Intro: Welcome to the Spoken Gospel podcast. This is our attempt to speak the gospel out of every corner of scripture. We believe that every part of the Bible, Old Testament and New, is about Jesus, and this podcast is our experiment to publicly test that belief. Today's episode is brought to you by Thomas Nelson Publishers and my new book, Rewire Your Heart: Replace Desire for Sin with Desire for God, and that's coming out wherever books are sold October 30th. And it's available for pre-order from your favorite outlet today. So visit rewireyourheartbook.com for all the details. Let's jump in. [upbeat music] All right. Well, welcome to part two.
Seth: Part dos.
David: Part dos.
Seth: Deux.
David: Deux. What, what, what, what-
Seth: This is Spanish and Italian.
David: Oh, okay. I got-
Seth: French, me, Japanese.
David: You know, why do you know so many of these? [laughs]
Seth: I count to 10 brushing my children's teeth in six different languages.
David: Well, yeah.
Seth: So one for the left side, one for the right side, one for the front.
David: [laughs]
Seth: And then I do that on the top, and then also I do, do it twice.
David: Your, uh, your kids brush their teeth way longer than I brush my teeth-
Seth: [laughs]
David: ... is what I'm learning from this. Have they, have they picked it up? Can they do it yet?
Seth: Sunny tries to.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So sometimes she'll just say, "Do the dos thing again."
David: The dos thing. [laughs]
Seth: And she'll ...
David: That's pretty cute.
Seth: That's pretty cute.
David: [laughs]
Seth: That is pretty cute.
David: Well, you know, keep her around.
Seth: That's why there's 10 Commandments.
David: What? [laughs]
Seth: That's just, that's just nothing.
David: Oh, okay.
Seth: I wish I could count to 10 in Hebrew.
David: Yeah, you need to, you need to learn that one.
Seth: Because-
David: Because, because we're in Hebrew right now.
Seth: We're-
David: Because we're in the Old Testament.
Seth: We're in the Old Testament.
David: Yeah. So yeah, we're, this is part two, as we've [laughs]--
Seth: Dos
David: ... as we said like a minute ago. [laughs]
Seth: [laughs]
David: This is part, part two of our, um, walk through Exodus 20, which is the 10 Commandments. We kind of got rolling last week.
Seth: Vaye. That was the other one. [laughs]
David: Oh my goodness, that was Jeremiah. [laughs]
Seth: [laughs]
David: Goodness, I thought we were past this. Um, and, uh, we kinda realized that we were going over time. There's a lot to unpack. Um, so, uh, we, we looked at how the 10 Commandments are kind of the, uh, summary of the covenant.
Seth: Love God, love neighbor.
David: That's right. It's like the, even Jesus summed it up, and it seems to follow the pattern of-
Seth: The first four about our relationship with God.
David: That's right.
Seth: The last six are about our relationship with one another.
David: Yep. And so we made it through the first four, like, don't have other gods before me, don't commit adult- idol- idolatry, uh-
Seth: Keep the Sabbath
David: ... keep the Sabbath, don't take the, name the Lord your God in vain. We unpack all those.
Seth: And what we wanna do today is actually show how all of these commandments are actually about our relationship with the Lord.
David: Right.
Seth: And how Jesus even fulfills that as well.
David: Right, yeah.
Seth: And so even though this is about our relationship with one another, it's really about our relationship with God.
David: Right.
Seth: We said last week that you can't break any of the 10 Commandments without breaking the first.
David: Right.
Seth: Which means even commands about honoring your father and mother and stealing are ultimately about our relationship with God.
David: Right. Whenever we refuse to honor our father and mother, we are ultimately refusing to put God first in our life and to honor Him above all, because if we would've honored Him above all, that would've trickled down, and we would've honored our mother and father.
Seth: Right. So the question is, why is that?
David: Well, uh, [laughs] uh, wait, what?
Seth: So I think what I wanna get at here is, like, why is everything about our relationship with God?
David: Oh, okay.
Seth: Why are these things the things we must obey? And I think the answer I was hoping that you would just offer freely-
David: [laughs]
Seth: ... and read my mind is that the reason these things are here is because this is based on the character of God.
David: Oh, right, yeah. So yeah, why do we have these rules at all? Um, I think, yeah, I get, I get what you're saying now. Um, yeah, the rules here, I mean, I don't think anybody would think these are arbitrary rules. I think they're pretty standard moral rules, like-
Seth: At least these last six, yeah
David: ... at least these last six, which we're focusing on for this episode. Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't covet your neighbor's household. I mean, all these things are pretty ubiquitous around a lot of different cultures. You know, most cultures have some semblance of this. And so people ask the question, like, where do good and evil come from? Where, how do we, like, what, where do ethics come from? And the old Euthyphro dilemma, that's a big $10 million word.
Seth: Uh, just a name. [laughs]
David: It's just a name. Yeah, Euthyphro dilemma, was he posed, he was this, this philosopher who posed this question, which was, um, is something good because God decreed it, or does God decree something because it is good? And so-
Seth: And I think the Christian answer to that is that God commands something because He is the fulfillment and embodiment of that command.
David: Yes.
Seth: He demands it because He is that thing.
David: He is that. God never, and so, yeah, so the, the answer is not necessarily like, well, there was this eternal good, and God saw it and was like, "Oh, it's always been good not to murder. I'll, I'll impose that on my people." Neither i- are, are, are things just good, well, because God said so.
Seth: Right.
David: Like, we don't murder. Well, why? Well, 'cause God said so. Why do we not murder? Well, because God is the giver of life, who does not take life, but gives life.
Seth: Yes.
David: You know? Like, yes, yeah.
Seth: And so in the same way that we obey the commandment to have no other gods because God is the only true God, we honor our father and mother because God has honored, there's, there's a relationship, a father-son relationship in our relationship-
David: Father-son relationship in the Trinity, eternal Trinity, yep
Seth: ... in the eternal Trinity, where there is this eternal honor-
David: Honoring, that's right
Seth: ... happening there.
David: Yep.
Seth: And so that is supposed to be reflected-
David: Yep
Seth: ... in God's people.
David: Right.
Seth: We are all fathers and mothers-
David: Yep
Seth: ... to somebody.
David: That's right. Yeah, so like, yeah, so, so-
Seth: Or sons to somebody.
David: Sons, sons to somebody, yeah. Uh, and so wh- why are these commands here? Um, because they tell us about who God is. Uh, commands come from character, is an alliterative way to put that.
