Let's go back to the book of
Exodus and of course the word Exodus relates to the leaving
of the children of Israel out of their Egyptian bondage. Exodus and we'll see if we can
deal with chapter 19 this morning and Let's again ask God to bless
It is with Serious Hearts and thoughts Lord
that we open the scriptures Very much aware that Our flesh is
opposed to the worship of God. We ask, therefore, that the Spirit
of grace would enable each of us now to think about the things
of God, to hear what God has to say to us. Lord, if the only
voice that these people hear this morning, there'll be no
better off spiritually. Oh, that You would speak to each
of us. Lord, we need to hear from You. And we believe that according
to the Scriptures, that as we're gathered together in the name
of the Lord Jesus, You said you'd be with us. Your Spirit will
bless us. Now, take the word that you gave
to Moses, and he accurately wrote these words here in this chapter. Take these and teach us. Oh God,
get all the glory to Yourself. Exalt Your only begotten Son. And may your spirit manifest
the grace of God to each of us. Bless these who listen, and bless
this earthen vessel that I may accurately set forth the great
treasure of the gospel of your grace. These things I ask for
Jesus' sake, amen. Exodus chapter 19 this morning
is our text and obviously I don't have the time to go verse by
verse through the whole chapter but I do want to give you a good
overview of Exodus chapter 19. Now if we had the time We could
look back in Exodus, the third chapter, and just to bring a
little recollection to your mind, that's when God spoke to Moses
out of the bush that burned, but it wasn't at all consumed. And this is what God told Moses
in that meeting there at that bush that burned. but it wasn't
consumed. God said to Moses, you're the
deliverer. And God said, I give you my word,
on this mount, on this mount, all of Israel will worship me.
Now we get to Exodus chapter 19, and here they are at that
mount. And God is going to speak to
Moses, and Moses will then speak to the people. And the people
will then speak to Moses, and Moses then will speak to God
for the people. And in this portion of scripture,
here's what we have, a mediator. one who stands between two different
parties. One of them is God, the other
one is the people of Israel. And Moses is there, not as the
mediator of the new covenant, not as a mediator of the covenant
of grace, but he is there as the mediator of the law of God. Now the Israelites, you will
remember during our Lord's earthly ministry, they referenced the
Law of Moses lots of times. And they would say, we have Moses.
We have Moses. And our Lord Jesus said, well,
if you'd believe what Moses wrote, you'd believe me. And they would
refer to the Law of Moses. Well, here we have the preface. of the law of Moses, before God
gave the law to Moses and then to the children of Israel. And
we'll read about that and study about that tonight. Just before
he did that, chapter 19 happens. And here is God presenting to
Israel, by way of Moses, a covenant. And God says what He will do
if Israel is obedient. And those are the conditions
of that covenant, which we would call the covenant of works. This was the covenant that God
made with Israel. Now, not like that covenant that
God had made with Abraham, that was a covenant of grace. And
we're kind of in the middle of studying that on Wednesday evenings. And that required nothing of
Abraham. That's just what God would do,
and it pertained to earthly things. Land, prosperity, a great people,
a great nation, that sort of thing. But as our brother read
this portion of scripture, you'll notice that this covenant that
God is entering into with Israel, it has to do with spiritual things. Notice what he says in verse
6, you shall be a kingdom of priests and in a holy nation. And then in verse 5, he says,
and if you do these things, you'll be my peculiar treasure. You'll
be valued by me if you do these things that I set before you
by way of Moses. Now, I've already referenced
that passage in Exodus chapter 3. God said, in this mount, you'll
worship me. And if you do look at the reference
there in Exodus chapter 3, it's a mount of which that's the entire
mountain range. And then one of the peaks in
that is Mount Sinai. So virtually it's the same. Now
in order to go from Exodus chapter 3 to Exodus chapter 19, in other
words, in order for there to be an Exodus, there were lots
of obstacles that God had to overcome. But really, there are
no obstacles with God. Nothing is going to stand in
God's way of fulfilling His Word that He gave to Moses on this
mountain. You'll serve me. You'll worship
me. You'll honor me on this mountain. God said that's the token, that's
the proof. That will be the evidence that
I'm with you. Now, Israel is at this time,
back in chapter 3, they're in bondage to Egypt. That's not
an obstacle to God. He took care of that by the death
of the Passover lambs. He redeemed Israel. At that time,
Israel had nothing. And they're leaving Egypt and
their pockets are empty. But that's not an obstacle for
God. because all of the Egyptians
said, here, take what you want. You need gold? You need silver?
