WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.620 Exodus chapter 19. If you're looking at one of the Pew Bibles, that is page 60. 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:18.920 We've been going through the book of Exodus this year, and so far we've seen that the God of the 00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:25.000 Bible is a God who saves. The first part of Exodus narrates the story of God delivering, 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:30.240 saving the people out of slavery in Egypt, and then we've seen that the God who saves us also 00:00:30.240 --> 00:00:36.340 sustains us. We've seen God sustaining His people in their journey through the wilderness, 00:00:37.240 --> 00:00:43.340 providing bread for their hunger and water for their thirst and help along the way. 00:00:44.400 --> 00:00:52.820 And now the people of Israel come to Mount Sinai, the place, sort of the destination that the book 00:00:52.820 --> 00:00:57.520 has been leading up to all along. So let's read Exodus 19, the whole chapter. 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:02.200 On the third new moon, after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, 00:01:02.579 --> 00:01:10.319 on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They set out from Rephidim and came into the 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:16.319 wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:20.240 mountain, while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:24.259 Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the people of Israel, 00:01:25.099 --> 00:01:31.119 You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings 00:01:31.119 --> 00:01:38.699 and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, 00:01:39.219 --> 00:01:45.199 you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:50.359 to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people 00:01:50.359 --> 00:01:56.260 of Israel. So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that 00:01:56.260 --> 00:02:00.680 the Lord had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, All that the Lord has spoken, 00:02:01.060 --> 00:02:06.600 we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, 00:02:06.740 --> 00:02:12.860 Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also 00:02:12.860 --> 00:02:18.600 believe you forever. When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, the Lord said to Moses, 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:23.960 Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be 00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:30.700 ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all 00:02:30.700 --> 00:02:37.100 the people. And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, Take care not to go up into the 00:02:37.100 --> 00:02:42.620 mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall 00:02:42.620 --> 00:02:48.400 touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot. Whether beast or man, he shall not live. When the trumpet 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:55.659 sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain. So Moses went down from the mountain to 00:02:55.659 --> 00:02:59.640 the people and consecrated the people, and they washed their garments. And he said to them, and he 00:02:59.640 --> 00:03:04.420 said to the people, Be ready for the third day. Do not go near a woman. On the morning of the third 00:03:04.420 --> 00:03:09.180 day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, 00:03:09.180 --> 00:03:14.180 so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet 00:03:14.180 --> 00:03:19.480 God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, 00:03:19.659 --> 00:03:25.260 because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:30.400 and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, 00:03:30.540 --> 00:03:37.080 Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the 00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:42.580 mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the Lord said 00:03:42.580 --> 00:03:46.960 to Moses, Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to look, and many of them 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:52.060 perish. Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out 00:03:52.060 --> 00:03:56.980 against them. And Moses said to the Lord, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself 00:03:56.980 --> 00:04:03.120 warned us, saying, Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it. And the Lord said to him, Go down and 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:07.740 come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up 00:04:07.740 --> 00:04:14.140 to the Lord, lest he break out against them. So Moses went down to the people and told them. 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:21.300 Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word, and we pray that you would open our hearts and minds 00:04:21.300 --> 00:04:28.939 to receive from you this morning, and to see your character more clearly, and respond to you rightly. 