really excited. 5 00:00:12,500 --> 00:00:13,875 We got, of course, 10 weeks together 6 00:00:13,958 --> 00:00:15,500 going through the Ten Commandments 7 00:00:15,583 --> 00:00:18,333 and I wanted to thank you; you are part 8 00:00:18,375 --> 00:00:20,708 of our extended family of Mars Hill Global. 9 00:00:20,792 --> 00:00:23,250 Many of you pray for us, many of you podcast, 10 00:00:23,333 --> 00:00:25,750 many of you give generously and faithfully 11 00:00:25,833 --> 00:00:27,333 thank you, thank you, thank you 12 00:00:27,375 --> 00:00:29,708 you're helping us introduce people to Jesus, 13 00:00:29,792 --> 00:00:32,667 get solid Bible teaching out, see lives change. 14 00:00:32,708 --> 00:00:34,833 The band is playing behind me right now, 15 00:00:34,917 --> 00:00:36,667 people are giving their lives to Jesus. 16 00:00:36,708 --> 00:00:38,000 If you hear some cheering 17 00:00:38,042 --> 00:00:40,292 it's 'cause they're getting baptized right now. 18 00:00:40,333 --> 00:00:43,500 And our extended family goes really all around the world. 19 00:00:43,542 --> 00:00:45,875 At 4 o' clock today, at our last service 20 00:00:45,958 --> 00:00:48,333 at the Bellevue location where I'm preaching live 21 00:00:48,417 --> 00:00:50,417 we've got a guy in from China. 22 00:00:50,500 --> 00:00:51,958 And apparently he can't get baptized 23 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,583 where he's at in China because the legalities 24 00:00:54,667 --> 00:00:56,333 and for some reason he's in the U.S., 25 00:00:56,375 --> 00:00:58,125 he's part of our extended family 26 00:00:58,167 --> 00:01:01,417 and we're gonna baptize him here from China at 4 o' clock. 27 00:01:01,500 --> 00:01:04,375 We love the opportunity that technology affords us 28 00:01:04,458 --> 00:01:07,625 to get the Bible teaching about Jesus out to the world. 29 00:01:07,667 --> 00:01:09,167 Somebody else getting baptized right there; 30 00:01:09,208 --> 00:01:10,625 I hope you can hear the shouts. 31 00:01:10,667 --> 00:01:13,167 Sincerely thank you, thank you, thank you. 32 00:01:13,208 --> 00:01:16,000 If you're not already part of the extended family 33 00:01:16,042 --> 00:01:18,500 or if you wanna invite others to join us 34 00:01:18,583 --> 00:01:21,083 and know what's going on and be kept up to speed, 35 00:01:21,167 --> 00:01:23,083 marshill.com/global 36 00:01:23,167 --> 00:01:25,250 is the easiest way to sign up for an account. 37 00:01:25,333 --> 00:01:27,250 And for those of you who want to follow along 38 00:01:27,333 --> 00:01:28,583 in the Ten Commandments, 39 00:01:28,667 --> 00:01:30,000 we did put together a study guide. 40 00:01:30,083 --> 00:01:31,333 You could do this individually, 41 00:01:31,417 --> 00:01:32,833 you could do this with your family 42 00:01:32,917 --> 00:01:34,542 you could do this with a small group. 43 00:01:34,625 --> 00:01:36,167 All the proceeds go back to the church 44 00:01:36,208 --> 00:01:37,750 I'm not putting my hand on the till 45 00:01:37,833 --> 00:01:39,750 and it was all written by people in the church 46 00:01:39,833 --> 00:01:43,583 who love Jesus; men, women, single, married, 47 00:01:43,667 --> 00:01:47,333 serving and using their gifts to help serve our church 48 00:01:47,417 --> 00:01:48,667 and I want to thank you 49 00:01:48,750 --> 00:01:50,792 for being an extended member of Mars Hill. 50 00:01:50,833 --> 00:01:52,708 So thanks a bunch and be praying. 51 00:01:52,792 --> 00:01:54,833 I'm pretty fired up to be in the Ten Commandments. 52 00:02:06,125 --> 00:02:09,083 The people of God were stuck. 53 00:02:09,167 --> 00:02:11,792 For centuries, they lived as slaves 54 00:02:11,833 --> 00:02:13,667 to terrifying taskmasters 55 00:02:13,750 --> 00:02:18,792 whose cruelty was only preceded by their power. 56 00:02:18,833 --> 00:02:20,667 In these dark days, 57 00:02:20,750 --> 00:02:22,583 God's people gave birth to children 58 00:02:22,667 --> 00:02:26,042 who would inherit nothing more than misery. 59 00:02:26,125 --> 00:02:29,292 Their strongest ally was a God, 60 00:02:29,333 --> 00:02:34,125 who they had assumed had forgotten them. 61 00:02:35,417 --> 00:02:37,583 Far from forgotten, the people of God 62 00:02:37,667 --> 00:02:41,667 were rescued by the might of his hand. 63 00:02:41,750 --> 00:02:44,667 He put their masters to open shame 64 00:02:44,750 --> 00:02:48,083 and led them into the wilderness. 65 00:02:48,167 --> 00:02:52,000 Though they were set free, they weren't yet living free. 66 00:02:52,042 --> 00:02:56,042 They started to live as slaves to their own sin. 67 00:02:56,125 --> 00:02:57,750 What happened next 68 00:02:57,833 --> 00:03:01,208 reverberates for over 3,000 years of history 69 00:03:01,292 --> 00:03:03,375 to this current day. 70 00:03:03,458 --> 00:03:05,333 Like a loving and patient father, 71 00:03:05,417 --> 00:03:08,875 God instructed his children, 72 00:03:08,958 --> 00:03:13,333 giving them the Ten Commandments. 73 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:21,917 Boom, I love that part! 74 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,292 That's the best part right there. 75 00:03:24,333 --> 00:03:26,500 Well, Mars Hill, great to be back to work. 76 00:03:26,542 --> 00:03:28,917 I had a good break with the family this summer, 77 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:30,917 and got some writing and research done. 78 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,917 And you know, the critics always like to say, "Mars Hill Church, 79 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,500 well, it's all built on--it's all built on one man." 80 00:03:37,583 --> 00:03:41,292 While I was on vacation, we grew and beat budget 81 00:03:41,333 --> 00:03:43,917 because it is all built on one man. 82 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:45,417 What's his name? 83 00:03:45,500 --> 00:03:48,625 Jesus. And he was still here even though I was in a boat. 84 00:03:48,667 --> 00:03:51,708 So, we are very happy and glad to report 85 00:03:51,792 --> 00:03:54,000 that we had a great summer, 86 00:03:54,083 --> 00:03:56,333 and it is because God is a great God 87 00:03:56,375 --> 00:03:58,625 and you are great people. 88 00:03:58,667 --> 00:04:00,583 One other thing, about 3 weeks ago, 89 00:04:00,667 --> 00:04:03,875 I got sick of shaving. 90 00:04:03,958 --> 00:04:06,625 I have been shaving since, like, my 6th birthday, 91 00:04:06,667 --> 00:04:09,083 and I finally wearied of it. 92 00:04:09,167 --> 00:04:12,000 My mom is a Chia Pet; my dad is a Wookie. 93 00:04:12,083 --> 00:04:14,167 And that means I can grow a beard 94 00:04:14,250 --> 00:04:16,000 in about the same amount of time 95 00:04:16,042 --> 00:04:18,792 it takes to make popcorn in a microwave. 96 00:04:18,833 --> 00:04:20,167 Here's a fact: 97 00:04:20,250 --> 00:04:22,667 It used to be that we'd record the morning services 98 00:04:22,750 --> 00:04:24,667 and the evening services and ask the guys, 99 00:04:24,750 --> 00:04:26,167 "Well, could you edit those together?" 100 00:04:26,250 --> 00:04:28,375 They're like, "No, we can't because you were clean-shaven 101 00:04:28,458 --> 00:04:31,000 in the morning and had a beard in the evening." 102 00:04:31,083 --> 00:04:33,500 I spend a lot of time shaving, and I thought, 103 00:04:33,542 --> 00:04:36,875 "How much time could I get back for the Lord if I stopped shaving?" 104 00:04:36,958 --> 00:04:38,875 So, I was on break and I thought, 105 00:04:38,958 --> 00:04:41,083 "Well, I'll take a few weeks and not shave." 106 00:04:41,167 --> 00:04:45,500 And I noticed that my beard is grayer than I was hoping. 107 00:04:45,542 --> 00:04:49,625 It started out with the kind of Mr. Fantastic sideburns, 108 00:04:49,667 --> 00:04:51,375 and then after a while, it was like, 109 00:04:51,458 --> 00:04:56,000 "Wow, if Kenny Rogers and Santa married in Seattle 110 00:04:56,042 --> 00:04:59,625 and had a child, he might look like me." 111 00:04:59,667 --> 00:05:03,333 And then I thought, "You know, I should shave this off 112 00:05:03,375 --> 00:05:05,000 to make myself look younger." 113 00:05:05,042 --> 00:05:07,167 And then one of my kids said, "Hey Dad, 114 00:05:07,250 --> 00:05:08,667 aren't you starting the Ten Commandments?" 115 00:05:08,750 --> 00:05:10,208 I was like, "Yes, I am." 116 00:05:10,292 --> 00:05:12,500 They said, "You should grow a big white beard." 117 00:05:12,583 --> 00:05:17,125 So, welcome to my beard and the Ten Commandments. 118 00:05:17,167 --> 00:05:18,667 We'll see how long it goes 119 00:05:18,750 --> 00:05:22,625 and how much my wife can endure over the next 10 weeks. 120 00:05:22,667 --> 00:05:27,708 That being said, if you've got your Bible, go to Exodus 20. 121 00:05:27,792 --> 00:05:29,292 We're gonna spend 10 weeks together 122 00:05:29,333 --> 00:05:31,333 in the Ten Commandments, 123 00:05:31,375 --> 00:05:33,792 and since we're starting in the middle of a book, 124 00:05:33,833 --> 00:05:36,917 let me catch you up to speed. 125 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,083 Exodus is actually part of something called the Pentateuch, 126 00:05:40,167 --> 00:05:42,000 which means "book in five parts." 127 00:05:42,083 --> 00:05:45,125 So, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy-- 128 00:05:45,167 --> 00:05:50,417 all written by Moses, one book in five parts. 129 00:05:50,500 --> 00:05:52,917 And the Ten Commandments are right in the middle, 130 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:55,833 tucked away there in Exodus 20. 131 00:05:55,875 --> 00:05:58,417 And so, really, the story begins in Genesis 132 00:05:58,500 --> 00:06:00,500 after sin enters the world. 133 00:06:00,542 --> 00:06:05,583 God picks a person named Abraham to be saved 134 00:06:05,667 --> 00:06:10,208 and to be used by God to bring forth the nation of Israel 135 00:06:10,292 --> 00:06:13,000 and ultimately Jesus Christ. 136 00:06:13,042 --> 00:06:16,708 And he promises to bring a family and a blessing 137 00:06:16,792 --> 00:06:18,667 through Abraham and Sarah. 138 00:06:18,750 --> 00:06:22,167 Well, Abraham and Sarah have Isaac; Isaac has Jacob. 139 00:06:22,250 --> 00:06:25,833 This is working through the story line of Genesis. 140 00:06:25,875 --> 00:06:27,917 And as we near the end of Genesis, 141 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:29,917 we see that this man, Jacob, 142 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:32,917 he's got a family and he's got a lot of sons. 143 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,625 And one of these sons, the younger son named Joseph, 144 00:06:36,667 --> 00:06:38,708 well, he's sort of his dad's favorite. 145 00:06:38,792 --> 00:06:41,083 Bad things happen when dads play favorites. 146 00:06:41,167 --> 00:06:43,500 And he's also a bit of an arrogant kid 147 00:06:43,583 --> 00:06:45,000 who likes to talk about himself, 148 00:06:45,083 --> 00:06:47,208 and his brothers get a little sick of it, 149 00:06:47,292 --> 00:06:50,417 so they decide to get rid of him, to sell him into slavery, 150 00:06:50,500 --> 00:06:52,417 and tell his dad, Jacob, that he's dead. 151 00:06:52,500 --> 00:06:53,917 So, he is sold into slavery, 152 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,500 and off he goes to Egypt as a slave. 153 00:06:56,542 --> 00:06:59,167 Though he is far away from God's people, 154 00:06:59,250 --> 00:07:04,292 he is not far away from God because God draws near to him. 155 00:07:04,333 --> 00:07:07,417 And God comes and loves him and blesses him. 156 00:07:07,500 --> 00:07:10,333 And even though he is enslaved and, at various points, 157 00:07:10,375 --> 00:07:15,125 imprisoned, he is used by God to rise up as a very powerful, 158 00:07:15,167 --> 00:07:18,500 prominent, preeminent, political leader. 159 00:07:18,542 --> 00:07:21,708 And he's working for the godless king of Egypt. 160 00:07:21,792 --> 00:07:25,208 It's the most powerful, influential nation 161 00:07:25,292 --> 00:07:28,167 in the history of the world to that time. 162 00:07:28,250 --> 00:07:29,833 It was Egypt in that day. 163 00:07:29,875 --> 00:07:31,583 In the days of the New Testament, 164 00:07:31,667 --> 00:07:33,000 it's the Roman Empire. 165 00:07:33,042 --> 00:07:35,417 Some would argue today it's the United States of America. 166 00:07:35,500 --> 00:07:38,125 But you're looking at this international powerhouse 167 00:07:38,167 --> 00:07:39,625 of a nation. 168 00:07:39,667 --> 00:07:45,583 What happens is that he has this opportunity to serve the Pharaoh 169 00:07:45,667 --> 00:07:50,000 and to serve the nation, and God gives him great wisdom. 