WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.580 If you find the heat unbearable, downstairs is actually quite cool, and there is a speaker down there. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:15.839 So if you need to go down, there is no, as Greg said earlier, there's no coffee service, there's no hospitality, but there are chairs and cool air. 00:00:16.339 --> 00:00:21.019 So if you need to go down, please, and again, there's water in the back as well. 00:00:21.019 --> 00:00:31.240 If you need to do that, please take advantage of that because the purpose of our time together this morning for the next few minutes is to hear God's word. 00:00:31.460 --> 00:00:40.420 And if you find the environment distracting beyond your listening, go ahead and do what it takes to be able to continue to listen. 00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:45.980 I had the privilege two weeks ago to perform a wedding. 00:00:45.979 --> 00:00:52.000 Anthony and Noel got married, and it was a great joy to be with them. 00:00:52.279 --> 00:00:56.439 And I was reminded as I did this service of just how wonderful marriage is. 00:00:57.179 --> 00:00:59.379 It is a beautiful, a blessing. 00:01:00.259 --> 00:01:05.879 It's a sobering and weighty service because it's a covenant relationship. 00:01:06.579 --> 00:01:12.000 It's a commitment to one another till death do us part. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:16.620 It's a commitment to intimacy that's bounded by loyalty. 00:01:17.620 --> 00:01:21.900 It's a lifetime commitment, and it's a life-giving commitment. 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:29.260 And as I sat there and I saw the bright-eyed joy of a bride and the loving gaze of wonder of the groom, 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:35.740 this picture of a beautiful covenant relationship was brought to mind. 00:01:35.739 --> 00:01:44.179 And, you know, God intended it to remind us of our relationship with Him. 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:48.919 I don't know if you know this, but throughout Scripture, there are these places, most clearly in Ephesians 5, 00:01:49.060 --> 00:01:56.859 but also in Isaiah 61 and other places where we're reminded that marriage is not the ultimate end in itself, 00:01:56.859 --> 00:02:06.539 but marriage is actually a picture that God has given us so that we might know more about how He intends to have a covenant relationship with His people, 00:02:07.039 --> 00:02:11.360 in which we as His people would feel secure and loving, 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:17.500 that we would be loyal and faithful because He is a loyal and faithful God, 00:02:17.900 --> 00:02:24.079 that we would be blessed and that we would be a blessing because we are God's people. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:30.460 But, you know, it doesn't always feel like that, does it? 00:02:32.720 --> 00:02:40.800 Being a follower of Jesus, being a Christian doesn't always feel like something that's awesome and wonderful. 00:02:41.460 --> 00:02:43.680 It doesn't always feel secure. 00:02:44.700 --> 00:02:47.720 We don't always know His love for certain. 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:58.259 We waver in our commitment and our faithfulness and we doubt His faithfulness and His commitment all the time. 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:04.539 We don't always trust God to take care of us. 00:03:05.159 --> 00:03:08.379 We feel insecure because of our own failures. 00:03:09.379 --> 00:03:16.099 We feel that God is far off, not near, and we find it difficult to draw near to Him. 00:03:16.099 --> 00:03:21.400 Sometimes we think we've chosen God. 00:03:23.019 --> 00:03:29.840 And because of that, we consider Him to be a nice optional add-on to our already full life. 00:03:31.079 --> 00:03:40.159 And in doing so, we treat Him with a carelessness that belies the weight of being God's people. 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:43.780 Take this thought experiment. 00:03:44.099 --> 00:03:47.979 How often do you wake up in the morning with this thought in your heart? 00:03:48.439 --> 00:03:50.819 I am one of God's people. 00:03:51.460 --> 00:03:52.780 He has chosen me. 00:03:53.060 --> 00:03:54.780 He has set His love on me. 00:03:55.079 --> 00:03:59.379 He has called me before the foundations of the earth to be His. 00:04:00.259 --> 00:04:07.460 And He has done everything necessary so that I can come to Him and by faith be His people. 00:04:07.460 --> 00:04:13.939 And now I can live my life today and every day knowing that this is the most important thing about me. 00:04:14.100 --> 00:04:18.319 And I can be God's woman, God's man in this world. 00:04:22.180 --> 00:04:29.920 I wonder how often we wake up and think of the privilege and the responsibility it is to be God's people. 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:41.020 I think often, if I'm honest about my own heart, when I woke up in the morning, I am distracted from the reality of being God's people. 00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:44.720 I am distrustful that that's the most important thing about me. 00:04:45.180 --> 00:04:48.139 I feel insecure about God's love for me. 00:04:48.139 --> 00:05:18.120 I feel insecure about God's love for me. 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:24.259 Exodus, if you want to turn there in the Pew Bibles, it's page 64 in your Pew Bibles. 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:26.780 Exodus 24 is where we are. 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:32.780 And just to remind you where we are in Exodus, the first 19 chapters is God's great deliverance 00:05:32.780 --> 00:05:40.899 of his people from slavery through great signs and powerful acts to free them from slavery 00:05:40.899 --> 00:05:45.079 in Egypt and to call them out and to protect them and to provide for them. 