WEBVTT 00:00:00.860 --> 00:00:09.820 Amen. We're going to begin this evening with a revealing statistic. It came out this week, 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:18.240 maybe many of you saw it, the census results in Scotland from 2022. But I guess the big 00:00:18.240 --> 00:00:24.879 news that was featured is the fact that now 51%, so the majority of people in Scotland 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:32.320 now identify themselves as nuns, people with no religion. And Scotland is actually secularizing, 00:00:32.539 --> 00:00:39.359 becoming non-religious faster than the rest of the UK. For example, Wales and England are down at 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:45.320 37% said they had no religion. So the majority of people around us, therefore, 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:53.299 are people who most likely don't believe in God, who, because of that, don't believe life has 00:00:53.299 --> 00:01:01.239 ultimate purpose, and therefore are seeking to set their own path through life. 00:01:03.019 --> 00:01:09.340 Now, when we come to the Bible, and when we consider what we believe, we recognize that 00:01:09.340 --> 00:01:17.099 what everybody needs is to know their Creator, to know who God is, and to know how to approach this 00:01:17.099 --> 00:01:23.120 God, so that we might enter into life with Him. But for the vast majority of people in Scotland, 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:31.180 there's either no knowledge of who this God is, or perhaps, and maybe we've had experience of this, 00:01:31.540 --> 00:01:39.820 and people have a caricature of God that they then reject. Perhaps, you know, a God who is 00:01:39.820 --> 00:01:49.460 holy in that sense of just a figure of fear, a judge. People don't want that. Or maybe the God who is 00:01:49.459 --> 00:01:53.619 altogether love, who just accepts everyone regardless and doesn't care about obedience, 00:01:53.719 --> 00:02:00.399 if he likewise is a God easy to dismiss. And when people do that, of course, they're rejecting 00:02:00.399 --> 00:02:06.500 a false God. And our great needs, and our great calling, as we were reminded this morning, 00:02:06.500 --> 00:02:16.060 is to help people to discover and to delight in the God who is. And Exodus 19, I think, can help us 00:02:16.060 --> 00:02:24.199 with that. Because we are joining here the end of a journey. The people of Israel have now reached the 00:02:24.199 --> 00:02:29.780 goal of their three-month or so journey, where all the way along they've been asking questions. 00:02:29.780 --> 00:02:35.960 Asking questions of Moses, asking questions of God. What are we doing here? Why are we on this journey? 00:02:36.740 --> 00:02:40.879 If you've ever been on that kind of journey, are we nearly there yet? In a sense, that sums up 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:46.599 Israel's experience. But now they reach the goal, and now all of a sudden, they understand, 00:02:47.379 --> 00:02:53.840 here's the purpose. As they arrive at Mount Sinai, to meet with the one true and living God, 00:02:53.840 --> 00:03:04.420 and for God to meet with them. To be with them. To be faithful to his covenant promise to his people. 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:10.939 So as we come to this meeting of the people at Mount Sinai, this is a high point, literally a high point, 00:03:11.020 --> 00:03:19.659 in their national story. And it is a national story, because in the past, all those covenant promises 00:03:19.659 --> 00:03:26.939 that we've heard stated and restated were made to a family, the family of Abraham. But now this is a 00:03:26.939 --> 00:03:36.919 nation bound together by God, bound together to God. And so all of a sudden, they're discovering their goal. 00:03:38.659 --> 00:03:45.379 To meet with God and to worship. And of course, in any journey, goal and purpose matters. 00:03:45.379 --> 00:03:51.159 We don't want to wander aimlessly. We all set a direction, set a course. 00:03:52.539 --> 00:03:57.840 Think about the wisdom literature. Not just in the Bible, but generally, wisdom literature will 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:04.780 often speak of life as a path, life as a journey, which also implies purpose and destination. It's 00:04:04.780 --> 00:04:10.819 crucial for us as people to know where we're going, where we're heading. And Exodus 19, then, 00:04:10.819 --> 00:04:19.279 becomes an invitation to see the goal that not just Israel were made for, but that we're all made for. 