Hey, you need any extra money? We'll give you everything you
want. You see, there are no obstacles
with God. There are with you and me. There are hindrances to you and
me fulfilling our will and our desire, but not with God. God
says, I will do all my pleasure. And so they leave Egypt. And then they get to the Red
Sea. Oh, another hindrance, another obstacle. Not with God. He made the sea. And then he
divided the sea. And there they go. And when they
get to the other side, Oh, the Egyptians are in pursuit. The
Egyptians are going to catch us. That's no obstacle for God. That's no hindrance to God. God
just brings the water back together. They get to bitter waters. Oh,
we can't drink this water. Not to worry. God will take care. God said, you're going to worship
me in this mountain. Well, what are we going to drink?
God said to Moses, you take that tree, see that tree? Throw it
in the water. That's a picture of substitutionary
death of our Lord Jesus, his cross death. Sweetens every trouble,
every affliction that God sends our way. And then they're hungry. Here's roughly two million people
out here embarking upon a journey across the desert. They've got
to have food. They've got to have food. Not
an obstacle. God-given manna from heaven.
And then every evening he causes all these quail to fly over the
camp. Just reach up and grab one, I
guess. No obstacle. And then they begin their journey. They need water again. No problem
for God. No difficulty for God. Moses,
take the elders with you. Go up to the rock. I'm standing on it. You hit that
rock. Christ, the rock of ages, being
wounded and smitten by transgressions. And the water of life flows out. The water of the Spirit of God
flows. There are no obstacles with God.
And all of us who are the people of the Lord, we need to remember,
there are no hindrances with God. With us, yes, but not with
God. Nothing is impossible with God.
He's our Father. And our Father is almighty. He's
all-glorious. He is eternal. He's already blessed
us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. And that which to you is a hindrance
or maybe an obstacle that you can't go over, Listen, if it's
God's will, you ask Him. He can take care of the obstacle.
That's a wonderful thing, isn't it? There are no hindrances with
God. And so here in Exodus chapter
19 is the fulfillment of the promise that God made back in
Exodus chapter 3. They are at this mountain. As we come to chapter 19, it's
now been 50 days 50 days since they left Egypt. 50
days since what feast was initiated in Egypt? The feast of Passover. 50 days. Do we know anything
about what happened after 50 days in the New Testament? In
Acts the second chapter, that's the feast of Pentecost. Yes, that's it. Three great feasts, Passover,
Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Here's 50 days. Pentecost is
50. 50 days after the Passover, here
they are at the mountain. It's been 50 days. And after
this, Israel will observe this 50th day. They'll observe it. It's called the Feast of Weeks.
as you reference your Bibles. And of course we get to Acts,
the second chapter. It's called there Pentecost.
Just two times in the New Testament it's referred to as Pentecost.
But it was the beginning of a harvest because it was the beginning
of the harvest of those redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus
in the New Testament. But the Jews observed it as that
day when God gave his law. God gave his law 50 days after
Passover. Notice this, it says in the second
verse, they left Rephidim and then they were come to Sinai. God helped us to leave Rephidim
and to come to Sinai, that is the Mount of God, because Rephidim,
that signifies murmuring, as a place of murmuring. Let's pack
up your bags and leave Rephidim. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all
of us did that? Just pack up and leave Rephidim
and don't go back there anymore. It's a place of murmuring. Let's
go to the Mount of God. Let's go worship God. Let's go
serve the Lord. Mount Sinai. And you'll notice the way the
Lord refers to these people in verse 3. He says to Moses, thou
shalt say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel. Two different names. Jacob, cheater. That one who tried to hinder
his brother getting out of the womb first. That's why his name
means literally, heel grabber. That's Jacob. That's what we
all are by nature. But wait! God gave him another
name, Israel. Oh, he's a prince with God. He's
royalty. And that's you and me. By nature,
we're Jacob's. In fact, the Lord says, I am
the Lord. I change not. Therefore you,
you sons of Jacob, are not consumed. You cheaters. You manipulators. You people who are of the flesh,
and that's all of us. Look what God has done for us.