00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:38.459 In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. What does it mean to have a genuine relationship with God? Or in other 00:04:38.459 --> 00:04:45.839 words, what does it mean to be God's very own people? That's what this passage is talking about 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:52.579 this morning. Several weeks ago, my family and I took a day trip down to New Jersey, and we were in 00:04:52.579 --> 00:04:58.920 Jersey City, and my kids and I took the boat to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. From 1892 to 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:05.160 1954, more than 12 million immigrants entered the United States through that one pivotal checkpoint. 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:12.819 It is estimated that over 100 million Americans today, about a third of the population of the 00:05:12.819 --> 00:05:19.240 United States, can trace their ancestry back to someone who arrived at America at Ellis Island. 00:05:20.060 --> 00:05:27.120 That was the place where they declared their loyalty to the United States and became American citizens. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:35.340 Now, this morning's passage in Exodus looks back to a similarly pivotal checkpoint in the history 00:05:35.340 --> 00:05:41.379 of Israel, where they, in one sense, this is where they were constituted together as a nation, 00:05:41.860 --> 00:05:49.000 where they became citizens, and God officially recognized them as His kingdom of priests, His holy 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:56.360 nation in the world. The whole story of Exodus, as I said earlier, has been leading up to this point 00:05:56.360 --> 00:06:01.500 back in chapter 3. Back in chapter 3, God had appeared to Moses in the burning bush, 00:06:02.379 --> 00:06:07.860 and this is the same place where that happened, because back in chapter 3, God said to Moses, 00:06:07.980 --> 00:06:13.040 when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve or worship God on this mountain, 00:06:13.819 --> 00:06:20.360 and now here they are. It's sort of like the day where they officially pass through the checkpoint 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:25.560 and become citizens. It's even, you could say, like their wedding day, a day they'll look back on 00:06:25.560 --> 00:06:31.139 for the rest of their lives. God says in verse 5, the Israelites are now His treasured possession, 00:06:32.060 --> 00:06:38.319 His holy nation. Now, as we look at the Israelites' experience at Mount Sinai, what we're going to see 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:47.420 this morning is three things about what it means to be God's holy people, to have a genuine and real 00:06:47.420 --> 00:06:54.640 relationship with God. The first thing that we see is found in verses 1 to 8, is that being God's 00:06:54.640 --> 00:07:01.680 people means relating to God on His terms and not on ours. And if you look at verse 4 to 6 especially, 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:06.980 these are key verses in the book of Exodus, because in these verses, God sets out the terms of His 00:07:06.980 --> 00:07:15.319 relationship with His people. And broadly speaking, we see two things in these verses. First, in verse 4, 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:20.959 we see that we're saved only by God's grace. Verse 4 begins, 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:26.599 you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to 00:07:26.599 --> 00:07:32.560 myself. God begins by reminding the people not of what they have done, but of what He has done for 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:39.439 them. And that's where the story always begins for every one of God's people. It doesn't begin with us 00:07:39.539 --> 00:07:44.680 listing our accomplishments, listing how good we've been, listing how worthy we've been. It begins with 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:51.160 God intervening in His mercy and grace to rescue us and bring us to Himself. Jesus said to His disciples, 00:07:51.319 --> 00:07:58.759 you did not choose me, but I chose you. Or 1 John says, we love Him because He first loved us. 00:07:59.819 --> 00:08:06.660 In other words, we're not the heroes in this story. If you have a relationship with God, if you're one of 00:08:06.660 --> 00:08:12.560 God's people, it's not something you can boast about on your resume. That's one of your accomplishments, 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:18.660 along with all your other accomplishments. No, it's something we can be thankful for, 00:08:19.100 --> 00:08:22.699 that God in His mercy and grace has brought us to Himself. 00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:29.040 And that's what God reminds them of here. He says, I saved you from an enemy that you could not defeat 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:33.879 on your own, and I have carried you with the strength and tenderness of an eagle. 