Okay, turn with me again to Exodus
chapter 20, if you would please. I want to do my best to show
you one more time the Gospel. The word Gospel, as you know,
means good news. It's certainly good news for
sinners. And the word Gospel is used 104 times in the New
Testament only. It's referred to as the Gospel
of the blessed God. It's called the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of the grace of God. Paul said, this is my gospel.
He called it the gospel of peace, the gospel of your salvation.
John called it the everlasting gospel. Paul said in another
place, don't be moved away from the truth of the gospel and the
hope of the gospel. The gospel is what sinners need.
We all need a revelation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And you'd be surprised at how
few really know why and how Christ died for our sins. So let me
first ask, what do you feel when you read the 20th chapter of
Exodus? What emotion overtakes you when
you read and consider the Ten Commandments? Now, we read through
them last week. I know you've read through them
yourself before. But what emotion comes over you
when you read the Ten Commandments given in this chapter? Is it
fear? When you read the Ten Commandments
and see the character of God Almighty, and that's what God's
law certainly displays, the character of God. And when you put your
life against the life of God, and your holiness against the
holiness of God, and your righteousness against the righteousness of
God. And how about your thoughts? How about if you put your thoughts
next to God's thoughts? Do you become fearful? Well,
we should. We should. But this is the first
step to faith in Christ. And that's a very good sign that
life has already been given. And that's exactly why the law
was given, to bring God's people to faith in Christ. That's exactly
what Paul said in Galatians 3. He said, wherefore the law was
our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we may be what? He said, justified by faith.
That's what God must do for us. He's got to give us faith. And
as we saw last time, God had just given the Ten Commandments.
And in verse 18, we're immediately told, look at it again, all the
people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise
of the trumpet. and the mountain smoking. And
when the people saw it, they removed. That word means scattered. They ran. And they stood afar
off. They were flat afraid. They were
full of fear. When God reveals Himself in His
law, Men and women then see that it's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. Now stick your marker here
in Exodus 20 and turn with me for a few minutes to Hebrews
chapter 10, if you would. Hebrews chapter 10. We'll come
back to Exodus 20. And I want you to see a few verses
here. Hebrews 10, 28. It says here, he that despised
Moses' law, any man or woman that despised Moses' law, the
law of God, died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
Of how much sorer punishment, worse punishment, more severe
punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath
trodden underfoot the Son of God? and hath counted the blood
of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,
and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace. For we know
him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense,
saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge
his people. How's the Lord going to judge
his people? He's going to judge according
to his holy law. He's going to judge according
to his holy justice. In verse 31, it's a fearful thing. Oh, it's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. Now there's only one problem
with the holy law of God. It's not a problem with the law,
it's a problem with us. We're the problem. And if you
look back in our text in Exodus 20, you can let your place go
in Hebrews. Again, verse 18, and all the
people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise
of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people
saw it, they were moved and stood afar off. The law without the
gospel is a fearful and terrifying thing. Let me say that one more
time. The law without the gospel is
a fearful and terrifying thing. And I rejoice tonight to tell
you that right in the middle here of Exodus chapter 20, the
Lord, given His law, the Ten Commandments, we have the gospel. I hope that God will enable me
to show you that. The law without the gospel is
a fearful and terrifying thing. The psalmist tells us that the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. He said, a good understanding
have all they that do his commandment. Solomon said, the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and
instruction. Solomon later concluded, the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge
of the holy is understanding. People saw the thundering and
the lightning, and I can assure you that that wasn't normal thunder
and lightning. And this thunder and lightning
shook the ground and it lit up the heavens. The Lord asked Job,
He said, Has thou an arm like God, or canst thou thunder with
a voice like Him? In Revelation chapter 14, John
said, and I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters
and as the voice of a great thunder. This thunder on Mount Sinai,
it was the voice of God. One day the Lord Jesus spoke
to His heavenly Father and He said, Father, glorify Thy name. And then came a voice from heaven
saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. And the people therefore that
stood by and heard it said that it thundered. And others said
an angel spoke to Him. Oh, this thunder on Sinai, friends,
was the voice of God. And again, verse 18, and the
people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise
of the trumpet. Now, I can't spend much time
on this in preaching, but I spent a great deal of time on it in
study. This is no ordinary trumpet.
