Exodus chapter 24. Exodus chapter
24. We're going to be looking at
verses 1 through verse 10, but our main text is going to be
found in verses 9 and 10. Verses 9 and 10. Let's read those
two together. The Scripture says, Then went
up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders
of Israel. And they saw the God of Israel,
and there was under his feet, as it were, a paved work of a
sapphire stone, and as it were, the body of heaven in his clearness."
And also verse 11, "'And upon the nobles of the children of
Israel he laid not his hand. Also they saw God and did eat. drink. The title of the message this
morning is, Worship a Far Off and Worship Nigh. A worship that
is far off and a worship that is nigh, near. In the first verse of this chapter,
we read this, and Moses, God said to Moses, come up you And
Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seven to the elders." But notice
this, when they were to come up, they were to worship afar
off. Afar off. And only Moses, it
says, Moses alone shall come near. But you shall not come
nigh. You shall not come nigh. Neither shall the people go up
with him." The Lord called these men up to the mountain, but they
were restricted to come into the presence of God with Moses. They were required to worship
at a distance. This, friend, is a picture of
all of us who are born under the law of God. You see, every
person is a creature of God. made of God. And therefore, everyone
is under the law of God. Well, pastor, how can someone
be under the law of God if they've never heard the gospel? Well,
God has given them the same law in their hearts. The law that is within us. Everyone knows what is right
and wrong. We know it is wrong. to steal
and to lie and all of these things, because that law is written in
our hearts. And because we are created of
God, we are obligated. Rather, we are commanded to obey
His law. We are commanded to obey the
law. And this is a picture of us who
are under the law. The Mount was on fire. Imagine
that Mount Sion as it was covered in smoke and blackness and thunderings
and lightnings. And God made them put that border
around there. And He said, you can't come past
this. You can't come past this. And
the people, when they saw this, they said, Moses, you go up for
us, because if we ever hear his voice, we'll die. We'll die. Friends, God is holiness. God does not do things that are
holy. He is holiness. God is righteousness. And any man who will attempt
to be accepted by their own works, or enter into His presence without
the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, I tell you, if you try
to approach any other way to God, you are a fool. You are
a fool. Because we have no righteousness. We are not born good and then
become evil. We are evil at birth and we become
more evil as we grow up. The Scripture says, Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
so death passed upon all men, Why? For all have sinned. All have sinned. You see, there is no goodness
in us to approach unto God. People are so depraved as to
think God is obligated to save them. They say, why then does God allow
Bad things to happen to good people. Friends, there are no
good people. The fact is that God would let
anything good happen to these bad people. That's what's amazing. That God would have mercy on
any of us is an amazing thing. That He would even condescend
to speak to us. But He's done more than that.
God is holy. And we cannot see Him ourselves. We cannot go without a mediator,
someone to go for us. And in verse 2, you see that
Moses is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, "...and
Moses alone shall come near the Lord." You see, it is the Lord
Jesus Christ alone who was in the bosom of the Father from
eternity. It was Christ alone who was with
the Father making the covenant of eternal election, eternal
grace. And God the Father chose a people
for Himself. God the Son loved those people. And He said, I will be their
Savior. I will be their Redeemer. He
drew nigh unto God in a covenant of grace. Where were we? Where
were we? We were not even made. The world
had not yet been formed. It was from eternity God made
this covenant with His Son and the Holy Spirit. This was a picture given to us
that there is only one Mediator between God and men. Do not ever look at me as some
type of mediator between you and God. I am not. I am not. I'll tell you what,
I can pray for you, but I'm not mediating for you. There's only
one mediator, and that's Jesus Christ. He alone can ascend to
the Father. He alone is the Savior of men. Christ
alone was able to approach unto God, and therefore the Son of
God was made flesh so that He might deliver us, that He might
deliver us who were afar off." Notice that there were about
74 men, 74 men that were called into this mountain. Does this
not speak to us of the election of God? How many were left and how many
were called? Scripture says, many are called. This morning I call you to faith
in Christ. I tell you, believe on Christ
and rest in Him and trust nothing else but His love, His mercy,
His grace, His blood and His righteousness. I called you to
that this morning, but I'll tell you this, not everyone will hear. Many are called, but few are
chosen. It's God that must save. It's
God that calls men. And I like this, He called them
by name. I'm so glad He calls me by name. He knew my name before there
were any names. He knew my name. It was an eternity. He loved me an eternity. He purposed
to save me by the blood of His Son. He purposed to call me. And notice also in the beginning
here, it shows the picture of sacrifice. the Word and sacrifice. Moses, he went up and got the
Word, he came down, and what did he do? He declared the Word. Well, that's exactly what the
Lord Jesus Christ did. He who was with the Father came
down from heaven to declare God's Word. Friends, before Jesus Christ
came, man, the Word of God was limited to a certain small group
of people. But now that Christ has come
and the Spirit of God is manifest throughout the world, His Word goes forth today in
power and demonstration of His Spirit. Jesus Christ is what
speaks to the heart, who speaks to the heart of His people. Scripture says, Jesus said that
the day is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Not the voice of the preacher,
but it is the voice of Christ that we hear. It's Christ we
long to see. And this blood that was offered,
this blood was offered, obviously, this is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ's sacrifice. This is a picture of the sacrifice. How Jesus Christ bore our sins
in His own body on the tree. He bore our sins. He took our guilt. And God imputed our guilt to
Him so that He was made to be a curse
for us, so that we might have the righteousness of God in Him. And by His blood, He ratified
that covenant that was made in eternity. In time, He accomplished
that covenant. And now, as Moses sprinkled the
blood That word sprinkled, I like it because it means to scatter.