Seth: Hmm, that's so Baptist of you.
David: Is it? Yeah, or I'm just a poet, man. Come on.
Seth: Ugh.
David: I mean, I was raised Baptist too, but, you know, it got sequential. [laughs]
Seth: [laughs] The Baptist comes first.
David: The Baptist comes first. I mean, it did chronologically.
Seth: Yeah.
David: You know, but-
Seth: You can't escape it.
David: I can't.
Seth: All your poetry is just an expression-
David: [laughs] Of your Baptist-
Seth: Of your Baptist roots [laughs]
David: ... preacher upbringing. I've got three points, and they all start with the same letter. Here we go. Yeah. So, yeah, so the commands that we're experiencing here come from the character of God. So, um, the, the first question we shouldn't ask when we come to these commands is-
Seth: The first question we shouldn't ask.
David: Yeah, the, yeah, the first question we shouldn't ask is, when we come to these commands, is, "Well, how could, how could I ever do that?" Like, "How could I live up to that?" Instead, the first question we should, we should ask is, "How is God like that?" So it's not like, "Oh man, I have to do that." We could say, "Oh, God is like that." And so I think God wants to show us himself here.
Seth: Yeah.
David: You know, God is wanting to show us that he is all of these commands, uh, perfectly, and he's inviting us, as Leviticus, the next book in the Torah, will say, to be holy as he is holy. Come join in my selfsame character, right? Come live like I live. Come be like I am. Um, I'm inviting you into the best form of existence-
Seth: Right
David: ... to be like God. I mean, this is a restoration of-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... the Garden, right? It's like the S- the serpent came and said, "Know good and evil." And, and, and, and so they tried to grab it for themselves, and they usurped their position. Uh, they broke the first-
Seth: Right
David: ... commandment preemptively, and they said, "We'll be our own god." And God, see, is saying, "No, here's good and evil. It's to be like me." And the lie of the serpent was, "You'll be like God," and that wasn't the case at all.
Seth: Really, no, it's like, if you wanna be like God-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... obey me.
David: Obey me, yeah.
Seth: And you will be like God.
David: 'Cause I'm showing you my character-
Seth: Right
David: ... in these commands.
Seth: So the Ten Commandments are the way that God intends to reverse the curse-
David: Yeah, that's right
Seth: ... that came through the serpent's command.
David: Yeah, yeah. The, the, God is saying here in the Ten Commandments that, uh, the Torah here is the, uh, the fulfillment of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He's saying, like, "I w- I, I was trying to show you who I am and trying to get you to depend on me and live with me and dwell with me in the Garden by keeping you from this tree," you know, and everything like that. Because if you would've not eaten from this tree, you would've-
Seth: But now that you have-
David: Now that you have, right, now you can restore this relationship with me by living like me, by following my character. So here in the Ten Commandments, we kinda have the, what, how God is trying to fix what happened at the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil back in Genesis 3.
Seth: Super fascinating.
David: It's really fascinating.
Seth: So now we have a really clear way to look to Jesus if the law is the way that the curse is reversed. We also know through the Israelites' history is that this law doesn't work for them.
David: No, they break it all the time.
Seth: They break it all the time.
David: Yeah.
Seth: They're still waiting for somebody to obey-
David: Right
Seth: ... in order to reverse the fall of Adam-
David: Mm
Seth: ... and Eve.
David: That's good.
Seth: And so who does this perfectly? It's-
David: Noah. [laughs]
Seth: No, I'm just kidding.
David: It's Jesus.
Seth: It's Jesus, yes.
David: Jesus is the one who obeys the commandments-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... not simply to, like, I think sometimes we think of, like, fulfill all righteousness, like, just merely so that he can live the perfect life.
Seth: Right.
David: But he's actually doing something God has intended to reverse and bring back an Edenic state for all of humanity.
Seth: Yes. And to, for human flourishing.
David: Yeah, yes, for human flourishing, and to show us the character of God, to invite us into that character. It's like the rules of God aren't, they aren't here, and, like, following Jesus isn't, isn't, like, um, a moral obligation that, that is there to, like, just, like, whip you into shape and get you to, to look a certain way. It's there because it's for your joy. Like, God wants you to obey his commandments because you will live like him, and living like God is the best thing you could possibly do. So as you honor your father and mother, as you don't murder people [laughs] as you, as you don't commit adultery, as you don't steal, as you don't lie, as you don't covet, you, you are stepping into the character of God and living your best life now.
Seth: Your best life now. Okay, Joel.
David: Joel.
Seth: Let Joel [laughs] speak first. So then what we need to do is we need to go through these six commandments-
David: Yes
Seth: ... and say how is this a reflection of God's character?
David: Uh-huh.
Seth: And how does Jesus fulfill it for us? [upbeat music] So let's start with the first of the six-
David: Okay
Seth: ... honoring your father and mother. What does this tell us about God?
David: Uh, well, we already talked about the Trinity thing.
Seth: Yeah, I think that's probably the most fundamental thing.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Is, like, this honoring your father and mother is a way in which that we can reflect God-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... in the way that he submits and honors within the Trinity.
David: Right.
Seth: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
David: The eternal submission and, like, other-glorying of the Trinity that we're like-
Seth: Yeah.
David: If you don't, can you explain that real quick-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... for people who have never heard of that idea before?
Seth: So let's call it the dance of love.
David: No, I hate that term.
Seth: [laughs] It's a Tim Keller thing.
David: Yeah, I, yeah, but it, it's been co-opted by other authors and things.
Seth: Oh, it has?
David: Yeah.
Seth: Oh.
David: I don't like it.
Seth: Anyway, the idea is that you have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
David: Right.
Seth: And they exist eternally in a perfect love-
David: Relationship
Seth: ... relationship-
David: Yep
Seth: ... where the Father gives all of himself to the Son-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... at the same time giving all of himself to the Holy Spirit.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: And while he is, in a sense, emptying himself, he's not emptying himself, but because he's also being f- totally filled by both the Son and the Holy Spirit.
David: Right.
Seth: So the Son pours himself out. He's filled by the Holy Spirit and the Father.
David: Yeah.
Seth: As the Father pours himself out, he's filled by the Son and the Holy Spirit. And as the Holy Spirit fills, pours himself out in love towards, uh, the Father and the Son, the Father and the Son fill the Holy Spirit back up.
David: Yep.
Seth: Not that he's ever deficient or loses some of his love-
David: Right
Seth: ... but that there's this perfect-
David: That's why it's perfect-
Seth: It's perfect
David: ... 'cause no one ever loses anything.