This was the trumpet of God. This noise of the trumpet wasn't
being blown by a ram's horn in Israel. No, sir, this trumpet
was being blown by God on Mount Sinai. Zechariah 9, verse 14
says, And the Lord God shall blow the trumpet. The psalmist
sung, God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of the
trumpet. The beloved John mentions God's
trumpet several times in the book of Revelation. In Revelation
chapter 1 verse 10, John wrote, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying,
I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest
right. In Revelation chapter 4 verse
1, John said, Behold, a door was opened in heaven, and the
first voice which I heard was as it were a trumpet talking
to me. which said, come up hither, and
I will show thee things which must be hereafter. All friends,
the noise of this trumpet heard from Mount Sinai represents the
voice of Christ sounding from God's holy mountain in the giving
of the law, saying, come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I'll give you rest and show you things that
will soon be. You see, the only way a sinner
can be saved is in, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ and His
substitution and keeping of God's law for us. And all the people
saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet
and the mountains smoking. And when the people saw it, they
removed, they scattered, they stood afar off. And so would
have you, and so would have I. when you truly see God's law,
when God really shows you your inability to keep it. It's then
that you will see something of your sin, your weakness, your
inability, and you'll see something of your desperate need. So, have
you been brought to God's holy mountain? Do we dare come there
to keep God's law? Do we dare come there to appease
His justice? We can't. We can't. Full of fear,
Israel removed and stood afar off, for the commandment of God
revealed His holiness and their sinfulness, and they were scared
to death. That brings me to the first point
in the preaching of the gospel here out of Exodus chapter 20.
We talked about it some last time. And that's in order to
be reconciled to God. You have to have a mediator.
Verse 19, and they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and
we will hear. But let not God speak with us,
lest we die. You speak for us, Moses. You go talk to God in our place. Now look at verse 20. And Moses
said unto the people, Fear not, for God is come to prove, to
test you, is what that word means, and that His fear may be before
your faces, that you sin not. In the law of God, God is revealing
His holiness. He's revealing His hatred for
sin. He's revealing His justice and
God is testing and He's proving you so that it might bring fear
before our faces, says He. That you sin not. It seems that
men and women today are told nothing about the wrath, the
judgment and justice of God. Most of my life, I never heard
a man from the pulpit tell me about God's wrath and justice.
Only about God's love. God's desire to save sinners. And I'm thankful for that. Friends,
we've offended God. We're alienated from God. We're
going to have to be reconciled to Him. We're going to have to
stand before His law without guilt. And we can't do that in
and of ourselves. Preachers cry, peace, peace. Well, there is no peace. And
there's no doubt that God is love. But first and foremost,
God is holy and His holiness cannot be compromised in order
to express His love for sinners in a just way. A way according
to justice. God must remain true to His law,
true to His justice, and still justify the ungodly if they're
ever to be saved. And how does God do that? Well,
I can tell you in two words. I bet you can tell me in two
words. In Christ, by substitution. God shows us in his law how holy
we must be in order to be accepted by a holy God. How holy do we
have to be? Well, we gotta be perfectly holy.
How righteous do we have to be? Perfectly righteous. As perfect
as God himself. Verse 21, and the people stood
afar off, and Moses drew near until the thick darkness where
God was. We've mentioned several times
now how Moses pictures Christ here, the one mediator between
God and men. Israel spoke to Moses. Moses
spoke to God. God spoke to Moses. Moses spoke
to the people. That's what a mediator does.
But a picture of Christ, our mediator, is all Moses here can
be. Moses does mediate, but Moses
can't expiate. Moses can deliver the law to
the people, but Moses can't keep the law. You see, Moses is no
different than you and I. He's a sinner, just like you
and I. Moses, like us, had a fallen
nature. And Moses, as we are, was dead
in trespasses and sin. And Moses needed a mediator just
the same as we did. Moses could not in and of himself
keep God's law nor satisfy God's justice any more than we can.
So that's why we rejoice that there's, as Paul said, one God
and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
There's one who goes between God and the chosen sinner and
mediates justice. And there's only one qualified
to do that. And that's the man Christ Jesus.