If you were to sprinkle, if you were to take your hands and fling
the blood, it would go into different places. I like this because the blood
of Christ is sprinkled in this manner. It goes to everyone God
has determined it to go. Wherever that blood landed, that's
where God determined it to go. And the blood of Christ was never
shed in vain. Jesus Christ is a successful
Savior. When He died for sin and He said,
it is finished, friends, sin was eradicated. Everyone that God had chosen
in love, Christ actually redeemed them 2,000 years ago. And none of them will be lost.
Not one. Not one. God's saints, we were afar off
from God. We were scattered among the nations.
And now God has sent forth His Spirit to sprinkle it, the blood
of Christ, by the gospel. By the gospel. This message that
I'm preaching to you, it is the gospel of Christ. Everything
I desire to say this morning is centered around Him. I'm not
here to exalt your ego or to lift you up. I'm here to exalt
Christ and set Him before you. I'm here to point you to Christ. And by this gospel, God sprinkles
the blood on the hearts of sinners who are far off and brings them
near. Brings them near. Well, what
was His purpose? Why should God choose a people?
Why would God choose any one of us? Well, there's no reason
to be found in us for sure. Why would God choose a race of
people who were far off, dead in sins, and still provide a substitute
for us? Why? The Scriptures tell us plainly
that all salvation is for the glory of God. God saves because
God desires to save. The Scripture says, I will have
mercy. Praise God, He'll have mercy.
Who will He have mercy on? Whoever He will. Whoever He will,
He'll have mercy. And whoever He will, He'll harden. It's for His own glory. Therefore,
no doubt. There is no doubt that all that
God chose in the beginning who are afar off will come at the
appointed time by faith in Jesus Christ, believing the gospel. And notice our text here. They
that were afar off are called again. But notice this. Then went up Moses and Aaron,
Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel. And this time they did not worship
afar off. The scripture says, and they
saw the God of Israel. They saw the God of Israel. Oh, what a wonderful thing to see the God of Israel. What a blessing. What a picture! Whereas before Moses was alone,
now Moses has people with him to see God. As Christ was before,
went up alone. Friends, He has come back. He
has come back. And He testified to His disciples,
when I ascend unto My Father and Your Father. Unto My God
and Your God. When He ascended back to the
Father, the Scripture says He led captivity captive, giving
gifts unto men. He ascended and we ascended with
Him. We ascended with Him. We went up together with Him.
This may have reference to our union with Christ. How much are you in union with
Christ, believer? How much are you and I in union
with Him? As much as my arm is in union
with this body. That's how much I am in union
with Christ. The Scripture tells me that I
am as His body and He is my head. And so are you. If you believe
on Christ, you are in union with Him. His righteousness is your
righteousness. His blood atonement was your
blood atonement. His resurrection is your resurrection. His glory is your glory. Imagine that. And God loves you just as much
as He loves His own Son. Amazing thing. But this may have
also referenced not only our union, but also being led of
the Spirit to see Christ by faith. Do you know the only manifestation
of God is Jesus Christ? The Scriptures tell us that God
is Spirit. God is Spirit. The Father is
Spirit. The Holy Spirit is Spirit. The only one that is manifest
to us is Jesus, the Son of God. He is the only manifestation
of God. The only one we can see God.