Seth: No one ever loses anything, yet it's always entirely self-giving.
David: Right. Right, and there's also that, you know, that, the, another reason why you don't lose anything is because it's the three natures, one person. You know, it's that self-giving, other-giving blend-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... that takes place in the Trinity. If you wanna, like, I, I mean, where, where would you, would you point someone to go and read? I would say probably like go read John 17 a little bit.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Right? About-
Seth: John's-
David: ... restore to, y- "Restore to me the glory that I had with you in the beginning," stuff like that. Um, yeah.
Seth: I would do that, and I mean, if you want, like, Tim Keller's Reason for God explains it-
David: Yes
Seth: Three persons in one
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: We exist in relationships that are separate, but also-
David: But also one. Like, I've got, I've got a mom, a dad, a sister, and myself, but we make up the Bowden family.
Seth: Yes.
David: Yeah.
Seth: 'Cause my wife and me are two, but we're also one-
David: One flesh
Seth: ... flesh-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... like according to scripture. So, like, there are these relationships that God says that you are supposed to image my trinity in how you relate to one another.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: And so he's saying, in honoring your father and mother, I want you to reflect that love that I have towards myself in your relationship, in your most intimate relationships down on Earth.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And that's not just to children looking up to their fathers.
David: Right.
Seth: It's also in fathers taking care of their fathers when they get too old to care for themselves as well.
David: Mm-hmm. And we know that because this was, this covenant was mostly spoken to adults, actually.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And in this culture, you w- you wouldn't ship your family off to a n- a nursing home, your parents, when they got old. It was your responsibility to take care of them. There's even proverbs about that, you know?
Seth: In the same way that God's love does not exhaust itself at a particular timeline-
David: Hmm
Seth: ... your, your, your, your, your responsibility to care and honor your father doesn't end when you-
David: Right
Seth: ... leave the house.
David: Yeah [laughs].
Seth: Like, it, that relationship is eternal.
David: Yeah, just as God's is. And so we now want to also look at how does Jesus fulfill this command for us, right?
Seth: We see this, I mean, over and over again. Jesus says, "I only do what I see my Father doing."
David: Right. Especially in the Book of John, we hear that over and over and over again.
Seth: If you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
David: Right. I only speak when my Father speaks. You know, I only do what my Father wants me to do.
Seth: I only say what those the Father gives me.
David: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. He's always in this perfect relationship with his eternal Father, and he, he also models for us, since, we've said that since he's in a proper relationship with his eternal Father, we know he will be, uh, honoring his mother and father here on Earth as well, though, right?
Seth: Yeah, we see that, like, in his life. Presumably, Joseph died-
David: Okay
Seth: ... when Jesus was in childhood. Um, I mean, that's-
David: Yeah, we have to speculate
Seth: ... we have to speculate a little bit.
David: Yeah.
Seth: But, like, he took care of his mother-
David: Right
Seth: ... on the cross-
David: Yep
Seth: ... like, as he was dying.
David: And maybe even in the family business, you know?
Seth: In the family business, yeah. Exactly.
David: Like, why, why, you know, why did he stay home until he was 30? Maybe he had to take care of his mom, you know? Um, and then, yeah, we also see, yeah, like, like I think you were going there, it's like on the cross, Jesus, uh, was so concerned for his mom that he says, you know, uh, to John and his, his mother, he says, um, you know, "This is your, this is now your mom, John."
Seth: Right.
David: "Take care of Mary."
Seth: And so, like, this idea of, like, honoring your father and mother, God's fathering, the father-son relationship is so important and so integral to God's own character and his relationship with us. Like, he ensures that as he's dying, in that redemptive act of going to the cross, that his mother is cared for.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: Like, that's really-
David: It's amazing
Seth: ... really powerful.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And so then let's talk for a second then about all the people that are listening to this whose fathers are not awesome.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: And, like, how does this redeem bad fathers?
David: Yeah.
Seth: Like, because that's important [laughs] here.
David: This is really important.
Seth: So how do you honor a father that's not honorable?
David: Right.
Seth: Or how do you honor a father that you don't know?
David: Right.
Seth: And how does Jesus restore and fulfill our expectations and hope for a father that actually no father can ever-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... on Earth can ever live up to?
David: Yeah, 'cause we're not saying that if you have an abusive father here on Earth that you need to submit to their hand and just let them beat you. That's not what is happening here. But what happens whenever you can experience the love of your heavenly Father, who, um, is, is, has this eternal love for you and bought you with the blood of His Son, you, you can then love and forgive your father genuinely because of the forgiveness you've, you've experienced in the gospel. But that doesn't necessarily mean, like, "Okay, I'll let him beat me or verbally abuse me-"
Seth: Right
David: ... or, or anything like that, right?
Seth: I think you could, maybe the easiest way to say it is, like, if you're suffering right now through your own relationship with your father or the lack of a parental figure, like, see yourself in Mary. And Jesus, as he's going to the cross, like, is providing a father figure, a providing figure for you-
David: Mm
Seth: ... in his act. So, I mean, and it's a little bit different 'cause he's a son talking about another s- like-
David: Another son
Seth: ... another son.
David: Yeah.
Seth: But, like, in, what he's doing is he's providing family for those that don't have it. There's the eternal Father who's always caring, and he's caring so much so that he's providing sons for mothers-
David: Hmm
Seth: ... who are also suffering.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So, like, if you're experiencing the loss of family, like, the Lord on the cross is providing that for you, not just in his attitude towards John and making sure his mom's physically provided for.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: But in his etern- the eternal reality is that he desires family.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And what does Jesus say? Like, there are no, it's no one who has lost family or mothers or brothers-
David: Right
Seth: ... who's not received 100-fold-
David: Right
Seth: ... in the Kingdom of God.
David: Right, because you've been brought into this family of God, this bride, this body. You've been brought into it.
Seth: Are you single? Do you not have a dad? Do you not have a mom?
David: Yeah.
Seth: Have they died? You have family in Jesus.
David: Yes, yeah. And Jesus himself lived that out. People came to him and said, "Hey, your mom and dad are waiting," or "Your mom," not your mom and dad. "Your, your mom and your sisters and everything are waiting outside for you," right? Uh, he's in this house performing miracles, and they come to him and he's like, "Hey, your mom's outside." And he goes, "Who's my mother?" You know?
Seth: Right.
