Let's all turn back to that passage
I just read in Exodus 19. This, what we read is concerning Moses
going up into the mount and getting the law. I've titled this message this
evening, Mount Sinai, Grace Confirmed, because we shall see in this
passage that grace overshadowed the law. This site of the law, scripture
says, as we read, was smoke, it was on fire, lightning, thunder,
All these things. And the people, it scared the
people to death, but not only that, it says in Hebrews 12,
21, and so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly
fear and quake. And he had just met with God.
God just told him, you go down and get the people ready. And
I kind of thought, you know, that's true today, isn't it?
Thunders and lightning, that's one thing we're afraid of, God
speaking. Exodus 31, 18 says this, and
he gave unto Moses, when he had made it end of communing with
him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone
written with the finger of God. And the tables were the work
of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the
tables. Two tables. One was concerning
man's responsibility toward God. That was the Ten Commandments.
The second one was man's responsibility to his fellow man. Remember when
the Pharisees asked the Lord, what's the greatest commandment?
He said, you'll love the Lord your God with all your soul,
heart, mind. And the second one's likened
to the first. You'll love your neighbor as yourself. Well, that's
what is exactly on the tables that Moses received on the Mount. And I was thinking about this.
It said that it was the work of God, the tables. God made
the tables. And I got thinking, And we go
to these cemeteries and you look at all these marble headstones
and the nice graving on them. But this was made by the hand
of God. How much greater and better and more beautiful was
the writing and the making of this tablet? Far better than
we can imagine. Just a thought. Now, exactly what was, or what is,
rather, the purpose of the law? Here's what Paul says in Galatians
3.17. It establishes this. This is
what the law is all about. Paul says, and this I say, that
the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, that
covenant that was made with Abraham, when he said in Isaac, thy seed
shall be called. In Isaac, all the nations of
the earth shall be blessed. That was the covenant made with
Christ. That's what he says, and this
I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before God in Christ,
the law, the law, what Moses just received on these tablets,
the law which was 430 years after or later, cannot disannul that it should make the promise
of none effect. The law did not negate the covenant. The law was not given for righteousness
sake. We are unable to keep that law
simply because we're sinners. The Lord says, by the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified. So Paul asks the question in
Galatians 3.19, he says, wherefore then serveth the law? It was
added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to
whom the promise was made. The law was given to Israel to
follow and to obey the law. And there was no difference between
then and now. It was all by faith. Remember
the covenant with Abraham was a covenant of faith, but the
law was given and they had to keep that law, but it was never
meant, it was never meant as a means of salvation. In Galatians
3.24, Paul says, wherefore the law was our schoolmaster, our
teacher. to bring us unto Christ, that
we may be justified by faith. It's a teacher. That's it. It's good and holy. Romans 7,
7 says this, what shall we say then? Here again, Paul's writing
to the Romans. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Is
it bad? Is it wrong for us? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but
by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law had said, thou shalt not covet. The law teaches us,
when we as believers read the law, we see how far short we
come from the glory of God. The law is the verbal expression
of God himself, God's righteousness. Romans 7.12 says this, wherefore
the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. We must never ever think that
the law is something bad, wrong. It is if we use it to justify
ourselves, we know that, but that's not what the scripture
teaches. Paul said that, I read it in Galatians 3.17, that the
covenant was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which
was 430 years after, cannot disannul. It can't be done. Now Moses, in our text, well,
not here, but I'm going to have you turn to Exodus 32, verse
one. Moses was 40 days in the mount. receiving the law of God. And the law he received went
far beyond what was written on those tablets. If you read through
Exodus, you'll see all the commandments God gave
for the tabernacle and the method of worship in the tabernacle
and all these things, which was quite lengthy. And he was up
there 40 days. just like the Lord was 40 days
in the wilderness being tempted. Exodus 32 verse one says, and
when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the
mount, the people gathered themselves together under Aaron and said
unto him, up, make us gods which shall go before us. For as for
this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
we want not what has become of him. And you think about, they saw
all these miracles at the Red Sea and other miracles, and they
were so quick, so quick. Scripture says they didn't have
faith mixed in them, that's the reason why. Exodus 32, two, let's
read on. And Aaron said unto them, break
off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives,
of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all
the people break off the golden earrings which were in their
ears and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their
hand and fashioned it with a graving tool after he had made it a molten
calf. And they said, these be thy gods,
O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. The Lord had told Moses at that
time, you remember Moses is still on the Mount, the Lord says,
you need to get down and see these people, they've corrupted
themselves. And God said, I'll tell you what,
he says, I'm just gonna destroy this whole people, and I'll make
of you a great nation, talking to Moses. And Moses said, or
Moses made intercessions, what happened, and God rescinded that
decree. Next is 32, 19, it says, and
it came to pass as soon as he came nigh into the camp that
he saw the calf and the dancing. And Moses' anger waxed hot and
he cast the tables out of his hands and broke them beneath
the mount. Here was a picture of the broken
law. That perfect cut stone printed
by the hand of God was broken. God's perfection in the Garden
of Eden. He saw that it was all good.