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:42.759 Several times the Bible points to the eagle. Often it's as an image of strength. Eagles can soar to 00:08:42.759 --> 00:08:49.639 great heights. They can swoop down with terrifying speed. They can fly long distances without growing 00:08:49.639 --> 00:08:58.360 weary. But the Bible also points to eagles as an image of tender care. Deuteronomy 32, verses 10 to 12, 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:06.960 in the Song of Moses, he says this. He says, the Lord found Israel in a desert land, in the howling waste 00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:14.820 of the wilderness. He encircled him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle 00:09:14.820 --> 00:09:22.519 that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:31.139 bearing them on its pinions. The Lord alone guided him. That's the Lord who saves. He's the God of great 00:09:31.139 --> 00:09:41.059 power, but He's a God of tenderness, like the mother eagle teaching her chicks to fly, her eaglets to fly, 00:09:41.539 --> 00:09:48.759 and catching them when they fall, and bearing them up. So that's the first thing we see, is that we're saved 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:56.960 only by God's grace and mercy. But the second thing we see in verses 4 to 6, is that God calls us into a life 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:00.939 of obedience. Verse 5 goes on, 00:10:00.980 --> 00:10:07.580 If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession. 00:10:08.919 --> 00:10:11.639 Now that word covenant is an important word. 00:10:12.939 --> 00:10:18.039 Maybe if you have come to church for a little while, and you hear people talking about God's covenant, 00:10:18.039 --> 00:10:21.259 covenant and His covenant people, you sort of think that sounds like one of those old-fashioned 00:10:21.259 --> 00:10:27.639 religious words. But in the ancient world, it was a very common word, and it simply meant a binding 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:36.059 agreement, often a treaty. So a covenant was often a treaty between two nations, often a stronger nation 00:10:36.059 --> 00:10:41.620 who promised to bring a weaker nation under its protection, and the weaker nation in turn promised 00:10:41.620 --> 00:10:49.360 exclusive loyalty to the stronger nation. And Exodus, and the Old Testament in general, uses that well-known 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:59.220 ancient framework of a covenant, or a treaty, or a binding oath to explain what it means for us to 00:10:59.220 --> 00:11:05.139 have a relationship with God. We're that weaker party who comes under the strength of the Lord, 00:11:05.139 --> 00:11:13.199 and He promises to protect us, and look after us, and sustain us, and keep us, and we promise in turn 00:11:13.199 --> 00:11:20.319 to be loyal to Him alone, and not make any other alliances that would compromise our loyalty to Him. 00:11:21.580 --> 00:11:27.000 Now Exodus 20 through 23 begins to spell out the terms of the covenant, right? In any treaty, 00:11:27.699 --> 00:11:34.200 it's… there's details. And so we'll get into the details over the next few weeks, starting with the 00:11:34.200 --> 00:11:40.540 Ten Commandments. But that's the big picture. Israel is called into a relationship of exclusive loyalty 00:11:40.540 --> 00:11:49.140 and obedience to the Lord. Now some people… this is a bit of an aside, but I want to point this out 00:11:49.140 --> 00:11:55.660 in the broader framework of the Bible. Some people have pointed out a potential distinction between this 00:11:55.660 --> 00:12:02.259 covenant that God makes with His people at Sinai and the covenant that God made with Abraham and his 00:12:02.259 --> 00:12:11.379 descendants back in Genesis. So if you notice, verse 5 uses the word if. If you will indeed obey my voice 00:12:11.379 --> 00:12:16.360 and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 00:12:17.379 --> 00:12:23.960 In other words, this arrangement, at least in part, is conditional on Israel's obedience. If they obey, 00:12:24.419 --> 00:12:30.299 they'll be His treasured possession. If they don't, they will lose that privilege of representing Him to 00:12:30.299 --> 00:12:36.019 the world. But if you look back to Genesis when God makes His covenant with Abraham, He doesn't say if. 00:12:36.439 --> 00:12:43.179 He just says, I will. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you. You will be a blessing. I will 00:12:43.179 --> 00:12:49.799 carry out my promise through you. So some people have said that the covenant with Abraham is 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:56.419 unconditional while the covenant at Sinai is conditional. And I think there is an important 00:12:56.419 --> 00:13:02.899 distinction here because the Apostle Paul in the New Testament distinguishes between the enduring 00:13:02.899 --> 00:13:09.919 certainty of God's promise to Abraham and the temporary and provisional nature of the law in books 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:15.659 like Galatians. Now other people argue that the distinction that I'm making here is not quite so 00:13:15.659 --> 00:13:22.620 clear-cut. Even Abraham is warned that if his descendants aren't circumcised, and circumcision is sort of 00:13:22.620 --> 00:13:28.220 symbolic oath to keep all of God's commands, that they will be cut off from the covenant. 