170 00:07:50,083 --> 00:07:51,708 Well, they're living in the midst 171 00:07:51,792 --> 00:07:53,500 of this season of plenty: 172 00:07:53,583 --> 00:07:56,833 multiple years of just record-breaking harvests, 173 00:07:56,875 --> 00:08:00,458 food for everybody, home prices are on the rise, 174 00:08:00,500 --> 00:08:04,000 no end in sight, everybody's investment portfolio 175 00:08:04,083 --> 00:08:06,625 is just coming up roses. 176 00:08:06,667 --> 00:08:09,125 And no one knows that there is a fiscal cliff 177 00:08:09,167 --> 00:08:11,083 in their immediate future. 178 00:08:11,167 --> 00:08:13,500 And so, what happens is God reveals to Joseph 179 00:08:13,583 --> 00:08:15,875 that lean years of famine are coming: 180 00:08:15,958 --> 00:08:18,708 "So store up in the years of plenty in preparation 181 00:08:18,792 --> 00:08:22,625 for the years of lack and want and need." 182 00:08:22,667 --> 00:08:25,000 This happens and, as a result, 183 00:08:25,042 --> 00:08:27,625 while other nations are starving, 184 00:08:27,667 --> 00:08:30,500 the nation of Egypt is flourishing 185 00:08:30,542 --> 00:08:33,375 because of the wise presence of a great leader 186 00:08:33,458 --> 00:08:35,708 and manager named Joseph. 187 00:08:35,792 --> 00:08:40,125 Back to his family and his father, who thinks he's dead. 188 00:08:40,167 --> 00:08:45,125 His brothers come to Egypt seeking, really, survival. 189 00:08:45,167 --> 00:08:48,625 Their land is in famine, and they are starving to death. 190 00:08:48,667 --> 00:08:52,500 There's this amazing reunion between Joseph and his brothers, 191 00:08:52,583 --> 00:08:56,208 and he forgives them. And it's a picture of Jesus who, 192 00:08:56,292 --> 00:08:59,500 though we've sinned against him and threw him down in a pit, 193 00:08:59,583 --> 00:09:02,208 he came out to forgive and embrace and love 194 00:09:02,292 --> 00:09:04,167 and reconcile with us. 195 00:09:04,250 --> 00:09:07,708 And then Jacob reconciles with his son--finds out he's alive-- 196 00:09:07,792 --> 00:09:11,000 it's this amazing reconciliation story. 197 00:09:11,083 --> 00:09:14,833 And Joseph invites his father and his brothers 198 00:09:14,875 --> 00:09:18,000 to move to Egypt so that they can live 199 00:09:18,042 --> 00:09:20,917 under his blessing and provision. 200 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:25,208 Four hundred and forty years pass between the end of Genesis 201 00:09:25,292 --> 00:09:27,000 and the beginning of Exodus. 202 00:09:27,083 --> 00:09:29,333 (And yes, I think you should read it.) 203 00:09:29,375 --> 00:09:33,208 And what happens there is, it's a new Pharaoh, 204 00:09:33,292 --> 00:09:37,208 and this family of Jacob's that entered into Egypt 205 00:09:37,292 --> 00:09:41,917 as a family of about 70 people, 440 years later, 206 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:44,833 because their kids had kids, who had kids, who had kids, 207 00:09:44,875 --> 00:09:47,167 they're a nation of a few million people, 208 00:09:47,250 --> 00:09:49,125 the great nation of Israel. 209 00:09:49,167 --> 00:09:51,625 And the Pharaoh is a different leader 210 00:09:51,667 --> 00:09:54,667 who now hates, despises, enslaves, 211 00:09:54,750 --> 00:09:57,208 and abuses God's people. 212 00:09:57,292 --> 00:09:59,000 They are in misery. 213 00:09:59,083 --> 00:10:01,458 If you can think of it, your children, 214 00:10:01,500 --> 00:10:05,250 your children's children will all be slaves 215 00:10:05,333 --> 00:10:08,458 for hundreds of years, nothing but slaves-- 216 00:10:08,500 --> 00:10:12,667 no hope, no prosperity, no future, no love, 217 00:10:12,708 --> 00:10:15,542 no grace, no betterment. 218 00:10:15,625 --> 00:10:18,208 God's people reach a point where they cry out to him, 219 00:10:18,292 --> 00:10:20,250 begging for deliverance, 220 00:10:20,333 --> 00:10:22,167 and God hears and answers prayer. 221 00:10:22,208 --> 00:10:23,625 We need to know that 222 00:10:23,667 --> 00:10:26,750 particularly when we're suffering and in need. 223 00:10:26,833 --> 00:10:32,000 And that God determines that he will set his people free, 224 00:10:32,083 --> 00:10:34,542 and he will do so through a mediator, 225 00:10:34,625 --> 00:10:37,000 a man named Moses, who's a prophet. 226 00:10:37,083 --> 00:10:39,667 And he is representing and foreshadowing 227 00:10:39,708 --> 00:10:41,250 the coming of Jesus, 228 00:10:41,333 --> 00:10:42,958 who will stand between us and God, 229 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:45,458 and speak God's truth to us. 230 00:10:45,500 --> 00:10:48,417 Moses is a man who lost his temper and murdered somebody. 231 00:10:48,500 --> 00:10:51,125 Moses is a man who has a speech impediment. 232 00:10:51,167 --> 00:10:53,917 Moses is a man who is a bit of a coward. 233 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:57,833 And God chooses him because God can do extraordinary things 234 00:10:57,917 --> 00:11:00,208 through ordinary people. 235 00:11:00,292 --> 00:11:03,542 And because it's for his glory, when he uses someone like Moses, 236 00:11:03,625 --> 00:11:07,708 or me or you, everyone knows that it was the grace of God, 237 00:11:07,792 --> 00:11:10,458 not the gifts of the servant. 238 00:11:10,500 --> 00:11:12,958 Moses is then told, "Go to the Pharaoh 239 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:14,500 and tell him what to do." 240 00:11:14,583 --> 00:11:17,458 Of course, I'm paraphrasing. But no one tells the Pharaoh 241 00:11:17,500 --> 00:11:21,000 what to do because he thinks he's God. 242 00:11:21,083 --> 00:11:25,125 No one comes into his presence and says, "I demand this," 243 00:11:25,167 --> 00:11:30,708 but God commands Moses, as his messenger, to do precisely that. 244 00:11:30,792 --> 00:11:32,958 "Go tell the Pharaoh that he's not God, 245 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:34,333 "that there's a real God. 246 00:11:34,417 --> 00:11:36,333 "The real God's not happy with the way 247 00:11:36,417 --> 00:11:37,750 he's treating his children." 248 00:11:37,833 --> 00:11:40,250 Go tell the false god that the real God says, 249 00:11:40,333 --> 00:11:43,333 "Let my people go, that they might be free to worship me"-- 250 00:11:43,417 --> 00:11:44,917 and that's freedom. 251 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:47,417 Freedom is not the ability to do what you want; 252 00:11:47,500 --> 00:11:51,333 freedom is the ability to do what you were made for by God. 253 00:11:51,375 --> 00:11:55,167 "I want them free to worship me, and if he will not let them go, 254 00:11:55,208 --> 00:11:59,333 then I will bring punishment and plagues upon him." 255 00:11:59,417 --> 00:12:02,083 And I want you to see that God is very loving, 256 00:12:02,167 --> 00:12:04,083 very compassionate, very patient, 257 00:12:04,167 --> 00:12:10,625 very kind with the Pharaoh, because he keeps sending Moses. 258 00:12:10,667 --> 00:12:15,000 And Moses keeps inviting him to submit to the real God 259 00:12:15,083 --> 00:12:18,125 and to walk away from his own sin. 260 00:12:18,167 --> 00:12:20,417 Yet what the Bible says is that Pharaoh 261 00:12:20,500 --> 00:12:24,083 continually hardened his heart. 262 00:12:24,167 --> 00:12:25,833 Let me ask you a question: 263 00:12:25,875 --> 00:12:28,083 do you have a hard heart? 264 00:12:28,167 --> 00:12:31,083 Some of us stand back in judgment of Pharaoh, 265 00:12:31,167 --> 00:12:35,333 but we overlook the fact that we're much like him. 266 00:12:35,375 --> 00:12:39,083 He wanted to do what he wanted to do, 267 00:12:39,167 --> 00:12:43,125 and he didn't want the real God telling him what to do. 268 00:12:43,167 --> 00:12:46,583 That's a hard heart. 269 00:12:46,667 --> 00:12:48,292 You and I, if we're honest, 270 00:12:48,333 --> 00:12:50,917 we at least have seasons of hardness of heart, 271 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,083 where God says no and we say yes, 272 00:12:54,167 --> 00:12:58,625 where we disagree with God, where we defy God, 273 00:12:58,667 --> 00:13:02,167 where we disobey God. 274 00:13:02,250 --> 00:13:04,833 That's what Pharaoh did. 275 00:13:04,875 --> 00:13:07,792 The Bible says, in addition to Pharaoh hardening his heart, 276 00:13:07,833 --> 00:13:10,167 that God hardened his heart. 277 00:13:10,250 --> 00:13:12,333 This is the first 19 chapters of Exodus. 278 00:13:12,375 --> 00:13:14,708 You can read it for yourself. 279 00:13:14,792 --> 00:13:17,500 And the way that God hardened his heart is through love 280 00:13:17,583 --> 00:13:21,625 and grace and patience and kindness. 281 00:13:21,667 --> 00:13:24,583 The Puritans were fond of saying that the same sun 282 00:13:24,667 --> 00:13:29,500 that melts the ice hardens the clay. 283 00:13:29,542 --> 00:13:32,292 Some of us, when we hear from God, we melt: 284 00:13:32,333 --> 00:13:34,792 "Oh, you're right; I'm wrong. I need to change. 285 00:13:34,833 --> 00:13:36,583 Thank you for telling me the truth." 286 00:13:36,667 --> 00:13:38,625 Others of us, we harden: 287 00:13:38,667 --> 00:13:41,917 "No, I will not change. I will not agree. 288 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,292 "I will not relent. I will not repent. 289 00:13:45,333 --> 00:13:48,333 "I will edit God's word. I will ignore God's word. 290 00:13:48,375 --> 00:13:50,125 "I will find another god. 291 00:13:50,167 --> 00:13:54,417 I will be my own god, but I will not submit to that God." 292 00:13:54,500 --> 00:13:57,417 That's hardness of heart. 293 00:13:57,500 --> 00:13:59,917 Some of you say, "I don't have a hard heart." 294 00:14:00,042 --> 00:14:01,375 Every time we sin, 295 00:14:01,458 --> 00:14:06,000 it's ultimately the result of hardness of heart. 296 00:14:06,083 --> 00:14:11,208 And so, the plagues, they become increasingly more costly. 297 00:14:11,292 --> 00:14:15,208 All of a sudden, it's ruining their environmental well-being, 298 00:14:15,292 --> 00:14:19,333 it's harming their economy, it's destroying their spirituality. 299 00:14:19,375 --> 00:14:22,833 The nation is really suffering, 300 00:14:22,875 --> 00:14:27,292 and it culminates with the killing of the first-born. 301 00:14:29,667 --> 00:14:34,625 The first-born son, particularly in that culture, 302 00:14:34,667 --> 00:14:38,000 that was the hope of the family. 303 00:14:38,042 --> 00:14:39,500 That's the legacy of the family. 304 00:14:39,542 --> 00:14:41,625 That's the future of the family. 305 00:14:41,667 --> 00:14:45,208 That's the one who will take care of you in your old age 306 00:14:45,292 --> 00:14:49,917 and make sure that your name goes into the future. 307 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:52,417 God says, "If you will not let my people go, 308 00:14:52,500 --> 00:14:55,875 I will take some of your people." 309 00:14:55,958 --> 00:14:58,667 Pharaoh hardened his heart, and the Bible says, 310 00:14:58,750 --> 00:15:02,208 "In a night, death came and the first-born male child, 311 00:15:02,292 --> 00:15:04,833 the son, in every household died." 312 00:15:04,875 --> 00:15:07,083 OK, how many of you are first-born sons? 313 00:15:07,167 --> 00:15:08,500 How many first-born sons? 314 00:15:08,542 --> 00:15:12,000 OK, look around the room, all dead. 315 00:15:12,042 --> 00:15:14,167 OK, how many of you have a first-born son? 316 00:15:14,250 --> 00:15:19,000 My first-born son's name is Zac. Dead in a night. 317 00:15:19,083 --> 00:15:20,792 See, the wage for sin is what? 318 00:15:20,833 --> 00:15:22,333 Death. 319 00:15:22,375 --> 00:15:24,333 And see, death comes one at a time, 320 00:15:24,375 --> 00:15:26,333 so we don't pay a lot of attention. 321 00:15:26,375 --> 00:15:27,833 When death comes all at once, 322 00:15:27,875 --> 00:15:30,333 we're overwhelmed by the fact that sin leads to death. 323 00:15:30,375 --> 00:15:35,083 And in Egypt, sin led to death, and death came at once for all. 324 00:15:36,500 --> 00:15:38,833 The Bible says that there was weeping in Egypt. 325 00:15:38,875 --> 00:15:43,125 I mean, just think of an entire nation 326 00:15:43,167 --> 00:15:47,000 where all the first-born sons are dead 327 00:15:47,042 --> 00:15:50,208 and all the mothers are weeping. 328 00:15:50,292 --> 00:15:54,375 Some lost a son, some also lost a husband. 329 00:15:57,583 --> 00:15:59,292 You men who raised your hand, dead; 330 00:15:59,333 --> 00:16:01,125 all your first-born sons, dead. 331 00:16:01,167 --> 00:16:02,708 We'd have a massive funeral. 