If you would, go ahead and turn
with me again to Exodus chapter 24. While you're turning, let
me say that in our last study, we saw how that Moses was a type
of Christ. Christ, that one and only mediator
between God and men. In the wilderness, God never
spoke to Israel unless it was through Moses. And it's the same
in our wilderness. We live in times where men claim
to see God. Men claim that God speaks to
them directly. I've heard men stand up and rattle
off some things and then say, thus saith the Lord. But God
doesn't communicate that way. God who at sundry times and in
divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets. God raised up a man in the Old
Testament that would tell the truth about him and about man.
That's how God spoke. But he hath in these last days
spoken unto us by his Son. If God ever speaks to you, it'll
be by His Son. I wish folks understood that.
It'll be in the language of God's Spirit found in this book. Matter
of fact, that text there in Hebrews chapter one says, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by, the word his is italicized. It means it was added. He's spoken
unto us by son. It's a spiritual language. And
it's a language that's heard through the preaching of Christ
as he's revealed in God's word. And that's just the way that
God ordained it, through preaching. That's why it's so important
to hear preaching. And here's the significance of
that. If God ever speaks to you, it'll be by His Son through this
book. And the significance of that
is, it takes away every reason for a man or a woman to glory
in their salvation. If salvation is of the Lord,
then it's not of man. We've talked about that many
times. It can't be a boat. Paul wrote to the Galatians,
and he said, I certify you, brethren. That simply means I want you
to know this more than anything else. I certify you. I want you
to know this, that the gospel, the message of Christ, the message
of eternal life in God the Son, he said, which was preached to
me, preached by me, the message that I looked you in the eye,
and the message that I declared to you from my heart." He said,
it's not after me. And it's not. Paul said, I didn't
receive it of man. Man didn't teach it to me. It
came by the revelation of Jesus Christ. That word revelation
means manifested. And you can't teach a dead heart. Only God can give a new one.
And if God ever speaks to you, it won't be in an unknown tongue
that needs interpreting. God speaks to us in, by, and
through the Lord Jesus Christ. He reveals the gospel to us through
the preaching of the gospel declared in this book. And Christ is the
word, and Christ is the light, and Christ is the revelation.
Paul went on to say a little further in chapter 1 of Galatians
He said when it pleased God who? Separated me from my mother's
womb child of God if you're ever saved it was God it was pleased
to save you it was God who? Separated you from your mother's
womb and called you by his grace And he did all that to reveal
his son in you It's by divine revelation Is salvation of man
or God? Christ is that light that shines
in darkness. Christ is that light which natural
man does not comprehend. He can't comprehend it. He doesn't
have the ability to comprehend it. Why? Because he's dead. That's
why. He cannot receive the things
of the Spirit of God because they're what? Spiritually discerned. The word discerned in that text
means the things of God are to be closely examined and thoroughly
inspected in a spiritual way. But we're dead in sin, so we
can't receive the things of God's Spirit. It's like a foreign language
to us. The Son's language is foreign
language to a natural man. God's got to give us life. Now
if you're here tonight and you have an interest in the Lord
Jesus Christ, I'm telling you unequivocally it was God that
gave you that interest. No question in my mind that it
was God. And that's a good sign since
God is pleased to use the very means of preaching to save them
that believe. Paul said, woe, grief and despair
unto me if I preach not the Gospel. Not if I don't preach, but if
I don't preach the truth about Christ and Him crucified. That's the only way sinners are
saved. Woe unto me, grief and despair if I don't preach Christ
and Him crucified. To preach how to live, to preach
how to love, to preach how to give. to preach all that you
must do in order to be saved. That's not preaching. That's
not preaching the gospel. And what I'm trying to say is
this, Exodus chapter 24, just like every other chapter in this
holy book, is about the Lord Jesus Christ and how God saves
rotten, worthless, wretched worms. Do you mind being called a worm?
Well, that's what God calls us. And it's a very appropriate name. Worms don't have any limbs. They
don't have any arms and legs. That's a pretty good description
of me. I can do nothing for myself.
Worms don't have eyes. They can't see. They're blind.
