Moses and Law

Objectives

• Students will determine to trust on Christ for their righteousness instead of a legal code.

Opening

Bring some copies of a regulatory book to class. If you have a library nearby you might pick up a copy of the FAR/AIM, the FAA list of regulations. The idea here is that the book should be thick and include lots of rules.

• What are some examples of rules?

• Take a look at this book, what do you notice?

• Why do we have so many rules?

Main Body

The Mosaic Covenant

The Creation of the Covenant

The Mosaic covenant is often associated with Exodus 19-24.

• What conditions are set forth in Exodus 19:5?
  • Obedience

• What promises are given in Exodus 19:5-6?
  • God would make Israel his treasured possession and a kingdom of priests.

• According to Exodus 19:7-9, who agrees to the covenant?
  • Both God and the people agree to the covenant.

• In Exodus 19:10-11 what actions are taken to ratify the covenant?
  • The people wash themselves and set themselves apart.

Obedience

• The condition placed on the covenant was that of obedience. What was it that the people were supposed to obey?
  • The Old Testament Law was the standard God set forth. Exodus 20 has the 10 commandments but throughout Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, we find details on the laws that God expected Israel to obey.

• What are some examples of laws set forth in the Old Testament Law?
  • Ten Commandments
  • Laws on purity
  • Laws regulating interactions with other people
  • In fact, some Jews apparently codify the laws into 613 distinct commandments, 365 negative commandments, and 248 Positive commandments.

• According to Galatians 3:11, what was the Law unable to do?
  • Justify someone

The Dispensation of Law

In the unfolding of history through dispensations we have seen that in innocence man fell, despite having a conscience man sinned, even human government could not stop the evil, God called Abraham but he and his descendants failed to remain in the promised land. In very possible way so far we have sen that man is totally depraved. Now, we address another question, "perhaps if man was told explicitly what God wanted, man would be able to be holy." This is the dispensation of law, we will see that despite being told explicitly what God wanted, the heart of man is deceitful above all (Jeremiah 17:9).