332 00:16:02,792 --> 00:16:07,500 I couldn't preach it because I'd be dead, too. 333 00:16:07,583 --> 00:16:10,583 There was only one exception, and that was those who, 334 00:16:10,667 --> 00:16:14,625 in faith, participated in something called the Passover. 335 00:16:14,667 --> 00:16:19,125 God pours out his wrath, and he provides provision for his wrath 336 00:16:19,167 --> 00:16:21,917 to pass over us. 337 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,875 And that was that God's people would gather as a family, 338 00:16:25,958 --> 00:16:28,417 that they would take a lamb without spot or blemish, 339 00:16:28,500 --> 00:16:30,917 symbolizing sinlessness and perfection, 340 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,917 that they would acknowledge their sins before God, 341 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,375 and those sins would be imputed to the lamb, 342 00:16:36,458 --> 00:16:39,000 that the lamb would be the substitute, 343 00:16:39,083 --> 00:16:41,333 that the lamb would then be slaughtered, 344 00:16:41,375 --> 00:16:44,125 because the wage for sin is death. 345 00:16:44,167 --> 00:16:48,125 And then to show publicly that they belonged to the Lord, 346 00:16:48,167 --> 00:16:50,125 they would take the blood of the lamb, 347 00:16:50,167 --> 00:16:52,125 and they would paint the exterior door posts 348 00:16:52,167 --> 00:16:55,000 of their home, so that when death came to every home, 349 00:16:55,083 --> 00:16:58,500 it would literally pass over those homes who had their 350 00:16:58,542 --> 00:17:03,000 repentance of sin demonstrated in the shed blood of the lamb. 351 00:17:03,083 --> 00:17:05,667 This is all pointing to Jesus. 352 00:17:05,750 --> 00:17:08,875 Tell your Jewish friends it's all pointing to Jesus. 353 00:17:08,958 --> 00:17:11,792 There is no Passover without Jesus. 354 00:17:11,833 --> 00:17:16,917 He is the one who is alone the sacrifice for our sins, 355 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,500 the substitute, the Lamb who was slain, 356 00:17:19,583 --> 00:17:22,500 and the one alone who alleviates the wrath of God 357 00:17:22,542 --> 00:17:25,208 from coming upon us. 358 00:17:25,292 --> 00:17:27,792 God then delivers his people. 359 00:17:27,833 --> 00:17:29,708 God liberates his people. 360 00:17:29,792 --> 00:17:31,417 He sets them free. 361 00:17:31,500 --> 00:17:32,917 He parts the Red Sea. 362 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:35,417 And now a nation of a few million former slaves 363 00:17:35,500 --> 00:17:42,208 are set free, but they're not living free. 364 00:17:42,292 --> 00:17:45,167 They're committing adultery. 365 00:17:45,250 --> 00:17:48,000 They're stealing from one another. 366 00:17:48,042 --> 00:17:53,583 They're coveting. They're lying. 367 00:17:53,667 --> 00:17:58,083 They're not raising their children in the Lord. 368 00:17:58,167 --> 00:18:04,375 They're worshiping false gods in addition to the real God. 369 00:18:04,458 --> 00:18:08,500 Though they are set free, they have chosen to not live free, 370 00:18:08,583 --> 00:18:11,083 so God's going to speak to them. 371 00:18:11,167 --> 00:18:13,917 God's going to be loving and gracious and patient 372 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,167 and merciful, just as he was with the Pharaoh, 373 00:18:17,250 --> 00:18:20,000 as he was with them, as he is with us. 374 00:18:20,083 --> 00:18:22,292 And that brings us to the Ten Commandments. 375 00:18:22,333 --> 00:18:25,625 And I tell you all of this because if we only start in 376 00:18:25,667 --> 00:18:29,625 chapter 20, we read the Bible like those who are Jewish 377 00:18:29,667 --> 00:18:32,833 or Muslim or moralistic or political 378 00:18:32,875 --> 00:18:35,875 or Jehovah's Witness or Mormon. 379 00:18:35,958 --> 00:18:37,375 Do this, don't do that. 380 00:18:37,458 --> 00:18:39,333 If you do this, God will punish you; 381 00:18:39,375 --> 00:18:41,500 if you don't do that, God will bless you. 382 00:18:41,583 --> 00:18:42,917 That's not it. 383 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,125 It's in the context of God has already loved, 384 00:18:45,167 --> 00:18:47,583 God has already served, God has already set free, 385 00:18:47,667 --> 00:18:50,583 God has already adopted these kids into his family. 386 00:18:50,667 --> 00:18:53,583 This is not about obeying him so that he will love you; 387 00:18:53,667 --> 00:18:56,833 it's about him loving you and helping you to obey. 388 00:18:56,875 --> 00:18:59,500 The context is very important. 389 00:18:59,583 --> 00:19:03,125 We can't ignore the first 19 chapters and launch into 390 00:19:03,167 --> 00:19:05,833 morality in the 20th chapter. 391 00:19:05,875 --> 00:19:08,000 And so then God speaks to his people, 392 00:19:08,042 --> 00:19:09,708 and here's what he has to say: 393 00:19:09,792 --> 00:19:15,292 First, he tells them that he is the God who loves to set free. 394 00:19:15,333 --> 00:19:19,583 Exodus 20:1-2, "And God spoke all these words, saying." 395 00:19:19,667 --> 00:19:22,500 OK, first thing, who speaks? 396 00:19:22,542 --> 00:19:26,000 God. 397 00:19:26,083 --> 00:19:30,625 This is what God says. 398 00:19:30,667 --> 00:19:34,292 This is what we believe, 399 00:19:34,333 --> 00:19:37,625 that what God says, the Bible says, 400 00:19:37,667 --> 00:19:40,375 what the Bible says, God says. 401 00:19:40,458 --> 00:19:42,875 Some of you come to the Ten Commandments and say, 402 00:19:42,958 --> 00:19:44,292 "I disagree." 403 00:19:44,333 --> 00:19:45,667 Then you disagree with God. 404 00:19:45,750 --> 00:19:48,167 You say, "Well, that's his opinion," and I would say, 405 00:19:48,250 --> 00:19:50,125 "So, go with it." 406 00:19:50,167 --> 00:19:53,000 All right? 407 00:19:53,083 --> 00:19:57,833 See, here, the Pentateuch is written by Moses. 408 00:19:57,875 --> 00:20:00,625 It says it in the first five books. 409 00:20:00,667 --> 00:20:02,458 It says it in Paul's letters. 410 00:20:02,500 --> 00:20:06,458 It says it in the teachings of Jesus. 411 00:20:06,500 --> 00:20:08,458 It's college time, you're back to school, 412 00:20:08,500 --> 00:20:11,208 a lot of you are going to take some Bible class 413 00:20:11,292 --> 00:20:12,833 at some loony college. 414 00:20:12,917 --> 00:20:15,042 The first thing they're going to tell you is, 415 00:20:15,125 --> 00:20:16,542 "Moses didn't write the Pentateuch." 416 00:20:16,625 --> 00:20:17,958 Yes, he did. 417 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,958 He says he does, Paul says he does, Jesus says he does. 418 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,167 It doesn't matter what the guy at community college 419 00:20:23,208 --> 00:20:27,000 says, Moses wrote the first five books. 420 00:20:27,083 --> 00:20:29,333 And though Moses, here, is writing, 421 00:20:29,417 --> 00:20:32,958 it's ultimately God who is speaking. 422 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:34,458 It's God who's speaking. 423 00:20:34,500 --> 00:20:36,458 Mars Hill, I need you to know this. 424 00:20:36,500 --> 00:20:40,333 When we open the Bible, God is speaking to you. 425 00:20:40,417 --> 00:20:44,000 You're hearing from him, OK? 426 00:20:44,083 --> 00:20:46,625 So, we don't believe that this is alongside a philosophy 427 00:20:46,667 --> 00:20:49,708 or religion or spirituality or ideology. 428 00:20:49,792 --> 00:20:52,333 We don't believe that this is speculation about God. 429 00:20:52,417 --> 00:20:54,833 We believe this is revelation from God. 430 00:20:54,917 --> 00:20:59,042 At Mars Hill Church, that is bedrock for us. 431 00:20:59,125 --> 00:21:02,458 That is bedrock for us. 432 00:21:02,500 --> 00:21:04,167 So, God's going to say something. 433 00:21:04,208 --> 00:21:06,458 Anybody want to hear from God? 434 00:21:06,500 --> 00:21:08,833 God's going to say something. 435 00:21:08,875 --> 00:21:10,750 "I am the Lord your God. 436 00:21:10,833 --> 00:21:14,333 I'm Yahweh; it's me. 437 00:21:14,417 --> 00:21:16,042 It's me." 438 00:21:16,125 --> 00:21:19,333 This is a God who's speaking to everybody at once. 439 00:21:19,417 --> 00:21:22,333 Some would say that this is the only time in the Bible 440 00:21:22,417 --> 00:21:24,208 that God assembled all of his people 441 00:21:24,292 --> 00:21:25,625 to speak directly to him. 442 00:21:25,667 --> 00:21:27,000 This is unprecedented. 443 00:21:27,083 --> 00:21:28,417 This is very important. 444 00:21:28,500 --> 00:21:31,708 This is historically in a category unto itself. 445 00:21:31,792 --> 00:21:35,208 He's going to start by telling us who he is. 446 00:21:35,292 --> 00:21:36,625 Here's the truth: 447 00:21:36,667 --> 00:21:40,417 apart from Revelation, we would not know who God is; 448 00:21:40,500 --> 00:21:46,417 if God didn't tell us who he is, we would not know who he is. 449 00:21:46,500 --> 00:21:49,333 And here's the good news: our God tells us who he is. 450 00:21:49,375 --> 00:21:51,917 He says, "I'm the Lord your God." 451 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:53,458 It's very personal. 452 00:21:53,500 --> 00:21:56,333 "I'm Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 453 00:21:56,375 --> 00:21:58,208 out of the house of"--what? 454 00:21:58,292 --> 00:22:02,083 "Slavery." 455 00:22:02,167 --> 00:22:06,500 The problem is slavery, the solution is God. 456 00:22:06,583 --> 00:22:10,917 The problem is always slavery, and the solution is always God. 457 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,167 This is not just a story about what happened, 458 00:22:13,250 --> 00:22:15,208 but about what always happened. 459 00:22:15,292 --> 00:22:17,792 This is not an old book, it's a timeless book 460 00:22:17,833 --> 00:22:20,500 so it's always timely. 461 00:22:20,583 --> 00:22:24,875 And what God is doing here, he is giving us laws. 462 00:22:24,958 --> 00:22:27,625 We're going to jump in a moment into the Ten Commandments, 463 00:22:27,667 --> 00:22:29,500 but the Bible gives us laws. 464 00:22:29,583 --> 00:22:31,833 Those first five books of the Old Testament called 465 00:22:31,875 --> 00:22:34,125 the "Books of the Law." 466 00:22:34,167 --> 00:22:37,292 Not surprising, they're filled with law. 467 00:22:37,333 --> 00:22:40,125 Some would say 68.5% of the first five books 468 00:22:40,167 --> 00:22:43,292 of the Old Testament have laws. 469 00:22:43,333 --> 00:22:47,167 They counted them: there's 613 laws. 470 00:22:47,250 --> 00:22:49,833 The Ten Commandments are the summary and center 471 00:22:49,875 --> 00:22:51,292 of the law. 472 00:22:51,333 --> 00:22:52,917 God's going to give us laws. 473 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:56,000 How many of you are not particularly excited about law? 474 00:22:56,083 --> 00:22:59,208 OK, law, how many of you are like, "I don't like law"? 475 00:22:59,292 --> 00:23:01,667 How many of you, right now, if I said, 476 00:23:01,750 --> 00:23:03,917 "Hey, the IRS came out with new tax code. 477 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:05,417 "Every Sunday for 10 weeks, 478 00:23:05,500 --> 00:23:07,625 "we're going to go through the fine print. 479 00:23:07,667 --> 00:23:09,625 We're going to look at all the details," 480 00:23:09,667 --> 00:23:11,625 how many of you would not be here? 481 00:23:11,667 --> 00:23:13,292 OK, I wouldn't be here either. 482 00:23:13,333 --> 00:23:15,208 How many of you, if your boss says, 483 00:23:15,292 --> 00:23:17,083 "Hey, come on into the break room. 484 00:23:17,167 --> 00:23:20,417 "You know, Corporate just sent out a whole bunch more policies 485 00:23:20,500 --> 00:23:22,208 and we're going to go over them," 486 00:23:22,292 --> 00:23:24,708 how many of you don't run into the break room, 487 00:23:24,792 --> 00:23:26,417 quoting the Psalms in your heart? 488 00:23:26,500 --> 00:23:29,417 "I delight in the law in my innermost being. 489 00:23:29,500 --> 00:23:31,333 Give me more rules about the coffee machine." 490 00:23:31,375 --> 00:23:32,792 Right? 491 00:23:32,833 --> 00:23:35,500 It's just--when we think of law, 492 00:23:35,542 --> 00:23:40,000 we tend to think of law that is unhelpful. 493 00:23:40,083 --> 00:23:43,208 Is God's law like that? 494 00:23:43,292 --> 00:23:46,083 Many people think it is. 495 00:23:46,167 --> 00:23:50,625 The two most influential people, in my estimation, 496 00:23:50,667 --> 00:23:53,500 outside of the Bible, for our understanding of the law, 497 00:23:53,542 --> 00:23:55,792 are two guys named John Calvin and Martin Luther. 