And He's God. The God-man. And that's something
Moses couldn't do. And that's something that only
Christ can do for us. Gospel preaching brings the revelation
of spiritual, eternal things to the chosen child of God. And that brings me to the second
thing needed in order to be reconciled to God. In order to be saved. Divine revelation is required. And we talk about this all the
time, but we know that it's so. To those of you who've walked
now with the Lord for a while, you know that God revealed these
things to you. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
them to you, but God in heaven did. Paul said, but I certify
you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not
after man. Man couldn't devise such a wondrous
thing as God's gospel. He said, for I neither received
it of man, and neither was I taught it, but by the revelation. The revelation. of Jesus Christ,
the revealer of Jesus Christ. And that's exactly what we have
here in Exodus 20, the divine revelation of God. Look at verse
22. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel. Isn't that
what preaching is? Saying, speaking, telling sinners
what God said? And the Lord said to Moses, you
have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Now let
me ask you, what is a divine revelation but God speaking with
us from heaven? That's exactly what it is. Paul
wrote according to the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom,
that being their wisdom, knew not God. So how is God made known
to us? Please the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. 1 Corinthians 1. I won't
turn there, but in Galatians 1.15, Paul tells us three things
about the divine revelation of God. First of all, divine revelation
comes to a sinner when it pleases God. When it pleased God, Paul
said. Secondly, it's God who saves. but when it pleased God who separated
me." God did the separating. God did the initiating and separated
sinners unto Himself. It's God who sanctifies and sets
apart and makes holy His people. And then thirdly, salvation is
not because of anything that we do, but when it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. Before any of us were born or
had done any good or evil, just like Jacob and Esau, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand not of works. Oh, don't you love those three
words? Not of works, but of Him that called. Romans 9-11. And
God didn't look ahead in time and choose you because He saw
that you would be good or that you would trust in Christ. He
chose you, His people, before you had done any good or evil.
How can you and I, the sinners we are, stand before God and
still be saved, the guilty souls that we are? The answer must
be given by revelation from heaven, and the answer must be given
by revelation of God. The Lord Jesus said, it's written
in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood hath not revealed it
unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. God says, I've
talked with you from heaven. That's divine revelation. And
he has talked to his people from heaven through the preaching
of the gospel. The gospel preached and made
effectual by the Holy Spirit is the only means of revelation.
And divine revelation is a must for a sinner. be saved. This is life eternal that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou
hast sent. John 17 3. God is a jealous God
and He won't share His glory with another. Salvation is of
the Lord and God will not share that glory. Look at verse 23. He says, you shall not make with
me gods of silver, and neither shall you make unto you gods
of gold. We see here that idolatry was
expressly forbidden. God again insists on His unrivaled
supremacy. I am the Lord. That is my name. And my glory will I not give
to another, neither my praise to graven imagery. Isaiah 42a. The third thing that we see in
the matter of salvation and the presence of the law. That's what
we're talking about. The law of God and the gospel
of God. I would have you notice that
there must needs be an altar. There must needs be a sacrifice.
And a perfect one at that. Look at verse 24. And an altar
of earth thou shalt make unto me. And thou shalt sacrifice
thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep
and thine oxen. In all places where I record
my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. The mention of this altar at
once tells us of the provision of God's divine grace. This was a provision that secured
an agreement of peace between God and the chosen sinner. God
who is angry with the wicked every day, no longer angry with
His people. An altar of earth thou shalt
make unto me. Turn back, Opeh, you may not
have to, Exodus 19. Look at verse 5, if you would. Here God said, now therefore,
if you will obey my voice and deed and keep my covenant, then
you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for
all the earth is mine. But how can we obey His voice?
How can we perfectly keep His covenant? How then do we become
a peculiar treasure unto God? You know how? By way of the altar. By way of the sacrifice. We read
of no altar in Eden's garden. Man in his innocence created
in the likeness of God needed no altar. Man had no sin that
needed to be sacrificed for. In Eden, Adam had no sense of
shame. There was no fear of God coming
in His presence. He walked with God in the cool
of the day. There was fellowship with God.
There was friendship with God. No fear of communing with God
directly. None whatsoever. It was man's
sin that made an altar necessary. God gave His law to show His
people that men and women are sinners. to show man of his inability,
to show man his need of a Savior, his need of Christ. The Ten Commandments
was never given to the men and women of Israel as a means of
salvation. Salvation can't be accomplished
by obeying the law, because the law of God's got to be obeyed
perfectly. And if we offend in one point,
we're guilty of the whole law. The writing of the Ten Commandments
on tables of stone, have you ever thought about this, came
long after the fall of man. Why? Why so long after? Because
this is how God showed that His claims upon the creatures that
He created had not been canceled. God has the right to do what
He wills with His own. God still has the right to do
what He wills with His own. And He has a right to expect
perfect righteousness and obedience from us. As God He does. As our
Creator He does. And God's people agree with that.