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:26.339 That we're made to know and enjoy life with God. To hear his word, to enjoy fellowship with him, 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:35.819 to receive and to experience his love. But of course, we need to know who God really is. 00:04:35.819 --> 00:04:45.959 C.S. Lewis, in his book, Mere Christianity, he does something really helpful in book one of that work. 00:04:46.500 --> 00:04:55.240 He discusses generally the universal law of human nature. And he makes the point that all of us as 00:04:55.240 --> 00:05:00.600 people, we know there is an ought to in the universe. There are things that we ought to do, 00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:07.980 things we ought not to do. He says every argument implies that. There is a standard that is agreed 00:05:07.980 --> 00:05:15.280 upon, and arguments happen when that agreement is broken. And taking that further, we understand 00:05:15.280 --> 00:05:24.140 that there is an absolute standard that exists. When we compare, for example, one morality against 00:05:24.139 --> 00:05:30.579 another morality, we're always recognizing that there is an ultimate standard that we can compare 00:05:30.579 --> 00:05:39.680 against. And C.S. Lewis does a really useful job in that book of moving from that to recognizing 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:47.139 that there must therefore be a divine mind behind that sense of that universal moral law. 00:05:47.139 --> 00:05:55.219 And so, we're also left with that uneasy feeling, all of us, in our conscience that we have at 00:05:55.219 --> 00:06:00.979 different times and in different ways broken the law of God, and that before true goodness, as we 00:06:00.979 --> 00:06:07.659 consider and confront true goodness, we have reason to be uneasy. And that matters because 00:06:07.660 --> 00:06:16.120 one of the jobs that we have as the church is to remind people of the reality of that moral law, 00:06:16.120 --> 00:06:22.880 and to remind people of the real power behind that law, because it's only as we recognize true 00:06:22.880 --> 00:06:28.700 goodness and holiness that we recognize how far short we fall that people are ever going to be ready 00:06:28.700 --> 00:06:35.740 to receive Christianity as good news. And the good news that we find here in Exodus 19 00:06:35.740 --> 00:06:45.000 is good news about the nature of God, that God is awesome in his holiness. We see that here at the 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:53.340 mountain. But we also recognize that he is a God of amazing grace, and he's a God who comes to be with 00:06:53.340 --> 00:06:59.319 his people, and that's the goal of his saving work. So, we need to think about these things together. So, 00:06:59.319 --> 00:07:05.720 let's begin with God and amazing grace, especially in verses 3 to 8. Now, just to 00:07:05.720 --> 00:07:11.780 make the observation in verses 1 and 2, Moses, our author, highlights the fact that they've now 00:07:11.780 --> 00:07:17.720 arrived at Mount Sinai. It becomes a section marker within the book, because the people are about to 00:07:17.720 --> 00:07:24.140 spend around a year camped around Mount Sinai. But here they are, as they've just arrived, they're 00:07:24.140 --> 00:07:32.100 preparing to hear God's law and to enter into covenant. And then Moses, in verse 3, goes up 00:07:32.100 --> 00:07:40.160 to meet with God. And the first time he goes up, God gives him, commissions him to speak to the people. 00:07:41.660 --> 00:07:48.740 What's his message? Well, it's a wonderful message that speaks to us of God's grace. 00:07:48.740 --> 00:07:59.560 Verse 4. God says to Moses, tell the people what I, the Lord, have already done. You yourselves have 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:05.040 seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to my cell. 00:08:06.199 --> 00:08:14.360 So, he reminds them of his rescue, of his protection, of his caring for them, of his carrying them to 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:20.939 himself, that powerful eagle image. He's saying to them, remember that, as God, I have graciously 00:08:20.939 --> 00:08:30.439 acted in your favor, in judging Egypt, in saving you from slavery. And it's so important to recognize 00:08:30.439 --> 00:08:40.259 where this falls. The law comes in chapter 20, but before