Lesson #24

EXODUS 20:18-26
Lesson #24
THE FEAR OF GOD AND PROPER WORSHIP

• Memory Verse: Titus 3:5

• In our previous lesson we saw how God gave the Israelites the Law through Moses. It was their decision to exchange law for grace. We have discussed the ten commandments in the first part of Exodus 20. However, we need to see how Jesus dealt with the law during His ministry on earth.
• Read Mat 5:17-22, 27-28
• Some important points to notice:
• #1 = Jesus did not destroy the Law, He fulfilled it. (17)
• #2 = The scribes and Pharisees were proud of the fact that they kept the Law.
• Jesus said that our righteousness must exceed theirs. (20)
• How can our righteousness exceed those who kept the Law?
• Only through faith in the perfection of Jesus Christ, do we exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees.
• #3 = The ten commandments said, “thou shalt not kill”. However, Jesus raised the standard when He said that simple anger, breaks the commandment. (22)
• #4 = The ten commandments said, “thou shalt not commit adultery.” However, Jesus again raised the standard when He said that just looking at woman lustfully broke the commandment. (28)
• The New Testament Truths concerning the Law

:

• #1

= The Law was a list of laws that governed external behavior.

• #2

= The Holy Spirit living inside the New Testament believer governs his behavior from inside out in a more perfect way.

• #3

= Therefore, the New Testament believer is to live to a higher standard than those in the Old Testament, and this is only possible through Jesus Christ who changes the heart.

• Read Exo 20:18-19
• Notice the fear that the Law instilled in man. (18)
• The fear was tangibly present in response to the loud thunder, lightning, the mountain burning issuing smoke, and the loud voice of God called, “a trumpet sound”.
• It is not a surprise that the people were afraid to approach God.
• This is what law does, it causes man to feel the separation between man and God, because deep in the heart, man knows he cannot live up to the Law.
• We can see this clearly in parenthood. The parent makes laws to protect and to control the child’s behavior. The child knows that if he breaks the paternal law, he will suffer his father’s anger, and that his father will punish him. Therefore, the law sets up a barrier of conflict and separation between the child and the parent. This is necessary because the child needs limits until he learns to operate within the parental law. Therefore, parental law is necessary and temporary until the child becomes an adult.
• The same is true of God’s Law and the Israelites. The people were like pre-school children. They needed limits. They needed the “schoolmaster” until they learned what was right and what was wrong.
• Moses’ explanation to the people: (20)

• “…Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.”

(20)

• Notice that Moses tells the people not to fear God even though that was the purpose of the Law. What does he mean?
• Just as the child learns to have an awesome respect for his parent and the parental law, the Israelites were to have an awesome respect for a Holy God. They did not need to draw away from God, because God wanted them to have a relationship with Him.
• Therefore, we can understand that there is a difference between having an awesome respect for God and the fear or terror of condemnation.
• Read Psa 2:11-12 (fear = awesome respect)
• Read Exo 15:16 and Psa 9:20 (fear = terror of condemnation)

Fear (Terror of Condemnation)	Fear (Awesome Respect)
Brings an attitude of hopelessness	Brings an attitude of worth for the child knows the parent thinks he is worth saving
Brings a permanent separation	Brings a workable relationship
Ends in condemnation	Reaps many Godly benefits

Benefits of Having Fear of the Lord (from Basic Youth ConflictsSeminar):

• #1 = You overcome sinful habits (Pro 16:6)
• #2

= You begin to learn knowledge (Pro 1:7)

• #3 =

You start being wise (Pro 9:10)

• #4 =

You have a longer life (Pro 10:27)

• #5 =

You discover the fountain of life (Pro 14:27)

• #6 =

You learn contentment(Pro 15:16)

• #7 =

You grow in wisdom (Pro 15:33)

• #8 =

You get riches, honor, and life (Pro 22:4)

• #9 =

You experience true worship (Psa 5:7)

• #10 =

You have no wants (Psa 34:9)

• #11 =

You experience God’s salvation (Psa 85:9)

• #12 =

You receive daily provision (Psa 111:5)

• #13 =

You experience strong confidence (Pro 14:26)