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:50.639 And then we've seen as we come to chapter 19, chapters 19 through 24 are this section where 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:58.300 God now comes and having delivered his people, he now declares who he is and calls them to 00:05:58.300 --> 00:05:59.279 be his people. 00:06:00.060 --> 00:06:08.959 The opening part of this section, if you remember in chapter 19, the key verses in chapter 19 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:14.799 verses 4 through 6, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:17.060 on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 00:06:17.540 --> 00:06:23.300 Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my 00:06:23.300 --> 00:06:27.500 treasured possession among all peoples for all the earth is mine. 00:06:27.500 --> 00:06:30.840 And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 00:06:31.259 --> 00:06:34.680 These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel. 00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:38.920 And this is what this section, chapters 19 through 24 is about. 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:45.040 God calling his people to be this special people for himself. 00:06:45.420 --> 00:06:49.540 And we saw in chapter 20, the giving of the 10 commandments, the 10 words. 00:06:49.840 --> 00:06:52.639 This is the big picture principle of what it means. 00:06:52.759 --> 00:06:58.899 And then the book of the covenant, which is chapters 21 through 23, is more instructions 00:06:58.899 --> 00:07:01.379 about what does it mean to be God's people. 00:07:01.739 --> 00:07:06.319 How are we, how ought we to live in light of being God's people in the world? 00:07:06.500 --> 00:07:10.000 Now we come to 24 and there is a ratification. 00:07:10.259 --> 00:07:15.719 God having declared this is what it means, now brings, it's kind of like in a marriage ceremony 00:07:15.719 --> 00:07:20.039 when you declare this is what marriage is and then you bring it to the point of, will 00:07:20.039 --> 00:07:21.919 you say I do or not? 00:07:23.219 --> 00:07:23.659 Right? 00:07:24.719 --> 00:07:26.939 And this is where we're at in chapter 24. 00:07:26.939 --> 00:07:32.939 This is the vows part, where the relationship between God and his people is ratified and 00:07:32.939 --> 00:07:33.560 established. 00:07:34.279 --> 00:07:36.339 So let's go ahead and read together. 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:39.000 And as we read this, let's ask ourselves a question. 00:07:39.379 --> 00:07:40.680 How does this text tell us? 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:42.879 What does it mean to be God's covenant people? 00:07:43.579 --> 00:07:45.639 Let's read together Exodus 24. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:55.199 Then he said to Moses, come up to the, come up to the Lord, you and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu. 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:59.379 And 70 of the elders of Israel and worship from afar. 00:08:00.019 --> 00:08:05.000 Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near and the people 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:06.420 shall not come up with him. 00:08:07.259 --> 00:08:11.339 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:16.579 And all the people answered with one voice and said, all the words that the Lord has spoken, 00:08:16.759 --> 00:08:17.519 we will do. 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:20.939 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. 00:08:20.939 --> 00:08:26.040 He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and 12 pillars 00:08:26.040 --> 00:08:28.399 according to the 12 tribes of Israel. 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:36.039 And he sent young men to the people of Israel, young men of the people of Israel who offered 00:08:36.039 --> 00:08:40.980 burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 00:08:41.659 --> 00:08:46.419 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins and half of the blood he threw against 00:08:46.419 --> 00:08:46.959 the altar. 00:08:47.559 --> 00:08:51.199 Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. 00:08:51.500 --> 00:08:56.279 And they said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do and we will be obedient. 00:08:57.339 --> 00:09:04.240 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, behold, the blood of the covenant 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:08.299 that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words. 00:09:08.299 --> 00:09:15.240 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and the 70 of the elders of Israel went up and they 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:16.539 saw the God of Israel. 00:09:17.199 --> 00:09:23.639 There was under his feet, as it were, a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for 00:09:23.639 --> 00:09:24.120 clearness. 00:09:24.859 --> 00:09:28.659 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel. 00:09:29.219 --> 00:09:32.179 They beheld God and ate and drank. 00:09:32.179 --> 00:09:37.939 The Lord said to Moses, come up to me on the mountain and wait there that I may give you 00:09:37.939 --> 00:09:43.439 the tablets of stone with the law and the commandments, which I have written for their 00:09:43.439 --> 00:09:44.000 instruction. 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:49.159 So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 00:09:49.859 --> 00:09:53.779 And he said to the elders, wait here for us until we return to you. 00:09:53.899 --> 00:09:55.839 And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. 00:09:56.339 --> 00:09:59.039 Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them. 