law, there is grace. It is a people who are 00:08:40.259 --> 00:08:47.100 saved by grace, who are given the law as their means for how to live in covenant with God. 00:08:49.100 --> 00:08:55.559 And we discover that the people are brought here to Mount Sinai because of God's grace, 00:08:55.919 --> 00:09:02.799 because of his faithfulness, because of his covenant promise. God told Moses that as early 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:08.460 as chapter 2, in verse 24. We're told God heard their groaning when they're slaves, 00:09:08.460 --> 00:09:15.280 and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. In chapter 6, 00:09:15.700 --> 00:09:23.560 in verses 6 and 7, we hear something similar. Moses is commissioned there to say to the Israelites, 00:09:23.740 --> 00:09:29.460 I am the Lord. I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being 00:09:29.460 --> 00:09:36.620 slaves, and I will redeem you, and I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. 00:09:36.620 --> 00:09:43.720 So there's wonderful grace in what God has already done. And then verse 5, they're told, 00:09:43.860 --> 00:09:50.799 here is what the Lord requires. Now, if you obey me fully and keep my covenant. So they're told to 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:56.879 obey and to keep the covenant. So remember, this is a people who are saved by grace. So this call to 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:03.080 obedience is not a call to obedience in order to earn God's favor. It's a call to obey in order to enjoy 00:10:03.080 --> 00:10:11.520 the benefits of life as God's people. They're commanded to keep the Ten Commandments as a response 00:10:11.520 --> 00:10:19.520 of faith. They're called to the obedience of faith. Now, we notice in verse 8, their very enthusiastic 00:10:19.520 --> 00:10:24.360 response, that people all responded together, we will do everything the Lord has said. 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:33.240 Now, history will make clear that they don't do that. They didn't know their own hearts. Perhaps 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:38.800 they didn't understand just how much they would need God's grace. They will certainly need the 00:10:38.800 --> 00:10:47.940 sacrifices for forgiveness that God provided. For us too, it's important to understand that we need 00:10:47.940 --> 00:10:55.580 grace in order to obey. That our willpower by itself won't cut it. We need our hearts to be transformed 00:10:55.580 --> 00:11:04.380 by grace. We need our obedience to be fueled by God's gracious provision of His Spirit. 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:15.940 But then look next at what the Lord promises within the covenant. So He's spoken about His grace in 00:11:15.940 --> 00:11:21.140 saving them. He's called them to obedience. But that's an obedience that will be fueled by grace. 00:11:21.220 --> 00:11:29.120 But then look at His wonderful promises here in verse 6. If you've been here for the last few weeks, 00:11:29.140 --> 00:11:33.880 you'll know how much grumbling, how much testing of God has been going on. But here is amazing grace, 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:38.180 even to a grumbling, complaining, testing people. 00:11:38.179 --> 00:11:47.339 If you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you'll be my treasured possession. 00:11:48.239 --> 00:11:54.019 Although the whole earth is mine, you'll be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 00:11:55.179 --> 00:12:01.819 Three things there. There's a special love implied here. The language of a treasured possession. 00:12:01.820 --> 00:12:12.360 So God uses that imagery that He is a king. And as the king, the whole earth is His. But He has a 00:12:12.360 --> 00:12:20.160 particular treasure that He keeps close to Himself of particular value. His most prized possession, 00:12:20.640 --> 00:12:27.060 God says, is His church. He's His people. So there's a special love in this covenant that God 00:12:27.059 --> 00:12:38.439 establishes with His people. There's also a special access. When God calls them a kingdom of priests, 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:47.079 it's a reminder of the freedom of access that the people have to the Lord their God. 00:12:47.919 --> 00:12:54.419 They're not on the outside looking in. They're not living by themselves and God is far from them. 00:12:54.419 --> 00:13:00.959 Rather, God is coming to live