498 00:23:55,833 --> 00:23:57,292 I like them. 499 00:23:57,333 --> 00:24:00,333 I have a son named Calvin Martin, so I get a pass. 500 00:24:00,417 --> 00:24:03,208 I like them both, OK, but 501 00:24:03,292 --> 00:24:06,583 they were both trained as attorneys. 502 00:24:06,667 --> 00:24:09,625 Great Bible teachers, amazing, and I love what they have to say 503 00:24:09,667 --> 00:24:13,125 about law and gospel, and it's super insightful. 504 00:24:13,167 --> 00:24:17,333 But in reading the Bible as an attorney, 505 00:24:17,375 --> 00:24:23,292 you could miss something that I think is very important for you. 506 00:24:23,333 --> 00:24:27,208 Commandments or laws or rules 507 00:24:27,292 --> 00:24:32,167 are different when they come from a father, 508 00:24:32,250 --> 00:24:38,833 most assuredly different than when they come from a dictator. 509 00:24:38,875 --> 00:24:42,333 Pharaoh had laws, but they were not loving, 510 00:24:42,375 --> 00:24:46,167 life-giving laws for the children of God. 511 00:24:49,583 --> 00:24:52,625 How many of you have rebellious kids? 512 00:24:52,667 --> 00:24:54,583 OK, keep your hands up. 513 00:24:54,667 --> 00:24:56,833 How many of you have kids? 514 00:24:56,875 --> 00:25:02,500 OK, you have rebellious kids too. 515 00:25:02,583 --> 00:25:04,208 How many of you have babysat kids-- 516 00:25:04,292 --> 00:25:06,875 that's why you don't have any kids, OK? 517 00:25:06,958 --> 00:25:10,333 I love my kids, you love your kids, we love our kids. 518 00:25:10,375 --> 00:25:14,583 True or false, kids sometimes rebel and do foolish things? 519 00:25:14,667 --> 00:25:18,375 They do, and so what a good father should do is call 520 00:25:18,458 --> 00:25:23,500 what we title a family meeting. 521 00:25:23,583 --> 00:25:27,000 You always know that something's gone wrong when Dad says, 522 00:25:27,083 --> 00:25:30,500 "Family meeting, everybody on the couch." 523 00:25:30,583 --> 00:25:32,333 It's like, "Oh, somebody did something 524 00:25:32,375 --> 00:25:34,833 and we're going to talk about this," all right? 525 00:25:34,875 --> 00:25:36,833 And some of you have those family meetings. 526 00:25:36,875 --> 00:25:38,292 You're like, "OK, sweetheart. 527 00:25:38,333 --> 00:25:42,417 "You need to find clothes and wear them to elementary school. 528 00:25:42,500 --> 00:25:46,167 And you need to, son, stop smoking and finish 3rd grade." 529 00:25:46,250 --> 00:25:52,333 Like, we got some things to work on here at the family meeting, 530 00:25:52,375 --> 00:25:54,500 OK? 531 00:25:54,583 --> 00:25:57,667 When God gathers his children at the base of Mount Sinai 532 00:25:57,750 --> 00:26:02,000 and comes down to talk to them and give them his laws, 533 00:26:02,083 --> 00:26:06,500 it is not him saying, "Do these things and I will adopt you." 534 00:26:06,583 --> 00:26:09,000 It's him saying, "I've adopted you, 535 00:26:09,083 --> 00:26:11,000 "and I need you to do these things 536 00:26:11,083 --> 00:26:13,208 "because I love you, and they're good for you, 537 00:26:13,292 --> 00:26:15,000 and they're good for others." 538 00:26:15,083 --> 00:26:17,667 And part of the struggle with law is this, 539 00:26:17,750 --> 00:26:23,833 if law is disconnected from lawgiver, 540 00:26:23,875 --> 00:26:26,417 we could misunderstand the heart of the law. 541 00:26:26,500 --> 00:26:28,500 This is why the Pharisees, many years later, 542 00:26:28,583 --> 00:26:32,708 they loved the law but not the Lord, because for them, 543 00:26:32,792 --> 00:26:36,542 they focused on the law more than the lawgiver. 544 00:26:40,083 --> 00:26:44,417 The Hebrew word here for "law" is "torah." 545 00:26:44,500 --> 00:26:47,500 We're in the Old Testament, it's originally written in Hebrew. 546 00:26:47,583 --> 00:26:49,625 We have a hard time translating that word 547 00:26:49,667 --> 00:26:52,708 into the English language, so we use the word "law." 548 00:26:52,792 --> 00:26:55,708 It's not necessarily a bad word, but it can cause some problems 549 00:26:55,792 --> 00:26:59,708 because we think IRS tax code, speed limits, you know, 550 00:26:59,792 --> 00:27:02,125 cumbersome governmental bureaucracy, 551 00:27:02,167 --> 00:27:05,833 and middle management at our company. 552 00:27:05,875 --> 00:27:10,333 It's also a word that's used in Proverbs when the father, 553 00:27:10,375 --> 00:27:14,083 who loves his kids, is teaching them how to live wisely 554 00:27:14,167 --> 00:27:16,625 so that they might flourish and have life. 555 00:27:16,667 --> 00:27:18,667 And the father says it this way: 556 00:27:18,750 --> 00:27:23,708 "My son, open your ear and listen to my torah." 557 00:27:23,792 --> 00:27:27,125 That's different, right? 558 00:27:27,167 --> 00:27:29,083 It's different. 559 00:27:29,167 --> 00:27:31,708 So, for parents in general, but fathers in particular, 560 00:27:31,792 --> 00:27:35,417 we don't just drop law on our kids. 561 00:27:35,500 --> 00:27:37,667 Sit down with them, look them in the eye, 562 00:27:37,750 --> 00:27:40,167 kiss them on the forehead, tell them we love them, 563 00:27:40,250 --> 00:27:41,833 pray over them. 564 00:27:41,875 --> 00:27:45,833 Tell them that we can't love them any less or more because 565 00:27:45,875 --> 00:27:50,000 we're wholeheartedly devoted to them no matter what. 566 00:27:50,042 --> 00:27:52,625 And then tell them that we want their life to flourish, 567 00:27:52,667 --> 00:27:56,000 and we want them to be blessed, and so we're going to talk about 568 00:27:56,083 --> 00:27:58,792 some things and lay down some rules because we want them 569 00:27:58,833 --> 00:28:01,333 to not suffer and we want others not to suffer. 570 00:28:01,375 --> 00:28:04,208 That's the father heart of God, and if you separate the law 571 00:28:04,292 --> 00:28:06,000 from the father heart of the lawgiver, 572 00:28:06,083 --> 00:28:07,667 you end up questioning, 573 00:28:07,750 --> 00:28:09,500 "Is God good? Does God love me? 574 00:28:09,583 --> 00:28:10,917 "Does God care? 575 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,125 "Is God interested, or is God just, you know, 576 00:28:13,167 --> 00:28:16,417 "a far away dictator who sends laws, and if I obey them, 577 00:28:16,500 --> 00:28:19,125 "I get to be a citizen, and if I disobey them, 578 00:28:19,167 --> 00:28:22,875 I get to burn forever?" 579 00:28:22,958 --> 00:28:24,292 I'll give you an example, 580 00:28:24,333 --> 00:28:26,375 an illustration that perhaps will help. 581 00:28:26,458 --> 00:28:27,917 So, I've got five kids. 582 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,083 I love them will all my heart. 583 00:28:30,167 --> 00:28:32,417 We moved into a house some years ago 584 00:28:32,500 --> 00:28:34,000 and I'm in the house studying. 585 00:28:34,042 --> 00:28:36,000 I've got the window cracked for fresh air 586 00:28:36,042 --> 00:28:37,500 and I hear the weirdest sound. 587 00:28:37,542 --> 00:28:39,917 It was like this clunk, clunk-clunk, clunk-clunk. 588 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:41,500 I'm like, "What?" 589 00:28:41,542 --> 00:28:46,000 I go outside, and I hear the noise up the street. 590 00:28:46,042 --> 00:28:49,708 Now, one of my sons, he had one of those little Jeeps, 591 00:28:49,792 --> 00:28:51,625 one of those plug-in, power-them-up 592 00:28:51,667 --> 00:28:56,125 kid Jeeps with the hard tires on it. 593 00:28:56,167 --> 00:29:02,875 And he's far away from our house, leaving, OK? 594 00:29:02,958 --> 00:29:04,417 And the clunk, clunk, clunk 595 00:29:04,500 --> 00:29:06,500 is him driving on the gravel. 596 00:29:06,583 --> 00:29:12,625 And he's about 4, so I run after him, stand in front of him, 597 00:29:12,667 --> 00:29:14,167 "Whoa, buddy, where you going?" 598 00:29:14,250 --> 00:29:19,500 He's like, "I'm going to get doughnuts." 599 00:29:19,583 --> 00:29:22,833 I said, "Hey, buddy, you can't go get doughnuts," and he's like, 600 00:29:22,875 --> 00:29:26,833 "I'll be back later." 601 00:29:26,875 --> 00:29:30,417 Now, in his mind, this is great freedom. 602 00:29:30,500 --> 00:29:37,167 Finally, a vehicle, right? 603 00:29:37,250 --> 00:29:42,708 But that much freedom will lead to his suffering. 604 00:29:42,792 --> 00:29:47,208 I mean, he was literally ready to merge onto a street that has, 605 00:29:47,292 --> 00:29:51,333 like, a 40-mile-an-hour speed limit. 606 00:29:51,375 --> 00:29:56,708 As his father, I realized that freedom will harm him. 607 00:29:56,792 --> 00:29:58,500 So it wasn't very long thereafter, 608 00:29:58,542 --> 00:30:00,500 what do you think I built? 609 00:30:00,583 --> 00:30:03,167 A fence, OK? 610 00:30:03,208 --> 00:30:08,167 Now, you know, if my kid had went to college and, you know, 611 00:30:08,208 --> 00:30:10,333 studied Kant, he could have stood in the yard, 612 00:30:10,417 --> 00:30:12,833 looked at the fence, "Look at this oppression that limits 613 00:30:12,875 --> 00:30:15,667 "my freedom of choice and my ability to express myself. 614 00:30:15,708 --> 00:30:17,542 "Look at the limitations that my unkind father 615 00:30:17,625 --> 00:30:19,458 has burdened me with." 616 00:30:19,500 --> 00:30:21,167 As a father, I would say, 617 00:30:21,208 --> 00:30:23,958 "Actually, this is an act of love. 618 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,625 "If you hop the fence, you're going to get hurt. 619 00:30:26,667 --> 00:30:29,167 "If you wander off property, you're going to get hurt. 620 00:30:29,208 --> 00:30:31,542 "I want you to enjoy the whole yard, 621 00:30:31,625 --> 00:30:33,958 "but don't leave your father's household 622 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,667 because it will be to your ruin." 623 00:30:37,708 --> 00:30:41,667 We don't know this because we're rebels. 624 00:30:41,708 --> 00:30:45,333 We don't remember this because we are fatherless. 625 00:30:45,417 --> 00:30:50,042 We didn't have a dad or we didn't have a dad like God. 626 00:30:50,125 --> 00:30:53,958 And when God gives us laws, if we don't see him as a Father, 627 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:56,833 kissing us on the forehead, sitting with us on the couch, 628 00:30:56,917 --> 00:30:59,042 telling us how much he loves us, 629 00:30:59,125 --> 00:31:03,250 and telling us that every law is a board in the fence 630 00:31:03,333 --> 00:31:06,458 to preserve our life so that we can run freely 631 00:31:06,500 --> 00:31:09,458 without being harmed, then we will altogether reject 632 00:31:09,500 --> 00:31:13,958 a loving Father who wants life for his kids. 633 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:18,833 Every one of God's laws is just a plank in the fence, 634 00:31:18,875 --> 00:31:24,250 and when you see it, remember that your Father loves you. 635 00:31:24,333 --> 00:31:28,500 And freedom is not freedom to jump the fence, 636 00:31:28,583 --> 00:31:31,833 but freedom to play in the yard, amen? 637 00:31:31,875 --> 00:31:35,958 That's exactly what God is here doing with his children, 638 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,500 and he's going to give them the law, the Ten Commandments. 639 00:31:39,583 --> 00:31:43,000 So, the next question is, how should we interpret, 640 00:31:43,083 --> 00:31:44,542 how should we study the law? 641 00:31:44,625 --> 00:31:46,542 Before we get into the Ten Commandments, 642 00:31:46,625 --> 00:31:50,333 how should we view these things called laws? 643 00:31:50,375 --> 00:31:54,417 Jesus, Rabbi, teacher, says this. 644 00:31:54,500 --> 00:31:58,333 In Luke 24:44, he says, 645 00:31:58,417 --> 00:32:03,875 "Everything written about me in the Law of"-- 646 00:32:03,958 --> 00:32:07,125 oh, who wrote the law?-- 647 00:32:07,167 --> 00:32:12,000 "Moses"--"must be fulfilled." 648 00:32:15,083 --> 00:32:19,625 Jesus says, "The law is about me." 649 00:32:19,667 --> 00:32:21,625 Mars Hill, we believe 650 00:32:21,667 --> 00:32:23,583 that the Old Testament is about Jesus, 651 00:32:23,667 --> 00:32:25,125 the New Testament is about Jesus. 652 00:32:25,167 --> 00:32:27,292 We believe that the whole Bible is about Jesus. 653 00:32:27,333 --> 00:32:29,625 We believe that everything is foreshadowing his coming 654 00:32:29,667 --> 00:32:31,500 or explaining his victory 655 00:32:31,583 --> 00:32:33,917 or preparing us for his coming again. 656 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,875 The whole Bible's about Jesus. 657 00:32:36,958 --> 00:32:39,625 The whole Bible's about Jesus. 658 00:32:39,667 --> 00:32:41,625 That's what Jesus says. 659 00:32:41,667 --> 00:32:45,417 And the law shows us our sin and our need for a Savior. 