Fire on the Mountain, Introduction: Why the Ten Commandments Still Matter
When God brought Israel to Mount Sinai, he didn’t whisper. He descended in fire. The mountain shook. Thunder rolled. A trumpet sounded. And the people stood trembling at the foot of the mountain as God spoke.
That scene matters. Not just because it’s dramatic, but because it tells us something about who God is and how seriously he takes what he was about to say.
In Exodus 19–20, God gives the Ten Commandments. For many Christians today, that moment feels distant, confusing, or even irrelevant. Some see the Law as a relic from a harsher era. Others see it as a ladder to climb toward God. Still others quietly assume it doesn’t matter anymore.
All of those views are profoundly mistaken.
This series exists because we need a fresh encounter with the God who spoke from the fire. atop Sinai. God’s Law reveals God’s nature. And we desperately need a heart-transforming, mind-blowing encounter with the matchless wonder of our infinite, holy, almighty, wise, loving, redeeming, glorious God.
Why We’ve Lost Our Way with the Law
The vast majority of Christians have never been taught the Ten Commandments carefully or clearly. As a result, there is enormous confusion about the relationship between Law and Gospel.
Some people think obedience earns salvation. Others assume that since we’re under grace, obedience no longer matters. Both ideas are deadly. The first breeds self-righteous pride and despair. The other breeds chaos, lawlessness, and death.
Scripture doesn’t let us choose between Law and Gospel. It insists we understand how they work together in God’s saving plan.
God uses His Law in more than one way. Yes, it acts as a teacher that leads us to Christ. But it also reveals what pleases him. It shows us what love looks like in real life.
We’ve also forgotten something more basic: God’s Law is woven into creation itself. It reflects how human life is meant to work. When societies abandon God’s Law, they don’t become free. They become disordered. When God’s law disappears, the gospel message is muffled, leaving confusion, societal breakdown, and judgment in its wake.
This is why the Law is foundational to discipleship. Jesus didn’t ignore it in the Sermon on the Mount. He pressed it deeper, into the heart. “Don’t think I came to abolish the Law,” he said, “I have come to fulfill it.” He corrected the abuses of the Sabbath and pointed out the way sin is an interior desire not just an exterior action.
And in the new birth, God doesn’t erase His Law from our lives. On the contrary, He writes it on our hearts. That’s why the psalmist can say, “Oh how I love thy law.” It's why after explaining the power of the gospel revealed in the cross of Jesus Christ, Paul can write, “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law” (Romans 3:31).
Back to the Fire
Before Sinai, there was another fire. A bush burned and was not consumed. God spoke to Moses and revealed his name: “I AM.”
That moment was a promise. What follows is slavery, cries for help, plagues, deliverance, and freedom. God redeems his people first. Then he brings them to the mountain.
That order matters.
Exodus 19 reminds Israel who they are before God tells them how to live. “I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Exodus 19). The Law is not given to slaves trying to become free. It is given to redeemed people who are learning to live as God’s children by grace.
One Law, Two Tables, One Heart
The Ten Commandments are often divided into two tables. The first concerns our relationship with God. The second concerns our relationship with our neighbor. Jesus later calls these the greatest commandments: love God and love others.
They are not separate. They are inseparable.
In James 2, we’re told that breaking one commandment makes us guilty of breaking all of them. That isn’t an arbitrary rule. It’s an organic reality. Every sin, at its root, is a failure to trust and love God. Idolatry sits beneath all disobedience.
Break one commandment and others soon follow. Sin multiplies. Hearts harden. Lives fracture. The gospel saves.
Three Gifts God Gives in His Law
God does not give the Law to crush us. He gives it as a gift. In fact, Scripture shows us at least three ways the Law functions in God’s hands.
1. The Law Reveals
The commandments begin with a declaration: “I am the LORD your God.”
Before God commands anything, he reveals himself. This is the God of the burning bush. The great “I AM.” Eternal, self-existent, holy.
The Law reveals God’s glory, but it also reveals us. Like a mirror, it shows us our true condition. We see our sin. We see our inability. We see how far short we fall.
Paul describes the Law as a teacher in Galatians, leading us to Christ. Elsewhere, he describes it as an executioner. The Law exposes and kills our self-righteousness. It leaves us with no illusions.
This is mercy. Until we see our need, we will never seek a Savior.
2. The Law Instructs
Notice the personal language: “I am the LORD your God.”
The commandments are written in the second person singular. “You shall.” This is the voice of a father instructing a beloved child, not a tyrant barking orders.
The Hebrew word Torah doesn’t simply mean law. It means instruction. Wisdom. Direction.
For the Christian, the Law no longer carries a death sentence. Christ has already borne that for us. Because of him, the Law becomes a wise mentor. It keeps pointing us back to Jesus. It teaches us how redeemed people live.
That’s why the psalmist in Psalms can say, “Oh how I love thy law.” Love grows where fear has been cast out.
3. The Law Restrains
God’s Law also restrains evil in a lawless world. In Romans 2–3, Paul explains that even those without the written Law have a sense of right and wrong written on their hearts. God’s standards accuse and convict.
This does not mean law-keeping saves. “By works of the law no flesh will be justified.” The Law restrains, but it cannot redeem.
Law and Gospel: Command and Promise
The Law says, “Go get a lamb.”
The Gospel says, “I have given you the Lamb.”
The Law reveals God’s holiness and our need for mercy. The Gospel reveals God’s mercy in flesh and blood.
The Law could diagnose the problem. It could even point to the solution through sacrifices and ceremonies. But it could not heal the heart.
That’s why God came down.
“I have heard… I have seen… I have come down.”
What the Law could not do, God has done. Romans 8 tells us that God sent his own Son to accomplish what obedience never could.
Think of the woman caught in adultery. The Law exposed her guilt. The Pharisees were right about that. But they misunderstood the Law’s purpose. They used it as a weapon rather than a guide.
Jesus doesn’t deny the Law. He fulfills it. He bears its curse. And then he speaks words only grace can speak: “I do not condemn you. Go, and sin no more.”
That invitation still stands.
You can hear it too. Look to Christ in repentance and faith. Place your life in his nail-pierced hands. Receive mercy, forgiveness, and eternal life.
Commands for Life
Christian, as God’s child by grace, you are free. Free from condemnation. Free from shame. Free from fear.
And now you are free to listen to God’s commands as the wisdom that shows us a life of faith working by love.
God’s commandments are not hanging on the walls of a courtroom where we await a verdict - we are justified once and for all through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are his adopted children by grace, forever. God’s commandments are written in Scripture and on our hearts for our instruction, the voice of the Spirit guiding us along the path of sanctification, which is ongoing, never perfect in this life, and always leading us to be conformed to the image of Jesus.
The Ten Commandments are not arbitrary rules invented by humans. They predate the stone on which they were written. They are God’s own revelation of his own character and splendor, of His sovereignty, love, faithfulness, wisdom, beauty, sufficiency, and power.
The fire on the mountain now burns in our hearts, making us holy temples of the Spirit. The Law does not save us, but it does point us daily to the Savior and to the wisdom we need to follow him.