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:04.740 Then Moses went up on the mountain and the cloud covered the mountain and the glory of 00:10:04.740 --> 00:10:09.719 the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai and the cloud covered it for six days. 00:10:10.079 --> 00:10:13.679 And on the seventh day, he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 00:10:14.659 --> 00:10:19.319 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the 00:10:19.319 --> 00:10:21.279 mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 00:10:21.579 --> 00:10:24.799 And Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:29.379 And Moses was on the mountain for 40 days and for 40 nights. 00:10:30.259 --> 00:10:31.579 Let's pray together. 00:10:32.819 --> 00:10:35.059 Lord, thank you for this word. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:41.359 Thank you for your word that speaks to us in every part of it about what kind of God you 00:10:41.359 --> 00:10:41.719 are. 00:10:42.299 --> 00:10:48.099 Lord, what you have done for us in the gospel and Lord, what it means to be your people. 00:10:48.819 --> 00:10:53.539 Lord, we pray this morning that you would instruct us and teach us in Jesus' name. 00:10:53.539 --> 00:10:54.259 Amen. 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:11.120 Having been presented with all the words and the laws, God then comes and he says, now 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:11.699 it's time. 00:11:12.279 --> 00:11:14.500 He tells Moses to go back down the mountain. 00:11:14.620 --> 00:11:19.659 Verses one and two are the instructions that he gives him saying, this is what you're supposed 00:11:19.659 --> 00:11:21.879 to say to the people when you go down to the bottom of the mountain. 00:11:21.879 --> 00:11:26.820 And then Moses goes down in verse three and he says all those things to the people. 00:11:26.899 --> 00:11:31.399 Not only those instructions in verse one and two, but also all of the Ten Commandments and 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:32.980 the laws that God has told him. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:35.460 And the people respond. 00:11:36.740 --> 00:11:40.899 And what we see in this section is there are two things that go on. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:45.779 In the first few verses, particularly in verses three through eight, what we see is that the 00:11:45.779 --> 00:11:48.159 covenant is finally established. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:54.199 And then what we see in verses nine and following is that the covenant is then enjoyed and entered 00:11:54.199 --> 00:11:54.759 into. 00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:57.539 And we'll look at that in those two parts. 00:11:57.620 --> 00:11:59.779 So the first part is the covenant enacted. 00:12:01.059 --> 00:12:07.139 As God brings his people, it brings them to the point of, I do in this ceremony. 00:12:07.139 --> 00:12:13.740 There are five elements that God weaves into the story so that we can know a little bit 00:12:13.740 --> 00:12:15.720 about what it means to be his people. 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:17.319 There are five elements. 00:12:17.399 --> 00:12:18.879 So I'm going to go through these pretty quickly. 00:12:19.379 --> 00:12:21.419 But if you're taking notes, you can just keep track. 00:12:21.500 --> 00:12:22.360 There should be five. 00:12:22.500 --> 00:12:24.779 If they're not clear, then it's my fault at the end. 00:12:25.500 --> 00:12:31.340 So five elements of establishing a covenant relationship with God. 00:12:31.340 --> 00:12:40.300 The first one is that God reads again, or Moses reads again, or tells again, the instructions 00:12:40.300 --> 00:12:41.840 and the word of God. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:43.440 You see it in verse three. 00:12:43.700 --> 00:12:46.639 You see it again in verse four that he writes it down. 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:51.700 You see it again in verse, which is it, seven or eight, where he reads it again. 00:12:55.580 --> 00:12:57.600 Verse seven, he reads it again. 00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:04.159 Three times in these five verses, you see the repetition or the recording or the speaking 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:05.320 of God's word. 00:13:06.420 --> 00:13:12.000 And friends, we need to recognize that this is how God establishes his relationship with 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:13.600 us, by his word. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:20.080 He speaks to us, and that's how we know what kind of God he is and what it means to be his 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:20.440 people. 00:13:21.460 --> 00:13:26.779 That's why this is such a precious book, because God has given us his word. 00:13:26.779 --> 00:13:32.679 So, and not just verbally, so that it might be corrupted over time by oral transmission, 00:13:32.899 --> 00:13:38.059 but he's actually given it to us in a written form, so that we can always go back and say, 00:13:38.179 --> 00:13:39.199 what has God said? 00:13:39.399 --> 00:13:40.339 Here it is. 00:13:42.679 --> 00:13:46.399 So that's the first thing, is simply the establishing of God's word. 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:51.860 And if you notice in verse three, it says that Moses said both the words and the commandments. 00:13:51.860 --> 00:14:00.940 There's a recognition there of the distinction between chapter 20, where the words are the 00:14:00.940 --> 00:14:07.259 ten commandments, and the commandments or the rules are the book of the covenant, chapters 00:14:07.259 --> 00:14:08.519 20 through 23. 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:13.919 And so we see that God gives us big principles, and then he gives us all sorts of little instructions 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:20.159 so that we know both on the broad scope and on the day-to-day how we ought to live. 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:23.579 So reading of the law is the first one. 00:14:23.639 --> 00:14:30.319 The second one is that God calls people in a community, and as he calls them, this community 00:14:30.319 --> 00:14:35.199 bears witness to the covenant relationship reality that they're supposed to be in. 