660 00:32:45,500 --> 00:32:48,417 As we read the law, we realize God is holy and perfect 661 00:32:48,500 --> 00:32:50,500 and good, and he has demands for me, 662 00:32:50,583 --> 00:32:53,500 and I have fallen short of them, and I have failed him, 663 00:32:53,583 --> 00:32:55,333 and sin is transgression of the law. 664 00:32:55,375 --> 00:32:58,875 And then Jesus comes as my Savior and he fulfills it all. 665 00:32:58,958 --> 00:33:01,833 He lives with complete obedience to all of the law, 666 00:33:01,875 --> 00:33:04,000 and he dies in my place, 667 00:33:04,042 --> 00:33:07,500 and he causes the wrath of God to pass over me, 668 00:33:07,542 --> 00:33:11,292 and he blesses me and sets me free as a child of God 669 00:33:11,333 --> 00:33:15,417 to live a new life, a life that is free. 670 00:33:15,500 --> 00:33:20,000 This is what the Bible calls what kind of news? 671 00:33:20,083 --> 00:33:22,417 Good news. 672 00:33:22,500 --> 00:33:26,125 The people in Exodus, did they save themselves? 673 00:33:26,167 --> 00:33:28,208 No. 674 00:33:28,292 --> 00:33:30,125 Could they save themselves? 675 00:33:30,167 --> 00:33:31,500 No. 676 00:33:31,583 --> 00:33:33,833 Did they participate in their salvation? 677 00:33:33,875 --> 00:33:37,333 No, they were set free. 678 00:33:37,375 --> 00:33:40,708 This all shows us how Jesus saves. 679 00:33:40,792 --> 00:33:43,917 So, Jesus is the greater Moses 680 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:46,125 and the one who alone fulfills the law. 681 00:33:46,167 --> 00:33:49,417 Jesus is the greater leader who did not kill his enemies 682 00:33:49,500 --> 00:33:51,625 like Moses, but let us kill him. 683 00:33:51,667 --> 00:33:54,375 Jesus is the greater Passover Lamb who is slain 684 00:33:54,458 --> 00:33:56,333 to remove God's wrath from us. 685 00:33:56,375 --> 00:33:59,917 Jesus is the greater first-born Son who died for our sin 686 00:34:00,042 --> 00:34:01,792 and none of his own. 687 00:34:01,833 --> 00:34:04,417 Jesus is the greater pillar and cloud 688 00:34:04,500 --> 00:34:06,667 who walks with us day and night. 689 00:34:06,750 --> 00:34:08,917 Jesus is the greater victor 690 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,292 who defeated the greatest Pharaoh ever, 691 00:34:11,333 --> 00:34:12,792 Satan himself. 692 00:34:12,833 --> 00:34:16,500 Jesus is the great Savior who redeems not millions 693 00:34:16,542 --> 00:34:20,208 from one nation, but billions from every nation. 694 00:34:20,292 --> 00:34:22,292 Jesus is the greater Redeemer, 695 00:34:22,333 --> 00:34:24,708 taking us to a greater promised land, 696 00:34:24,792 --> 00:34:26,500 the eternal kingdom of God. 697 00:34:26,542 --> 00:34:28,792 And Jesus is the greater lawgiver, 698 00:34:28,833 --> 00:34:31,333 not only writing his law on stone, 699 00:34:31,375 --> 00:34:34,708 but also on the new hearts that he gives us, 700 00:34:34,792 --> 00:34:37,333 hearts that want to obey his law. 701 00:34:37,375 --> 00:34:39,917 That's our Jesus. 702 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:42,083 So, I need you to see this. 703 00:34:42,167 --> 00:34:45,417 When you go to the law, see what you have failed to do 704 00:34:45,500 --> 00:34:47,417 and what Jesus has done, 705 00:34:47,500 --> 00:34:49,500 and what Jesus wants to do for you, 706 00:34:49,542 --> 00:34:51,500 and what Jesus can do in you, 707 00:34:51,542 --> 00:34:54,583 and what Jesus can do through you. 708 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:04,583 And you'll still be tempted to sin. 709 00:35:04,667 --> 00:35:07,208 And when tempted to sin, 710 00:35:07,292 --> 00:35:14,125 I need you to understand the Father's heart, 711 00:35:14,167 --> 00:35:16,125 that God is a father. 712 00:35:16,167 --> 00:35:17,833 Some of you never had a dad. 713 00:35:17,875 --> 00:35:19,583 He's a father to the fatherless. 714 00:35:19,667 --> 00:35:22,417 That's what the Psalms say. 715 00:35:22,500 --> 00:35:25,292 When your Father says, "Don't do that. 716 00:35:25,333 --> 00:35:28,500 "Don't do that. 717 00:35:28,583 --> 00:35:30,417 Don't do that," 718 00:35:30,500 --> 00:35:34,833 remember the heart of your Father. 719 00:35:34,875 --> 00:35:36,417 Don't just look at the law, 720 00:35:36,500 --> 00:35:39,458 but look in the face of the Lawgiver. 721 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,500 Here's what Peter, one of Jesus' disciples, 722 00:35:44,583 --> 00:35:48,667 his lead disciple, says. 723 00:35:48,750 --> 00:35:50,708 "For whatever overcomes a person, 724 00:35:50,792 --> 00:35:54,125 to that he is enslaved." 725 00:35:54,167 --> 00:35:56,500 As we're reading this story, some of you would say, 726 00:35:56,583 --> 00:36:00,667 "This is an interesting historical survey of slavery. 727 00:36:00,750 --> 00:36:04,833 Thankfully, I am free and it does not apply to me." 728 00:36:04,875 --> 00:36:07,625 Yes, it does. 729 00:36:07,667 --> 00:36:10,000 The United States of America is supposed to be 730 00:36:10,042 --> 00:36:12,625 the land of the free. 731 00:36:12,667 --> 00:36:16,500 Are we? 732 00:36:16,583 --> 00:36:21,375 It is the land of the slaves. 733 00:36:21,458 --> 00:36:23,833 It's the land of the slaves, because Peter says, 734 00:36:23,875 --> 00:36:26,500 "Anything that overcomes you, anything that overtakes you, 735 00:36:26,583 --> 00:36:30,333 "anything that rules over you, anything that reigns above you, 736 00:36:30,375 --> 00:36:32,208 "it's like your Pharaoh. 737 00:36:32,292 --> 00:36:37,708 It's your master, and it enslaves you." 738 00:36:37,792 --> 00:36:41,583 We don't use this language in our culture because we're 739 00:36:41,667 --> 00:36:44,875 no longer a very biblically literate culture. 740 00:36:44,958 --> 00:36:47,667 Instead, we use therapeutic and psychological language 741 00:36:47,750 --> 00:36:50,083 like, "addiction." 742 00:36:50,167 --> 00:36:55,000 "Addiction" is secular for the biblical concept of slavery. 743 00:36:55,083 --> 00:36:57,125 So, the person says, "I'm addicted to alcohol." 744 00:36:57,167 --> 00:36:58,917 You're a slave to the bottle. 745 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:00,375 "I'm addicted to drugs." 746 00:37:00,458 --> 00:37:02,125 You're a slave to the substances. 747 00:37:02,167 --> 00:37:03,833 "I'm addicted to gambling." 748 00:37:03,875 --> 00:37:05,333 You're enslaved to the high 749 00:37:05,375 --> 00:37:07,375 and the potential windfall you pursue. 750 00:37:07,458 --> 00:37:09,375 "I'm addicted to my own reputation." 751 00:37:09,458 --> 00:37:14,417 No, actually, you are one who is enslaved and you're worshiping 752 00:37:14,500 --> 00:37:17,583 the God you see in the mirror every morning. 753 00:37:17,667 --> 00:37:20,500 "Well, I have to maintain my beauty," or, 754 00:37:20,583 --> 00:37:23,500 "My spouse has to maintain their beauty. 755 00:37:23,542 --> 00:37:25,500 We are addicted to body image." 756 00:37:25,583 --> 00:37:28,792 No, you're enslaved to your appearance. 757 00:37:31,667 --> 00:37:34,333 "I am driven by my GPA. 758 00:37:34,375 --> 00:37:36,333 "I am driven by my income. 759 00:37:36,375 --> 00:37:39,708 I'm driven by my position in the org chart at work." 760 00:37:39,792 --> 00:37:43,375 No, you're enslaved to your performance. 761 00:37:46,542 --> 00:37:51,000 Some of you say, "But I'm free to choose," 762 00:37:51,042 --> 00:37:56,917 your master, which is no freedom at all. 763 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:00,375 It's no freedom at all. 764 00:38:00,458 --> 00:38:07,292 So, when you're tempted to sin and you hear the Holy Spirit 765 00:38:07,333 --> 00:38:10,125 convicting your conscience of the laws 766 00:38:10,167 --> 00:38:13,125 that the Father gives you, 767 00:38:13,167 --> 00:38:18,542 know that breaking God's law is also breaking God's heart. 768 00:38:21,167 --> 00:38:25,000 OK, any fathers or mothers find this resonating 769 00:38:25,042 --> 00:38:27,375 in their soul right now? 770 00:38:27,458 --> 00:38:30,000 When you love your child and you give life-giving, 771 00:38:30,083 --> 00:38:33,208 life-protecting laws to your child, 772 00:38:33,292 --> 00:38:35,833 and your child breaks those laws, 773 00:38:35,875 --> 00:38:38,083 and they cause themselves to suffer, 774 00:38:38,167 --> 00:38:42,208 and they cause others to suffer, 775 00:38:42,292 --> 00:38:44,208 they have not just broken your laws, 776 00:38:44,292 --> 00:38:47,375 they've broken your heart. 777 00:38:47,458 --> 00:38:49,333 It says, I believe, in Genesis 6, 778 00:38:49,375 --> 00:38:55,417 that God was grieved in his heart 779 00:38:55,500 --> 00:38:58,500 that he made man 780 00:38:58,583 --> 00:39:01,583 because the continual thoughts of his mind 781 00:39:01,667 --> 00:39:03,500 and lusts of his heart 782 00:39:03,583 --> 00:39:06,667 was only evil all the time. 783 00:39:15,667 --> 00:39:18,917 There's nothing like a child with a loving father 784 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:21,625 who looks them in the eye, 785 00:39:21,667 --> 00:39:25,000 and they see the father broken, weeping, 786 00:39:25,083 --> 00:39:30,417 devastated because they've sinned. 787 00:39:30,500 --> 00:39:34,583 Because then, they not only know the father's laws, 788 00:39:34,667 --> 00:39:40,208 they know the father's heart. 789 00:39:40,292 --> 00:39:46,000 So, dear friend, when you're tempted to sin, remember this, 790 00:39:46,083 --> 00:39:51,000 to choose to sin is to choose to suffer. 791 00:39:51,083 --> 00:39:54,500 The Father does not want you to suffer 792 00:39:54,542 --> 00:39:56,625 or to cause others to suffer, 793 00:39:56,667 --> 00:40:02,083 and when you choose sin, you also cause him to suffer. 794 00:40:08,500 --> 00:40:14,917 God sets us free, but some of us choose not to live free. 795 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:18,042 How many of you know Christians like that? 796 00:40:18,125 --> 00:40:20,958 They're stuck. They're not progressing. 797 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:23,000 They're not learning. They're not growing. 798 00:40:23,083 --> 00:40:27,708 Their life is a series of laps around a cul-de-sac of folly. 799 00:40:27,792 --> 00:40:29,833 They're not getting anywhere. 800 00:40:29,917 --> 00:40:31,625 The children of God were like that. 801 00:40:31,667 --> 00:40:33,750 They were literally walking around in a circle 802 00:40:33,833 --> 00:40:36,208 in the wilderness for 40 years, 803 00:40:36,292 --> 00:40:39,042 and God comes to speak to them to help them 804 00:40:39,125 --> 00:40:41,208 to obey him and to walk with him, 805 00:40:41,292 --> 00:40:43,208 so that they might walk from their folly 806 00:40:43,292 --> 00:40:47,000 into his faithfulness. 807 00:40:47,083 --> 00:40:50,542 How many of you, that's your story? 808 00:40:50,625 --> 00:40:53,250 You're ashamed, you're embarrassed, you're horrified, 809 00:40:53,333 --> 00:40:54,958 you're mortified. 810 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:56,667 Maybe there are secrets in your life 811 00:40:56,708 --> 00:40:58,333 that you hope nobody finds out about. 812 00:40:58,417 --> 00:41:00,625 And you would say that you are a Christian, 813 00:41:00,667 --> 00:41:02,625 that you worship the God of the Bible, 814 00:41:02,667 --> 00:41:06,250 but there are parts of your life where you are in slavery. 815 00:41:06,333 --> 00:41:08,250 And every one of us has different shackles, 816 00:41:08,333 --> 00:41:10,625 and the Holy Spirit can highlight that for you. 817 00:41:10,667 --> 00:41:13,500 It's drugs. It's alcohol. It's sex. It's power, 818 00:41:13,583 --> 00:41:16,458 whatever the case might be. 819 00:41:16,500 --> 00:41:19,125 That's exactly the condition that the children of God here, 820 00:41:19,167 --> 00:41:22,417 at the base of Mount Sinai, sitting on the proverbial couch 821 00:41:22,500 --> 00:41:25,667 for a meeting with their dad, are in the condition of. 822 00:41:25,708 --> 00:41:27,667 What will he say? 823 00:41:27,708 --> 00:41:29,333 What does he say to them? 824 00:41:29,375 --> 00:41:32,333 What does he say to us? 825 00:41:32,417 --> 00:41:36,167 That is the first commandment. 826 00:41:36,208 --> 00:41:38,500 He tells us he's the God who's set free 827 00:41:38,583 --> 00:41:40,042 so that we can live free. 828 00:41:40,125 --> 00:41:42,042 He says it this way, Exodus 20:3, 829 00:41:42,125 --> 00:41:46,750 "You shall have no other gods before me." 830 00:41:46,833 --> 00:41:48,333 First commandment, right? 831 00:41:48,417 --> 00:41:52,417 God's got to teach his kids, "First things first, 832 00:41:52,500 --> 00:41:54,500 "most important thing. 