David: And, and, and his answer is, "My mother is, is those who do the will of my Father in Heaven." I'm talking about this new kingdom, this new family that I'm building, and that wasn't a way to dishonor his mother. We know that, clearly. It was a way to ex- expand the meaning of mother and father. So now, not only as Christians are we to honor our nuclear mother and father, but our spiritual mother and fathers in-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... congregations that we live in, in church, like honoring our elders, honoring our brothers and sisters in, in the body of Christ.
Seth: And then ultimately our desire for family is met in the body, in the church.
David: In the church, yeah, yeah.
Seth: I don't think I've talked about this on our podcast. So we lost a son.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: Um, and I never thought about this, about Mary and Jesus, like, providing another son for Mary. But, like, we, um, processing through that's been obviously really difficult, but, like-One of the hopes that we have is, like, even on the cross, the Lord is providing sons for those that are losing them.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Like, so like, Erica's found a lot of comfort in Mary as a figure of grief-
David: Right
Seth: ... and also, like, she lost a son, you know? But like, in the act of dying on the cross, Jesus provides another son for her.
David: Mm.
Seth: And like, that's extended through His resurrection, because by the power of His resurrection, we have hundreds of sons.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Like, I'm a youth pastor.
David: Right, yeah.
Seth: So like [laughs] you know, like, I've pastored hundreds of people.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And I, those are spiritual sons for me. [gentle music] So let's look at the next commandment.
David: Okay.
Seth: You shall not murder.
David: Yes. Um, yeah, what do you wanna note about this?
Seth: Well, how is this a reflection of God's character?
David: Right.
Seth: And I think the simplest way to say this is that God is life.
David: Right. [laughs]
Seth: And-
David: In the beginning, He spoke and made everything
Seth: ... and made everything.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Life comes from Him.
David: Yeah.
Seth: He's described as being life in the present.
David: Yeah, He breathed into man and made him a living being.
Seth: Yeah, He gave us life, and then we are His lives on the Earth, like we-
David: Right, His image
Seth: ... example, made in His image. That life-giving power is like also im- like reflected in us in giving birth-
David: Right
Seth: ... and by having children.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: And-
David: Yeah, and it's, and it's on that basis of God's image in us that God gives the first prohibition against murder after the flood, uh-
Seth: Right
David: ... in His covenant to Noah. He says, you know, "Do not murder because mankind is made in, in My image." And, and it would be to mar the image of God in someone else and in yourself.
Seth: So why don't we murder people? Because God is life.
David: Yes.
Seth: And people made in His image should not take life.
David: Right. Yep.
Seth: And how is this fulfilled in Jesus?
David: Oh, man. [laughs]
Seth: I mean, this is, like Jesus is the ultimate murdered one-
David: Yes
Seth: ... in order to pay for our murderous hearts. Which, let's pause. Before we get all into Jesus-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... let's talk about how Jesus intensifies this command in-
David: Oh, yeah, in the, in the Sermon on the Mount, right
Seth: ... the Sermon on the Mount 'cause He says like, "Okay, you've heard it said, 'Don't murder.'"
David: Right.
Seth: "But I'm telling you, don't even be angry with somebody."
David: Right, yeah.
Seth: And [laughs]
David: Yeah, which is i- insane, yeah. And, and which it point, it points to us that, that ultimately these commands are not just about our hands. We know that when, when, when these commands are given again in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy starts to talk more about the heart, and how the reason why you won't be able to obey these commands is because God has not yet circumcised your heart.
Seth: And we also know that if it's a reflection of God's character, it should also be a reflection of our character to Him.
David: The character He want. He doesn't just want to have a, "Okay, this is who I am, uh, but I just want you to, like, mimic Me in your actions."
Seth: Right.
David: No, no, no. God wants us to be who He is.
Seth: Yeah.
David: He wants us to have His character.
Seth: And in order to get to the point where you murder somebody-
David: Right
Seth: ... it involves-
David: Your heart
Seth: ... your heart.
David: That's right.
Seth: Like, there's a whole bunch of stuff that happens behind the scenes before-
David: Yes
Seth: ... you even get there.
David: That's right.
Seth: And God is saying, "Act like Me. Be holy like Me." And it also involves a whole set of motives, and like all-
David: Oh, yeah
Seth: ... your motives that are happening.
David: Absolutely.
Seth: And so that's what Jesus is calling out in the Sermon on the Mount.
David: That's right.
Seth: You want to reduce the commands-
David: To an outward action
Seth: ... to an outward action. I'm saying, no.
David: I want your heart.
Seth: I want your heart.
David: Yeah.
Seth: It's always been about the character.
David: It's always been about the character of your heart, and you're never gonna do anything holy with your hands unless you have a holy heart.
Seth: Right.
David: Like, I talk, I, I'm gonna do a book plug. But I talk [laughs] I've got my-
Seth: Book plug
David: ... my, my book, my, my book, Rewire Your Heart, is coming out at the end of October 2018, and it's all about this.
Seth: That's this year.
David: It's this year. I was just, in, in case somebody in future podcasts-
Seth: Pre-order now on Amazon.com
David: ... is listening. I'm not gonna [laughs] But it's, it's what all this is about, is that, is that God's always been after our hearts, and like, the reason, uh, the reason why we sin so much, the reason why we never change our actions, is because we're trying to do behavior modification on the outside. We're trying to, like, treat sin like it's a, like a diet or exercise, but it's a matter of the heart. And that, that's what here we're seeing is like, God wants your heart, because-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... He'll never have your actions unless He has your heart, and He'll never have you if He doesn't have your heart. He don't, you know, He doesn't really care about your outward actions as much. He does, but-
Seth: Because they're a reflection-
David: Because they're a reflection of-
Seth: ... of your character
David: ... of your character. Yeah, that's right.
Seth: And so you said it already. So in Deuteronomy, it's talking about your heart being-
David: Circum- uncircumcised right now, yeah
Seth: ... uncircumcised, being hard, and that's why you can't actually obey the outward commands-
David: That's right
Seth: ... 'cause your motives and-
David: Yep
Seth: ... your reasons for doing things are always jacked up and wrong. And so Jesus, when He becomes the ultimate murdered one for us, He actually retroactively undoes all those, that hardness of heart-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... that we've seen all throughout Exodus already, and He makes us able to not just not murder people-
David: Right
Seth: ... but, like, not-
David: To love people that we otherwise would hate.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Yeah.
Seth: To love our enemies.
David: Yeah.
Seth: To actively, like-
David: Yep
Seth: ... like, take hate away from ourselves.