He created man innocent, and man disobeyed and rebelled. And
so this points back to that broken law. Now turn over to Exodus 34.1,
let's read that. Exodus 34 verse one says, and
the Lord said unto Moses, hew thee two tables of stone, like
unto the first, and I will write upon these tables the words that
were in the first tables, which thou breakest. Here, God, Jehovah, told Moses
to carve the stones first time, God made the stones. This time,
he asked Moses to hew the stones. You make the stones, you prepare
them, and you bring them up the mountain, I'll write on them. This is a picture of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ, in his humanity. When he went up
to the mount, and God wrote on that, those two stones, and he
brought them down. Here was Christ, picture of our
Lord, coming down from heaven, coming down from the mount, coming
down from his glory to take on flesh for his people. Exodus
34, two says, and be ready in the morning and come up in the
morning unto Mount Sinai and present thyself there to me in
the top of the mount. He's going up the second time.
And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be
seen throughout all the mount, neither let the flocks nor herds
feed before that mount. And he hewed two tables of stone
like unto the first, and Moses rose up early in the morning
and went up into Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him,
and took in his hand the two tables of stone. Here we see,
here we see, like I said, the Lord Jesus Christ, a picture. He came down with that law written
on his heart. He says in Psalm, I believe it's
Psalm 119, he said, in thy law do I meditate day and night. He kept that law perfectly, he
kept that law perfectly. But here we see in the Mount,
in Sinai, we see the law, and now we see it overshadowed by
grace, and we'll see that here a little better in a minute.
Paul says, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. The
stones were broken, so now what do we do? Exodus 34, five says this. Well,
wait a minute, you turn with me to that. Let's go to Exodus
34, five. Let's read it together. Because here is grace. The first
time he went up, there was lightning and thunder and black clouds
and darkness to where Moses set out. It scared him to death.
Exodus 34, verse five. And the Lord descended in the
cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the
Lord. No blackness, no darkness, no
thunder, no lightning, just a cloud. Remember when the Israel come
out of Egypt, the cloud led them by day and fire by night. When
the tabernacle was set up, the cloud stopped and stood over
the tabernacle. And here that cloud, God descends
in that cloud. Not thunder and lightning, I
was thinking, When I read this, remember Elijah? When he was
running from Jezebel, Ahab's wife, she threatened to kill
him. He went up into the mountain, went in a cave, and it says that
there was a earthquake. It says the Lord wasn't in the
earthquake. He's looking out that cave and the ground's shaking. He's looking out there and the
wind starts blowing and starts blowing rocks off the mountain.
It was so terrible. The scripture says the Lord wasn't
in that wind. And then finally there was fire.
And the scripture again says the Lord was not in the fire. And then it says, and there was
a still small voice. And God was in that small voice.
That was the Lord speaking. The same way he speaks to every
one of his sheep. It's not by might or power, he
says, but by my spirit. He doesn't use strength to come
to his people to make them aware. That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
He does it in gentleness and kindness and love. Exodus 34, five again, and the
Lord ascended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed
the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering
and abundant in goodness and truth. And every believer, true
believer, will say, I've seen it, that's true. He is gracious,
merciful, Time, long suffering. I have
to admit that, and I'm sure you have, too. You do, too. I'm looking
at people here tonight that, sure, we all have our troubles,
but most of us are old, too, and we look at the long suffering
of the Lord, how he has kept us, and how much mercy he's shown
us. He's not dealt with us according
to our sins, he says, Oh, what a blessing. But here is the gospel. This is a preaching of the gospel
on Mount Sinai. That's what it's all about. Even
on Sinai, as I said earlier, the gospel overshadows the law. And we don't take anything away
from the law, oh no, we don't dare that, we don't disperse
the law. The law is good and holy, as
I said earlier. And he says in verse seven, keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
sin, and that we'll by no means clear the guilty, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's
children unto the third and to the fourth generation. Keeping mercy, he says, for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. That only comes by grace. That only comes by grace. You
don't get that by the law, no matter how good it is, how perfect
it is, and it is good and perfect because it represents God himself,
the very essence of God, Jehovah. Verse eight says, and Moses made
haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. This
is the gospel. Now in that text it says, it
begins back in verse six, it says, and the Lord, capital L,
capital O, capital R, capital D, the Lord. Is he just talking
about God the Father? No. He's talking about there,
he says the triune God, the great three in one, all three, the
Father who chose in eternal covenant with the Son to save a people,
he is alleged. The Son who redeemed, gave himself
a ransom for sin of those chosen, took it away, took it away. What amazing grace, what amazing
grace. And of course the third is being
the Holy Spirit, and we must not, We, let's see how I can
put this. The Holy Spirit is a person,
just like the Son is a person, just like the Father is a person.