literally in the midst of the camp. So they can really know and enjoy 00:13:00.959 --> 00:13:07.679 their God and King. It's one of the great privileges of the people of God. So they have a special love 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:16.279 and a special access and they also have a special calling. A calling to be a holy nation. To be a 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:23.599 people who are set apart to belong to God, to be set apart by God's loving choice of them, 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:32.000 set apart to enjoy life with Him, set apart to make Him known in the world, in part drawing the 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:41.779 nations towards God as they live these set apart lives. In the way Israel lived and cared for one 00:13:41.779 --> 00:13:48.200 another and practiced justice and in the way that they worshipped, they were to point people to the 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:55.940 truth of their God. And it's the same for the church today. As we were reminded this morning, 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:02.600 our life, our witness, our character, our worship is to be a pointer to the reality of Jesus. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:10.600 So this is wonderful news, isn't it, for Israel on their long and winding and often confusing journey. 00:14:10.600 --> 00:14:17.700 They're God's treasured possession. A kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 00:14:18.940 --> 00:14:25.560 So then perhaps it's no wonder that Peter, as he writes to encourage and to comfort and to call a 00:14:25.560 --> 00:14:32.200 church in the first century to persevere as they begin to face opposition, as they live as exiles on 00:14:32.200 --> 00:14:39.060 the margins of society, he applies the same language to them. Says what's true of Israel is true for the 00:14:39.059 --> 00:14:44.239 church in the first century, and it's true for the church in the 21st century also. 00:14:46.899 --> 00:14:54.500 It's a remarkable call of grace. Many of you perhaps will know that it was the General Assembly 00:14:54.500 --> 00:15:03.219 this year. There's always a Lord High Commissioner. This year it was a royal visit. Edward and Sophie 00:15:03.220 --> 00:15:13.680 were in town. They were down at Holyrood House, and so some of us saw royalty. Some people that we know 00:15:13.680 --> 00:15:22.060 shook hands with royalty, even shared some canopies with royalty. But nobody was invited to live in their 00:15:22.060 --> 00:15:31.139 palace. Nobody was invited to join their family. Partial but not complete. That's what the true king does 00:15:31.139 --> 00:15:40.759 for us as he calls us to himself. He invites us all the way in by his grace. And our need as his people 00:15:40.759 --> 00:15:49.419 is to know the God of amazing grace, and to be amazed by that grace every day. 00:15:51.019 --> 00:15:58.700 As Martin Luther said, to beat the gospel into our head and into our heart, so it transforms how we think 00:15:58.700 --> 00:16:06.759 and how we live. To remember that we too, just like Israel, are redeemed by God's love. That we too have 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:14.000 been carried on eagle's wings out of a deeper slavery. The slavery of sin leading to death. 00:16:15.780 --> 00:16:23.000 And by Jesus' work on the cross, God has brought us to himself. And he treasures us. 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:31.259 Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of God came into this world, and he truly did obey God's law. He truly did 00:16:31.259 --> 00:16:42.940 keep the law of God. He did the will of the Father always, dying in love for those who don't, 00:16:44.059 --> 00:16:52.919 for those who can, for those who won't. And when our faith is in the Lord Jesus, we have this wonderful, 00:16:52.919 --> 00:17:02.939 new relationship with God, where we are truly precious to him. In fact, Jesus loves his bride so 00:17:02.939 --> 00:17:11.839 much that he has tied his joy to the church being with him. So that Jesus' joy won't be truly complete 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:19.659 until his return, and he takes all his people to be with him forever. That's how precious the church 00:17:19.660 --> 00:17:26.440 is to Jesus. The church is precious to God our Father. He holds us in his hands, and he will never 00:17:26.440 --> 00:17:39.220 let