00:13:29.399 --> 00:13:36.200 So some people say, well, in every covenant there's a tension between God's unconditional promise and 00:13:36.200 --> 00:13:42.340 that it's conditioned on obedience. And that tension isn't resolved until the New Testament when Jesus 00:13:42.340 --> 00:13:49.879 Christ finally fulfills all the conditions, when He perfectly obeys the law of God, so that we can be 00:13:49.879 --> 00:13:58.639 confident that God's promise is given to us in Him. And we can depend on His obedience and His righteousness. 00:14:00.580 --> 00:14:05.980 Now that's just a bit of a window into the relationship between the various covenants in the Bible, 00:14:05.980 --> 00:14:11.720 and I won't go any further into the nuances this morning. But there's an obvious point that shouldn't 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:18.000 be overlooked however you work out the finer distinctions. And that's this. In every place in 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:27.740 the Bible, with Abraham, at Sinai, with David, and in Jesus in the New Covenant, whenever God enters into 00:14:27.740 --> 00:14:32.540 a relationship with His people, it always begins with His grace. It's always founded on His grace, 00:14:32.540 --> 00:14:41.220 but it always includes a calling to loyal obedience. And God's grace doesn't cancel out the demand for 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:49.279 obedience. In fact, it makes it even deeper. It heightens it. Because you see the mercy that God 00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:54.680 has displayed to bring you into this relationship with Him. And so, the meaning of obedience becomes 00:14:54.680 --> 00:15:02.259 even more profound. As we consider verses 5 and 6 in particular, the New Testament describes 00:15:02.259 --> 00:15:07.360 the calling of the Christian church in these very words. For example, Revelation 1-6, 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:16.399 Jesus has freed us from our sins by His blood. In other words, we have a better Passover and a better 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:23.899 exodus, freedom from our sins by His blood, and He has made us a kingdom priest to His God and Father. 00:15:26.759 --> 00:15:32.600 That's one way of actually describing the calling of a Christian in the world is to be a ruler 00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:38.440 and a priest. We don't always think of it in these terms. But ever since the beginning, 00:15:38.440 --> 00:15:46.320 from Genesis 1 to here in Exodus 19 to the New Testament, God calls His people to be rulers 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:53.800 over creation. In other words, reflecting His wise and holy character into the rest of the world, 00:15:53.799 --> 00:16:02.979 as well as priests of creation. Okay? A priest is someone who stands within a people or within 00:16:02.979 --> 00:16:10.620 the created order and represents it to God. Right? We reflect the praises and the groans of all creation 00:16:10.620 --> 00:16:17.259 in our prayers to the Lord. So, in some ways, you could say that's our calling to be rulers and priests 00:16:17.259 --> 00:16:25.360 to live lives of holiness, reflecting God's character, and lives of prayer, praying, bringing the concerns 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:33.679 of the world before the Lord and praising Him for His good creation. 1 Peter 2 uses these same words. 00:16:33.779 --> 00:16:39.740 We're a royal priesthood, a holy nation. And again, Peter emphasizes, once you had not received mercy, 00:16:39.740 --> 00:16:45.360 but now you've received mercy. We've been brought into this relationship with God by grace. 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:51.720 And then the next verse, he says, abstain from the passions of the flesh. Keep your conduct among 00:16:51.720 --> 00:16:57.039 the Gentiles honorable so they may see your good deeds and glorify God. So, that's what it means to 00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:05.099 relate to God on His terms and not on ours. It's to rest in our salvation by grace and to embrace 00:17:05.099 --> 00:17:13.360 His calling to a life of loyal obedience. And initially, verse 8, the people are ready to sign on. 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:22.519 All that the Lord has spoken, we will do. They're ready to say yes to everything that God is asking of them. 00:17:24.419 --> 00:17:29.559 But that's not all. That's the first part of what it means to have a relationship with God 00:17:29.559 --> 00:17:36.159 and be His people. But the second aspect of being God's people that we see in this passage 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:46.519 means is recognizing God's all-consuming holiness. Verse 9 to 15, God tells the people, get ready 00:17:46.519 --> 00:17:52.860 for the third day when the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 00:17:53.860 --> 00:18:00.019 And in order to prepare, they're told to do two things. First, to consecrate themselves, 00:18:00.019 --> 00:18:04.879 or that means to be set apart from everything that is unclean or ordinary, 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:10.920 to be devoted and dedicated to God and His purposes. 