So in the Old Testament times, when they said this, that they
saw God, you know who they saw? They saw Christ. He is the only
manifestation of God. He is the only way we are ever
going to see God, is by the Son. John says, no man has seen the
Father any time. No man. But the Son hath declared
Him. The Son. And He declares them to all of
God's redeemed, chosen race. So then, this verse, we see the
deity of the pre-incarnate Christ who alone is seen by the glory
of God, and by whom alone we are accepted in Him. Is it not amazing that by faith
we see God? Scripture says in Hebrews, but
we see Jesus. We see Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith. We see Christ. Now, notice what
they saw concerning this one, Jesus Christ. It says, they saw
the God of Israel. Now, notice this. And there was
under his feet, as it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone. What does that mean? When I first
read this, that word, paved work, it immediately caught my attention. You see a road that's not paved? You ever ride down a country
road that's all dirt and unpaved? It's not really that safe. I'll
tell you, it's not secure. I know I've driven off one of
those roads and crashed a truck. I like a paved road. I like a
way and I know where I'm going. Because I'll tell you, you get
back on some of those roads, you don't know where you're going. But I know this,
on a paved road, on a paved road, It's already done. The road's
finished. In other words, I see the completed
work of Christ. The finished work of salvation. Now this word, paved, that's
what I thought when I first read it. But then I studied a little
deeper. And I found this. The word, paved
work, it means white brick. What is that? Under his feet
was as a whitened brick. Well, that didn't mean too much to
me either. I thought about it. I said, what does this mean?
And so I studied how a brick was made. Well, you take mud
and you take straw and you burn it, you cook it. Now then, This no doubt had a
profound effect on the children of Israel because guess what
they did all those years in Egypt? They made brick. They made brick. They knew what a brick was. And yet when they see this brick,
it's altogether different. It's nothing like those bricks
they made in Egypt. This brick was as a sapphire
stone. And this caused me to see the
contrast between the bricks made by Israel and the bricks that
are made by God. The brick of the law versus the brick of grace. That's
what's being set forth here. The brick of the law. The brick of the law demands
what we cannot give. What we cannot give. I demand a lot of my children.
But I'll tell you what, sometimes I forget. I forgot what I demanded. They come to me and say, Dad,
I'm finished. And I say, Finished with what? I don't know what
they're finished with. Because I done forgot what I
told them to do. God never forgets. God's law
is always the same. And there's no loophole. There's
no way out. It demands something we cannot
give. Is that not what happened to these slaves? Pharaoh said,
you got so much time on your hands, you go cut the straw. and then make the brick, and
I'll tell you what, you can't diminish not one brick. You have
to give the same amount as before. Do the extra work, but give the
same amount. And the children of Israel said,
that's impossible. He said, I don't care. And friend,
neither does the law care. There is no mercy in the law. When we were without strength,
we thought that all was well. There was a time in our life
that we thought all was well. We had no interest in these things.
These things were nothing to us. Everything was just somehow
going to magically work itself out, and everything was going
to be okay. If I died, I'll just go to heaven. Surely God will
just kind of skip over my sins. We all thought that way. We all
thought that way until the law came in power. Until the law
said, it's not enough. Whatever you're doing is not
enough. The law is never finished. The
law always demands, demands, demands, demands, and gives no
help for us to obey. The law demands what we cannot
provide. And so what do we do? Men provide
the stubble instead of the straw. You see, when those Israelites
went out to get that straw, there wasn't any straw left, so they
had to pick up the little stubble pieces. And when they made their
bricks, they would just fall apart because there was nothing
to keep the mud together. There was no cohesion in it.
And that's exactly what men do, is try to use the stubble of
religion, the stubble of what they've done, the stubble of
their free will, and try to mix that with the mud of their works. And say, here God, this is all
I can do. It's the best I can do. God's
law says, not enough, not enough. Cursed is everyone that continue,
if not in all things, written in the book of the law to do
them. Next, the brick of the law is made with earthly materials
and lacks transparency. Can you see through a brick wall?
No. How much do you suppose a brick
is worth. I'm not talking about a solid
brick. I'm talking about one of those made with stubble. How
much do you suppose if you've got to come by with a load of
bricks and say, hey, here's a brick, build your house with it. And
you reach out there and grab one and it just crumbles apart.
You grab two and it crumbles apart. It's made of earth. It's
not going to last. Not going to last. The law of God was for men. And
it must be obeyed. It must be obeyed by man. And this is clearly a picture
of all of our works, dried, crumbling, earthly dirt of no value to God or man. We cannot even endure the struggles,
much less see God with these kind of works. The brick of the
law is not clear either. You put a stack of bricks up,
can you see through them? No. No. Neither can you see a
way that God would save you by the law. You look at that law
all you want to, and you won't find any hope there. You won't
find any mercy there. Because it's not clear how much
enough is enough, is it? When is enough enough? When have
you finally said, OK, He's finished, God. I've done enough. I'm done. Well, not really. You see, I
can't see the end of that. No clearness. There's no transparency
as to how God can be just and justify the ungodly. How no man can know God or see
God. Because the bricks are unclear.