We'll explain that, Neil. I can't, I can't. But we know
that there are three distinct people in one, in one essence,
the Lord Jehovah. There's a scripture in, Well,
I didn't look it up, but I'll just quote this, because I think
this is so good. I love this. The apostle Philip, he asked
the Lord, our Savior, he says, show us the Father and it will
satisfy us. It'll satisfy us is what he said.
Show us the Father and it'll satisfy us. And the Lord says
this, have I been so long with you, Philip, and thou has not
known me? He that has seen me has seen
the Father. Christ, our Savior. Christ, our
God. Christ, our Lord. He is our Lord. He's Lord of the whole earth. He's always been Lord. God made
him Lord. You don't make Christ Lord. These
false preachers will say, well, make him Lord of your life. No,
he's already Lord. We see in Christ Jesus the goodness
of God who met all the demands of Sinai. From the time he was
born till the time he died, he kept that law perfectly. I was
thinking today about a scripture that says, by the deeds of the
law, no flesh will be justified. He's talking about sinners. I'm
a sinner, you're a sinner. Christ, our Lord, was not a sinner. He was made sin, he took upon
himself our sins, but he was not a sinner. And so he kept
that law perfectly. And he went to that bloody cross
and died, and because he did those things and he did it perfectly,
God accepted of that and raised him from the dead. That is the
gospel. To those who reject the gospel,
who with all that's been shown here,
especially we go back to this Israel. They saw all the miracles
that God had performed, but What did they do, Romans 2.4 says,
despiseth thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance.
Do you despise this? Has he not been good to every
one of us? Oh yes, especially this sinner, he's been good.
I don't see it like I ought to, I don't thank him like I ought
to, but he's been good. Despiseth thou the riches of
his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. He proclaimed on Sinai his goodness,
his long-suffering. He preached the gospel, and that's
why I said Mount Sinai was his grace confirmed. It overshadowed
the law. And in closing, this despising
the riches of his goodness. You think about every man, woman,
boy, and girl that lives on this earth, because they draw breath
and we breathe God's air, he's good to us. If we're alive, he's
good to us. We're not in hell. This is what will sentence men
to hell, rejecting the goodness of God. because it's gonna come
up on judgment day. It really is. God's gonna say,
how about this and this and this? You didn't, you didn't. You didn't
give me credit. You wouldn't have anything to
do with me, and I remain good to you. And that's gonna be a
judgment. We think about Sinai, I was thinking
about this today. We think about Sinai, and Moses
said, I exceedingly fear and quake Imagine what it's going
to be like on Judgment Day when men are going to be either cast
into hell or accepted into the presence of Jesus Christ. This
is serious stuff. This is serious. This is the
most serious thing we'll ever face in this life. And I think about how weak I
am It's a sad thing that I don't,
I can't grasp the full reality. I guess that's the best way to
put it. I can't grasp the full reality of what this life is
all about. As I said Sunday, it's not about
me and you. Oh no, it's all about the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's his honor and his glory
and his salvation and his truth. And that's what's gonna win out
in the end. Now the question is, whose side are we on? Whose side are we on? And lastly,
let me just quote this scripture along those same lines. Paul
says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? And that word neglect there is
something that we need to study on because he's not just talking
about unsaved people. He's writing to, I don't know,
I didn't look up the scripture, but it's probably the Romans
or Hebrews, one of the two. How shall we escape if we as
Christians neglect so great a salvation? It's a sad thing. There's gonna
be a lot of people in judgment, Dave, that's gonna say, Lord, we've
done this in your name. We've done that. And the awfulness
of being cast into hell for eternity makes me shudder. And it ought
to make all of us shudder. It ought to make all of us shudder.
It ought to make all of us think, are we gonna change our position
in this life? No, but we can seek the Lord.
We've got a Bible to read. There'll be no excuses on judgment
day. You can go down here to the store and buy a Bible and
read it. Just read it. That's all you
have to do. And ask God to show it to you.
That's what the Lord says. Come unto me. Come, come, come. So that's the issue on Mount
Sinai. We tend to kind of push Sinai
in the back row because The law, we're not under the law now as
far as righteousness goes. We're not bound to keep the law,
but listen, God's given us a new heart, and the scripture says
he writes his law upon our heart. Do we love it? Not as I ought
to, I know that. Not as I wish I could. So with
that, I'll close. And I pray the Lord would bless
that message to our hearts and teach us something that grace
was in the Old Testament just like it's in the new. Okay, Gary.