David: Right. And that's because He's disarmed the spiritual powers and authorities that-
Seth: Ruled
David: ... brought about this fall and ruled our hearts-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... and, like, made it impossible for us to do anything except sin. He disarmed them on the cross. And so now our hearts, through the work of the Holy Spirit and its circumcision of our heart, can actually love our enemies-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... which is one of His commands, and it's in the Sermon on the Mount.
Seth: You could tie it back to the first commandment, where it said, like in Paul in Ephesians, he says, "We are sons of disobedience."
David: Right.
Seth: And so, but actually when we honor our true Father, we become sons of-
David: Of obedience
Seth: ... of obedience.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And like, are able to do what we were not once not able to do.
David: That's right. That's right.
Seth: And Jesus does this by not only perfectly obeying His Father, not, by not only not getting angry-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... sinfully angry, but also by being murdered.
David: Right. Yeah.
Seth: So-
David: Yeah, and He was murdered and gives life to those who take His life.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like, He, He was, allowed Himself to be killed in order to give eternal life to His killers.
Seth: He was killed. Yeah, by, uh, angry, murderous killers.
David: Yes.
Seth: He gives life to those same people.
David: Yeah. [gentle music] All right, so our next command is: You shall not commit adultery. Um-
Seth: No adulting.
David: Going back to the Garden of Eden is God's preeminent concern here for this covenant of marriage that he created in the Garden of Eden, that, uh, the man shall leave his father and mother, hold fast to his wife, the two shall become one flesh. That covenant is highly valued by God, so much so that breaking it, uh, a prohibition against that is here in just 10 commandments. It's like if God's got 10, one of them's gonna be, "Don't mess up that marriage covenant."
Seth: And part of it goes back to this Trinity relationship again.
David: That's right.
Seth: Like, there is this, this distinctness within God.
David: That's right.
Seth: And there's this distinctness between God and humanity that he's, and he's bound us together.
David: Yes.
Seth: And marriage is a picture of the relationship that God has with his creation.
David: Right. In eternity past, God has never adultered [laughs] uh, himself. He never, he never, uh, like broke the, the covenant of the Eternal Trinity between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And then whenever he makes a covenant with us, which he's made, um, in the garden, he's made it through Abraham, he's made it through Noah, he's made these covenants. When he makes a covenant with us and he says, "You are my people. I am your God. I've made this promise," God doesn't, never, is never an adulterer. He never changes his mind. He never, you know, you know, s- talks, like, w- back talks, walks back. He never walks back-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... his promise. He's, he's always, he's said, "If I'm in this, I'm in this. I'm not going to commit adultery against you. You're my people." And so, like-
Seth: No matter how much you commit adultery against me-
David: Against me, that's right
Seth: ... I will be faithful to you.
David: Because, so this gives us a beautiful picture of who God is. Who is God when we read, "You shall not commit adultery"? We learn God's not an adulterer. He's not gonna walk out on you. He's not gonna stop loving you. He's not gonna break his promises or his covenant to you. If he's married you, you're his. Like-
Seth: So act like it.
David: So act like it, yeah.
Seth: Act like it.
David: So we see that in Hosea.
Seth: Yeah.
David: He marries, he literally marries a prostitute-
Seth: He marries a prostitute
David: ... to show us this love of God.
Seth: This love of God.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And then we see this in, well, one, we see it intensified by Jesus.
David: That's right.
Seth: Again, the same idea is that you don't commit adultery unless there's a whole bunch of other motives and reasons-
David: That's right
Seth: ... and lust happening.
David: 'Cause here people would be thinking like, "Okay, so I can, uh, you know, as long as I'm just, you know, sexually fidel- you know, uh, uh, sexual fidelity to my wife, I can look at other women and just, you know-
Seth: Well, presumably people understood a little bit better than that. [laughs]
David: [laughs]
Seth: But, like, we find out that most people-
David: Didn't
Seth: ... don't. [laughs]
David: Yeah.
Seth: Just like we do. I mean-
David: Oh, absolutely, yeah
Seth: ... one of the most, the craziest things I've heard, like one of the best things, what I really like, just a side point.
David: Okay, side point.
Seth: I really like it when people show h- us how we're not all that different from people who lived thousands of years ago.
David: Yeah.
Seth: There's always this assumption that we're enlightened. We're, you know-
David: Oh, yeah
Seth: ... we're in the year 2000, but like, no, really, we're just like-
David: Yep
Seth: ... the Old Testament people. And the fa- it's kind of intense, but it, it applies here. It was talking about, um, King Xerxes and how he has this huge harem of women.
David: Right.
Seth: And, like, Solomon has this huge harem of women where he's, like, got all these, got all these concubines, and he just compared it to pornography. It's like-
David: Hmm.
Seth: He said, like-
David: Oh, wow
Seth: ... "Back in that day, you needed money to have a harem of 100 women." But now-
David: Right, so they'll get all these different women and-
Seth: But now you just need a hard drive.
David: [whistles]
Seth: So we've democratized the sin of-
David: The harem is now in the hard drive.
Seth: Yeah, I was like-
David: Whoa
Seth: ... "Whoa, God." It's like, so we're, like, we're no different.
David: We're no different, yep.
Seth: Right.
David: And so, yeah, and so the intensification of this command is Jesus saying, like, "It's not just don't commit adultery with, you know, your actual body, going to the body of another woman. I'm saying don't even have lustful thoughts in your heart about that woman."
Seth: God does not have lustful thoughts towards other people.
David: No, he's p- he's picked you, and he didn't, like, he wasn't like, "Ugh, I should've picked the Assyrians." [laughs]
Seth: Right. "I should've, I should've gone with somebody else."
David: "I should've gone with someone else."
Seth: "This person messes up too much."
David: Like, yep.
Seth: If you had a God that was capable of doing that, you'd always be doubting whether or not-
David: Always
Seth: ... you could be-
David: Yep
Seth: ... saved. Like, I've been so unfaithful.
David: Yeah. This is good news to you if you're listening to this and you're thinking like, "Man, I just don't know if God loves me." It's like if you put your faith in Jesus, you're in this marriage covenant. You don't have to think that he's looking over your shoulder for a better follower. He's not going, "Oh, I d- I shouldn't have chose Beth. I shouldn't let Beth believe in me. I should've chose Sally."
Seth: I've heard of worse, yeah.
David: "Time to divorce her." God's not an adulterer. Yeah, that's amazing. So we saw it intensified in the Sermon on the Mount. How does Jesus fulfill the command of adultery, of not committing adultery?