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:16.940 Now, often in the Old Testament, the process of consecration involves some kind of washing 00:18:16.940 --> 00:18:20.619 or bathing or fasting or sometimes offering a sacrifice. 00:18:20.619 --> 00:18:27.279 Here, they had to wash their clothes, which was no small task in the middle of the desert. 00:18:27.919 --> 00:18:31.939 God provided water from a rock, but again, that would have taken some intentionality. 00:18:32.419 --> 00:18:34.099 Laundry wasn't a daily chore back then. 00:18:35.219 --> 00:18:39.539 And verse 15 says they had to abstain from sexual relations. That's what that verse means. 00:18:39.539 --> 00:18:49.079 It comes across a bit strong to us. But verse 15 is not saying that sexual intimacy is wrong or dirty. 00:18:50.299 --> 00:18:56.339 Eating food is not wrong or dirty, and yet on occasion, God commands His people to fast 00:18:56.339 --> 00:19:05.819 and pray as a way of preparing themselves or focusing specially on God Himself. And so here, 00:19:05.819 --> 00:19:12.399 in order to prepare for the Lord's coming, the people have to temporarily separate themselves 00:19:12.399 --> 00:19:18.980 from what is normally permitted sex within marriage. It's sort of like preparing your house 00:19:18.980 --> 00:19:26.339 for a special guest, except the guest is the King of glory Himself. So first, they have to prepare 00:19:26.339 --> 00:19:33.960 themselves. Second, they have to stay within boundaries. Verse 12 and 13. Verse 12 and 13, 00:19:33.960 --> 00:19:39.420 you shall set limits for the people all around. And this was very serious. It says, whoever touches 00:19:39.420 --> 00:19:46.740 the mountain will be put to death. And they were required to sort of police themselves in that way. 00:19:47.960 --> 00:19:52.960 Now, what we'll see later on in the chapter is that God will come down on the top of the mountain, 00:19:53.079 --> 00:20:00.319 but only Moses could go all the way up into the very presence of God. The elders or the priests 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:03.779 could go partway up the mountain, but not all the way. 00:20:05.740 --> 00:20:08.519 The rest of the people had to remain at the bottom. 00:20:10.220 --> 00:20:14.319 And they were not even allowed to go beyond the edge of the mountain. 00:20:16.019 --> 00:20:20.519 And Mount Sinai is actually very… in that way, Mount Sinai is very much like the tabernacle 00:20:20.519 --> 00:20:27.079 that God is going to instruct Moses about how to build, because there are three main sections 00:20:27.079 --> 00:20:31.000 to the tabernacle. There's the Holy of Holies, the top of the mountain, the presence of God Himself, 00:20:31.379 --> 00:20:37.039 and only the high priest can go in there only once a year. And then there's the holy place 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:42.740 where the priest can go but nobody else. And everybody else has to worship in the outer court. 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:48.579 You see, even if they obeyed all of Moses' instructions and prepared themselves through washing 00:20:48.579 --> 00:20:56.319 and fasting and consecration, the people as a whole were not free to draw near to the presence of God. 00:20:58.899 --> 00:21:05.639 And then in verse 16 through 20, we see the Lord actually descending on Mount Sinai. 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:13.419 And He comes down in a storm with thunder and lightning and a thick cloud. He comes down in fire 00:21:13.420 --> 00:21:18.539 with smoke that spirals up from the mountain. He comes down in an earthquake. The whole mountain 00:21:18.539 --> 00:21:24.519 trembles. And with a trumpet blast that grows louder and louder, it's as if the entire created 00:21:24.519 --> 00:21:36.180 order goes into upheaval and trembles before its creator. Have you ever been outdoors in the middle of 00:21:36.180 --> 00:21:43.980 an open field in a thunderstorm and there's nowhere you can run and nowhere you can hide? 00:21:45.980 --> 00:21:56.840 Or near a fault line and the earth begins to rumble and threatens to cave in? Or have you ever been 00:21:56.840 --> 00:22:03.660 near enough to a fire, a forest fire, some other kind of fire that you can feel the searing heat? 00:22:03.660 --> 00:22:10.040 Or surrounded by deafening sirens which only get louder and louder? And these are only the physical 00:22:10.040 --> 00:22:16.620 manifestations of the presence of God. The spiritual reality of God's presence is far more awe-inducing 00:22:16.620 --> 00:22:27.740 and terror-inspiring. And then in verse 21 to 25, God repeats the warnings. Don't break through the 00:22:27.740 --> 00:22:38.160 boundary or the Lord will break out suddenly and destructively against you. If you look at chapter 20, 