833 00:41:54,583 --> 00:41:58,458 Kids, don't forget this, one God." 834 00:41:58,500 --> 00:42:00,417 That's where he starts. 835 00:42:00,500 --> 00:42:02,583 And the commandments are in order of importance, 836 00:42:02,667 --> 00:42:05,125 one through ten, and they're in a progression where 837 00:42:05,167 --> 00:42:10,292 this enables this, contributes to that, results in this. 838 00:42:10,333 --> 00:42:13,208 The first four are a relationship with God, 839 00:42:13,292 --> 00:42:16,875 because the relationship with God is most important. 840 00:42:16,958 --> 00:42:20,667 And then, the last six are our relationship to neighbor, 841 00:42:20,750 --> 00:42:25,417 how we treat others in light of how God treats us. 842 00:42:25,500 --> 00:42:28,500 It's why when they come to the Lord Jesus, he says, 843 00:42:28,583 --> 00:42:30,375 "Here it is. Here's the summary. 844 00:42:30,458 --> 00:42:34,125 "The 613 laws, the 10 that I had written down 845 00:42:34,167 --> 00:42:36,208 "on tablets of stone, 846 00:42:36,292 --> 00:42:38,583 "really it's two big ideas. 847 00:42:38,667 --> 00:42:40,625 Love"--who? 848 00:42:40,667 --> 00:42:45,208 "God." And love "neighbor." 849 00:42:45,292 --> 00:42:47,708 It's the whole Ten Commandments 850 00:42:47,792 --> 00:42:49,500 summarized, right? 851 00:42:49,542 --> 00:42:54,500 It's Jesus' tweet for 613 commandments. 852 00:42:54,542 --> 00:42:57,208 It's the summary big idea. 853 00:42:57,292 --> 00:43:00,500 And here, the question is, "OK, we've been set free. 854 00:43:00,542 --> 00:43:02,292 "We're not living free. 855 00:43:02,333 --> 00:43:03,833 "We're in slavery. 856 00:43:03,875 --> 00:43:06,125 "We left Egypt, but we're committing adultery, 857 00:43:06,167 --> 00:43:07,833 "and we're stealing, and we're lying, 858 00:43:07,875 --> 00:43:09,792 "and we've thrown in a little weird spirituality 859 00:43:09,833 --> 00:43:11,417 "and false gods, 860 00:43:11,500 --> 00:43:13,792 "and somebody's got schematics for a golden calf. 861 00:43:13,833 --> 00:43:16,000 "Like, this is really not going well. 862 00:43:16,042 --> 00:43:19,625 OK, Dad's here, going to sit all the kids on the couch." 863 00:43:19,667 --> 00:43:21,125 "Kids, listen to me. 864 00:43:21,167 --> 00:43:24,500 "First things first: there's one God. 865 00:43:24,583 --> 00:43:26,625 "I'm God. 866 00:43:26,667 --> 00:43:28,417 "You're not God. They're not God. 867 00:43:28,500 --> 00:43:30,500 "Nobody else is God. Nothing else is God. 868 00:43:30,583 --> 00:43:32,083 I'm God." 869 00:43:32,167 --> 00:43:35,208 You can't live free until you realize there's only one God, 870 00:43:35,292 --> 00:43:39,667 and you're not God. 871 00:43:39,750 --> 00:43:42,208 This is going to blow your mind. 872 00:43:42,292 --> 00:43:44,125 You're not the center of the universe. 873 00:43:44,167 --> 00:43:46,125 You're not the most important person. 874 00:43:46,167 --> 00:43:48,917 The reason you're miserable is because you're worshiping 875 00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:51,625 yourself and you were not made for that. 876 00:43:51,667 --> 00:43:53,625 You were made to worship him. 877 00:43:53,667 --> 00:43:55,417 You were made to enjoy him. 878 00:43:55,500 --> 00:43:57,625 You were made to glorify him. 879 00:43:57,667 --> 00:44:00,167 And when you make yourself the center of your life, 880 00:44:00,250 --> 00:44:03,375 you make yourself miserable. 881 00:44:03,458 --> 00:44:05,875 So, God doesn't look at them and say, 882 00:44:05,958 --> 00:44:11,333 "Most important thing: you. 883 00:44:11,375 --> 00:44:13,000 "You. 884 00:44:13,083 --> 00:44:14,417 "Draw a circle. 885 00:44:14,500 --> 00:44:16,000 "OK, now write your name. 886 00:44:16,083 --> 00:44:19,875 "All right, everything else is going to orbit around that. 887 00:44:19,958 --> 00:44:21,875 "I'll be out here just blessing you. 888 00:44:21,958 --> 00:44:23,500 "Oh, you want sex and money 889 00:44:23,542 --> 00:44:25,625 "and fame and power? That's great. 890 00:44:25,667 --> 00:44:27,875 "You sit on the throne; I'll be the butler. 891 00:44:27,958 --> 00:44:30,000 "You hand me the request, and I'll answer it. 892 00:44:30,083 --> 00:44:31,625 We'll call it prayer." 893 00:44:31,667 --> 00:44:34,625 No! 894 00:44:34,667 --> 00:44:37,500 "Draw a circle, write my name in it." 895 00:44:37,583 --> 00:44:39,625 What this means is God 896 00:44:39,667 --> 00:44:42,125 refuses to be at the top of our priority list 897 00:44:42,167 --> 00:44:44,875 and he demands to be at the center of our life. 898 00:44:44,958 --> 00:44:46,833 There's a big difference. 899 00:44:46,875 --> 00:44:50,500 "Oh yeah, I love God, and I go to work, and--" 900 00:44:50,542 --> 00:44:53,000 It's not like we check the first off the list 901 00:44:53,042 --> 00:44:54,500 and move on to the rest. 902 00:44:54,583 --> 00:44:57,708 God's the center of our life, and then he's going to say, 903 00:44:57,792 --> 00:44:59,708 "OK, since I'm the center of your life, 904 00:44:59,792 --> 00:45:02,375 "let's talk about your worship, let's talk about your money, 905 00:45:02,458 --> 00:45:04,000 "let's talk about your marriage, 906 00:45:04,042 --> 00:45:05,417 "let's talk about your possessions, 907 00:45:05,500 --> 00:45:06,917 "let's talk about your real estate, 908 00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:10,125 let's talk about your sexuality." 909 00:45:10,167 --> 00:45:13,625 And everything has to be connected to him, 910 00:45:13,667 --> 00:45:19,292 and if you choose to sin, you choose to suffer. 911 00:45:19,333 --> 00:45:20,833 So, there's one God. 912 00:45:20,875 --> 00:45:22,208 How many gods? 913 00:45:22,292 --> 00:45:23,625 One. 914 00:45:23,667 --> 00:45:25,000 What's it mean in Hebrew? 915 00:45:25,083 --> 00:45:26,417 One! 916 00:45:26,500 --> 00:45:28,625 Does it say it anywhere else in the Bible? 917 00:45:28,667 --> 00:45:30,000 Everywhere! 918 00:45:30,083 --> 00:45:31,417 That's very offensive. 919 00:45:31,500 --> 00:45:33,417 Other people say, "Well, there's lots of gods." 920 00:45:33,500 --> 00:45:34,833 God says there's one God. 921 00:45:34,875 --> 00:45:36,333 Other people say, "There's no God." 922 00:45:36,375 --> 00:45:37,708 God says he's God. 923 00:45:37,792 --> 00:45:39,208 The agnostics say, "We can't know." 924 00:45:39,292 --> 00:45:40,625 God says, "I'll tell you. 925 00:45:40,667 --> 00:45:45,333 You can know for sure. I even wrote a book." 926 00:45:45,375 --> 00:45:47,333 Some come along and say, "Oh, well no, 927 00:45:47,375 --> 00:45:49,667 everything in the world is all part of God." 928 00:45:49,750 --> 00:45:52,292 No, God says, "I made the world." 929 00:45:52,333 --> 00:45:54,917 This answers all the philosophical, 930 00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:57,333 theological, spiritual questions. 931 00:45:57,375 --> 00:45:59,000 One God. 932 00:45:59,042 --> 00:46:01,208 And in that day, they had tons of gods. 933 00:46:01,292 --> 00:46:04,083 It was very common to have tons of gods. 934 00:46:04,167 --> 00:46:05,500 You can read the Bible. 935 00:46:05,542 --> 00:46:07,500 There's all kids of false gods and goddesses. 936 00:46:07,542 --> 00:46:10,125 They're really demons who bless people. 937 00:46:10,167 --> 00:46:12,708 But there's Ashtera, there's Baal, there's Molech, 938 00:46:12,792 --> 00:46:15,083 there's Chemosh--there's a whole list of them. 939 00:46:15,167 --> 00:46:17,000 And some of us will practice what 940 00:46:17,083 --> 00:46:18,833 C.S. Lewis calls chronological snobbery. 941 00:46:18,875 --> 00:46:21,833 We'll go to the Bible, say, "Oh yeah, back in the day, 942 00:46:21,875 --> 00:46:23,208 "they were very primitive people, 943 00:46:23,292 --> 00:46:25,208 "and they worshiped these gods with weird names. 944 00:46:25,292 --> 00:46:27,333 And thankfully, we're not like that." 945 00:46:27,375 --> 00:46:28,708 Here's how it works: 946 00:46:28,792 --> 00:46:31,167 the reason they had multiple gods is because the gods 947 00:46:31,250 --> 00:46:32,667 promised to give you different things. 948 00:46:32,750 --> 00:46:35,000 This god or goddess, sex, fame, money, pleasure, comfort, 949 00:46:35,083 --> 00:46:38,583 fertility, children, power, promotion. 950 00:46:38,667 --> 00:46:42,375 Do we worship those things? 951 00:46:42,458 --> 00:46:47,875 Anybody here--sexual problems, financial problems, 952 00:46:47,958 --> 00:46:52,500 relational problems, employment problems? 953 00:46:52,583 --> 00:46:54,375 Anyone? 954 00:46:54,458 --> 00:46:58,000 OK, anyone made a real shipwreck of their life 955 00:46:58,042 --> 00:47:00,667 chasing after those things? 956 00:47:00,750 --> 00:47:03,708 You're worshiping false gods. 957 00:47:03,792 --> 00:47:08,333 Now, we may call it success, and they called it Molech-- 958 00:47:08,375 --> 00:47:10,125 same thing. 959 00:47:10,167 --> 00:47:15,167 All Satan has done is rebranded, 960 00:47:15,250 --> 00:47:20,875 just rebranded old demons. 961 00:47:20,958 --> 00:47:25,167 God says, there's one God, him alone, him at the center. 962 00:47:25,250 --> 00:47:26,917 And there's a debate here. 963 00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:29,917 Let's do a full circle. 964 00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:31,625 "No other gods before me." 965 00:47:31,667 --> 00:47:34,375 The theologians all debate, "What does that mean?" 966 00:47:34,458 --> 00:47:36,333 And there's four basic perspectives. 967 00:47:36,375 --> 00:47:38,500 I'll share them with you. 968 00:47:38,583 --> 00:47:41,417 In front of me, or alongside of me, or instead of me, 969 00:47:41,500 --> 00:47:43,667 or in conflict with me? 970 00:47:43,750 --> 00:47:46,417 My answer is, "Yes." 971 00:47:46,500 --> 00:47:48,208 OK, if Grace, she never did this, 972 00:47:48,292 --> 00:47:50,417 she never will, glory be to God, 973 00:47:50,500 --> 00:47:52,667 but hypothetically, my wife came to me and said, 974 00:47:52,750 --> 00:47:54,417 "I love having a relationship with you. 975 00:47:54,500 --> 00:47:56,125 "I don't think it should be exclusive. 976 00:47:56,167 --> 00:47:59,125 "There is a man, or other men, I would like to see. 977 00:47:59,167 --> 00:48:00,667 "Where would you like those men? 978 00:48:00,750 --> 00:48:04,417 Ahead of you, to your right, to your left, or behind you?" 979 00:48:04,500 --> 00:48:08,333 The answer is, "At the end of my fist and under my boot, 980 00:48:08,375 --> 00:48:11,292 that's where I would like them, OK?" 981 00:48:11,333 --> 00:48:13,083 Right? 982 00:48:13,167 --> 00:48:16,500 I don't want any other men orbiting anywhere around us, 983 00:48:16,583 --> 00:48:18,708 why? 984 00:48:18,792 --> 00:48:20,208 I'm a jealous husband, 985 00:48:20,292 --> 00:48:23,917 not like your stalker high school boyfriend 986 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:29,708 who keeps friending you, OK, 987 00:48:29,792 --> 00:48:32,875 but I'm jealous in that I love my wife, 988 00:48:32,958 --> 00:48:36,667 and I'm in a covenant with her, and our love is exclusive, 989 00:48:36,750 --> 00:48:40,208 and it doesn't include anyone else. 990 00:48:40,292 --> 00:48:44,417 And if it were to include anyone else, it would be ruined. 991 00:48:44,500 --> 00:48:49,167 God loves his children like a father loves his children. 992 00:48:49,250 --> 00:48:54,292 God loves his people like a husband loves his wife. 993 00:48:58,292 --> 00:49:01,833 So, God is looking at you and us in the eye and he's saying, 994 00:49:01,875 --> 00:49:04,208 "We're married. 995 00:49:04,292 --> 00:49:07,000 "You don't get to run around with anybody else. 996 00:49:07,042 --> 00:49:09,500 "You don't get to sleep with anybody else. 997 00:49:09,583 --> 00:49:12,208 "You don't get to have anybody but me. 998 00:49:12,292 --> 00:49:15,833 "We're married, and I love you, 999 00:49:15,875 --> 00:49:21,500 and I'm not going to share this relationship with anybody else." 1000 00:49:21,583 --> 00:49:24,083 Some would say it's very unloving of God. 1001 00:49:24,167 --> 00:49:29,292 No, it's very loving of God. 1002 00:49:31,583 --> 00:49:34,417 So, who's your God? 1003 00:49:34,500 --> 00:49:36,833 Second most important decision 1004 00:49:36,875 --> 00:49:38,833 you will ever make is who you marry. 1005 00:49:38,875 --> 00:49:42,500 Most important decision you'll ever make is who you worship. 1006 00:49:42,583 --> 00:49:44,833 Who's your God? 1007 00:49:44,875 --> 00:49:46,583 Some of you say, "It's Jesus." 1008 00:49:46,667 --> 00:49:48,167 They would have said, "It's Yahweh." 