Relevant Church
Lessons From The Wilderness
This sermon, Lessons From the Wilderness: The Law and the Lamb, explores God’s covenant through the lens of His standard, His heart, and His mercy. The Ten Commandments are not just a list of rules, but a mirror that reveals our need for transformation. Jesus intensifies the standard by focusing not only on our actions, but on our inner motives and desires, calling us to become new people. While in Exodus the guilty drink the bitterness of their rebellion, the Gospels reveal that Jesus—the innocent Lamb—drinks the cup of sin on our behalf, embodying God’s mercy and substitutionary love.
Locations & Times
Relevant Church
4770 GA-42, Locust Grove, GA 30248, USA
Sunday 8:30 AM
Sunday 10:00 AM
Sunday 11:30 AM
Lessons From the Wilderness
“The Law and the Lamb”
Carl Nichols
The Covenant of God:
1. God’s Standard: The Commandments
Exodus 20:1-2
And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
The Ten Commandments aren’t rules to manage; they're a mirror to expose.
The Ten Commandments don’t just tell you what to do; they reveal what you’re not.
The Covenant of God:
2. God’s Heart: Your Heart
Jesus:
“You have heard it said…but I tell you…” (Matthew 5:21–22, 27–28)
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)
Jesus doesn’t lower the standard—he raises it to the level of your thoughts, motives, and desires.
The Pharisees cleaned the outside of the cup, but Jesus went after the bacteria inside.
Jesus isn’t just calling us to avoid sin—he’s calling us to become different people.
The Covenant of God:
3. God’s Mercy: The Cup of Punishment
Exodus 32:20
He took the calf… burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.
Monumental Takeaways:
Internalization of Sin
Bitterness of Rebellion
Public Shame
Foreshadowing Substitution
Matthew 26:39
(Jesus) “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me…yet not as I will, but as you will.”
John 1:29
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
In Exodus, the guilty drink their own sin. In the Gospels, the innocent drinks everyone else’s sin.
God didn’t sweep your sin under the rug—he poured it into a cup and handed it to his Son.
“The Law and the Lamb”
Carl Nichols
The Covenant of God:
1. God’s Standard: The Commandments
Exodus 20:1-2
And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
The Ten Commandments aren’t rules to manage; they're a mirror to expose.
The Ten Commandments don’t just tell you what to do; they reveal what you’re not.
The Covenant of God:
2. God’s Heart: Your Heart
Jesus:
“You have heard it said…but I tell you…” (Matthew 5:21–22, 27–28)
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)
Jesus doesn’t lower the standard—he raises it to the level of your thoughts, motives, and desires.
The Pharisees cleaned the outside of the cup, but Jesus went after the bacteria inside.
Jesus isn’t just calling us to avoid sin—he’s calling us to become different people.
The Covenant of God:
3. God’s Mercy: The Cup of Punishment
Exodus 32:20
He took the calf… burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.
Monumental Takeaways:
Internalization of Sin
Bitterness of Rebellion
Public Shame
Foreshadowing Substitution
Matthew 26:39
(Jesus) “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me…yet not as I will, but as you will.”
John 1:29
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
In Exodus, the guilty drink their own sin. In the Gospels, the innocent drinks everyone else’s sin.
God didn’t sweep your sin under the rug—he poured it into a cup and handed it to his Son.
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