He's made us to be His people. We're royalty. We're the very
princes of God. The Lord has these two names
for Israel. Notice what He says in verse
4. Now remember, He's talking to Moses. And he says to Moses,
you go ahead and tell the people, you've witnessed what I did to
the Egyptians. And you've also witnessed how
I bear you as it were on eagle's wings, and I brought you unto
myself. I brought you here. Your eyewitness is to that which
I did to Egypt. I destroyed them, but I protected
you. I poured out judgment on them,
but I delivered you. On the hymn I set forth the awful
sentence of death. Their army, the greatest army
in the world, I killed them all, but you live, you live. He says, you've seen, you've
been eyewitnesses of my power. I'm the destroyer and I'm the
deliverer. He's both. He is a destroyer
to those who know Him not. He's a destroyer to those who
are born in sin and live in sin and die in sin. But he's the
deliverer of his people. And he delivered his people by
the sacrifice of the Lamb. The sacrifice of the Son of God. He says, I bore you on eagle's
wings. That is, as it were on eagle
wings. I've always watched over you,
God said. I'm the one who was watching
over you when Joseph came into Egypt. I was the one who was
watching over you when then Jacob and the rest of Joseph's family
came into Egypt. And I'm the one who's been watching
over you all of these 400 years of captivity. And I'm the one
who delivered you. I'm the one who showed mercy
on you. I showed judgment on the Egyptians,
but mercy for you. Though there was no natural difference
between you and the Egyptians. You were just as vile, just as
wicked as the Egyptians were. But I showed mercy to you. And I just poured out judgment
upon the Egyptians. I've taken care of you." Though they didn't know it. Those of us who are the people
of God, even when you didn't know God,
you didn't know anything about the Gospel. He was providing
for you. He was protecting you. He was watching over you. And
He was nourishing you. We're His little ones. And He
has, as it were, born us on eagles' wings. Very powerful. Very powerful. Oh, what confidence
we should have in the Lord. He wrote our names down in the
Lamb's Book of Life. He gave us to the Lord Jesus
our great surety, the surety of the new covenant of grace.
The Savior came into this world and gave His life a ransom for
us. He was obedient to everything
God demanded of us. He was perfect in all of His
ways and then He laid down His life in obedience to God to save
us from our sins. He's done everything for us.
He's not going to forsake us during life. He loved us before
we were born. He loved us before He made the
world. He loved us forever. He's not
going to desert us. He'll never fail us. And He's the one who gave us
spiritual life to believe Him. And here's what he did. He brought
us unto himself. That's what it says here. He
brought us unto himself. That's the reason I use that
verse from Luke chapter 19 to begin with. Zacchaeus come down
for today I must abide at thy house. I must. I'm drawing you to myself. Oh, this is the effectual call
of the gospel. The effectual call of our God
and Savior. Well, then God gives to Moses
a covenant and the disagreement that God is entering into with
Israel, he'll be faithful on his part But He gives these rules
which come later. All His laws come later. And
Ron's already read to us. They agreed. They said, whatever
the Lord has said, we will do. Well, He hasn't even said what
His law is yet. But they already said, we'll
keep it. We will do whatever God says. The Lord says, if you obey Me, here's the benefit to you. He says in verse 5, you'll be
a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people. You'll be valuable
to Me, if you obey Me. And you'll be a kingdom of priests.
