Sermons in Exodus
A New King and the True King
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.”
The Tenth Commandment: The Secret of Contentment
The tenth commandment requires us to be fully content with our own condition and to be charitably disposed toward our neighbour.
The Ninth Commandment: Speaking the Truth in Love
The ninth commandment is not only a negative prohibition against perjury, but it also governs all our speech and requires us to speak the truth in love.
The Eighth Commandment: You shall not steal
All theft is a violation of God's order and absolute ownership and thus it is first an offense against God. God institutes private property, commissioning the family as steward to work out the dominion mandate and to inherit the earth.
The Seventh Commandment: Guarding Marriage
In a fallen world our feelings, instincts, and impulses are not normative for sexuality. God's law is the path to true freedom and joy.
The Sixth Commandment: The Lord of Life
The sixth commandment forbids unlawful killing, and further requires preserving our own lives and those of others because of the image of God in man. It is beyond our authority to take life; it is purely God's prerogative.
The Fifth Commandment: Honour your Father and Mother
We learn about God as Father when our fathers and mothers act in accordance with God's fatherly presence. We're to educate and build for the future and as a consequence the world grows under God's dominion.
The Fourth Commandment: Symbol of Life and Freedom
God restricts our work time to bless us and to free us. Endless work is slavery and leads to death, because God's covenant law is built into the very fabric of creation. As a consequence of abandoning Sabbath rest, people become restless, stressed, overworked, unhealthy, and poor.
The Third Commandment: Taking the Name
The Maker, Sustainer, and Governor of all things, our Lord and Savour, has a great name honoured above all others. God's name is taken in vain whenever we use it without due consideration and reverence.
The Second Commandment: You shall not make a graven image
We are prone to making God who we want him to be. We fashion him according to our desires and expectations. However, it is God who is remaking us in his image. The second commandment addresses the sinful desire to make God in our image and likeness.
The First Commandment: Ultimate Allegiance
All other loyalties and affections find their rightful places as we put God first in everything.