us go. We're invited into personal relationship with the God who made us. Jesus shocked the people 00:17:39.220 --> 00:17:47.740 of his day when he said, when you pray, pray Father, our Father in heaven. There's a unique intimacy 00:17:47.740 --> 00:17:53.279 with God that we have through Jesus. And remember, Jesus said, I don't call you servants, I call you 00:17:53.279 --> 00:18:02.220 friends. And we get to participate in the mission of Jesus as we too are called to live those holy 00:18:02.220 --> 00:18:12.839 lives to bear witness to the good news. So we discover a God of amazing grace. We also discover, 00:18:12.839 --> 00:18:21.359 or secondly, a God of awesome holiness. And that's in verse 10 towards the end of the chapter. 00:18:23.319 --> 00:18:29.619 I imagine most of us and most people that the last point is one that we like and we feel comfortable 00:18:29.619 --> 00:18:36.500 with. We love to hear about grace. We love to be reminded that God is love. And perhaps we'd like to stop 00:18:36.500 --> 00:18:44.839 there. And because the next reality about the God who is, becomes much more unsettling. We certainly 00:18:44.839 --> 00:18:50.220 recognize that it becomes really unsettling for Israel at Mount Sinai as they are confronted with 00:18:50.220 --> 00:18:58.440 the holiness of God. I don't know if anybody's been watching or has watched the documentary series, 00:18:58.519 --> 00:19:03.200 This is Wrexham, which is following the football team, Wrexham FC, and their Hollywood owners. Well, 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:10.120 there's a really fascinating scene where the owners have applied for government money to redo their 00:19:10.120 --> 00:19:18.440 stadium. And as part of their appeal, it turns out that the king and the queen, Charles and Camilla, 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:25.160 are going to come and visit. And what's really fascinating is that these two Hollywood stars 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:32.559 take multiple etiquette lessons. I thought it was really striking. Even Hollywood knows 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:38.539 meeting and approaching a king. It really matters how you do it, that you do it right. 00:19:39.460 --> 00:19:43.139 For your information, if you ever have to shake hands with a king, it's two pumps and release. 00:19:43.879 --> 00:19:54.019 That's the one thing I picked up. If it matters how we approach the king of the UK, how much more? 00:19:54.019 --> 00:19:55.019 The king of the UK, how much more? 00:19:55.019 --> 00:19:56.019 The king of the UK, how much more? 00:19:56.019 --> 00:19:56.700 The king of the UK, how much more? 00:19:56.700 --> 00:20:07.519 And so Exodus 19 reminds us in lots of different ways, God is holy. Be careful. Don't presume upon him 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:16.900 that God is truly awesome. We see it first in the preparation that the people are to make. 00:20:16.900 --> 00:20:24.500 So if you go with me to verse 10, the Lord said to Moses, go to the people and consecrate them 00:20:24.500 --> 00:20:30.519 today and tomorrow. Make them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day. So they must wash 00:20:30.519 --> 00:20:37.880 to be ready. And of course, washing in the Bible is connected with the idea of purity. That becomes a 00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:44.940 symbol of the need that the people have to be pure, to have a pure heart before God. 00:20:44.940 --> 00:20:53.720 The God who says, be holy because I am holy. We see it in a different way in verse 15. He said to 00:20:53.720 --> 00:20:59.799 the people, prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations. So there's a washing 00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:05.440 now, there's an abstaining. What's the symbol here? It's a symbol that God calls them in this moment to 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:13.279 have hearts totally devoted to him, ready to hear and respond to his word and give their first love 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:22.160 to the God who saved them. We also see the limiting that there is. Verse 12 and 13, put limits for the 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:28.160 people around the mountain. Be careful you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. 