But notice this brick of grace that appears before them. And
they saw the God of Israel and there was under His feet, as
it were, a brick of sapphire stone. Notice the brick is under
His feet. What does that mean? Well, if the brick is still in
your hands, and not under your feet, it's not done, is it? You
see, Christ has provided His own bricks. And He stands on them. He says,
My work is already paved. It's done. It's done. Believers, our Lord Jesus Christ
has trodden under the winepress of the wrath of God, and His
bones burned with the guilt of our sins, and He had finished,
He had finished His brick. And it's an eternal and everlasting
brick. It'll never break. And now He has risen from the
dead and sits at the throne of God dispensing this grace daily. Daily. The grace of His salvation. This brick of grace is not one
of bondage, but it is one of liberty. They were made to make
those bricks, even though they could not make them. You see,
Christ, Salvation is liberty. Freedom from the law. Freedom
from the law. What part of the law? Every part
of the law. I'm free. Free. You see, I have already satisfied
the law. What has the law for me? Nothing. The law can do nothing to me
but demand my life. It can demand that this man is
just. That's all it can do. I am free from the law because
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. Do you believe? Do you trust
in Christ? If you do, you're resting on
this brick, this foundation, and it's sure, it's sure not
to crumble. It's sure because it's already
finished. The brick of the law binds men's
souls, but Christ frees them from bondage of sin, Satan, and
death. And third, the preciousness of
the brick of grace. Notice what brick it is. It is
a sapphire stone. Do you suppose that anyone would
trade a sapphire for an earthly brick? No. You see, the sapphire stone
is precious, and the brick is worthless. Christ is, to us who believe,
precious. Precious. You see, He is of great
value to our souls. You find a man who professes
faith in Christ and doesn't see Christ as precious, and I'll
find you a man who's lost. Christ is precious. Precious
to us who believe. What a contrast. Jesus is that
precious stone out of the mountain that crushed all the kingdoms
of the world at their feet and brought them to dust and has
now become a great mountain that covers the whole earth. His righteousness covers us. Do you ever sometimes go to bed
and you just feel so tired and you wrap yourself in a blanket? Oh, it just feels so good. You
just want to lay down and rest. Oh, grab His robe of righteousness
and rest. He covers us with His righteousness
and His blood cleanses us from all sin. Is that not precious? It is to the sinner who needs
cleansing. It is to the sinner in need of
mercy. He is precious. And this brick of grace is clear. It's clear. Look at that in our
text. It is a pavework of sapphire
stone and, as it were, the body of heaven in its clearness. When
you look up in the sky at night and there are no clouds, is there
anything stopping you from seeing the stars? Is there any part
of the heavens that are blocking us? No. That layer that protects
us and keeps us on this world and keeps the air inside the
world, It's transparent. And friends, Jesus Christ is
clear. He is clear. He is clearly the
only One who can bring us to God. He is the only One who is transparent. The law is not transparent as
to how God can be just and justify the ungodly, but Christ is. Christ is clearly the only Savior
and Redeemer of men. He's the only one that can reveal
God and forgive us of our sins. Do you long to see Him? Is He
precious to you? Is His Word precious to you? And friends, we've got this promise.
Look at verse 11 real quickly in closing. And upon the nobles
of the children of Israel he laid not his hand. What do you suppose God would
have done if they had went up before? He would have put his hand on
them and crushed them. But now they've come. The blood
has been shed. The Word of God declared. And
they've come because God called them. And now God doesn't put
His hand on them to hurt them. There is nothing, nothing that
happens to a child of God in this life that is for their evil. Nothing. Nothing is ever meant of God for your
evil, but for your good. Everything. He won't lay his hand. The sun
shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. You see,
our God doesn't sleep. Our God doesn't stop watching
us. He doesn't stop caring for us. Ever. Ever. And He won't lay His hand on
us to hurt us. What blasphemy. What blasphemy
for people to say that Jesus died for all men without exception.
That's blasphemy. Why is that blasphemy? Because
Christ died for people in hell. And that means His blood was
not enough. You see, for God to be just,
He cannot demand twice payment. He can't demand my payment of
my sins on Christ and then come back and demand them of me. Praise God for that. Praise God
that Jesus Christ death was effectual so that God will not send us
to hell, not lay his hand on us. And lastly, also they saw
God and did eat and drink. Let me ask you this. Does that not sound good? Does
that not sound joyful? Do you think they were sitting,
shaking and trying to eat their bread? And no. They were celebrating. Celebrating. Every day of our life is a celebration.
A celebration that my Savior is alive and seated on the throne
of God. A celebration that all my sins
are gone. A celebration that there is nothing,
nothing, nothing that will ever separate me from the love of
God which is in Christ Jesus. That's the brick of grace. So much better than the brick
of law. Praise God for his mercy. And his son. Let's stand will
be dismissed in prayer.