00:22:38.220 --> 00:22:46.519 verse 18, we see the people's reaction. It says, when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of 00:22:46.519 --> 00:22:52.599 lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, 00:22:52.599 --> 00:23:03.779 and they stood far off. See, what do we see here? We see that the God of the Bible is a holy God. 00:23:05.480 --> 00:23:14.599 He cannot be approached carelessly or lightly. God is not a game that we can cleverly manipulate 00:23:14.599 --> 00:23:18.179 in order to serve our own ends. His words are not a buffet 00:23:18.180 --> 00:23:27.880 from which you can pick and choose what you want and leave the rest. He's not a box to check off on 00:23:27.880 --> 00:23:34.100 Sunday mornings so that you can go live the other six and a half days of the week without thinking 00:23:34.100 --> 00:23:42.420 of His will. God is not a therapeutic technique to add to our toolbox along with yoga and meditation 00:23:42.420 --> 00:23:50.039 and exercise and whatever else you do that makes you feel good. The Bible says God is a consuming fire. 00:23:51.940 --> 00:23:57.539 He demands and deserves our full and complete allegiance. He is worthy of our reverence and 00:23:57.539 --> 00:24:04.140 awe. And this is not just an Old Testament teaching. We read earlier Hebrews 12, 00:24:05.019 --> 00:24:10.180 which says that the same God who has spoken to us in Jesus Christ is also 00:24:10.180 --> 00:24:15.080 the God who revealed Himself on Mount Sinai. And it says, 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:20.279 let us worship Him with reverence and awe for He is a consuming fire. 00:24:22.380 --> 00:24:30.360 Let me ask you this question. Is this God, the holy God who is a consuming fire, 00:24:31.080 --> 00:24:32.779 is that the God that you worship? 00:24:32.779 --> 00:24:47.079 If not, you're worshiping an idol of your own or someone else's making. There's only one true 00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:55.779 and living God, and He is holy. So, being God's people means relating to Him on His terms and not 00:24:55.779 --> 00:25:03.720 ours. It means recognizing His all-consuming holiness. But third, it means responding to Him 00:25:03.720 --> 00:25:07.480 through His appointed mediator. 00:25:09.480 --> 00:25:19.279 Do you notice that throughout this entire chapter, God and the people never speak directly to each other? 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:26.819 God speaks to Moses. Moses speaks to the people. Sometimes He only speaks to their elders, 00:25:26.940 --> 00:25:31.440 their representatives, and they speak to the people. The people speak to Moses. Moses brings their message 00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:39.319 back to God. Three times, Moses goes up the mountain to God and back down to the people. Verse 3, 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:44.500 Moses goes up to God, and there God speaks to him. Verse 7, He goes down to the people 00:25:44.500 --> 00:25:50.019 and sets before the elders all the Lord's words. Verse 8, the people answer Moses. Moses goes up and 00:25:50.019 --> 00:25:57.079 reports their words to the Lord. Verse 14, He goes down to instruct the people. Verse 20, God calls him to 00:25:57.079 --> 00:26:06.660 the top. Verse 25, Moses goes down to the people. Back and forth, back and forth, up and down. 00:26:06.660 --> 00:26:18.060 Now, what's the point? The point is, Moses is God's appointed mediator. He's the one who stands between 00:26:18.060 --> 00:26:28.620 the people and God. He brings God's words to the people, and he brings the people's response back to 00:26:28.620 --> 00:26:36.019 God. And Moses was a faithful mediator. We see that here. He was faithful in conveying God's words to the 00:26:36.019 --> 00:26:40.259 people, and he was faithful. He was faithful in conveying the people's responses to God. He stood 00:26:40.259 --> 00:26:45.339 between God and the people and went back and forth and back and forth. But you know what? He could never 00:26:45.339 --> 00:26:57.799 bridge that gap. In fact, the gap actually only grows wider throughout this chapter. Notice how 00:26:57.799 --> 00:27:05.400 in the beginning, in verse 8, chapter 19, verse 8, the people are eager and united, and they say, 00:27:05.400 --> 00:27:15.360 all that the Lord has said we will do. But then look at chapter 20, verse 18, or 19, 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:24.000 the people stood far off and said to Moses, you speak to us and we will listen. But don't let God speak 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:35.380 to us lest we die. Verse 21 says, the people stood far off while Moses drew near to the thick darkness 00:27:35.380 --> 00:27:46.720 where God. You see, God revealing himself and his law at Mount Sinai, even with the faithful mediation 00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:53.600 of Moses, does not ultimately bring us near to God. In the end, it only exposes how wide the gap is. 00:27:54.980 --> 00:27:59.720 It shows us the all-consuming holiness of God, but it doesn't make a way for us to enter that 00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:08.220 holy presence with freedom and confidence and joy. In the end, we remain like the Israelites, far off. 00:28:10.140 --> 00:28:12.019 That's where many people live their whole lives. 