00:21:29.099 --> 00:21:36.240 Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death, whether that's a person or an animal. It reminds us 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:42.059 perhaps of what happened in Exodus 3. Moses at the burning bush as he encounters God and he's told, 00:21:42.200 --> 00:21:47.940 take your sandals off because the place where you're standing is holy ground. Where God is becomes 00:21:47.940 --> 00:21:58.980 holy. Mount Sinai is marked as holy because God will be there. But again, remarkably, there's still the 00:21:58.980 --> 00:22:04.839 invitation to come. Verse 13, only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast may they approach the 00:22:04.839 --> 00:22:12.240 mountain. So they don't get to decide when and how. They get to respond to the king's invitation. 00:22:13.299 --> 00:22:20.000 The king's summons by grace and the people are to come. That limiting, of course, was restated. 00:22:20.860 --> 00:22:28.000 As Moses goes up to meet God, the Lord said to him, go down and warn the people not to force their way 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:34.460 through. There was that fear that some people might presume, that some might approach with idle 00:22:34.460 --> 00:22:41.779 curiosity. We want to see God's glory. There was that worry that people might approach on the basis 00:22:41.779 --> 00:22:49.440 of their own personal righteousness. And people need to understand our God is a consuming fire. 00:22:49.440 --> 00:23:02.500 And so the preparation speaks to the holiness, the otherness of God. And we see it next as God comes 00:23:02.500 --> 00:23:10.140 down in the presence of God as it's revealed here. So in verse 20, we're told the Lord descended 00:23:10.140 --> 00:23:21.780 to the top of Mount Sinai, which isn't itself amazing. The creator of all draws near to speak to Moses, to be 00:23:21.780 --> 00:23:23.580 with his people. 00:23:26.540 --> 00:23:31.120 Here are the signs of his coming. Verse 16, on the morning of the third day, there was thunder and 00:23:31.120 --> 00:23:38.759 lightning with a thick cloud over the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast. The trumpet announces the 00:23:38.759 --> 00:23:46.980 king of the universe has come to be among his people. And the whole creation reacted. There's thunder and 00:23:46.980 --> 00:23:53.359 lightning in verse 18. You get that sense that Mount Sinai has almost become a volcano covered with smoke 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:59.240 because the Lord descended on it in fire. There's in the earthquake as the whole mountain trembles 00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:07.319 violently. The Lord is present. We've already seen through Exodus the symbols of the cloud and the fire 00:24:07.319 --> 00:24:10.919 representing God's presence. And the fire representing God's presence and presence with power. 00:24:12.980 --> 00:24:16.659 And interestingly, in the way that it's described here in verse 18, 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:24.599 it says, Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire. And you get the sense 00:24:24.599 --> 00:24:33.500 that the cloud, the smoke is serving to shroud, to veil the blazing glory and holiness of God 00:24:33.500 --> 00:24:42.240 so that the people might be safe, that they might be shielded. You know, like those warnings you get 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:48.779 around solar eclipse times. You cannot look directly at the sun. We cannot look directly at the blazing glory 00:24:48.779 --> 00:24:55.940 of God. And so he shields something of his glory with the smoke. 00:24:55.940 --> 00:25:03.019 So the holiness of God is on clear display, but we might be asking, do we really need the holiness idea? 00:25:04.039 --> 00:25:11.019 Wouldn't it just be better to focus on God's love? Especially as we think that, you know, in our city, 00:25:11.600 --> 00:25:18.220 it's not even anywhere close to 51%, probably 90 plus percent of people are not in church, don't know 00:25:18.220 --> 00:25:24.680 anything about God. Wouldn't this attract less people if we talk about holiness? Wouldn't it attract more 00:25:24.680 --> 00:25:32.680 people? We just talk about love? Back to C.S. Lewis, you know, the moral law and the power behind the law, 00:25:33.460 --> 00:25:38.620 Romans 1. Paul will say, actually, the truth is everybody has that consciousness that there is a 00:25:38.620 --> 00:25:45.000 God. We like to suppress it, perhaps, but everybody knows. And that being the case