And you'll be a holy nation. And God said in verse 6, the
end of it, these are the words which thou shalt speak unto the
children of Israel. Now, this much we know, and I'll
get into, I'm certainly going to get into the Ten Commandments
tonight. But knowing ahead of time, see Israel didn't know
what God was going to say. But we know what He's going to
say. And knowing the stipulations of God in this covenant of works,
which is really, in my mind, kind of an enlargement of what
God said to Adam. It's a much broader picture of
it. God, as it were, entered into
a covenant with Adam. Adam, you'll live, I'll bless
you, but don't eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. In the day ye eat thereof, you'll
surely die. And that's a covenant that we
know God will do what He said He will do, but it was fully
dependent upon Adam's obedience, and he failed. And here in Exodus
chapter 19, God is setting forth these things, this covenant to
Israel. And he lays down the stipulations. Later, obey me in all things,
and then you'll be highly valued by me. You'll be a kingdom of
priests instead of being in a state of slavery and servitude. You'll be a kingdom. You'll be
a kingdom to serve and worship Jehovah. And he says, and you'll
be a holy nation, a nation that I set apart for myself. In other
words, God would own them or acknowledge them as being His
people. let's put it this way, their
national acceptance would be dependent on their obedience
to these laws that God would set forth to them in Exodus chapter
20, 21, 22, 23, and into 24. Now, we know, you know, that nobody can keep the stipulations
of the covenant of works. You see, really, and most of you are familiar with
the covenant of grace and the covenant of works. These two
covenants, ever since God made man, they've always been active
covenants. They've always been at work.
And guess what? They still are. They still are. And if you want to be approved
of God, if you want God to receive you on the basis of your obedience,
of you doing something, you serving Him, you performing good works,
you being baptized, or you joining up in the church, or you taking
the Lord's Supper. If your acceptance before God
is dependent upon you keeping some rule, some law, some ritual,
some ceremony, you are under a covenant of works, and here's
what's required of you. Be perfect. right from the get-go. You gotta obey God in all things.
Now you know, and I know, that's an impossibility. I'm not too interested in the
covenant of works, therefore. I'm interested very much in the
covenant of grace. And the covenant of grace is
a covenant, this is a treaty, this is a contract, entered into
by God Himself. But in that covenant, in that
treaty, in that contract, you and I were not participants. No responsibility was laid on
us whatsoever. Because in that covenant, we
had a mediator, the Son of God. And He's always represented us. He's always been, as the scripture
says in the book of Hebrews, the surety of a better covenant.
Oh, let me tell you something, the covenant of grace is way
yonder better than the covenant of works. Because the covenant
of works It kills. Because nobody can obey God fully. And I'm going to show you tonight
that we break the Ten Commandments all the time. We're all guilty. We don't want God to deal with
us on the basis of our obedience. We want Him to deal with us on
the basis of the obedience of our Mediator, the Lord Jesus,
His obedience all the way to death. We want God to deal with
us on the basis of that Mediator. And, Because of that, we can
make a spiritual application here. We are God's peculiar treasure. He values us. He says, he that touches you
touches the apple of my eye. That's what God said. That's
how much he treasures us. We're his sons and daughters. You treasure your children? Sure
you do. You'd do anything for Him, wouldn't
you? Sure you would. Well, we're His children. What
did He do for us? He gave our elder brother to
die in our stead for our sins. Boy, if He was so gracious to
give us His only begotten Son, to lay down His life in our stead,
Well, He won't hesitate to give us everything we need. You may
not have everything you want, but I guarantee you this, you've
got everything you need spiritually, you've got everything you need
eternally, and really you've got everything that God deems
necessary for you to have materially. We're his peculiar treasure,
we're a kingdom of priests. A royal priesthood is what it
says in Revelation chapter 1 and we are a holy nation, we've been
set apart by God. Now, let me talk to you about,
that's the covenant. Let me talk to you about the
mediator of this covenant, Moses. In verse 3, Moses went up to
God and the Lord called unto him. God spoke to him. He's a mediator. God spoke to
Moses who would in turn speak to the people. Moses gave the message of God
to the people and then And then the people gave a message back
to God. They gave it to Moses and Moses
went back up and gave the message to God. I don't know if you noticed,
this is a very rich chapter. That's the reason I wanted Ron
to read it. I appreciate the way you read it deliberately
and very slowly and distinctly. Did you happen to notice the
many times that Moses went up and he went down. He went up
