Exodus 34:18-28 sets out what God requires of Israel after the golden calf: keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, redeem the firstborn, rest on the Sabbath, appear before the Lord three times a year, and bring the first of the first fruits. Having spent the previous verses telling Israel what not to do, God now tells them what to do instead.

The sermon argues that these commands are not a new covenant but a reiteration of Exodus 20, given because Israel is a stubborn people heading into a land full of foreign worship. Numbers 25 and the incident with Phinehas show how quickly the warning was ignored, and the New Testament warnings about apostasy in 1 Timothy, Hebrews and 1 John are held up alongside it. A distinction is drawn between a lapse or season of doubt and a final, willful turning away.

The closing section works out how these ordinances come to the church. Christ is the Passover lamb, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, and the fulfillment of the feasts, and the Lord's Supper is where the church now feeds on him. The call is to sweep out the old yeast, tear down present-day idols, and honor the Lord's Day.

In this sermon

• The setting: God renews the covenant after the golden calf and Moses' plea in Exodus 33
• Verses 10-17 say what not to do; verse 18 onward says what to do instead
• The feasts as corporate, not private, worship, rooted in God's deliverance from Egypt
• Playing the harlot and spiritual adultery, and Jeroboam's two calves in 1 Kings
• Apostasy defined, and the difference between final apostasy and backsliding
• Numbers 25, Phinehas and the spear, and the plague that killed 24,000
• Redeeming the donkey with a lamb, and redeeming every firstborn son
• Why God's law leaves no room for the sacrifice of children
• Sabbath rest even during plowing and harvest, and Jesus' answer to the Pharisees
• Boiling a goat in its mother's milk as a Canaanite fertility rite
• Christ as Passover lamb, first fruits, and the meaning of the Lord's Supper

Chapters
0:00 Where we are in Exodus 34
4:32 Reading Exodus 34:18-28
9:42 Corporate worship and the three feasts
15:41 Why God must repeat himself to Israel
19:27 Numbers 25, Phinehas and the plague
24:58 New Testament warnings about falling away
27:16 Unleavened bread and remembering deliverance
28:16 Redemption of donkeys and firstborn sons
34:40 No place for sacrificing children
36:23 Sabbath rest even at plowing and harvest
43:05 Three pilgrimages and God's protection of the land
47:55 First fruits and the boiled goat
52:45 Moses writes the words of the covenant
54:19 Christ our Passover lamb and first fruits
1:02:55 The Lord's Supper as the seal of grace

Scripture: Exodus 34:18-28 · Exodus 33:16 · Exodus 20 · 1 Kings · Numbers 25:1-9 · 1 Timothy 4:1-3 · Hebrews 6:4-6 · 1 John 2 · Exodus 12-13 · Exodus 22 · Exodus 23 · Luke 14 · Proverbs 28 · Luke · 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 · 1 Corinthians 15

About Mercy and Grace Church
Mercy and Grace is an expository preaching church in National City, California, committed to preaching Christ, and him crucified, by Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. Each week Pastor Bobby Lugo and our teaching elders walk verse by verse through God's Word.

Join us in person — Sundays at 12:00 PM, 1200 E. 8th Street, National City, CA 91950.
Website: mercyandgracechurch.com
Email: ncmercyandgrace@gmail.com