that there is a God, 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:53.100 and he does judge, actually becomes really important what you and I need. What, 51% who say they don't have 00:25:53.099 --> 00:26:02.119 any religion, the whole of Scotland needs, is the truth. That there is God who did make everything, 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:08.799 and he is truly holy. He is perfect. He has no law. He is separate from all that is evil. He is true 00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:14.519 good. He is the one who determines what is right and what is wrong. He is the one who determines what 00:26:14.519 --> 00:26:20.399 is true and what is false. And to break his good law is to face the danger of judgment. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:29.840 And people need to know that because only then does God's grace sound like good news. 00:26:30.759 --> 00:26:38.160 It sounds like the cure to the horrible illness of sin that we all wrestle with. It's only then 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:43.620 that the Christian message of repentance and forgiveness makes sense. 00:26:43.619 --> 00:26:51.119 So we've seen a God of amazing grace and a God of awesome holiness. One last thing to recognize, 00:26:51.219 --> 00:26:59.799 and it's God and the Emmanuel principle. The Emmanuel principle, God with us. So, so far we've been 00:26:59.799 --> 00:27:08.859 following Israel's journey, and now they've reached their goal to meet with God. What is God like? 00:27:08.859 --> 00:27:14.859 He is both awesome and holiness and amazing in His grace and His love. He is the one who has called 00:27:14.859 --> 00:27:21.139 them. He has rescued them. He's carried them to Himself. And they must be careful how they approach. 00:27:21.259 --> 00:27:26.559 They must be careful to approach in the right way. And we might wonder, how do these two realities go 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:36.000 together? They seem so opposed. It may be why Christians and why churches across history have tended to skew in 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:44.920 favor of either God as love or God as holy, perhaps liberal and conservative. How can we keep those 00:27:44.920 --> 00:27:51.759 realities together in our own faith and as we look to communicate who God is? Because we must, because 00:27:51.759 --> 00:28:02.880 that's who He is. Turn with me to verse 9. Verse 9, we have this. The Lord said to Moses, I'm going to come 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:11.180 to you in a dense cloud so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust 00:28:11.180 --> 00:28:19.880 in you. So, three things to notice there. First, the Lord comes. So, this is the Emmanuel principle. This 00:28:19.880 --> 00:28:25.660 is the heart of the covenant. Central to the covenant promise, the fact that God would be with His people, 00:28:25.660 --> 00:28:33.200 that we are saved for relationship with our God. So, the Lord comes. The second thing we see is that the 00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:42.480 Lord speaks. And that reminds us, as God's people, we need His Word of truth and life. That Israel will 00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:48.820 discover how they are to live in line with God's character and will. How are they to be the redeemed 00:28:48.819 --> 00:28:58.500 people of God? They need God's Word? And the Lord provides the mediator. Perhaps the most striking 00:28:58.500 --> 00:29:07.599 thing here, and maybe you noticed it, the people hear me speaking with you, Moses, and will always put 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:14.859 their trust in you. Not they'll put their trust in me as their God, but they'll put their trust in 00:29:14.859 --> 00:29:23.919 you, Moses, as the mediator, as my chosen representative. That's a reminder that they 00:29:23.919 --> 00:29:34.979 need Moses, the man on the mountain who meets with God on their behalf. As we close, let's recognize 00:29:34.979 --> 00:29:43.859 that hundreds of years later, we discover how these words, these words of promise, are ultimately 00:29:43.859 --> 00:29:53.539 fulfilled in the coming of Jesus. Jesus, who before His birth was announced as the one who would be 00:29:53.539 --> 00:30:05.740 Emmanuel, God with His people. Jesus, who is both the Lord God, the Father speaks from heaven, this is my Son, 00:30:05.740 --> 00:30:14.940 the one who receives worship while on earth, but He's also the perfect mediator. Fully God and fully man, 00:30:15.120 --> 00:30:20.180 becomes the perfect middleman, the perfect representative for us. 