1009 00:49:48,250 --> 00:49:50,167 Same guy. 1010 00:49:50,250 --> 00:49:52,500 There could be a difference between your functional god 1011 00:49:52,542 --> 00:49:54,125 and your actual God. 1012 00:49:54,167 --> 00:49:56,333 You could say that you have an actual God 1013 00:49:56,375 --> 00:49:58,000 while you're following a functional god. 1014 00:49:58,083 --> 00:50:01,000 They would have said, "We worship Yahweh," 1015 00:50:01,083 --> 00:50:02,417 while they're committing adultery 1016 00:50:02,500 --> 00:50:05,500 and stealing and lying. 1017 00:50:08,583 --> 00:50:11,250 You and I are prone to have functional gods 1018 00:50:11,333 --> 00:50:15,958 that are different than our actual God. 1019 00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:17,708 And the way it works is this: 1020 00:50:17,792 --> 00:50:19,833 we have some concept of a hell, 1021 00:50:19,917 --> 00:50:21,833 we have some concept of a heaven, 1022 00:50:21,917 --> 00:50:25,000 and then we run to some god to save us from our hell 1023 00:50:25,083 --> 00:50:26,417 and put us in heaven. 1024 00:50:26,500 --> 00:50:29,042 OK, to quote the great theologian, Beyoncé, 1025 00:50:29,125 --> 00:50:34,458 "All the single ladies, all the single ladies, 1026 00:50:34,500 --> 00:50:36,958 all the single ladies," raise your hand. 1027 00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:41,958 OK, OK, OK, single men, make note, OK? 1028 00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:44,167 Single ladies, you can put your hand down now. 1029 00:50:44,208 --> 00:50:46,833 OK, now, I'm going to use you, some of you ladies, 1030 00:50:46,875 --> 00:50:48,458 as an illustration. 1031 00:50:48,500 --> 00:50:50,333 So, maybe you're a single lady 1032 00:50:50,417 --> 00:50:54,458 and your view of hell, hell, hell: 1033 00:50:54,500 --> 00:50:56,625 single lady. 1034 00:50:56,667 --> 00:51:01,625 No boyfriend, no potential husband, no children, 1035 00:51:04,125 --> 00:51:08,000 just cats. 1036 00:51:12,500 --> 00:51:13,833 OK? 1037 00:51:13,917 --> 00:51:20,208 So, your view of heaven: 1038 00:51:20,292 --> 00:51:25,542 boyfriend, going to be fiancé, 1039 00:51:25,625 --> 00:51:28,792 fertile, 1040 00:51:32,167 --> 00:51:36,167 hates cats, OK? 1041 00:51:36,208 --> 00:51:39,167 So, your thought is, "I've got to get out of hell, 1042 00:51:39,208 --> 00:51:42,167 and I've got to get into heaven." 1043 00:51:42,208 --> 00:51:47,708 So, you run to a functional god called "Boyfriend." 1044 00:51:49,708 --> 00:51:53,167 You throw your arms around him, "Save me! 1045 00:51:53,208 --> 00:51:56,708 "Never leave me! Never forsake me! 1046 00:51:56,792 --> 00:52:00,167 "Bless me! Be the center of my life! 1047 00:52:00,250 --> 00:52:05,667 Make my life worth living!" 1048 00:52:06,875 --> 00:52:10,417 How many of you guys met that gal? 1049 00:52:10,500 --> 00:52:13,583 It seems like a lot. 1050 00:52:13,667 --> 00:52:16,500 You want me to be God. 1051 00:52:16,542 --> 00:52:18,125 I'm going to fail you. 1052 00:52:18,167 --> 00:52:20,500 This relationship is doomed. 1053 00:52:20,542 --> 00:52:23,875 You've thrown your arms around the wrong man. 1054 00:52:23,958 --> 00:52:28,792 Only Jesus, only Jesus has that résumé. 1055 00:52:31,875 --> 00:52:34,000 So, a woman can say, "Jesus is my God," 1056 00:52:34,083 --> 00:52:36,292 but her functional god can be somebody else. 1057 00:52:36,333 --> 00:52:39,417 A man can do the same thing with a girlfriend, with a wife, 1058 00:52:39,500 --> 00:52:41,375 with kids, with a job, with his health. 1059 00:52:41,458 --> 00:52:44,333 We run to functional gods and false saviors, 1060 00:52:44,375 --> 00:52:47,875 gods that are not God and saviors that don't save. 1061 00:52:47,958 --> 00:52:50,000 So, don't read this, Mars Hill, and say, 1062 00:52:50,042 --> 00:52:52,417 "You know what? Yeah, it's a long time ago. 1063 00:52:52,500 --> 00:52:54,917 Foolish people picked false gods and got into slavery." 1064 00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:58,833 God never changes, people never change, 1065 00:52:58,875 --> 00:53:00,875 the problems are always the same, 1066 00:53:00,958 --> 00:53:03,333 the solutions are always the same. 1067 00:53:03,375 --> 00:53:05,708 So, I want to help you find your functional god. 1068 00:53:05,792 --> 00:53:09,917 I do love you. I have a father's heart. I do want to help. 1069 00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:12,500 Ask you some questions for you to consider, 1070 00:53:12,542 --> 00:53:15,000 discuss in your Community Group this week. 1071 00:53:15,042 --> 00:53:16,500 Finding your functional god. 1072 00:53:16,583 --> 00:53:18,000 You ready? 1073 00:53:18,083 --> 00:53:22,500 Who or what do you live for? 1074 00:53:22,583 --> 00:53:26,083 Marriage, children, promotion, 1075 00:53:26,167 --> 00:53:29,500 house, beauty, sex, pleasure, 1076 00:53:29,583 --> 00:53:34,875 comfort, leisure, sport, peace. 1077 00:53:34,958 --> 00:53:37,583 "Pastor Mark, those are not bad things!" 1078 00:53:37,667 --> 00:53:42,333 No, but when good things become God things, 1079 00:53:42,375 --> 00:53:47,917 they're bad things. 1080 00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:51,292 Who or what can you not live without? 1081 00:53:51,333 --> 00:53:54,000 "I have to have them. I have to have it. 1082 00:53:54,083 --> 00:53:58,583 Do not take them. Do not take it!" 1083 00:54:00,958 --> 00:54:05,583 Who or what do you run to in times of need? 1084 00:54:05,667 --> 00:54:08,333 "It's been a horrible day. 1085 00:54:08,375 --> 00:54:12,292 "I just need to get to my chair, pour a drink, turn on the TV, 1086 00:54:12,333 --> 00:54:17,667 and be in heaven for a while." 1087 00:54:20,167 --> 00:54:23,083 What causes your highest joy and your lowest grief? 1088 00:54:23,167 --> 00:54:26,167 Our emotions betray us. 1089 00:54:26,250 --> 00:54:27,875 "Yes, I got it! 1090 00:54:27,958 --> 00:54:31,667 No, I lost it!" 1091 00:54:31,750 --> 00:54:34,417 Was it God? 1092 00:54:34,500 --> 00:54:39,333 Was it the functional god and not the actual God? 1093 00:54:39,375 --> 00:54:43,417 Who or what is at the center of your life? 1094 00:54:43,500 --> 00:54:45,333 What does your schedule orbit around? 1095 00:54:45,375 --> 00:54:47,000 What does your budget orbit around? 1096 00:54:47,083 --> 00:54:49,833 What does your emotional life orbit around? 1097 00:54:49,875 --> 00:54:53,625 It's a functional god. 1098 00:54:53,667 --> 00:54:59,208 God loves to set free, and then we have to live free. 1099 00:54:59,292 --> 00:55:00,667 We see this in Exodus. 1100 00:55:00,750 --> 00:55:03,417 He set them free, but they've got to walk with him. 1101 00:55:03,500 --> 00:55:04,833 That's the living free. 1102 00:55:04,875 --> 00:55:06,917 God does all the setting free. 1103 00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:10,500 God leads and helps us in the living free. 1104 00:55:10,583 --> 00:55:13,125 But we have to walk with him in the freedom 1105 00:55:13,167 --> 00:55:15,417 that he's set before us. 1106 00:55:15,500 --> 00:55:20,417 One of the most emotionally devastating parts of what 1107 00:55:20,500 --> 00:55:25,083 I love, and I love being your pastor, 1108 00:55:25,167 --> 00:55:27,583 and I've been doing this-- this is going to be 1109 00:55:27,667 --> 00:55:29,417 our 18th year this fall. 1110 00:55:29,500 --> 00:55:31,208 Eighteen years of Mars Hill. 1111 00:55:31,292 --> 00:55:33,125 Eighteen years of me being your pastor. 1112 00:55:33,167 --> 00:55:35,208 I've earned all my gray. 1113 00:55:35,292 --> 00:55:39,417 I've earned it all, all right? 1114 00:55:39,500 --> 00:55:44,875 And what destroys this father's heart and what certainly 1115 00:55:44,958 --> 00:55:50,625 destroys the Father's heart is when the children of God 1116 00:55:50,667 --> 00:55:55,083 who have been set free do not live free. 1117 00:55:55,167 --> 00:55:57,833 I don't want any of my children to live as slaves. 1118 00:55:57,875 --> 00:56:01,625 I don't want any of God's children to live as slaves. 1119 00:56:01,667 --> 00:56:04,375 But my observation over the years is that some do 1120 00:56:04,458 --> 00:56:07,167 and some do for a season. 1121 00:56:07,250 --> 00:56:11,375 And so, the last question I want to delve into is, 1122 00:56:11,458 --> 00:56:18,167 why do people who are set free not live free? 1123 00:56:19,833 --> 00:56:24,000 And don't think about your friend, think about yourself, 1124 00:56:24,083 --> 00:56:25,833 something in your life, where you say, 1125 00:56:25,875 --> 00:56:28,083 "No, that would fit in the category of slavery, 1126 00:56:28,167 --> 00:56:31,208 not freedom to worship God." 1127 00:56:31,292 --> 00:56:35,083 Paul, looking back at the law, says this in Galatians 5:1: 1128 00:56:35,167 --> 00:56:38,708 "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore"-- 1129 00:56:38,792 --> 00:56:41,875 you don't need to go back-- 1130 00:56:41,958 --> 00:56:44,708 "and do not submit again to a yoke of"--what? 1131 00:56:44,792 --> 00:56:47,333 "Slavery." 1132 00:56:47,375 --> 00:56:52,333 Don't stick your head through the yoke 1133 00:56:52,375 --> 00:56:57,167 and carry that burden that Jesus already carried. 1134 00:56:57,250 --> 00:57:00,875 Here are five things that I have heard from people I love 1135 00:57:00,958 --> 00:57:03,000 who are stuck in slavery. 1136 00:57:03,083 --> 00:57:04,500 Though they have been set free, 1137 00:57:04,583 --> 00:57:06,292 they have chosen not to live free. 1138 00:57:06,333 --> 00:57:08,792 Number one, I believe the lie that I cannot change 1139 00:57:08,833 --> 00:57:11,667 over the truth that I am already changed. 1140 00:57:11,750 --> 00:57:14,708 This comes from a woman who came to me and said, 1141 00:57:14,792 --> 00:57:16,667 "Pastor Mark, I can't change." 1142 00:57:16,750 --> 00:57:19,208 I said, "That's a lie. Do you know Jesus?" 1143 00:57:19,292 --> 00:57:20,625 She says, "I know Jesus." 1144 00:57:20,667 --> 00:57:25,292 I said, "Then you're already changed." 1145 00:57:25,333 --> 00:57:27,917 You need to know that Jesus changes you, 1146 00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:30,917 and then you and Jesus can change your life. 1147 00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:32,583 You don't need to change yourself; 1148 00:57:32,667 --> 00:57:36,250 Jesus changes you, amen? 1149 00:57:37,500 --> 00:57:40,125 I fear change more than slavery. 1150 00:57:40,167 --> 00:57:43,917 I know what slavery is; I don't know what freedom is. 1151 00:57:44,000 --> 00:57:45,875 I know what it's like in my past; 1152 00:57:45,958 --> 00:57:48,125 I don't know what it's like in my future. 1153 00:57:48,167 --> 00:57:51,083 I would rather go with what I know than trusting the Lord 1154 00:57:51,167 --> 00:57:56,000 who knows the future. 1155 00:57:56,083 --> 00:57:59,667 I am shackled by loyalty to my personal and family history. 1156 00:57:59,750 --> 00:58:01,333 I have an identity. 1157 00:58:01,375 --> 00:58:02,917 My friends see me this way. 1158 00:58:03,000 --> 00:58:04,667 My family sees me this way. 1159 00:58:04,750 --> 00:58:06,917 My coworkers see me this way. 1160 00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:10,167 If I start worshiping God and I change, 1161 00:58:10,250 --> 00:58:12,625 I'm going to get criticized 1162 00:58:12,667 --> 00:58:14,208 and they're going to belittle me. 1163 00:58:14,292 --> 00:58:15,917 Maybe they'll even disown me. 1164 00:58:16,000 --> 00:58:19,792 I need to be true to my family. I need to be true to my history. 1165 00:58:19,833 --> 00:58:23,792 I need to be true to my race. I need to be true to my culture. 1166 00:58:23,833 --> 00:58:27,792 I need to be true to my cause. I need to be true to my tribe. 1167 00:58:27,833 --> 00:58:31,167 And the answer is no, there's one God, there's one God, 1168 00:58:31,250 --> 00:58:34,708 and we live coram deo in the face of God. 1169 00:58:34,792 --> 00:58:39,292 And when we do, nothing else matters. 1170 00:58:39,333 --> 00:58:42,000 I return to enslaving habits. 1171 00:58:42,083 --> 00:58:46,167 I get stressed out, I download porn. 1172 00:58:46,250 --> 00:58:49,875 I succeed and I allow myself a little sin 1173 00:58:49,958 --> 00:58:55,000 as a bonus. 1174 00:58:55,083 --> 00:58:59,833 Something bad happens, I pour a stiff drink. 1175 00:58:59,875 --> 00:59:02,000 Something good happens, I have Community Group 1176 00:59:02,042 --> 00:59:04,125 with Ben & Jerry. 1177 00:59:04,167 --> 00:59:09,708 You know, it's bad habits. 1178 00:59:09,792 --> 00:59:11,167 And number five, 1179 00:59:11,250 --> 00:59:13,167 I practice self-deception about my past slavery. 