Sermons

Cornerstone Church: Warwick, RI

Sermons

  1. Oct 25

    True Freedom in a World of Slavery

    As the Israelites stand at the base of Mt. Sinai, Moses again approaches the thick cloud where God was. Previously God had given him the ten commandments (20:1-17). In this encounter, God gives further instructions, civil laws, by which to govern the people. Included among these civil laws are instructions for relationships between masters and slaves. The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt and experienced mistreatment at the hands of their overlords. Since slavery is an unavoidable part of life in a fallen world, God's people will continue to experience different forms of it, including within their own society. Hebrews will be enslaved to other Hebrews. In the context of His people, God graciously gives guidelines which curb the human tendency to mistreat and exploit others. Digging deeper, this passage is another opportunity to look carefully at the human heart and to honestly admit our enslaving tendencies. From our earliest days, we have all been governed by deep-rooted and controlling desires. Slavery exists because these desires exist. And because these desires exist, and because they inevitably involve perversion to one degree or another, slavery inevitable involves harmfulness to one degree or another. And, God sees and God cares. As we frame Exodus 21 within the Redemptive storyline of Scripture, it presents another occassion for agreeing with God concerning the human condition and for considering the good news of the Gospel. Jesus is an amazing and selfless servant. He refuses to use His superior strength, intellect, and resources to abuse people. Instead, He lays His life down for us and provides forgiveness for our sinful condition and freedom from it. He is the only “Way Out.”

  2. Sep 20

    The Law-Keeper

    The Israelites stand at the base of Mt. Sinai as God continues to arrest their attention with shocking sights and sounds. There is thunder and lighting. There is fire and smoke. There are many sounds of loud trumpet blasts. The mountain is quaking...and the people are quaking too. In that intimidating and impressive environment, God articulates His righteous ten commandments. These commandments outline what relating rightly to Him and others looks like. With great fear and trembling, the people receive the commandments and begin reckoning with God's standards and their accountability for them. This passage provides another brilliant foreshadowing of the Gospel as it begins to outline the Law through which God's people will be both governed--according to the enforcement of it--and exposed as in need of deliverance--since they will all be in violation of it, in one way or another. They need a substitute, one who can keep the Law, not just the letter of it, but the spirit of it. They also need one who can absorb their penalty for failing to keep it. They need an "Exodus," a "Way Out," and that way out is Jesus. As Galatians 4:4-5 says, "When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law." Jesus is the fulfiller of the Law and the one who sets us free from its demand and curse. He is the one we can trust as we endeavor to love God and others and yet fall short over and over again. He is the Commandment Keeper.

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