00:28:15.059 --> 00:28:22.980 Is that you? Perhaps you know that God is real. You have some sense of his great power or his burning 00:28:22.980 --> 00:28:31.700 holiness, and you draw back in fear. You stay at a distance. Maybe you listen in to someone else's 00:28:31.700 --> 00:28:37.140 report. Maybe you look for someone else like Moses to bring a message to God, to pray for you, 00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:44.759 and then to maybe convey some message from God to you. But you are far off. 00:28:44.759 --> 00:28:52.720 If that's you, the good news is that the story of the Bible does not end here. 00:28:55.359 --> 00:29:02.140 It doesn't end with a bare recognition of God's all-consuming holiness. The Bible goes on to tell 00:29:02.140 --> 00:29:08.019 of a better mediator than Moses and a better covenant than the one at Sinai, 00:29:08.019 --> 00:29:12.500 and ultimately a better way through which we can draw near to God. 00:29:14.900 --> 00:29:15.819 Hebrews 12 says, 00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:21.240 You have not come to a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a storm, but you have come 00:29:21.240 --> 00:29:30.759 to the city of the living God and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to his sprinkled 00:29:30.759 --> 00:29:37.940 blood. You see, Moses was a faithful mediator, but Jesus is a much better, 00:29:38.019 --> 00:29:43.859 better mediator. Because unlike Moses, Jesus could and did actually bridge the gap between God, 00:29:44.879 --> 00:29:54.059 the holy, consuming fire, and his sinful people. You see, Jesus doesn't just walk back and forth. 00:29:54.960 --> 00:29:58.900 He doesn't just go from heaven to earth and back up to heaven and heaven to earth and back up to 00:29:58.900 --> 00:30:06.220 heaven. No, he came down from heaven and he became one of us. He took on flesh and blood. He became a real 00:30:06.220 --> 00:30:14.079 human being. He became our brother so that we might know God as our Father. And Jesus didn't just appear 00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:21.220 on top of a mountain so that we can gaze from afar. He came all the way down to meet us in the valley 00:30:21.220 --> 00:30:30.940 of the shadow of death, in the darkest place of our sin and shame. He came down and he entered into the 00:30:30.940 --> 00:30:37.559 depth of the chasm, that unbridgeable gap between God and humanity. That's why he died on the cross. 00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:42.580 That's why there was darkness and an earthquake when he died. 00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:51.980 Because he was carrying our sins into the all-consuming fire of God so that they might be 00:30:51.980 --> 00:31:01.160 extinguished once and for all. And he, the only righteous one, came out the other side on the 00:31:01.160 --> 00:31:08.099 third day, risen from the dead so that we might approach the throne of God's grace with freedom 00:31:08.099 --> 00:31:13.620 and joy and confidence through him. You can draw near to God today through Jesus. 00:31:13.619 --> 00:31:20.839 Jesus, will you do that? Will you trust and rely on him? He's the only one you need. 00:31:21.959 --> 00:31:27.699 And he's the only one who can make a way for you into the presence of the one true and living God. 00:31:29.479 --> 00:31:34.039 And you don't have to go through an elaborate preparation. You don't have to wash your clothes. 00:31:34.479 --> 00:31:40.319 You don't have to fast. You don't have to clean yourself up and put your best stuff on and appear 00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:48.740 as good as you can be and then be told only to the edge of the mountain and no further. 00:31:51.720 --> 00:31:56.679 You see, Jesus accomplished in three days what we never could. 00:31:58.899 --> 00:32:04.960 In three days, he was crucified for our sins. He was buried in the grave and he rose up from the dead. 00:32:05.799 --> 00:32:10.220 And now as our risen and ascended Savior, he has poured out his Holy Spirit that we might 00:32:10.220 --> 00:32:19.380 draw near to him in faith and that he might make his dwelling place not far off, but even within us. 00:32:22.519 --> 00:32:28.319 You might say, where does God show himself in the New Testament like he did at Sinai? 00:32:29.900 --> 00:32:33.279 The surprising answer is on the day of Pentecost. 00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:41.720 According to verse 1, the Israelites came to Mount Sinai on a third new moon, the third lunar month 00:32:41.720 --> 00:32:46.279 after they had gone out of Egypt. They had left Egypt on the 14th day of the first month. 00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:53.079 If you work out the chronology, it works out to approximately 50 days after the Passover and the Exodus 00:32:53.079 --> 00:32:54.920 is when they come to Sinai. 00:32:55.740 --> 00:32:59.839 And 50 days after Passover was the Jewish feast of Pentecost. 