Seth: Well, you see it, like, kind of really personally when he talks to the woman at the well.
David: Oh, yeah.
Seth: There's this, in John 4, she, like this woman, been in multiple, like, pro- promiscuous-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... adulterous relationships.
David: Right, and, and the, the, the man who's still, like, asleep in their house after-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... partaking in some shameful acts isn't even her husband. She's definitely an adulterer.
Seth: Yeah, and Jesus comes to her-
David: Mm
Seth: ... and tells her, "Don't sin," but also in the same moment offers grace. "You are precisely the type of people that I make covenants with."
David: Yeah.
Seth: You're-
David: Which is really cool here that we see that these prohibitions get highlighted throughout the New Testament in Jesus' work, and they become avenues of grace, that he comes to the murderer. He comes to-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... the adulterer. He comes to the liar, and he says like, "I know you are this. I see you. I know you're trying to hide it. I see you, but I love you and I forgive you. I died for you."
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like, that's amazing.
Seth: How do I know, how do you know that I won't divorce you?
David: Hmm.
Seth: Because I would rather die.
David: Oh, yeah. Wow.
Seth: And that I, and that I actually do.
David: Yeah, that's beautiful. And, and then I, I also think that another way Jesus fulfills this that we need to point out is that he is our bridegroom, right?
Seth: Yeah.
David: He's our bridegroom, and we're his bride. And, um, the marriage supper of the Lamb, when he comes to consummate all things, he brings us to himself, gathers his body together into one bride, and we dwell with him forever.
Seth: His first miracleAnd like for a period of time, God has given you ownership and stew- not ownership, but stewardship.
David: Stewardship.
Seth: Like-
David: Yep, dominion. You're right
Seth: ... dominion.
David: Yep.
Seth: Like, responsibility for a small section of those things, and so you should not be going out and taking something that's not been given to you.
David: Mm-hmm. So this, is this one a little different? Because, like, can, can God steal if all things are his? No.
Seth: No, he can't.
David: So, so stealing, i- it being a reflection of God's character, is us having right relationship with knowing who owns everything.
Seth: And if we see ourselves in relationship with God-
David: Mm
Seth: ... or in a relationship purchased by God through Jesus's death on the cross-
David: Yep
Seth: ... up until we sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, we know that we actually have access to everything that God has.
David: He's gonna g- he's a good father, gives us everything we need.
Seth: Right.
David: Right.
Seth: And like the Parable of the Talents, there's all these things where we, like Jesus, God, like hands over certain degrees of responsibility or possession to a certain group of people, and like to do otherwise with that is to, to try to take something-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... that God has given to somebody else w- number one, forgets that God owns everything.
David: That's right.
Seth: And that he would actually give everything to you.
David: That's right, that he's a provider.
Seth: He's a provider.
David: Stealing, stealing makes it, makes it sound like you don't trust in, that God's a provider.
Seth: Right.
David: You try to provide for yourself, which is how you usurp the first commandment again. You-
Seth: Right
David: ... you're Eve at the tree, trying to provide for yourself again.
Seth: You don't need to steal because you need to ask.
David: That's right. Ask, don't steal. Yeah, that, that, yeah, that's really, that's really good. A- a- I mean, I think that God is always doing this kind of stuff. He, he wants us to depend on him, you know? I think about the manna and the, or the quail in the wilderness, you know, it's like, "Only take what you need. I provided it all, and there's more than you need, but only take what you need." And then you don't need to steal and hoard and hold up.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like-
Seth: I've never thought about this as really a command to pray.
David: Oh, yeah.
Seth: Ask, don't steal.
David: Ask, don't steal.
Seth: Like, what's the heart of somebody who steals, who believes that they have to do everything on their own?
David: Yeah, it's the heart of independence.
Seth: What's the heart of a Christian?
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: Like, to learn dependence all the time and trust in the Lord's provision for you.
David: Yeah, which it, which, uh, you know, Sermon on the Mount leans into this. "Ask and it will be given to you," right? Like-
Seth: Right.
David: Oh, my goodness. Yeah, so J- I mean, I wonder if Jesus had, as he's working through the Ten Commandments f- you know, shadowing them or, or, you know, reflecting them in the Sermon on the Mount, if he's thinking do not steal, and he talks about asking God and trusting in his provision. 'Cause he talks all about, "Don't be anxious about what you're gonna wear, what you're gonna eat," you know. I wonder if he's, he's thinking, like this is the heart of the do not steal command is dependence on God and prayer.
Seth: Why not?
David: Why not?
Seth: [laughs] Why not?
David: Okay, so, so, so I mean, Jesus, how does Jesus fulfill this, Seth? Like, he doesn't, obvi- uh, we never have a picture of Jesus stealing something, but-
Seth: But we do have him redeeming a man who has stolen. I th- I'm thinking about Zacchaeus.
David: Oh, sure. Yeah.
Seth: He's like, he's this Roman lackey.
David: Tax collector.
Seth: T- tax collector.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Traitor to his own people.
David: Right.
Seth: Stealing from them, and after a meeting with Jesus, he gives back all, like four times-
David: Right. Mm-hmm
Seth: ... what he stole from others. And so, like, when you come into contact with the one who owns all things and the one who graciously gives-
David: Mm
Seth: ... you realize you, [laughs] like you can give freely-
David: Yes
Seth: ... not only back what you've stolen, but what you thought was rightfully yours in the first place.
David: Yeah.
Seth: You can generously-
David: Right
Seth: ... give when you know that you've been given everything by the one who owns everything.
David: That's really good. That's really good. Okay, so that's do not steal, and then we also have don't bear false witness against your neighbor, or don't lie.
Seth: Don't lie.
David: Right, and I think bearing false witness, does that have more of like, does that also have kind of a, a legal language to it? Like-
Seth: Yeah, and in Matthew 5, Jesus talks about oaths.
David: Oh, yeah.
Seth: Like, "You've heard it said that, uh, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn, but I say to you, don't take an oath at all."
David: At all.
Seth: And so I think what he, appare- apparently what's happening here is like there was this, this thing that would happen where they, people would try to get, like order the n- [laughs] order the way in which they would tell truth. Like, "I'll do that for you, and how, the way you'll really know that I'll do that for you is I'm gonna swear that, like I swear by the temple-
David: Oh, right. Right
Seth: ... that I'm gonna do it."
David: Yeah.