1180 00:59:13,250 --> 00:59:15,000 This is what they're going to do. 1181 00:59:15,042 --> 00:59:17,167 Read the rest of Exodus, read all of Exodus. 1182 00:59:17,250 --> 00:59:19,625 So, God delivers--so, here they are in slavery. 1183 00:59:19,667 --> 00:59:21,000 "God, get us out! 1184 00:59:21,083 --> 00:59:23,500 It's horrible, it's terrible, right now's a good time!" 1185 00:59:23,583 --> 00:59:26,333 He does it, 1186 00:59:26,375 --> 00:59:28,917 parts the Red Sea, "Yay!" 1187 00:59:29,000 --> 00:59:32,375 They're out in the wilderness, having a little meeting, right? 1188 00:59:32,458 --> 00:59:34,792 "Remember the good old days when we were slaves? 1189 00:59:34,833 --> 00:59:36,625 "Yeah, remember that? 1190 00:59:36,667 --> 00:59:38,500 That was--I miss those days." 1191 00:59:38,542 --> 00:59:41,417 That's the conversation they're having in the book of Exodus, 1192 00:59:41,500 --> 00:59:45,500 looking back on their slavery as if it was freedom. 1193 00:59:45,542 --> 00:59:49,125 Any of you ever do that? 1194 00:59:49,167 --> 00:59:52,333 God gets you out of a situation, you get away from the situation, 1195 00:59:52,375 --> 00:59:54,708 look back, and you're like, "Oh, those were good times." 1196 00:59:54,792 --> 00:59:56,125 No, they won't. 1197 00:59:56,167 --> 00:59:58,875 They were not good times, and they won't be good times 1198 00:59:58,958 --> 01:00:00,292 if you revisit them, right? 1199 01:00:00,333 --> 01:00:02,167 You get out of some crazy relationship, 1200 01:00:02,208 --> 01:00:04,750 somebody's nuttier than a Snicker's bar. 1201 01:00:04,833 --> 01:00:08,333 You should have never even went out for coffee. 1202 01:00:08,375 --> 01:00:13,167 You finally get the knot out of your life, you run away, 1203 01:00:13,208 --> 01:00:14,917 and then you look, and you're like, 1204 01:00:15,000 --> 01:00:16,333 "Well, that wasn't so bad." 1205 01:00:16,375 --> 01:00:17,708 Yes, it was. 1206 01:00:17,792 --> 01:00:20,833 They're crazy, they're insane, they're horrible! 1207 01:00:20,917 --> 01:00:23,250 They're--run! 1208 01:00:23,333 --> 01:00:24,750 You know, run! 1209 01:00:24,833 --> 01:00:27,750 But what happens is we get a little far away, we're like, 1210 01:00:27,833 --> 01:00:29,833 "Well, it's not--well, he was a nice guy. 1211 01:00:29,917 --> 01:00:32,333 Yeah, he hit me, but he was a nice guy." 1212 01:00:32,375 --> 01:00:33,833 A nice guy who hits you? 1213 01:00:33,917 --> 01:00:39,750 Hey, hey, hey, replay the tape. Those were bad days, bad days. 1214 01:00:39,833 --> 01:00:43,167 Any of you non-Christian become a Christian, 1215 01:00:43,208 --> 01:00:47,667 honestly look back and say, "Those were good old days. 1216 01:00:47,708 --> 01:00:50,042 "Miss those days. 1217 01:00:50,125 --> 01:00:52,833 "Boy, I wish nothing changed. 1218 01:00:52,875 --> 01:00:56,542 It was all great until Jesus showed up." 1219 01:00:56,625 --> 01:01:03,125 I would never say that, but sometimes we do that. 1220 01:01:03,167 --> 01:01:07,000 We exchange reality for fantasy. 1221 01:01:07,083 --> 01:01:09,833 How many of you, you have friends like this, old friends? 1222 01:01:09,875 --> 01:01:11,333 You get together, you're like, 1223 01:01:11,375 --> 01:01:13,167 "Remember when we were in high school?" 1224 01:01:13,208 --> 01:01:17,333 No, I don't, 1225 01:01:17,375 --> 01:01:18,958 because we were alcoholics. 1226 01:01:19,000 --> 01:01:22,833 I blacked out from my sophomore year to graduation. 1227 01:01:22,875 --> 01:01:24,833 No, I don't remember high school. 1228 01:01:24,875 --> 01:01:26,208 "It was awesome. 1229 01:01:26,292 --> 01:01:28,208 Remember that time you threw up?" 1230 01:01:28,292 --> 01:01:31,417 Yeah, it wasn't that awesome, right? 1231 01:01:31,500 --> 01:01:33,167 Some of you have friends like that, 1232 01:01:33,208 --> 01:01:36,167 and they only want to talk about the old days and romanticize 1233 01:01:36,208 --> 01:01:37,917 and fantasize about the old days. 1234 01:01:38,000 --> 01:01:40,917 The Holy Spirit just brought to mind a verse from Ecclesiastes. 1235 01:01:41,000 --> 01:01:43,833 "Do not ask, 'Why were the old days better than these?' 1236 01:01:43,917 --> 01:01:47,833 Because it's foolish to ask such questions." 1237 01:01:47,917 --> 01:01:52,000 See, that's a slave mentality. 1238 01:01:52,083 --> 01:01:56,250 "Before I had God, I had good." 1239 01:01:56,333 --> 01:01:59,833 That's a slave mentality. 1240 01:01:59,875 --> 01:02:02,333 Have you been set free? 1241 01:02:02,375 --> 01:02:04,000 Here's my last two questions. 1242 01:02:04,042 --> 01:02:06,625 Do you know Jesus? Have you given him your sin? 1243 01:02:06,667 --> 01:02:09,000 Is he your Passover Lamb? Is he your Exodus? 1244 01:02:09,042 --> 01:02:11,083 Is he your God? 1245 01:02:11,167 --> 01:02:13,708 If not, you give yourself to Jesus now. 1246 01:02:13,792 --> 01:02:16,583 And you walked in here apart from him, 1247 01:02:16,667 --> 01:02:19,208 but you walk out of here with him. 1248 01:02:19,292 --> 01:02:21,875 He goes before you like the pillar in the cloud. 1249 01:02:21,958 --> 01:02:24,708 He walks with you, never to leave you nor forsake you. 1250 01:02:24,792 --> 01:02:29,083 Let him set you free and let him lead you to live free. 1251 01:02:29,167 --> 01:02:31,708 If you're not a Christian, your biggest problem 1252 01:02:31,792 --> 01:02:34,292 is not your behavior, not your conduct. 1253 01:02:34,333 --> 01:02:36,333 It's your God. 1254 01:02:36,375 --> 01:02:38,208 It's your God! 1255 01:02:38,292 --> 01:02:40,375 That issue has to get settled. 1256 01:02:40,458 --> 01:02:43,500 Give yourself to Jesus and be set free, 1257 01:02:43,583 --> 01:02:47,625 and then commit to a life walking with him, living free. 1258 01:02:47,667 --> 01:02:50,417 Number two, for those of you who are Christians, 1259 01:02:50,500 --> 01:02:52,417 you have been set free, 1260 01:02:52,500 --> 01:02:54,500 and today, by the grace of God, 1261 01:02:54,583 --> 01:02:56,292 through the power of the Holy Spirit, 1262 01:02:56,333 --> 01:02:58,125 you can live free. 1263 01:02:58,167 --> 01:03:00,083 You can leave your sin here. 1264 01:03:00,167 --> 01:03:02,000 You can leave your folly here. 1265 01:03:02,083 --> 01:03:04,125 You can leave your rebellion here. 1266 01:03:04,167 --> 01:03:08,333 You can leave your death here, and you can walk with Jesus, 1267 01:03:08,375 --> 01:03:10,125 and you can walk together. 1268 01:03:10,167 --> 01:03:11,875 And you can walk into Community Group, 1269 01:03:11,958 --> 01:03:13,708 and you can pray for one another, 1270 01:03:13,792 --> 01:03:15,708 and serve one another, and help one another. 1271 01:03:15,792 --> 01:03:17,917 That's why God spoke to all of his people. 1272 01:03:18,000 --> 01:03:19,833 Grab a small group study guide. 1273 01:03:19,875 --> 01:03:22,167 Text in, let us know how to connect you. 1274 01:03:22,250 --> 01:03:24,875 Take the Ten Commandments that I've put together for you, 1275 01:03:24,958 --> 01:03:28,500 put them in your wallet to remind you of who your God is 1276 01:03:28,583 --> 01:03:31,167 and the advice and counsel that your loving Father 1277 01:03:31,250 --> 01:03:33,083 gives to you every day 1278 01:03:33,167 --> 01:03:35,833 for the practical affairs and matters of your life. 1279 01:03:35,875 --> 01:03:38,000 And the way that we grow in freedom, 1280 01:03:38,083 --> 01:03:41,000 the way that we walk in freedom is understanding 1281 01:03:41,083 --> 01:03:42,667 that we're free to--what? 1282 01:03:42,750 --> 01:03:46,417 "Freedom," Mars Hill. Freedom is for what? 1283 01:03:46,500 --> 01:03:48,625 It's for the worship of God. 1284 01:03:48,667 --> 01:03:54,292 It's for the worship of God. 1285 01:03:54,333 --> 01:03:57,167 Guess what you're going to do? 1286 01:03:57,250 --> 01:03:59,208 Worship God. 1287 01:03:59,292 --> 01:04:02,333 We're going to do that by giving our tithes and offerings, 1288 01:04:02,375 --> 01:04:07,375 because a lot of times we vote for our God with our debit card. 1289 01:04:07,458 --> 01:04:11,625 We give to the Lord who has given all to us. 1290 01:04:11,667 --> 01:04:14,500 It's our Father's way of inviting us to grow 1291 01:04:14,583 --> 01:04:17,208 in generosity to be more like him. 1292 01:04:17,292 --> 01:04:18,917 As we collect our tithes and offerings, 1293 01:04:19,000 --> 01:04:21,667 I want you to know we're also going to take Communion, 1294 01:04:21,750 --> 01:04:23,167 remembering Jesus, the Lamb of God 1295 01:04:23,250 --> 01:04:25,167 who takes away the sins of the world, 1296 01:04:25,250 --> 01:04:27,125 our Passover Lamb who was slain. 1297 01:04:27,167 --> 01:04:30,500 God's wrath is removed if we're covered by his blood, 1298 01:04:30,583 --> 01:04:33,125 shown in the drink and in the bread, 1299 01:04:33,167 --> 01:04:35,667 his broken body and shed blood. 1300 01:04:35,750 --> 01:04:40,625 And we're going to sing. 1301 01:04:40,667 --> 01:04:43,000 You ever seen a nation that was oppressed 1302 01:04:43,083 --> 01:04:44,583 and then they were liberated? 1303 01:04:44,667 --> 01:04:47,667 The people run into the streets and they cheer and sing. 1304 01:04:47,750 --> 01:04:50,375 Mars Hill, we are those people. 1305 01:04:50,458 --> 01:04:53,083 Jesus has conquered our pharaoh, Satan. 1306 01:04:53,167 --> 01:04:54,917 We have been set free. 1307 01:04:55,000 --> 01:04:56,625 We can live free. 1308 01:04:56,667 --> 01:04:59,917 We have a Father King who loves us and adores us. 1309 01:05:00,042 --> 01:05:02,083 And we get to take to the streets, 1310 01:05:02,167 --> 01:05:04,292 and we get to sing and shout his praises. 1311 01:05:04,333 --> 01:05:06,375 We get to worship and enjoy him, 1312 01:05:06,458 --> 01:05:08,292 and when we get together in song, 1313 01:05:08,333 --> 01:05:10,417 that's exactly what we're doing. 1314 01:05:10,500 --> 01:05:14,000 Free people have someone to celebrate. 1315 01:05:14,083 --> 01:05:17,083 So, Father God, as we come to worship, 1316 01:05:17,167 --> 01:05:21,500 we're coming to do that which you created us to do. 1317 01:05:21,583 --> 01:05:25,500 Help us to realize that freedom is not to do what we want, 1318 01:05:25,583 --> 01:05:28,000 but to do what we were made for. 1319 01:05:28,083 --> 01:05:31,125 Jesus, thank you for being the perfect worshiper. 1320 01:05:31,167 --> 01:05:33,208 Thank you for humbling yourself. 1321 01:05:33,292 --> 01:05:36,500 Thank you for being God, come down to live a life 1322 01:05:36,542 --> 01:05:38,833 in perfect obedience to the law. 1323 01:05:38,875 --> 01:05:41,375 Thank you for dying in our place for our sins, 1324 01:05:41,458 --> 01:05:43,500 satisfying the requirements of the law. 1325 01:05:43,583 --> 01:05:47,708 Thank you for rising to conquer our great pharaoh of Satan. 1326 01:05:47,792 --> 01:05:50,875 Thank you for giving us freedom 1327 01:05:50,958 --> 01:05:53,292 and walking with us in that freedom. 1328 01:05:53,333 --> 01:05:55,833 Thank you for calling us to sit on the couch, 1329 01:05:55,875 --> 01:05:59,000 and to kiss us on the forehead, and to talk to us about 1330 01:05:59,083 --> 01:06:02,000 how much you love us, and to put a fence around us, 1331 01:06:02,083 --> 01:06:06,208 because we don't want to sin, because we don't want to suffer, 1332 01:06:06,292 --> 01:06:08,917 because you've written your law on our hearts, 1333 01:06:09,000 --> 01:06:12,500 and deep in our hearts we want to obey the Father 1334 01:06:12,583 --> 01:06:14,667 who adores us. 1335 01:06:14,750 --> 01:06:19,000 Lord God, help us to get this message in our lives, 1336 01:06:19,083 --> 01:06:22,625 in our relationships, in our sexuality, in our finances, 1337 01:06:22,667 --> 01:06:25,208 in our families. 1338 01:06:25,292 --> 01:06:28,833 Help us to understand what it means to be set free, 1339 01:06:28,875 --> 01:06:31,417 and by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1340 01:06:31,500 --> 01:06:34,667 help us to live free. In Jesus' good name. Amen. 1341 01:06:36,417 --> 01:06:39,333 Each year, over 10 million Mars Hill church sermons 1342 01:06:39,417 --> 01:06:42,458 are downloaded worldwide for free. 1343 01:06:42,500 --> 01:06:45,042 This ministry is generously supported 1344 01:06:45,125 --> 01:06:47,667 by Mars Hill church members and listeners like you. 1345 01:06:47,750 --> 01:06:51,250 If you'd like to support our efforts to preach Jesus to the world, 1346 01:06:51,333 --> 01:06:54,250 Please consider making a tax-deductible donation 1347 01:06:54,333 --> 01:06:57,167 by visiting marshill.com/give.