• #14 =

You have a satisfying life (Pro 19:23)

• #15 =

You share the secrets of the Lord (Psa 25:14)

• #16 =

You experience God’s goodness (Psa 31:19)

• #17 =

You have constant protection (Psa 33:18-19)

• #18 =

You are delivered from trouble (Psa 34:7)

• #19 =

You are looked to for truthfulness (Psa 60:4)

• #20 =

You receive a special heritage (Psa 61:5)

• #21 =

You are given God’s mercy (Psa 103:11)

• #22 =

You have the Lord’s pity (Psa 103:13)

• #23 =

You bring delight to the Lord (Psa 147:11)

• #24 =

You become a special treasure of God (Mal 3:16-17)

The Consequences of Not Fearing the Lord (from Basic YouthConflicts Seminar)

• #1 =

There is no restraint of evil (Rom 3:10-18)

• #2 =

There is no effective church discipline(Act 5:5 Rom 3:10-18)

• #3 =

There is no guard against wrong church members (Act 5:11-13)

• #4 =

There is no perfecting of holiness (2Cor 7:1)

• #5 =

There is no scriptural submission (Eph 5:21)

• #6 =

There is no maturity in salvation (Phi 2:12-13)

• #7 =

There is no entering into God’s rest (Heb 4:1)

• #8 =

There is no influence to unsaved husbands (1Pet 3:1-2)

• #9 =

There is no effective witnessing (1Pet 3:15)

• #10 =

There is no fulfilling of Godly desires (Psa 145:19)

• #11 =

There is no effective restoration (Jude 23)

• #12 =

There is no courage for suffering (Rev 2:10)

• Moses had a Godly fear of the Lord and Moses had faith. Both developed from the attributes of God that Moses saw working in his life.

God’s Attributes that Caused Moses to Fear God	God’s Attributes that Caused Moses’ Faith to Grow
God’s indestructibility: He saw the burning bush was not consumed	God’s attention: He saw that God heard the people’s cry for deliverance
God’s Holiness: God told Moses he stood on holy ground	God’s compassion: God understood His people’s sorrow
God’s eternal nature: He is the “I Am”	God’s faithfulness: God’s relationship continues from Abraham
God’s justice: God brought judgment to Pharaoh	God’s lovingkindness: God determined to deliver Israel from bondage in Egypt
God’s wrath: God promised to destroy the wicked Canaanites	God’s provision: God would give His people a land flowing with milk and honey

• How can New Testament believers develop a fear (awesome respect) for the Lord?

• #1 =

Learn the words which God uses to describe the fear which we should have for Him:

• Terror = most extreme degree of fear, disabling, to prostrate by confusion and fear. (Rev 1:12-17)
• Fright = to shrink or shiver with fear caused by the appearance of danger (Mar 4:41 Luk 8:37 Luk 24:36-37)
• Dismay = removes the mental ability, being drained of confidence and courage to the point of fainting (Dan 10:8-11,18-19 Jos 1:9)
• Astonishment = inability to speak in the face of an awesome and overwhelming situation, to stupefy, struck dumb (Act 9:5-6 Ecc 5:2)
• Trembling = the physical result of overpowering fear, to quake, shake involuntarily (Dan 5:5-9 Mat 28:3-4)
• Dread = intense uneasiness or alarm excited by expected pain, loss, or harm. It is less sudden but more sustained. (Dan 9:4 Isa 6:5 Job 13:11,18,21,23)
• #2=

Consider how small we are in comparison to other things which God has made. (Psa 8:3-4 Psa 29:1,3,5,8,9 Exo 20:18-20)

• #3=

Have reverence for the universal, non-optional principles of God’s Word (Rev 1:6 Deu 17:19)

• Fear of the Lord is learned by relating the reproofs of life to the violation of principles.
• Relate the consequences of sin to the holiness of God (1Cor 9:27 Ecc 12:13-14)
• Read Exo 20:20-26
• Moses says that the Ten Commandments came to do two things:
• Test (prove) the people.
• This is why there were ten commandments. The number 10 in the Bible is a symbolic number for God’s standard against which He tests the people.
• To instill in the people this awesome respect (fear) of a Holy God.
• The child that has an awesome respect for his parent and the parental law, will obey the parental law because he knows he will be punished if he does not.
• In the same way, the believer who has an awesome respect for God will be deterred from breaking God’s standard.
• God’s further instruction:

• “

Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.” (23)

• Notice that verse 23 is a repetition of the second commandment, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images…”(4)
• Why does God repeat only this one commandment?
• It is this commandment that dealt with idolatry that the Israelites had so much trouble keeping. Idolatry was their greatest and most persistent sin until the Babylonian captivity.
• If it is important, God repeats it!
• God’s temporary instruction for worship:
• You will remember that God told Moses in the beginning that He wanted the people to come out to the wilderness to worship Him.
• This instruction for worship in Exo 20 is a temporary form of worship that God replaced later when they had finished building the tabernacle.
• The tabernacle was to be the place of worship as they traveled through the wilderness from Mt. Sinai to the promised land. Until they finished the construction of the tabernacle, their worship was to be very simple and temporary.
• The altar:
• The altar must be made of earth or natural stone.
• Why were all altars where tools were used unacceptable to God?
• Altars of cut stone with engravings were common among pagan worship and in pagan temples.
• It is God who made the earth and natural stone. Therefore, anything that is made by man falls short of God’s perfection.
• Man’s righteousness and man’s works are polluted by sin and cannot approach the perfection of a Holy God no matter how beautifully elaborated and decorated we think it is.
• An altar made with tools is exactly the same thing as man attempting to perform good works to earn his salvation.
• When man comes before God to worship, he should come in the manner established by God.
• Why were altars with stairs unacceptable to God?
• Pagan temples always had stairs usually made of cut stone.
• Usually stairs were made with tools, and we have already seen that man’s tools were unacceptable in making an altar.
• Even natural stairs were not acceptable to God.
• In those days men wore robes. In the action of climbing stairs, there was a danger that man’s nakedness would be revealed.
• The symbolic significance:
• When man approaches God in worship, the only thing that should be observable to God is the sacrifice he is bringing. Nothing of man’s prideful nature will get him higher up or any closer to God.
• Remember that this is a temporary provision. When Solomon built the first temple in Jerusalem, the altar had stairs.
• The animal sacrifice:
• God mentions only two of the five types of offerings that He later gave to Moses to be a part of the Law. (24) The two He mentions are:
• #1 = The burnt offering:
• This offering was to demonstrate the perfection of Christ who is our substitute sacrifice. It is because of this substitute that our sins are forgiven.
• #2 = The peace offering:
• This offering was to demonstrate the communion and peace that man can have with God through a personal relationship with God once sins are forgiven.
• Summary and Application:
• Our lesson began with the idea that the New Testament believer is called to a higher standard than the Old Testament law.
• The higher standard was impossible for the Old Testament believer to reach.
• The Old Testament believer could not even rise to the lower standard of an external law.
• The Old Testament believer did not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that enables the New Testament believer to rise to higher inward standard.
• Next, we considered an in-depth teaching about the fear of the Lord that is not sufficiently taught today. New Testament believers need to develop a greater fear of the Lord.
• Finally, we considered some basic elements of worship that God expected temporarily from the Israelites until they built the tabernacle.
• What is the symbolic lesson in all of this for us today?
• We are to come to God in the way He ordained, through Jesus Christ, and not by our own works or in an attitude of pride.
• Read Joh 14:6

HOMEWORK
EXODUS 21
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of Exo 20:18-26
• Consider how much healthy fear of the Lord you have. As you consider the list of The Consequences of Not Fearing the Lord, which statements in the list seem to stand out to you as something that explains a lack in your life?
• How will you develop a greater fear of the Lord?

• Preparation for Exo 21
• Read Exo 21:1-6 The Love Servant
• What New Testament parallel do you see in the description of the Love servant?
• Read Exo 21:7-11 The Maid Servant
• What is God’s view of women?
• Read Exo 21:12-36
• What is God’s view of life?
• List the capital crimes (12-17)
• List the non-capital crimes (18-36)

• Memory Verse: John 15:17