Blind to spiritual things is what we are. All worms do is
wiggle in the filth of this world. And in the Messianic Psalm of
Psalm chapter 22, when David in prophecy speaks of Christ,
he said, I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised
of the people. And that word worm there actually
means maggot. That's how God sees us in our
sin. And it takes the grace of God. I'm telling you it does. It takes
the grace of God for a man or a woman to take sides with God
against themselves. And it takes a divine revelation
from God for a man or a woman to see, to know, and to understand
and confess. honestly, anyway, before God
and the rest of the world, that they're a worm, that they're
a maggot in the eyes of a thrice holy God. But the gospel is good
news for those who are chosen among these wretched worms. And it's not a bad thing to be
God's worm. But God saves sinners. God saves
worms. God saves maggots. What is man
that thou art mindful of him? He's just a worm, but God's mindful
of His worms. I don't have much trouble agreeing
with God on what I am, but to think that Christ was made to
be what His people are, a worm and no man, He said. A worm and
no man. To think that Christ, who knew
no sin, who did no sin, who thought no sin, was made to be sin. Made to be a worm. Made to be
a maggot. Because that's what I am. So
that worms, the worms that we are, might be made the very righteousness
of God in Him. I'll never get over that. I'll
never be able to fathom that in this finite mind. And some
think it blasphemous to think of Christ being made sin. Am I saying that Christ was a
sinner? No, He knew no sin. But I'm saying
what the Apostle Paul said, and I'm saying what God said. He,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, was made to be sin. That was my sin. That was your
sin, child of God, that was put on Him that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. And we talk about this every
single service. Oh, that God might make it effectual
to our hearts. I am the very righteousness of
God. I stand before God perfect, complete, holy, just and righteous
because Christ took my sin and He put it away. That's what Exodus
chapter 24 is about. It's about mediation. It's about
substitution. It's about Christ, the ultimate
sacrifice for sin. I'm repeating myself on purpose. If you ever intend for God to
hear you, if you ever intend for God to answer your prayers,
if you ever intend for God to save your soul, it'll be through
God's appointed mediator. You can't come to Christ by the
works of the law. To do so, you have to keep the
whole law, and you have to keep the whole law perfectly. Isn't
that what James said? If you offend in one point, you're
guilty of the whole law. You've heard it a thousand times,
but it's true. It must be perfect to be accepted.
God won't accept anything less than perfection. And as we saw
last time, God made a covenant of works with Israel, and God
gave them the Ten Commandments. And then God gave them the moral
law, and then God gave them the ceremonial law. All of it was
the law of God. And if you offended in one point,
in any of it, the Ten Commandments, the moral law, the ceremonial
law, well, you were guilty of the whole law. That's why the
law can't save. Paul said because it was weak
through the flesh. That's our flesh. That mean our
flesh. But now we see by the revelation
of the New Testament scriptures that the law of works, this covenant
of works, gives way to a new covenant. Gives way to what Paul
calls a better testament in which the Lord Jesus Christ was made
a surety. Oh, I like that word in and of
itself. Surety. Let me show you that. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
seven. Keep your place in Exodus 24.
We'll come back. Look at Hebrews chapter seven,
if you would. Hebrews 7 verse 22. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament. And they truly were many priests
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
But this man, speaking of the Lord Jesus, is a surety of a
better testament. I wonder why. Well, he tells
us, verse 24, because he continues forever. He is an unchangeable
priesthood, and he's able to save to the uttermost. Who? The whole world? No. Them that
come to God by him, he tells us right here. Those that come
to God by him, oh, they're saved to the uttermost. How does that
unchangeable priesthood apply to Christ? How is it that Christ
saves His elect to the uttermost? Because He ever liveth. He forever
lives to make intercession for them. And as a man, He was made
under the law, we know that. As a perfect man, He fulfilled
the law. As the God-man, He saves to the
uttermost. And there's not a single thing
for us to add. Not a thing. Now, is that a glorious
thought to you? Nothing for you to add. Nothing
for you to do. It's done. It's finished. If
you need a high priest before God, that'll be glorious to you. I'm telling you that. That Jesus
Christ is your high priest. It won't be glorious to anyone
who thinks that they can appease God by their own work. but it'll
be glorious to a sinner, one that sees they can do nothing,
that they have nothing, they are nothing. Look at verse 26. For such a high priest became
us. That means it's suitable to us. Why? Because he's holy and he's
harmless and he's undefiled and he's separate from sinners and
he's made higher than the heavens. He's everything that we need.