00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:09.240 And every spring on Pentecost, the Jewish people remember the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. 00:33:13.079 --> 00:33:19.139 And after Jesus' resurrection, Jesus' followers were gathered together on that day, 00:33:19.259 --> 00:33:24.079 50 days after his resurrection, and God gave his people an even greater gift, 00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:28.720 not the law at Sinai, but his very own spirit. 00:33:29.879 --> 00:33:34.259 Acts 2 says that on the day of Pentecost, the disciples of Jesus were all together in one place, 00:33:34.460 --> 00:33:41.899 and God showed up in power, like at Sinai, in a storm with a mighty rushing wind and in fire. 00:33:41.900 --> 00:33:50.220 But the amazing thing is that the all-consuming fire of God did not just appear from a distance 00:33:50.220 --> 00:33:53.740 and make the people draw back. 00:33:54.820 --> 00:33:59.780 The tongues of fire divided and came to rest on each one of them, 00:34:00.120 --> 00:34:02.820 on each one of the followers of Jesus. 00:34:03.480 --> 00:34:07.500 And the disciples of Jesus were filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit, 00:34:07.500 --> 00:34:11.380 and they began praising God and declaring his mighty works to the ends of the earth 00:34:11.380 --> 00:34:12.719 in all kinds of different languages. 00:34:13.079 --> 00:34:16.480 And they were filled with awe, but they were also filled with joy. 00:34:18.340 --> 00:34:22.099 Because the all-consuming fire that had once descended on Mount Sinai 00:34:22.099 --> 00:34:26.159 had now come to rest in the hearts of God's people 00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:29.980 under the new covenant in Jesus Christ. 00:34:29.980 --> 00:34:36.699 Because Jesus' blood covers us, we won't be burned up. 00:34:37.940 --> 00:34:42.519 We will only be refined and empowered by his Holy Spirit. 00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:44.460 The Apostle Peter said, 00:34:44.579 --> 00:34:48.699 Repent, that means turn to Jesus and be baptized, every one of you, 00:34:49.099 --> 00:34:51.900 in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, 00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:55.599 and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:34:55.599 --> 00:35:00.579 Every time someone repents and turns to Jesus 00:35:00.579 --> 00:35:04.719 and is baptized and officially welcomed into the church, 00:35:04.799 --> 00:35:07.279 the gift of the Holy Spirit is passed on. 00:35:07.980 --> 00:35:12.539 You come to join in to God's kingdom of priests, 00:35:12.659 --> 00:35:15.960 his holy representatives to the world. 00:35:17.199 --> 00:35:20.099 Pentecost is sometimes called the birthday of the church. 00:35:20.099 --> 00:35:25.799 Just like the people of Israel could look back on Mount Sinai, 00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:29.579 we can look back on the day of Pentecost. 00:35:31.319 --> 00:35:34.259 Like the people of Israel could look back at the Passover and the Exodus 00:35:34.259 --> 00:35:36.519 and see God saved us. 00:35:36.579 --> 00:35:40.219 We look back on the death and resurrection of Jesus and see God saved us. 00:35:41.480 --> 00:35:44.900 And then at Mount Sinai, as the people of Israel would look back and say, 00:35:44.980 --> 00:35:46.000 He made us His own. 00:35:46.099 --> 00:35:47.579 We look back on the day of Pentecost, 00:35:47.579 --> 00:35:50.000 and we can see God has made us His own. 00:35:51.039 --> 00:35:52.759 He has called us His own people, 00:35:53.000 --> 00:35:57.759 and He has given us His very own Spirit within us. 00:35:59.039 --> 00:36:00.179 This is good news. 00:36:03.340 --> 00:36:07.619 And our calling is to live this out as rulers and priests 00:36:07.619 --> 00:36:10.860 in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. 00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:11.400 Let's pray. 00:36:11.400 --> 00:36:18.280 Father, we thank you for revealing yourself at Mount Sinai. 00:36:19.900 --> 00:36:26.740 We praise you for showing yourself to us as the holy and all-consuming fire. 00:36:28.240 --> 00:36:29.920 And we praise you for Jesus, 00:36:30.900 --> 00:36:34.320 whose blood speaks a better word to us, 00:36:34.860 --> 00:36:37.500 who is the mediator of a new covenant, 00:36:37.500 --> 00:36:41.079 and who has made a way for us to come freely 00:36:41.079 --> 00:36:44.639 and joyfully and confidently before you. 00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:48.659 We pray that your Holy Spirit would do His good work, 00:36:49.179 --> 00:36:51.039 cleansing and purifying us, 00:36:51.679 --> 00:36:52.719 empowering us, 00:36:53.139 --> 00:36:55.460 and enabling us to be your witnesses, 00:36:56.280 --> 00:36:58.320 your kingdom of priests to the ends of the earth. 00:36:59.239 --> 00:37:00.780 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:37:01.199 --> 00:37:01.480 Amen. 00:37:01.480 --> 00:37:01.619 Amen. 00:37:01.960 --> 00:37:02.480 Amen. 00:37:02.480 --> 00:37:02.539 Amen. 00:37:02.539 --> 00:37:03.480 Amen.