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:42.060 So when you look again in verses four, right, he gathers this morning, he builds an altar, 00:14:42.180 --> 00:14:45.259 and then around the altar, he puts 12 pillars. 00:14:45.740 --> 00:14:49.240 Those 12 pillars represent the 12 tribes of Israel. 00:14:49.740 --> 00:14:55.920 And what it represents is that God is saying, by instructing Moses to do this, all of you 00:14:55.920 --> 00:15:01.900 must come, and all of you who claim to be God's people must come and together bear witness 00:15:01.900 --> 00:15:03.340 to this action. 00:15:03.340 --> 00:15:11.080 Friends, we live in an age where it's very easy for our Christianity to be individual. 00:15:11.860 --> 00:15:14.040 Well, I'm a Christian because I believe in God. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:21.360 Part of what we see here is that when God calls us to him, he doesn't simply call us as individuals, 00:15:21.660 --> 00:15:25.899 though he does that, he calls us as individuals into a community. 00:15:26.340 --> 00:15:32.360 And one of the purposes of this community is to bear witness together of who God is and what 00:15:32.360 --> 00:15:33.139 he has done. 00:15:33.740 --> 00:15:39.720 And so the 12 pillars is this picture as they're arrayed around the altar for worship. 00:15:39.960 --> 00:15:46.019 It's this picture of God calling his community people to gather together and to bear witness 00:15:46.019 --> 00:15:46.840 to who God is. 00:15:46.919 --> 00:15:49.080 And friends, this is what you're doing here this morning. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:54.300 On this incredibly hot day, you have chosen to come and sit in uncomfortable pews in order 00:15:54.299 --> 00:15:57.859 to hear God's word and bear testimony to who God is. 00:15:58.599 --> 00:16:02.459 And if you're a visitor here and you're checking it out, this is why we gather. 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:04.279 This is what we are doing. 00:16:04.379 --> 00:16:09.899 We are gathering together as a community because we haven't simply been called as individuals. 00:16:11.500 --> 00:16:15.039 But we've been called together not only to bear witness but to worship. 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:21.860 And you see this in the erection of the altar and the sacrifices that were made. 00:16:22.319 --> 00:16:24.620 Now, sacrifices feel very odd to us. 00:16:24.740 --> 00:16:25.679 This is not common. 00:16:25.819 --> 00:16:28.319 We obviously don't sacrifice things today. 00:16:28.599 --> 00:16:31.179 In the Old Testament, it would have been a very common thing. 00:16:31.259 --> 00:16:39.179 And what you'll see is that in the law, sacrifices are a regular part because sacrifices communicate 00:16:39.179 --> 00:16:43.779 the life and death reality of what it means to have a relationship with God. 00:16:44.899 --> 00:16:46.679 There's lots more nuance to that. 00:16:46.759 --> 00:16:47.879 I'm not going to unpack that. 00:16:47.979 --> 00:16:50.899 We'll get to it as we keep going and teaching through the tabernacle. 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:56.419 But right now, I want you to see that the fact that there are sacrifices, that as animals 00:16:56.419 --> 00:17:05.559 are killed, is an acknowledgement of the life and death weightiness of being in relationship 00:17:05.559 --> 00:17:06.220 with God. 00:17:06.639 --> 00:17:09.000 And here we see there are two offerings that are given. 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:10.400 One is a burnt offering. 00:17:10.980 --> 00:17:14.380 And the burnt offering signifies devotion. 00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:20.940 And when a burnt offering is sacrificed, the animal is killed and then it is put on the 00:17:20.940 --> 00:17:26.019 altar and it's completely burned up, communicating a wholehearted devotion. 00:17:26.180 --> 00:17:27.259 There is nothing left. 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:34.240 There's nothing held back from this complete sacrifice, this complete offering. 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:41.120 But then with that, then there's also a second offering that the ESV calls a peace offering. 00:17:41.120 --> 00:17:46.480 If you read an NIV translation, it will call it a fellowship offering where the animal is 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:48.779 sacrificed and a part of it is burned on the altar. 00:17:48.779 --> 00:17:54.819 But it is actually then kept and used as a feast where the people come together in this peace 00:17:54.819 --> 00:17:57.559 offering and they fellowship with God and one another. 00:17:58.879 --> 00:18:06.460 And in these sacrifices, we see God calling, giving pictures of different aspects of what 00:18:06.460 --> 00:18:07.779 it means to be his people. 00:18:07.779 --> 00:18:13.799 And in this worship, it's meant to be wholehearted and it's meant to be fellowship that is a calling 00:18:13.799 --> 00:18:15.680 to intimacy with one another. 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:23.019 The third thing that sacrifices do, which is less explicit in this passage but is more explicit 00:18:23.019 --> 00:18:25.779 in the broader, is that it establishes a covenant. 00:18:25.779 --> 00:18:31.639 You go back to Genesis 15 when God inaugurates this covenant with Abraham. 00:18:32.339 --> 00:18:37.279 There are animals that are sacrificed and then, if you remember, there's this weird vision 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:40.160 of a pot of flame sort of walking between them. 00:18:40.339 --> 00:18:44.920 But the idea would have been very well known to an ancient Near East person that you cut the 00:18:44.920 --> 00:18:49.619 animals apart, you walk through it together, the two covenant partners, and the idea is, 00:18:49.619 --> 00:18:56.579 may God do to us, or may you do to me this, that is, cut me in half and kill me, if I break 00:18:56.579 --> 00:18:57.619 the vows of the covenant. 