I love that little course, Jesus Christ has made to me all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. He's made all those things to
me. Look at verse 27. The Lord Jesus, who needeth not
daily as those high priests, speaking of the high priest of
the law, to offer up sacrifice, first for His own sins, and then
for the people's. For this He did once when He
offered Himself. For the law maketh men high priest,
which have infirmity, they have sin. But the word of oath, which
was since the law, maketh the son who is consecrated. And that word means perfected,
perfected forevermore. Only one who is perfect, only
one who is perfect can forever intercede for us. The priest
of old, well they were sinners too. They had to offer sacrifice
for their own sin. And they died like every other
sinner because of sin. But the Lord Jesus consecrated. He's perfected forevermore. That's
why death in the grave couldn't hold him. Because he was perfect. He perfectly fulfilled the law
of God. Now, Exodus 24, we see exactly
that. We see the perfect sacrifice
and the substitution of Christ and that sacrifice that Moses
made unto God. And it's only by and through
the blood that God accepted Israel's sacrifice. It was only because
of who? That Lamb Petrie. The Lord Jesus. And whose blood that represented. You remember last week, we looked
at it, when Christ was sacrificed on Calvary's cross for the sins
of God's elect. He as our substitute said, He
said, all that the Lord hath said, I will do. And I have done
and it's finished for I have been obedient. That's exactly
what here in Exodus chapter 24 verse 7 we're told that Moses
took the book of the covenant, look at it with me, and read
it in the audience of the people and they said, all that the Lord
hath said we will do and be obedient. Yet, as we'll see very shortly
in their very next act, they broke their covenant with God
in the making and worshiping of a golden calf that they called
God and attributed their salvation to. So they broke the covenant
before they even got started. But here, In chapter 24, because
of the sacrifice that Moses made, verse 9 tells us that Moses,
and Aaron, and Nadab, and Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel saw
the God of Israel. And according to verse 11, God
laid not his hand on them, and they saw God, and they did eat
and drink. How is that possible? They saw
God which no man can see and live. God didn't lay a hand on
them. Why? because God was satisfied
with that sacrifice that Moses, as their mediator, made. And
friends, God is satisfied with the sacrifice that Christ, our
mediator, made. And that's what we have a picture
of here. That's why Christ is the mediator of a better covenant
and the surety of a better testament. Now, after Moses finished the
work that God gave Him to do, we read in verse 12, look at
it with me. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Come up to Me and to the mount, and be there, and I will give
thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have
written, that thou mayest teach them. And Moses rose up and his
minister Joshua, and Moses went up into the mount of God. Now
we know, we've said it several times, that Moses is a type of
Christ, our mediator. And in addition to that, we know
that Joshua is also a type of Christ. His name means Jesus,
same name, it means Savior. And it'll be Joshua who God raises
up after Moses to lead Israel into the land of promise. Therefore,
God here is showing us that Joshua, he calls Joshua up with Moses
to show the children of Israel that Joshua was also God's minister. And in verse 13, it says he's
a minister to Moses. And God calling Moses and Joshua
up to Mount Sinai After Moses finished the work and made that
sacrifice of blood, we see a picture here of God the Father calling
our Lord and Savior up into Mount Zion. The city of the living
God, it's called, the heavenly Jerusalem. Heaven's glory is
what that's talking about. After he finished the work that
God gave him to do. And this is so important. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ and His ascension into Heaven's glory, often referred
to as Mount Sinai, is every believer's guarantee. It's every believer's
guarantee that they've been redeemed and accepted of God. By the resurrection
of Christ, God declares to His people that He's satisfied. Their
sin's been put away forever. Revealed to God's elect that
Christ must first do something for God before He could ever
do anything for His people. Christ fulfilled the law, but
it was for God. Yes, it was in the place of God's
people. But it was God that was offended.
It was all sins against Him. David said, you be justified
when you speak concerning me, because of all my sins against
you, against thee and thee only have I sinned. All have sinned
against him, sinned against his law, sinned against his justice. And Christ's substitution declared
God's holiness, and declared God's righteousness, and declared
God's justice. How, you might ask? By voluntarily
subjecting himself. to Calvary's cross, Christ declared
God's righteousness in punishing sin, even when that sin, and
especially when that sin was found on Christ himself. God
is so righteous, God is so just, that he could never compromise
his justice, even if it meant sparing his son. The soul that
sins, it shall die, even if it's found on God the Son. I love
what the Holy Spirit said in Isaiah chapter 42 verse 21. It says, the Lord is well pleased
for His righteousness sake. The Lord's pleased with what
the Lord did. He'll magnify the law and He'll
make it honorable. And He did. He did. And He did
it for God and all God's elect are His beneficiaries. It pleased
the Lord to bruise Him. It was the Lord that put Christ
to grief. Why? You know why. Because our
sin was found on Him. And the wages of sin is death.
The pleasure of the Lord prospered in His hand. God saw the travail
of His soul and God was what? Satisfied. Isn't that the gospel? God satisfied. Because of Christ's
blood, sacrifice and offering. And because of Christ's blood
and sacrifice and offering, He's now satisfied with me. In Christ,
mercy and truth are met together. And righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Here we have a picture of Christ
entering into His glory. Look at verse 15. And Moses went
up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. And the glory
of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered
it six days. And the seventh day he called
unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the
glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount
in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the
midst of the cloud and get him up into the mount. And Moses
was in the mount 40 days and 40 nights. Now this cloud was
the glory of God. It was God's presence. It covered
the mountain for six days. God made Moses wait six days. Then on the seventh day, God
called Moses into the midst of the cloud, and Moses entered
into God's glory. As you know in the Bible, six
days speaks of labor. God created the heavens and the
earth in six days, and on the seventh day, he rested. The seventh day speaks of rest.