And they shake their heads and they say, that's right. He does.
He has the right to expect that. But we're unable to meet those
perfect claims and provide that perfect righteousness. Therefore,
God in His mercy and in His marvelous grace made provision for our
failures. and made provisions of someone
keeping the law for us perfectly. This we see in the altar. It's
here on the altar of God that we offer burnt offerings. A burnt
offering was a lamb. The burnt offering was placed
upon the altar and God sent fire down and consumed it. You remember
Elijah and the prophets of Baal, that story? God consumed that
burnt offering until nothing was left. And this shows us something
of the wrath and the judgment and justice of God in consuming
the sacrifice for satisfaction. But the burnt offerings of Israel
were only temporary. They had to be offered again
and again and again. But when Christ The Lamb of God
offered one sacrifice for sins forever. It was a peace offering. And a peace offering was made.
And this peace offering was accepted by God. God accepted it on the
work and the righteousness of His beloved Son. And no wonder
peace was made. It was the blood of God that
was shed. Christ is our Lamb. Christ is our peace offering
to God. And then the fourth thing we
see in the midst of the law of God being given is the promise
of God. Did you notice the last part
of verse 24 there? God says, I will come unto thee,
and I will bless thee. The only reason that any of us
are redeemed is because Christ came to seek and to save that
which was lost. And God says, I will bless thee.
That's what it takes. A blessing from God. Birth from
God. A new creation from God. This
is God's promise to His people. Hebrews 6.13 says, for when God
made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater,
he swore by himself. saying, surely blessing I will
bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after
he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. May God
enable us to patiently endure. We get so impatient, don't we?
Okay, the fifth thing, just quickly, two more things and I'm finished.
The fifth thing God must graciously provide for His people in order
for them to be reconciled to God is the gift of faith. Verse 25, And thou wilt make
me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone, For
if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it." Now,
hewn stone is cut stone. God said, make this altar out
of just uncut stone. Don't make it pretty. Don't try
to doctor it up. Make it look good. Don't lay
your tool upon it, He said. Don't put your two cents worth
in on it. If you do, you pollute it. You
defile it. You make it of no effect. Now,
if in any way I depend or I trust my salvation to anything I do
or any effort that I make, I defile it and I pollute it. You see,
we must by faith trust Christ to do everything for us that
God requires of us. And that brings me to the last
thing concerning the law of God and the gospel. And that is there
are no steps to salvation. Verse 26, neither shalt thou
go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered
thereon. I recently ran across a religious
publication that was entitled Seven Steps to Salvation. But there are no steps in salvation. People today who deal with addiction
and sobriety follow a 12-step program, but the gospel has no
step. If it's by steps, then it's only
one step. Christ said, I am the way. The only way. I am the truth. How many truths are there? Just
one. I am the life. Only one has and gives life.
And He said, no man cometh to the Father but by Me. If there's
a step, there's just one step. But it's the condescending step
that Christ made for His people. Christ came in the world. stepped
into this world, however you want to say it, and he did for
chosen sinners what they could not do for themselves. And if
I attempt to add my work to the altar of God, if I attempt in
any way, shape, or form to add my tool to it, then I reveal
my true nakedness and lack of righteous covering that only
Christ can provide. I cannot provide the righteousness
I need. Christ must clothe me in His
perfect righteousness. That's what God did for Adam
and Eve. And that's what He must do for me. Isn't it amazing that
right here in Exodus chapter 20, in the giving of the Ten
Commandments, God gives us the Gospel. The Gospel of our salvation
is first through a mediator. It's by divine revelation. It's
in and by and through Christ is our sacrifice. It's by the
promise of God. And it's by faith in Christ.
And faith is the gift of God. You don't put your tool to it.
You'll pollute it every single time and there are no steps for
us to take in our salvation. Just one giant condescending
step by Christ from Heaven's glory down to all that the Father
gave Him. And not a single one of them
will be lost. That sounds like good news to
me. You know, I thank God for giving us His law. For I would
have never seen my sin. I'd have never seen my inability.
I'd have never seen my need of Christ to say what good news
that is and what a gospel we have. May God enable us, truly
I mean that, to believe and trust in Christ as we should. God make
it so.