00:18:58.639 --> 00:18:59.079 Right? 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:01.000 And so this is the third meaning. 00:19:01.159 --> 00:19:04.979 It's a recognition that a covenant vow is a weighty one. 00:19:05.059 --> 00:19:06.339 It is a life or death one. 00:19:06.399 --> 00:19:10.839 And to break it is to bring the curse of death upon you. 00:19:13.159 --> 00:19:16.439 And friends, this is where we see the thread beginning to be pulled. 00:19:16.440 --> 00:19:22.700 If you listen to the reading from Hebrews earlier, without the shedding of blood, there is no 00:19:22.700 --> 00:19:23.940 forgiveness of sins. 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:32.840 When a covenant is broken, something, there must be a payment of a life for that breaking. 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:39.460 And the whole sacrificial system that we'll learn about in the tabernacle is meant to picture 00:19:39.460 --> 00:19:46.600 this and remind us that our obedience to God and our keeping His covenant commandments 00:19:46.600 --> 00:19:54.220 is so important that if we violate it, we are worthy of death. 00:19:55.400 --> 00:20:01.440 It is a very weighty thing to be in relationship with the God of life and the creator of the universe. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:09.460 And so, the three things we've talked about so far in terms of ratifying this covenant, 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:15.559 the reading of God's word, the gathering, the community coming together to bear witness, 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:22.000 and now this act of worship that has at its core this recognition of sacrifice and the need 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:22.660 of sacrifice. 00:20:23.799 --> 00:20:26.640 Then the fourth part is that there's a response. 00:20:27.140 --> 00:20:27.799 And isn't it funny? 00:20:27.799 --> 00:20:30.819 We see this response from God's people actually three times. 00:20:30.980 --> 00:20:36.200 It's all the way back in chapter 19 where without having any idea except having seen them deliver 00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:39.099 Him, the people say, all that you say, we will do. 00:20:39.639 --> 00:20:41.980 I don't know if you've ever made promises like that. 00:20:42.059 --> 00:20:43.639 Hey, whatever you want, I'll do it. 00:20:44.419 --> 00:20:46.639 Without having any idea what you're promising, right? 00:20:47.019 --> 00:20:48.839 So, God says, well, I'll tell you what. 00:20:48.980 --> 00:20:49.759 Thank you for that. 00:20:49.819 --> 00:20:52.879 But let's instruct you a little bit before I tell you. 00:20:53.059 --> 00:20:55.839 So, then He gives the Ten Commandments in the book of the covenant. 00:20:55.839 --> 00:21:02.559 And then He brings it back down and Moses reads these things or He speaks these things to 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:02.899 them. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:05.519 And then they say, okay, everything you do, we will do. 00:21:05.679 --> 00:21:09.500 And then they do the worship and then they do the sacrifices and they're reminded again 00:21:09.500 --> 00:21:10.939 of the weightiness of this covenant. 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:20.159 And then Moses reads the law and the covenant stipulations for a third time and says, okay, 00:21:20.359 --> 00:21:21.899 do you really mean it? 00:21:21.900 --> 00:21:23.420 And they respond. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:26.740 They say, everything that you have said, we will do. 00:21:27.120 --> 00:21:29.180 And they go further. 00:21:29.320 --> 00:21:31.080 They say, and we will be obedient. 00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:33.460 Now, I'm a parent. 00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:37.900 I know what it's like to have children who say, yes, Daddy, we will do everything that 00:21:37.900 --> 00:21:38.620 you tell us to. 00:21:38.619 --> 00:21:47.359 And we know from the story of Exodus that as Moses goes up on the mountain again, the people 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:52.939 are about to do a terrible disobedience in the episode with the golden calf. 00:21:53.199 --> 00:21:55.319 We know that that's on the horizon. 00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:58.439 And yet, right here, this is an appropriate response. 00:21:58.779 --> 00:22:02.899 If we, as we enter into a relationship with God saying, yes, this is what we're called to 00:22:02.900 --> 00:22:03.200 do. 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:06.759 So there's a response. 00:22:06.980 --> 00:22:07.640 Yes, Lord. 00:22:07.980 --> 00:22:08.840 You are the Lord. 00:22:09.280 --> 00:22:10.160 We are your people. 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:12.300 We will do everything you tell us. 00:22:13.180 --> 00:22:16.360 And then finally, in verse 8, there's a ratification. 00:22:17.040 --> 00:22:19.080 In some ways, this is the height of the passage. 00:22:19.320 --> 00:22:24.800 This is when, this is when the, you know, in a marriage ceremony, I now pronounce you man 00:22:24.800 --> 00:22:25.259 and wife. 00:22:25.259 --> 00:22:32.319 If Moses is now saying, I now say this covenant, behold, the blood of the covenant that God has 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:34.980 made with you to make you his people. 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:41.400 And they're sprinkled with the blood to cover them and to show them, yes, you have now been 00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:45.700 brought into this covenant relationship with me. 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:52.099 God says, I will be your God and you will be my people. 