to deal with God, he came down to deal with man, over and over
again. Let me just show you these just
briefly. Look at verse 3. And Moses went up unto
God. He goes up unto God. Look at
verse 8. At the end of verse 8, this is
when Moses is giving the message to the people. And Moses, he
returned the words of the people unto the Lord. Look down at verse
20. Verse 20. The Lord came down
upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mountain. The Lord called
Moses up to the top of the mountain. Moses went up. Now look at verse
21. And the Lord said unto Moses,
go down. He goes up, he comes down. He
goes up, he comes down. Look at verse 24. The Lord said
unto him, Away, get thee down. And then on the other hand, look
at verse, go back to verse seven. And Moses, he came and called
for the elders of the people. And in order to do that, he had
to come down. Look at verse 14. And Moses went
down from the mount, Verse 21. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Go down. Verses 24 and 25. The Lord said
unto him, Away, get thee down. Get thee down. So verse 25. So Moses went down. Moses dealt
with God for the people. And in order to do that, he had
to go up. And then Moses dealt with the
people for God, and in order to do that, he had to go down. Now see our Mediator? Think about
our Mediator. He's with God from all eternity. And God said, go down. Go down. And our Lord came down, born
of a virgin. Lived a life of perfection. died
a sacrificial substitutionary death on the cross of Calvary
to save his people from their sins and to satisfy the justice
of God. He was buried. He arose again. I'll back up. When he died, what
happened to his soul? Went up. Went back to God. Resurrection morning, what happens
to his soul? Goes down back into his body. Forty days later, he goes up. He has come down to minister
to us for God. And at his ascension, he's gone
up. He's taken his seat at the right
hand of the Father on high. representing us, us. Therefore, the scripture says
he's the mediator of a better covenant. Now, quickly, here's
the third thing. Talk about a covenant, talk about
the mediator of the covenant, here's the third thing, a vow
quickly broken. Look at verse 7, And Moses came
and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their
faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the
people answered together and said, All that the Lord hath
spoken we will do. Moses returned the words of the
people unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear
when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever. And Moses told
the words of the people unto the Lord." Here's the mediator.
They said, we will do everything that God says for us to do. In fact, go over to Exodus chapter
24. Exodus chapter 24. And this is
a bit of an enlargement of what happened in chapter 19. Look
at 24 verse 3. And Moses came and told the people
all the words of the Lord. Exodus 24 verse 3. Moses came
and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments.
And all the people answered with one voice and said, all the words
which the Lord hath said, we will do. And Moses wrote all
the words of the Lord. And he rose up early in the morning
and built in an altar under the hill and 12 pillars according
to the 12 tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the
children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings and sacrifice,
peace offerings, of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half
the blood and put it in the basins, and half the blood he sprinkled
on the altar, and he took the book of the covenant, and he
read in the audience of the people. He read everything, all the stipulations
of God, all the laws of God, and they said, all that the Lord
has said we will do. And Moses took the blood. See, Moses knew they couldn't
keep this. He knew. He's a man of God. He knows the absolute impossibility
of these people keeping their part of the contract. And therefore, he presents to
God a blood sacrifice. That's the only way to be accepted
with God. And our Lord Jesus knew our inability
and offered the sacrifice to God that atoned for our sins. And we know from the rest of
the history of Israel that they broke their vow. Here's the fourth
thing I want to touch on. God's unapproachable holiness. Verses 10 through 15. And this is, I think this section
is best summed up with two words. Be ready. That's what God told
Moses. You tell the people, be ready.
I'm coming down. Be ready. Go back to chapter
19. Look at verse 11. Moses says to the people, in
obedience to what the Lord says, be ready against the third day. Be ready. He says the third day,
the Lord's coming down. Look at verse 15. He said unto
the people, be ready against the third day. And he says to
the men, don't even come to your wife. Nothing carnal. You don't
want anything going on here. You're going to meet God. God's coming down here. No carnality
whatsoever. Be ready. And the washing of
their garments and the washing of their bodies, it typified
that washing which we've got to have. We've got to be washed
in the Word of God, washed in the blood of Christ Jesus, and
we've got to have clean clothes. We've got to have clean clothes.