Seth: Like, and you know that's a big promise. But eventually people were like, "Well, you can kinda get away with that, but if you..." And then they added all these layers and-
David: Right, and then, and so is this why, um, is it, yeah, Jesus talks about like don't swear on, on, on the, on... What, what does he, "Don't, don't swear on the temple." Does he s-
Seth: "Don't swear on anything on the earth-"
David: On the earth.
Seth: He, he says it right here.
David: Oh, okay.
Seth: "But I say to you, don't take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God."
David: Right.
Seth: "Or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem-"
David: Oh, okay
Seth: ... "for it is the city of the Great King."
David: So he's kinda unworking that intensification of s- of swears. Is that what you're saying?
Seth: Yeah.
David: Okay.
Seth: And he says, "And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black."
David: Right.
Seth: "Let what you say simply be yes or no." And it actually goes back to the same command. Why don't you swear falsely? Because all truth is God's.
David: Mm.
Seth: Everything is God. You can't swear by anything on the earth and make it more true.
David: Right.
Seth: You can't spin something by appealing to another power or another source.
David: Right.
Seth: "Everything's true by virtue of me-"
David: Mm
Seth: ... "being truth."
David: Right. Wow. Yeah, and which goes back to the character of God. Why does God command us not to lie? Uh, we're told in the New Testament that God cannot lie. Like, God is the ultimate truth teller. He actually is bound by his own character to always tell the truth. God never lies. In fact, he cannot. So it's like, is there something that God cannot do? Yeah.
Seth: He can't lie.
David: He can't lie, and it's like, so this is a reflection of his character, um, here that yeah, he, he never lies. Which is, which is really cool when he, so like when, whenever Jesus makes a pronouncement or a promise, we know he's gonna hold true to it. When he, when he said, "It is finished," it was finished, you know? Like, whenever he, he, like says like, "I'll never leave you or forsake you," he's not lying, you know? Like, I love that.
Seth: Yeah.
David: That like when, when we have a promise of God and we, when Jesus tells us something, uh, we know it's, it can be the truth and we take it to the bank. Like-
Seth: And I think too, let's, let's al-
David: Oh.
Seth: Oh.
David: Sorry.
Seth: Gosh. [laughs]
David: I just had another idea. Um, legal, legal i- legal language 'cause like per-
Seth: Perjury
David: ... bearing witness, perjury, like, you know, y- you, you drag someone to court and, and you, you lie about them. "I'm bearing false witness. This guy did this thing, therefore lock him up," you know? What's amazing is when we stand before the judgment throne of God, and Jesus is our advocate, um, he doesn't have to lie to get us into the kingdom. Like, you know? Like-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... and he d- nor does he have to lie to send us into judgment, you know? It's like he, he won't have to make stuff up for us to be rightly judged and punished by God. We'll just, you know, [laughs] "Here's all, here's all, everything you did."But what he does, he doesn't have to go, "So just like, ah, just turn the other cheek. Here's a bribe, God. You know, like-"
Seth: Yeah
David: ... "look the other way. It's all good. He actually wasn't as bad as you thought he was. He, he was a, he was a good guy, you know, deep down." What he actually does is he doesn't have to lie or bear false witness to justify us to the Father. He says, "Look to me. I am, I was perfect on his behalf. I bore all his punishment, and that's the truth. That is the true witness that I'm bearing on behalf of this person, therefore let him enter in."
Seth: And what a great reversal of what was done to him-
David: Right
Seth: ... at the can- or like, at-
David: Oh
Seth: ... that night of court.
David: Yes.
Seth: Like, he did this-
David: Everyone bore false witness against Jesus.
Seth: Everyone bore f- false witness against Jesus.
David: Oh.
Seth: And then when he's given the opportunity to bear true witness-
David: Oh
Seth: ... of the people who have disobeyed and who have crucified him, he says, "Lord, look to me instead."
David: Yeah. Forgive them, they, they don't know what they're doing. Yeah. Forgive them. Look to me. [gentle music] So David has a book-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... coming up essentially on the topic of coveting. Yeah, it's a, I talk about it a lot. I've done-
Seth: So-
David: ... the book plug once in this episode. We'll do it again [laughs]
Seth: The final, the final commandment is do not covet.
David: Right.
Seth: What, uh, what does that, what, what characteristic of God are we naming here?
David: Oh, yeah. That's inter- So, well, first, that God, I actually haven't thought about that question.
Seth: [laughs]
David: But yeah, so first that, um, God never has, has to covet because, well, we talked about it, he owns everything, you know, so you don't have to covet that. He doesn't have to covet. He also is the highest source of power. He holds himself as the God above all gods.
Seth: Anything that he wants is already his.
David: Is already his. So again, just like, you know, stealing and lying, we, we, we obey those commands because God owns everything and God is all truth. You know, we also, coveting is the same thing. It's understanding our right relationship with, with God and that he owns everything and he's a good provider. I don't need to covet because I have everything that I need has been given to me in him. And so God never has to covet because he owns all things, he's self-sufficient, he's eternally, um, at, at peace, at one with who he is and what he has because he has everything. And yeah, so he never, God never needs to be or wants to be something other than himself or have something that he doesn't have because he's perfect, full, immense, sufficient.
Seth: And so when we covet, what we're doing is we're kind of ac- it's kind of like the not stealing thing. It's like we're trying to take things that aren't ours, that the Lord hasn't entrusted to us.
David: Yeah. What's interesting about this one, though, is this actually is the only, um, of, only one of this, these six that is a heart thing, because coveting is not an action. You don't, you, someone could be coveting and you couldn't see it. So like, let, I mean, let's look. Like, if someone, if someone was honoring their father and mother, you know, a lot of times that's an action.
Seth: Right.
David: You know, you obey them. You, you help them.
Seth: Especially if it's the, like, the, if it's the older son taking care of the-
David: The older one, yeah. Come into my home and I'll take care of you. Uh, if someone's murdering, you can see that. If someone's committing adultery, you can see that. If someone's stealing, you can see that. If someone's lying, that's an action. This one, coveting, wanting something that's not yours, is a heart issue. Um, and so, uh, it's really interesting how, um, a lot of times, um, even the Apostle Paul calls coveting idolatry i- in the New Testament. We also can think of how the, uh, these are bookended in the Ten Commandments, how, um, put having no other gods before you is then bookended by coveting. And, um, uh, I'm saying that because when we get to the New Testament and Paul is talking about the law in Romans 7, he uses coveting as a placeholder for the whole law. He says, "I would not have known what sin was unless the law came to me and said, 'You shall not covet.'"