00:22:52.099 --> 00:22:55.359 What a great privilege it is. 00:22:56.199 --> 00:22:57.759 What are we to learn from this? 00:22:59.279 --> 00:22:59.759 Quickly. 00:23:00.259 --> 00:23:02.480 One, we're to listen to God's word. 00:23:03.179 --> 00:23:04.240 He speaks to us. 00:23:04.619 --> 00:23:06.539 We ought to treat that with great weightiness. 00:23:07.419 --> 00:23:11.299 We have even more of God's word than the people of Israel had back then. 00:23:12.359 --> 00:23:16.259 May we be diligent in knowing it and in obeying it. 00:23:16.779 --> 00:23:19.879 Secondly, God calls us not just as individuals, as communities. 00:23:19.880 --> 00:23:22.640 Please, I'm going to preach to the choir. 00:23:23.080 --> 00:23:27.720 Make gathering together with other Christians a commitment in your life. 00:23:28.420 --> 00:23:29.600 Be a part of the community. 00:23:30.580 --> 00:23:33.760 And third, God calls us to respond with wholehearted faith. 00:23:34.920 --> 00:23:36.920 Not anything held back. 00:23:37.040 --> 00:23:40.140 No, God, I will believe in you as long as you do these things. 00:23:40.200 --> 00:23:42.640 Or I will believe in you unless you do these things. 00:23:43.060 --> 00:23:44.240 Or I will believe in you. 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:50.920 But Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, to pick up our cross, and to follow him. 00:23:52.579 --> 00:23:56.460 And so we are called to wholehearted commitment in faith. 00:23:58.259 --> 00:24:02.460 But friends, if we had left, if I had left you here with the application, 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:07.400 then what I've told you is to try harder, to be better, to be a more devoted Christian. 00:24:08.019 --> 00:24:08.799 And you know what? 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:10.319 I want you to try hard. 00:24:10.460 --> 00:24:13.200 And I want you to seek to be a better and more devoted Christian. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:14.159 That's a good thing. 00:24:14.859 --> 00:24:18.879 But friends, the wonderful thing about the New Testament and the Gospel is that 00:24:18.879 --> 00:24:24.099 that's not the foundation of how we actually be God's people in Jesus. 00:24:24.440 --> 00:24:29.659 The Old Testament in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 predict that a day is coming 00:24:29.659 --> 00:24:31.299 when a new covenant will come. 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:35.619 When God's laws aren't simply written out there, but they will be written in our hearts. 00:24:35.619 --> 00:24:40.500 And our hearts are transformed so that as we become God's people, 00:24:40.599 --> 00:24:44.139 we are able to love him in a way that we never were before. 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:47.419 And we are actually able to be obedient to the covenant, 00:24:47.619 --> 00:24:52.859 not in order to earn our status with God, but out of the status of God. 00:24:52.939 --> 00:24:53.919 How could this be? 00:24:54.639 --> 00:24:58.599 Well, because of what the book of Hebrews has written about and what we read about earlier. 00:24:59.019 --> 00:25:00.239 Jesus has come. 00:25:00.659 --> 00:25:03.699 And in the new covenant that he establishes for us, 00:25:04.339 --> 00:25:05.500 here's the wonderful thing. 00:25:05.619 --> 00:25:07.919 God says, obey the law. 00:25:08.059 --> 00:25:10.819 And Jesus says, I will stand in for them and I will do that. 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:15.379 Jesus brings his perfect obedience to the whole Mosaic law and says, 00:25:15.559 --> 00:25:18.379 I will stand in their place to do that. 00:25:19.859 --> 00:25:25.479 And not only will I stand in their place by taking their obedience and providing their obedience, 00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:29.959 but then I will also then offer myself as the sacrifice, 00:25:30.579 --> 00:25:34.399 the death that needs to be paid for the disobedience that's true for all of us. 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:37.240 Because none of us love God the way we ought to. 00:25:37.500 --> 00:25:39.259 None of us obey him perfectly. 00:25:39.600 --> 00:25:41.519 None of us honor him as we ought to. 00:25:42.460 --> 00:25:46.259 And Jesus says, I will die in their place for that. 00:25:46.660 --> 00:25:51.900 And so Jesus, by offering his life and his death for us in our place, 00:25:52.280 --> 00:25:56.460 establishes a covenant with God where all the stipulations are met, 00:25:56.460 --> 00:25:58.539 where all the laws have been kept, 00:25:58.539 --> 00:26:09.340 where all the requirements have been found fully, completely fulfilled. 00:26:09.339 --> 00:26:15.059 And friends, when we come to God in the new covenant, 00:26:15.619 --> 00:26:23.199 we come only to confess our need and to throw ourselves on God's mercy and grace that he's shown us in Jesus. 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:31.759 With great joy we recognize he has done what we in Israel could never do in keeping this law. 00:26:32.759 --> 00:26:38.380 And we enter into a relationship with God by faith, through grace. 00:26:38.380 --> 00:26:45.220 And from that then we live a life of obedience. 00:26:45.420 --> 00:26:48.800 And we live a life of seeking to honor and please God in all that we do. 00:26:49.160 --> 00:26:52.920 Not to keep the covenant, but out of the covenant. 00:26:53.320 --> 00:26:55.760 Because he has written his law on our hearts. 00:26:56.260 --> 00:26:58.600 And he has given us a heart that says, 00:26:58.599 --> 00:27:01.039 I delight to do your will, O God. 00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:07.099 What a great privilege it is to be God's people. 00:27:08.099 --> 00:27:15.139 To see that God has done for us what we could not do to establish this new covenant. 00:27:15.899 --> 00:27:23.439 Whereby we come and enjoy being his people on the basis of what Christ has done for us. 00:27:24.539 --> 00:27:28.279 This is what 1 Peter talks about in that great passage that I love. 00:27:28.599 --> 00:27:31.679 For you are now God's chosen people, his royal priesthood. 