Tag: Exodus

A Difficult Subject and our Good God

A Difficult Subject and our Good God

At times in the Scripture we come across passages that are difficult for us to understand. But we know from the whole testimony of Scripture that God is good. At times, laws pertaining to the civil life of Israel take a little extra study to truly understand what God is commanding.

This week at River City Reformed, we come to a passage such as described above. We will consider together what the passage actually is teaching and also how we see that God is good and how even passages such as these point us to the redemption we have in Christ. Join us as we study Exodus 21:1-11 this Lord’s Day. We meet for worship at 9820 W Markham St (the sanctuary of Faith United Methodist Church). For more information, click here, or contact us. You can also watch our service on YouTube with a link posted to our Facebook page.

An Altar of Earth You Shall Make For Me

An Altar of Earth You Shall Make For Me

In Exodus 20:22-26, we see God’s regulations about the building of altars. An altar was the place where the sacrifice was to be offered. This week at River City Reformed, we will consider the details connected to the building of altars and why this mattered.

But I wonder if you have ever noticed that we do not have altars in our worship now? This is because all the sacrifices of the Old Testament were pointing to the once for all sacrifice to be made by Christ. But the wonder of that sacrifice is that Christ is both the Great High Priest who offered the sacrifice, and He was the sacrifice Himself. Now we have a table instead of an altar, the Lord’s table where we are invited to have our souls nourished by our crucified and risen Savior.

Join us this week for worship at 9 AM as we consider these truths together. We meet at 9820 W Markham St. (the sanctuary of Faith United Methodist Church). For more information, click here, or contact us for more information. You can also watch our service on YouTube with a link posted to our Facebook page.

The Necessity of a Mediator

The Necessity of a Mediator

As the people of God in Exodus 20 heard the law of God, we are told that they responded in fear. Verses 18-19 tell us, “Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lighting and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.'” The people are seeing and hearing all of these things and these sounds after hearing the law of God spoken by God Himself, and in that law they are given a greater view of His character and His holiness.

The holiness of God really underscores the entirety of the book of Exodus, and as the people of God are brought face to face as it were with His holy law, they recognize that they cannot stand. They need someone to be a Mediator for them–they need someone to speak to God for them and someone to speak God’s Word to them. They need someone to be their intercessor.

Moses is set apart by God as the mediator for God’s people, but he is far from a perfect mediator. He himself is stained by sin, and he cannot atone for the sins of the people. But Moses points us to a greater Mediator–to our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the One who made intercession for His people in John 17. He is the One who offered up Himself as a sacrifice for guilty sinners by bearing their sin and its curse for them. He is the One who even now ever lives to intercede for His people.

As we see our own violations of God’s law, the hope we need is found in Jesus our Mediator. Join us for worship this Lord’s Day at River City Reformed as we consider these truths together. We meet at 9 AM at 9820 West Markham St. (the sanctuary of Faith United Methodist Church). For more information, click here, or contact us. You can also watch our service on YouTube with a link posted to our Facebook page.

Covetousness or Contentment?

Covetousness or Contentment?

The first and the tenth commandments bookend the moral law of God. The two commandments really undergird the others, and the violations of these two commandments drive the violations of the others. The tenth commandment is “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” (Exodus 20:17) The first commandment is “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) Both of these commandments are forbidding idolatry. Colossians 3:5, when it refers to the sin of covetousness equates it with idolatry.

That is one reason why covetousness is so deadly–it sets our hearts and affections ultimately on what we might have, what we feel we need to possess, and it keeps us from hoping in God alone. But the command has something to commend as well–contentment. Scripture tells us that “godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Timothy 6:6).

This Lord’s Day at River City Reformed we will consider this tenth commandment, but we will also look at what Gospel hope there is for those who have broken the tenth commandment. Christ Himself and His finished work is the answer to our commandment breaking.

Join us this week at 9 AM for worship at 9820 W Markham St in Little Rock (the sanctuary of Faith United Methodist Church). For more information, click here or contact us for more information. You can also watch our service on YouTube with a link posted to our Facebook page.

False Witness

False Witness

Lying is pervasive in our world. It is often downplayed because it is said that everyone does it. Along with this, gossip and slander are largely considered to be acceptable in our world, and they can far too easily creep into the church as well.

But the ninth commandment forbids lying, gossip and slander while commending truth telling. The commandment says, “‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

When we rightly consider this commandment and all that it has to say, we are rebuked because we realize that we have fallen short. And yet, the Gospel hope is that the Son of God who is true, who never lied yet died in the place of liars, of gossips, of slanderers and revilers. There is hope to found in Him, even for those who have transgressed this, the ninth commandment.

Join us this Lord’s Day at 9 AM for worship at 9820 W Markham St. (the sanctuary of Faith United Methodist Church). For more information, click here, or contact us. You can also watch our service at 9 AM on YouTube with a link posted to our Facebook page.