And that's the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
let me tell you something, you better be ready, because God's
coming down. He's coming down for you, either
in death, and the Lord must come back soon or we'll die, otherwise
He will come back. We're going to meet Him, It's
be ready. Oh, preacher, how can I be ready?
This is an awesome time. I mean, we read, Ron read to
us what happened when the Lord came down the mountain shaking
and full of smoke, earthquake, thunder, lightning. What's happening? God's coming down. Are you ready? That's what I'm asking you. Are
you ready? He's coming. The hymn writer said, Are you
washed? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? That's what you've got to have.
You've got to have spotless garments. How spotless is that? White as
snow. Are you ready? Moses said, Get ready. You be ready. God's coming now. And I'll tell you, those who
are filthy, still in their sinfulness, you're not ready. Not ready. Oh, that God would
show us grace. That He would wash us. Robe us in the garments of salvation. And then the last thing is the
terrible presence of the Lord. All the pillar of cloud descended. The effects were terrible. Frightening
to the people. God spoke out of a thick, dark
cloud. The Lord called to Moses. And he says to him, look at verse
19 again, and when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and
waxed louder and louder, Moses spake and God answered by voice.
And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mount.
And the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount and Moses
went up. The Lord said to Moses, go down,
you charge the people. lest they break through." Somehow
or another Moses marked off, maybe piled up rocks or whatever
around that peak. And he said, now this is as far
as you can go now. You can't approach God. And the Lord says to Moses, you
go down and charge the people lest they break through to gaze
on the Lord. They can't look on me, I'm a
consuming fire. If they break through, Moses,
I'm telling you, they're dead. I'm going to kill them. And verse
22, Even the priests which come near to the Lord, you sanctify
themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them. And Moses, he
said to the Lord, the people can't come up to Mount Sinai,
for you've already charged a saying, said bounds about the Mount,
and sanctified him. The Lord said unto him, Away,
get thee down. In other words, go tell them
again. Go tell them again. You can't come to God on your
own. You can't do that. You've got
to come to God through a mediator. through a mediator. But if you
try to cross that boundary, God says, I'll kill you. You'll die. Now let me give you one more
reference, and that's in the book of Hebrews. Look at Hebrews
chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. And the verses
really don't need any comment. For those of us who have some
understanding of the covenant of grace, here in Hebrews chapter
12, look at verse 18. For ye are not come unto the
mouth that might be touched, that burn with fire, nor unto
blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet,
and the voice of words, that is the commandments of God, which
demanded obedience but gave no strength to obey, which voice
they heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to
them anymore. For they couldn't endure that
which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched
the mountain, had to be stoned or thrust through with a dart.
In fact, so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly
fear and quake. He's the preacher. Well, where are we come? Look
at verse 22. But you, you saints of God, you
who believe, you who are sinners saved by grace, but you are come
not to Mount Sinai, you come to Mount Zion. And under the
city of the living God, The heavenly Jerusalem. There's nothing fearful
about this. There's nothing troubling about
this. You come to Mount Zion. You come
to the city of the living God. The heavenly Jerusalem, to an
innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and the
church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, their
names are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect, having been made
perfect through Christ the Lord, and to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant, and to that blood of sprinkling that speaks
better things than that of Abel. Oh, that's where we come to. through our Lord Jesus and all
the blessings of this covenant of grace. What a wonderful Savior
and what a glorious salvation. Our Father, bless the word that
has gone forth this morning. Give us an understanding of this
portion of Holy Scripture. Enable each of us, O God, to
flee to the mediator of the new covenant, the better covenant,
infinitely better than the covenant of works. Oh, in this covenant
of grace, Christ Jesus is set forth as that mediator. And so we read, for there is
one God and one mediator between God and man. Who is that? The man, Christ Jesus. We bless His name, Father. Glorify Yourself and do us poor
sinners good, for Christ's sake. Amen.