After Christ finished the work that God gave Him to do, in John
chapter 17, the Lord prayed this. He said, I have glorified thee
on earth. I have finished the work which
thou gave me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. Christ had glory with God before
the world was made because Christ is God. When Christ returned
to heaven, when He ascended unto glory, He returned then as the
God-man. There's a man in glory. That's
my hope of ever being there. When Christ arose from the dead,
He entered into His rest because His work was finished. And when
I was crucified with Him, I was buried with Him, and I arose
with Him, and I ascended into Heaven with Him. And in Him as
my substitute, my work is finished. He finished it for me. And all
I have to do is rest. Hebrews 1.3 says, when he, Christ,
had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand
of God on the majesty on high. Why did he sit down? His work
was finished. Speaking of the Lord Jesus, the writer of Hebrews
said, he that entered into his rest, he has also ceased from
his own works as God did from his. All who believe in and on
the Lord Jesus Christ enter into his rest. His rest, and it's
ours through Him and in Him and by Him. Christ is our Sabbath. He's our perpetual Sabbath rest. God has in Christ provided for
us all that we need for acceptance with Him. And this ascension
by Moses going up into the mountain and entering into the cloud to
commune with God is a type and a picture of the ascension of
the Lord Jesus into glory by the completion of His work. And
did you notice what God told Moses in verse 12? God said,
I'll give thee tables of stone and a law and commandments which
I've written that thou mayest teach thee. Look at verse 14. He said, Unto the elders tarry
ye here for us, until we come again unto you. And behold, Aaron
and Hur are with you. If any man have any matters to
do, let him come unto them. You know, as God entrusted Moses
to instruct the children of Israel, God the Father entrusted the
Lord Jesus to instruct His people in the Gospel. Also see in these
verses that Moses left the children of Israel under shepherds until
he returned. And Christ gives his pastors
to his church to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. So many
illustrations we have here of what Christ fulfilled in the
new. How do we gather into Christ and heavenly sign? Here. How do we enter into this glory
with Christ now? just as we are tonight. We gather
in God's local assemblies to hear the gospel preached through
Christ, which teaches us in spirit and in truth something of Himself.
God reveals Himself to us, and the Lord teaches us some things
concerning the Law. Has He taught you some things
concerning the Law? He teaches us that He fulfilled
the Law, and that everything that the prophets declared concerning
Him are fulfilled also. He teaches us from Heaven the
same way as He taught those things that day on the Sermon on the
Mount. In Matthew chapter 5 verse 17,
the Lord said, think not that I am come to destroy the law
or the prophets. I am come not to destroy, but
to fulfill. Now listen, this is just so simple. We make it so hard, so much harder
than what it is. But Christ came and he fulfilled
the law. He fulfilled God's law. And Christ
fulfilled the prophets. He was everything that the law
pictured. He was everything that the law
typified. And Christ was everything that
the prophets foretold. Christ fulfilled the law. You
see, to fulfill is to fill up. So full that nothing can be added. That's what Christ did for us.
He filled up so that nothing can be added by us. He fulfilled
the law and the prophets so that nothing can be added by the work
of our hands. It's finished. It's done. Nothing
for us to do but to rest. And when we do, we see the glory
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 17 and I'll finish.
And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire
on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
And Moses went into the midst of the cloud and get him up into
the mount. And Moses was in the mount 40
days and 49. Now let me say this to you and
I'll finish. If we attempt to come to God
by the works of the law, We shall behold the glory of Christ like
a devouring, consuming fire. But if we come to Christ through
faith in Him, trusting and believing that He's done for us everything
that God required of us, we shall behold Christ's glory in the
light of favor and acceptance with Him. Which way do you desire
to come? through the covenant of works
or through the covenant of grace. Oh, I'm telling you for the elect
of God, the wrath and judgment of God fell on Christ and it
exhausted and it extinguished itself on Him. And God is satisfied. And God said that's enough. Christ
said it's finished. And His law and His justice is
appeased. That's good news. for one that's
trusting in Him and Him alone. Every true redeemed child of
God can now justly say before God, all that the Lord has said
we have done. They can honestly say that. All
that the Lord has said we have done for we have been obedient. How have I been obedient? through
Christ my mediator, through Christ my substitute, doing for me what
I can't and couldn't do for myself. And there again, we have the
gospel. Oh, may God enable us to truly
and effectually believe it.