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:34.159 And at the end he says, 00:27:34.279 --> 00:27:37.659 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. 00:27:39.480 --> 00:27:41.879 Friends, this is the joy that we ought to know. 00:27:42.139 --> 00:27:46.779 Like a bride, knowing on her wedding day that this groom has looked at her and said, 00:27:47.099 --> 00:27:51.259 Of all the peoples of the earth, I have chosen you for the rest of my life. 00:27:51.419 --> 00:27:53.779 God has done this for us in Christ. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:55.279 And he looks at us and he says, 00:27:55.279 --> 00:27:56.480 I have chosen you. 00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:59.160 You now come and be my people. 00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:05.519 And then there's a celebration. 00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:10.339 So having now enacted and ratified this covenant, 00:28:10.519 --> 00:28:12.920 having now walked through these five things, 00:28:14.599 --> 00:28:17.299 he then in the rest of this book, 00:28:17.740 --> 00:28:18.799 or the rest of this chapter, 00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:22.079 talks a little bit about the covenant being experienced. 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:26.740 I promise you, we're going to go faster through the second half than the first half. 00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:28.460 If you're waning, hold on. 00:28:29.980 --> 00:28:32.720 After descending and after the people respond and all this, 00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:33.720 then God says, 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:34.539 Come back up. 00:28:34.779 --> 00:28:36.019 Some of you, come back up. 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:39.539 You leaders, come back up the mountain and have fellowship with me. 00:28:39.579 --> 00:28:41.099 In verses 9 through 11, 00:28:41.480 --> 00:28:47.159 you see this incredible picture of God's people coming up and meeting with God. 00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:50.360 And it's remarkable because we're about to see, 00:28:50.460 --> 00:28:53.980 if you read ahead a few chapters to Exodus 33, 00:28:54.120 --> 00:28:54.880 Moses says, 00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:56.340 God, I have to see you. 00:28:57.820 --> 00:28:58.920 And God says, 00:28:59.040 --> 00:29:00.860 Nobody can see my face and live. 00:29:01.400 --> 00:29:03.519 And yet here in verses 9 through 11, 00:29:03.600 --> 00:29:06.120 these people go up and they eat with God. 00:29:06.560 --> 00:29:08.040 And they see God. 00:29:08.120 --> 00:29:09.420 And that's what the text says. 00:29:09.420 --> 00:29:15.060 In fact, it even recognizes how incredibly unique this was in verse 11, 00:29:15.120 --> 00:29:15.539 where it says, 00:29:15.880 --> 00:29:17.480 He did not treat them, right? 00:29:18.279 --> 00:29:21.340 Let me look with you because I've got to put my glasses on. 00:29:21.460 --> 00:29:22.380 So here we go. 00:29:22.500 --> 00:29:23.860 Verse 11, 00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:27.360 He did not lay His hand on the chief men of the people of Israel. 00:29:27.480 --> 00:29:27.840 That is, 00:29:28.160 --> 00:29:31.880 He knew that they deserve death to actually come into that intimacy 00:29:31.880 --> 00:29:33.539 because of their sinfulness. 00:29:33.539 --> 00:29:36.039 But because of the covenant that was established, 00:29:36.500 --> 00:29:40.659 God gives this taste of what He has called them into. 00:29:41.940 --> 00:29:43.139 Intimacy with God. 00:29:43.659 --> 00:29:44.559 Fellowship with Him. 00:29:44.619 --> 00:29:46.299 They come up and they eat together. 00:29:46.700 --> 00:29:48.059 And in the ancient Near East, 00:29:48.180 --> 00:29:50.700 to eat together wasn't simply grabbing a burger 00:29:50.700 --> 00:29:53.779 as you're running through the drive-thru at McDonald's. 00:29:54.180 --> 00:29:57.019 It was a time of relationship and of connection. 00:29:57.500 --> 00:30:01.039 To invite someone to eat with you was a weighty thing. 00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:03.639 It was an act of hospitality, 00:30:03.879 --> 00:30:05.579 but it was also an act of blessing. 00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:07.379 And God says, 00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:09.720 Come, sit with me, eat with me. 00:30:09.819 --> 00:30:13.240 And the thing that they see is remarkable. 00:30:13.539 --> 00:30:17.279 Suddenly Moses sort of takes his left turn into apocalyptic vision, right? 00:30:17.480 --> 00:30:22.319 Talking about sapphires and things that are clear as heaven. 00:30:22.460 --> 00:30:23.019 And you just think, 00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:24.359 Where did this come from? 00:30:24.899 --> 00:30:27.299 Well, if you read through the whole rest of the Old Testament, 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:29.720 you see that there are pictures like this in Ezekiel. 00:30:29.720 --> 00:30:32.460 That these are common symbols about, 00:30:33.200 --> 00:30:36.900 that reflect the throne of God in visions. 00:30:37.600 --> 00:30:40.980 And it seems that these people didn't see the fullness of God, 00:30:41.039 --> 00:30:44.900 but they saw a taste, the toes maybe, of God. 00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:51.819 And so they got a taste of what it meant to be intimate with God in that way. 00:30:51.819 --> 00:30:59.099 So not only do they, as they enjoy the covenant, enjoy this intimacy with God, 00:30:59.299 --> 00:31:01.899 but they're also brought into His glory. 00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:06.679 And you see this in the following verses in 12 through the end of the chapter. 00:31:07.139 --> 00:31:10.720 Moses is invited up, and you see that the mountain is this picture. 