Seth: So in the same way that you can't disobey, dishonor your father and mother without first disobeying the first commandment-
David: That's right
Seth: ... you're also breaking the tenth commandment-
David: Yes
Seth: ... because you want to protect your autonomy from your-
David: That's right.
Seth: You want to protect your autonomy, so you dishonor your father and mother.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: You want to experience life away from the heart that person creates, so you murder them.
David: That's right.
Seth: Like, you wish that wife was your wife-
David: Uh-huh. Yep
Seth: ... so you sleep with her. You wish-
David: Like, you wish that thing was your thing, so you steal it
Seth: ... you wish people thought of you better, so you lie.
David: Lie. Yes, exactly.
Seth: So-
David: All, all sin, all sin is both a displacement of God and i- in the heavens and a covetous desire in the heart. And so what, what, what it does, why it's bookended like this is because y- we make the tenth commandment the first commandment. So what we do is we take our, we covet the first position. We want to be God, which was the sin of Eve at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. She wanted to be like God. She coveted the wisdom that God had. She coveted the power that God had, the autonomy that God had.
Seth: We wish we were God.
David: We wish we were God. And covetous, covetousness is the root of that desire, that we, we want that. And so the, the root cause of every sin is coveting what's not ours.
Seth: Which is essentially saying, wishing, like-
David: Wishing we were God
Seth: ... since everything is God's-
David: That's right
Seth: ... and if we're w- wanting something that's anything-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... if we want anything other than God-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... we want, wish we were God.
David: That's right. And, and so the root of that, what I like to call it, what's, what's helpful to talk about is self salvation is what I like calling covetousness 'cause it's a little clearer. So, uh, you know, in the Garden of Eden, you know, Eve wanted to provide for herself, save herself, you know, fix the relationship, you know, herself. She wanted to do everything. She was trying to, you know, practice self salvation. In, in coveting, we do the same thing. We want to save ourselves from the humdrum of normal life, from, you know, we've listed all them already. You know-
Seth: Yeah, we wanna, our romantic life is dull-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... with our wife, so we want to-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... spice it up-
David: That's right
Seth: ... by committing adultery. Like, we're trying to take for ourselves a satisfaction that we don't believe that God provides-
David: Right
Seth: ... in obedience.
David: Right. And so the only way this is fixed is in Jesus, who did not c- who was God himself, but did not covet being God himself. You know, so this is Philippians 2.
Seth: Yeah.
David: He, he was, he was himself God, but did not count equality with God something to be held onto. Instead, he emptied himself and made himself the likeness of man, becoming obedient to death, even death, death on a cross. And so-We have the reversal of humankind. Humankind was an image of God, but was not God himself, but they wanted to be. So they coveted it and they went up for it. Jesus was God himself. He did not covet it and emptied himself and became like us. It's the reversal of covetousness.
Seth: It goes back to what we talked about, how the Ten Commandments are the reverse of the curse.
David: Oh, yes, right.
Seth: And like if Eve was trying to grab her own salvation, like these are all the ways that we try to grab our own salvation.
David: Oh, that's good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Seth: Right, like by dishonoring the relationships around us, by taking what's not ours.
David: Right.
Seth: Those are all expressions of what Eve tried to do in the garden by becoming like God.
David: Yep. And so since Jesus did not covet his position as God, but emptied himself, became like us, becoming obedient to death on a cross, what's amazing also is that, you know, whereas Adam and Eve, they wanted the blessing of what the tree of knowledge of good and evil offered them. They coveted it for themselves and they wanted it, but they ended up breaking the law of the garden and earning the curse instead of the blessing. So they coveted the blessing, but got the curse, right? Jesus, he earned the blessing. He actually did everything, fulfilled the law in himself, but did not covet it for himself. Instead, he imputes it to us. He gives it to us. And he says, what Adam and Eve coveted, I earned for you and I give it freely to you. I give you the righteousness. I don't covet it for myself. I give it freely to you. Jesus is the new and better Adam. You know, he's this new person who earns the blessing for us and gives it to us because he does not covet it.
Seth: So what you're saying is the Ten Commandments are about Jesus.
David: I'm saying that a little bit, yeah.
Seth: Sounds about right. [music]
David: Okay, well, I'm really excited to end with a new little special tag I'm hoping we can do every now and then here. We actually got a submission about how someone else saw Jesus and the gospel in the text of Exodus. And so as we get those, we want to share them as they're really encouraging to us.
Seth: So send them in. If you have something, if you listen to something that triggers in your mind, like, oh, what about this? They didn't talk about this. Send it to us.
David: Yeah, send it to us. So it's podcast at spoken gospel.com. Podcast.
Seth: Podcast.
David: Podcast. Podcast at spoken gospel.com. We'd love to hear it. So this one comes to us from Ashley S. here in Oklahoma City, which is really great. That's where we record. And she brought up this idea of, you know, we have Israel in the land of Egypt at the beginning of the book of Exodus. And they have all these promises that have been given them from the patriarch Abraham, but they're awaiting its fulfillment. And she said, you guys didn't talk about the fact that that's a picture of us as Christians, as the church. We've received all these promises from Jesus. He's ratified the covenant. He's done all these things. And we know it's going to happen, but we're sitting in this-
Seth: We're waiting.
David: We're waiting. We're sitting in this land waiting. We're still kind of in this Egypt in a sense, you know, and so waiting on the fulfillment. And so cry out to God, come Lord, save us. Come Lord Jesus.
Seth: We're not just waiting for Jesus to come in the cross. We're waiting for him to come a second time.
David: That's right.
Seth: And that's part of the gospel.
David: To be our deliverer out of this land and remake everything, bring us into the promised land to live with him forever, which is what we see in Exodus, which is great. So Ashley, thank you so much.
Seth: Yeah, that's great, Ashley.
David: If you see a connection in something that we're doing that you want us to read out loud, send it to podcast at spoken gospel.com. Thank you guys for being with us this week, and we'll see you next time.
Seth: Adios.
Outro: Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel podcast. We'd like to remind you that my new book, Rewire Your Heart, Replace Your Desire for Sin with Desire for God, is coming out October 30th. Pre-orders are now available from your favorite retailer. And for all the information, for special offers, for group discussion guides, journal prompts, free chapters, and more, you can visit rewireyourheartbook.com. Spoken Gospel is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating gospel-centered media that speaks the gospel out of every corner of Scripture in every corner of the world. To learn more about the ministry of Spoken Gospel and to view more of our resources, visit spokengospel.com.