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:28.859 Jesus is God's Word, to us God's Word, who became flesh. He is God's ultimate revelation, 00:30:28.859 --> 00:30:39.099 that to hear and to receive the good news that's all about Jesus is to gain entry to eternal life with God. 00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:51.979 During Jesus' life on earth, on another mountain, and Moses was there too, Jesus was transfigured so that 00:30:51.980 --> 00:31:00.680 His appearance shone with the glory of God. So Jesus is up on a mountain and He is shining with the glory of God. 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:07.640 And then what happens? A cloud comes, covers the mountain, and the Father speaks, 00:31:08.220 --> 00:31:16.299 this is my Son. I love Him. Listen to Him. And so we meet in Jesus, one who reveals God, 00:31:16.299 --> 00:31:26.839 one who speaks as God, one who is the way home to God. And to read the Gospels is to discover Jesus, 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:33.519 the one who lived a life of beautiful holiness, to discover the one who always obeyed, who never 00:31:33.519 --> 00:31:41.440 sinned, who is full of goodness and truth, marked by compassion and mercy, so that even as people 00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:49.160 betrayed Him, even as He was led to His death, He never sought revenge, He never acted sinfully in anger. 00:31:51.259 --> 00:32:00.059 And while on earth, He extended beautiful grace to sinners, so that moral and social outcasts flocked to Him. 00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:06.880 Foreigners and rebels were drawn by Him because of His great grace. 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:16.980 And His cross, the climax of His mission, shows us how holiness and grace go together. 00:32:17.580 --> 00:32:23.320 Because there, as Jesus dies in the place of sinners, holy justice is satisfied. 00:32:24.560 --> 00:32:29.320 Jesus is loaded up with sin, facing the penalty that sin deserves. 00:32:29.700 --> 00:32:33.600 On Mount Calvary, our great Savior is put today. 00:32:33.599 --> 00:32:38.939 And at the same time, amazing grace is displayed. 00:32:40.579 --> 00:32:45.139 The Father giving the Son as an act of love that we don't deserve. 00:32:45.259 --> 00:32:49.439 The Son coming to serve us, to save us as our substitute. 00:32:51.439 --> 00:32:59.579 One who's ready to be cast out and to face death, so we can be drawn in and truly live with God, 00:32:59.579 --> 00:33:01.619 knowing God with us. 00:33:01.619 --> 00:33:07.099 So that He, Jesus, is our holy and gracious God. 00:33:07.259 --> 00:33:10.919 And He is how we can approach God. 00:33:11.460 --> 00:33:14.299 So that we can approach God, as the author of Hebrews says, 00:33:14.359 --> 00:33:17.099 not trembling with fear, but with bold confidence. 00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:23.019 We come boldly to the throne of grace. 00:33:23.019 --> 00:33:32.779 God's people have no fear of being consumed because of our great mediator, Jesus, our man on the mountain, the God-man. 00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:42.759 And so our great need, our national need, is that Jesus would come to us. 00:33:42.759 --> 00:33:46.539 That we would hear His gospel word of salvation. 00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:49.799 That we would trust in Him. 00:33:51.379 --> 00:33:54.099 So that we too would reach the goal of our journey. 00:33:55.440 --> 00:33:57.000 That we would know our God. 00:33:57.480 --> 00:33:58.960 That we would meet with our God. 00:33:59.619 --> 00:34:00.740 That we would enjoy Him. 00:34:01.400 --> 00:34:02.500 That we would worship Him. 00:34:03.960 --> 00:34:04.660 Let's pray. 00:34:04.660 --> 00:34:13.720 Lord, our God, we thank you for revealing in your words the kind of God that you are. 00:34:14.019 --> 00:34:15.180 That you don't leave us in the dark. 00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:17.119 You don't leave us to guess and speculate. 00:34:17.860 --> 00:34:23.480 Lord, we thank you that you are both awesome in your holiness and amazing in your grace. 00:34:24.599 --> 00:34:30.300 And we thank you that Jesus has come to be with us to demonstrate that so clearly to us.