00:31:11.220 --> 00:31:13.379 The closer you get to the top of the mountain, 00:31:13.480 --> 00:31:15.179 the closer you get to the glory, 00:31:15.180 --> 00:31:20.080 the closer you get to the consuming fire of God's holy presence, 00:31:20.580 --> 00:31:23.900 the fewer people who are able to go. 00:31:24.700 --> 00:31:25.100 Right? 00:31:25.220 --> 00:31:26.279 The people are at the bottom. 00:31:26.380 --> 00:31:28.039 They can't even get on the mountain. 00:31:28.299 --> 00:31:30.060 The leaders are up a little bit more. 00:31:30.200 --> 00:31:32.360 Joshua gets to get up a little bit closer. 00:31:32.820 --> 00:31:38.660 But Moses alone is able to be the one who goes into this glory. 00:31:38.660 --> 00:31:47.880 And God is reminding the people again that the intimacy that they have is with a holy God, 00:31:48.120 --> 00:31:50.620 and a God who is holy other than them. 00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:56.080 God who is so big that they can't even imagine what He's like. 00:31:57.420 --> 00:31:59.720 Nor are they worthy to approach Him. 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:02.900 And Moses goes in as a mediator. 00:32:03.700 --> 00:32:08.640 There are all sorts of beautiful themes here that we will unpack in the next 15 chapters. 00:32:08.660 --> 00:32:09.420 of Exodus. 00:32:10.060 --> 00:32:10.220 Right? 00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:13.400 This mountain is the thing that the tabernacle pictures, 00:32:13.580 --> 00:32:14.900 where you have courtyards, 00:32:14.980 --> 00:32:18.519 and you have layers of approaching to the glory of God. 00:32:18.660 --> 00:32:23.420 And fewer and fewer people can go in with greater and greater covering of sacrifices 00:32:23.420 --> 00:32:25.640 to recognize the holiness of God. 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:30.000 The tabernacle and later the temple will picture this mountain, 00:32:30.340 --> 00:32:33.840 where people can approach God's glory. 00:32:33.839 --> 00:32:42.740 And it prefigures that we as a sinful people will need mediators to go and open up a way. 00:32:44.579 --> 00:32:46.279 And it leaves us with a cliffhanger. 00:32:46.619 --> 00:32:50.059 Moses, think about it if you're an Israelite sitting at the bottom of the mountain. 00:32:50.359 --> 00:32:51.299 What happened to Moses? 00:32:52.379 --> 00:32:53.079 He went up. 00:32:53.379 --> 00:32:56.559 He disappeared into a cloud that looks like a consuming fire. 00:32:56.559 --> 00:33:00.799 And he disappeared for 40 or 47 days, depending on how you're counting it. 00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:01.799 Right? 00:33:04.359 --> 00:33:06.159 What's going to happen down below? 00:33:06.519 --> 00:33:08.639 Well, we'll wait until chapter 32. 00:33:08.879 --> 00:33:09.039 Right? 00:33:09.119 --> 00:33:09.679 We'll get there. 00:33:10.119 --> 00:33:10.599 31. 00:33:10.879 --> 00:33:11.480 Which one is it? 00:33:11.720 --> 00:33:12.139 32. 00:33:12.419 --> 00:33:13.319 Chapter 32. 00:33:13.519 --> 00:33:18.240 There's this whole section of law that's going to come before we get to what happens down below. 00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:22.220 And so the narrative of this next section is just beginning. 00:33:25.779 --> 00:33:34.700 But as we have these teasers of what's to come, as we finish this, looking at this, 00:33:34.980 --> 00:33:41.299 I actually want to go back and read the passage that Pastor Greg read at the beginning of our service. 00:33:41.559 --> 00:33:45.759 Because having talked about all these elements of what it means to be God's people, 00:33:45.759 --> 00:33:53.140 having talked about the incredible joy of God's people being able to approach a holy God with intimacy and fellowship, 00:33:54.119 --> 00:34:02.519 I want you to listen again and hear the reverberation of all of these themes in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 19 and following. 00:34:03.799 --> 00:34:11.139 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 00:34:11.139 --> 00:34:17.500 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh. 00:34:17.879 --> 00:34:21.719 And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, 00:34:22.339 --> 00:34:27.199 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:34.339 with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 00:34:34.340 --> 00:34:39.220 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, 00:34:39.640 --> 00:34:41.860 for he who promised is faithful. 00:34:42.500 --> 00:34:46.360 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 00:34:46.680 --> 00:34:49.980 not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of son, 00:34:50.660 --> 00:34:57.220 but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. 00:34:58.720 --> 00:35:00.300 Friends, let's pray together. 00:35:00.300 --> 00:35:10.080 Lord, what a privilege it is to be called your people. 00:35:11.300 --> 00:35:17.019 Lord, what an amazing mystery it is that you have done all that is necessary for us 00:35:17.019 --> 00:35:20.200 in Christ to draw near to you, 00:35:20.680 --> 00:35:28.820 that we don't have to be afraid of the fire and the glory and the holiness of your presence, 00:35:28.820 --> 00:35:31.500 because Christ has gone before us. 00:35:32.400 --> 00:35:36.760 Lord, thank you that we can know intimacy and fellowship with you. 00:35:38.640 --> 00:35:41.960 Lord, that we can know your word, that we can worship you, 00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:45.780 that we can live lives of commitment and obedience to you, 00:35:45.920 --> 00:35:49.720 because we have been covered by the blood of Jesus, 00:35:50.340 --> 00:35:53.059 by his life and death and resurrection for us. 00:35:53.059 --> 00:35:56.719 Oh, Lord, we praise you for this great privilege. 00:35:58.239 --> 00:36:04.119 Lord, may we live as if this is the great prize and treasure of our lives. 00:36:04.880 --> 00:36:06.820 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:07.900 Amen.