In Exodus 19 verse 7, we'll read
the rest of the chapter. 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 has spoken, we will do.
And 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. And the Lord said unto Moses,
go unto the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow and let
them wash their clothes and be ready against the third day.
For the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all
the people upon Mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto
the people round about saying, take heed to yourselves that
you go not up into the mount or touch the border of it. Whosoever
touches the mount shall be surely put to death. There shall not
in hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through.
Whether it be beast or man, it shall not live. When the trumpet
soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. And Moses went
down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people,
and they washed their clothes. And he said unto the people,
Be ready against the third day. Come not at your wives. And it
came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were
thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount and the
voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people
that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people
out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the nether
part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether
on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and
the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace. And the
whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet
sounded long and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and
God answered him by a 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. And the Lord
said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through
unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. And let the priests
also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest
the Lord break forth upon them. And Moses said unto the Lord,
The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for thou chargest
us, saying, Set bounds about the Mount, and sanctify it. And
the Lord said unto him, Away, get thee down. And thou shalt
come up, thou and Aaron with thee, but let not the priests
and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest
he break forth upon them. So Moses went down unto the people
and spake unto them. You'll notice in verses seven
and eight that God spoke to the people through Moses and that
the people spoke to God through Moses. It says there, Moses came
and called for the elders, and he laid before their faces all
these words which the Lord commanded him. He said, here's what God
said. And then in verse 8, and the last part, and Moses returned
the words of the people unto the Lord. The people had all
the words of the Lord laid before them, and God heard the words
of the people, though they did not speak directly to one another. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 5
verse 22. These words the Lord spake unto
all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire
and of the cloud and of the thick darkness with a great voice and
he added no more and he wrote them in two tables of stone and
delivered them unto me. This is Moses speaking to the
people reminding them what happened. Now the two tables of stone,
we're going to see that in the next chapter, in Exodus chapter
20. But already they've approached the mountain, and this is what
took place there. And it came to pass, verse 23,
and it came, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the
darkness, for the mountain did burn with fire that you came
near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes and your elders.
And you said, Behold, the Lord our God hath showed us his glory
and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst
of the fire. We have seen this day that God
doth talk with man, and he liveth. Now, therefore, why should we
die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice
of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die. For who is
there of all flesh that hath heard the voice? of the living
God speaking out of the midst of the fire as we have and lived.
Go thou near and hear all that the Lord our God shall say. Speak
thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee.
And we will hear it and do it." And that is what they said, isn't
it? They said, all that the Lord says, we'll do it. And he reminded them of that.
And look at verse 28. And the Lord heard the voice
of your words when you spake unto me. God hears everything
you say, even if you don't say it out loud. God heard you. And the Lord said unto me, I
have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have
spoken unto thee. They have well said all that
they have spoken. They said, God, you tell us what
to do and we'll do it. And God said, that's right. That's good. That's what you
should say. But look at verse 29. Oh, that there were such
an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments
always that it might be well with them and with their children
forever. So they spoke well. But their
problem was their heart. And this is what our Lord said
to the Pharisees in Matthew 15, 7. This is the universal problem. It's easy to say, Lord, we'll
do what you say. It's another thing to perform.
You remember what Paul said in Romans 7? How to perform that
which is good. I find not. What about you? These
Israelites found not how to perform. And listen to what the Lord said
to the Pharisees in Matthew 15, seven, you hypocrites. Well,
did Isaiah prophesy of you say Isaiah, and you imagine this,
the Lord looking at you and saying, Isaiah was talking about you
when he said this, would that get your attention? Here's what
he said. This people draw nine to me with
their mouth and honor with me with their lips, but their heart
is far from me. Oh, how we love Jesus. Let's
all sing it together now. Oh, how I love Jesus. And then
we prove by our actions that we love me, not him. And everything
we say that sounds good. We're hypocrites in there, aren't
we? Because our heart betrays us. What then is to be our attitude
toward the law? Have you given this much thought?
The people of Israel in our text said, we'll keep it. We'll do
what you say, but they were hypocrites. So how would you answer the Lord?
Would it be better than to say, we won't keep it. We won't do
what you say. I don't recommend that either. I don't recommend you tell the
Lord, I'm not going to do what you say. That's not right. He
said, you've well said, we'll do what you say. What then should
be our attitude toward an answer to God's commandments? We who
know the gospel now. I'm talking about believers.
All right, let's think about this and from the word of God,
see what God says about it. First of all, we recognize that
God's law is good and right and holy in condemning us. We can
sin unto the law, Paul said, Romans 7, 16. If I do that which
I would not, if I don't obey God's law, I delight in the law
of God after the inward man, but how to do that which God
commands, I find it not in me to do that. If that's true then,
I can sin unto the law that it's good. God's law is good. God's law is a verbal and written
expression of His holy character. That's the righteousness of God.
He commands righteousness in His creatures. So the law is
good. It's a reflection of that part
of His character. There's no hope for us if we
stand before God's law alone. God's law condemns us, but we
confess that it's right to do so. He's right, I'm wrong. Let God be true and me and you
and everybody else a liar. So there's no hope if we stand
before God's law in ourselves, in our alone. There's no hope for us. But this
doesn't make God's law evil. It makes us evil. That's important
for us to understand. People talk about the law like
it's a bad thing. Oh, no law. We don't want anything
to do with the law. Well, I don't want to be under the law. The
God's law is good and right and holy and just. Secondly, we want
to obey and please God. Now I'm talking about believers
now. We want to obey God, don't you? We want to honor Him. He's put
that in us. He's created a right spirit within
us and created a new heart in us that loves God and wants to
serve Him and obey Him and we have That desire. We want to
be like our Lord. The unregenerate, the moral,
self-righteous, religionist is not concerned with that. They're
concerned only with going to heaven when they die. They don't
care about God's honor. You know that. That was you before.
But the believer says with David, listen to this, beautiful, is
this your desire? King David prayed this, teach
me to do thy will, for thou art my God. You're my God. I want to do what
you say. I want to do... Your ways are
not my ways. I want to follow your ways. You're
my God. Teach me to do thy will. Thy
spirit is good. Lead me into the land of uprightness. Is that your desire? I don't
want to walk contrary to God. I don't want to doubt like I
do all the time. I don't want to fear when God
says fear not. Do you? I don't want to, I don't even
know how to say it right, but you know and I know that every
day we don't walk worthy of the calling wherewith we're called.
We're a shame to our Lord. I don't want to be that. And then thirdly, we recognize
our utter inability to measure up to God's perfect standard
as expressed in His law. I want to. But I'm like Paul,
how to perform. I just don't find it in me. As believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ, when we read what the people of Israel said to Moses
about doing all that the Lord said, you know, the Lord gives
these commandments through His servant Moses, and they said,
we'll do everything you said. Did a red flag go up when you
read that? We know better than that, don't
we? We know that they couldn't back up what they said and neither
can we. We read what God said in Deuteronomy
5.29 there. Oh, that there was such a heart
in them. If their heart could just back up their mouth. That they would fear me and that
they would keep all my commandments always. That's what our Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, I do always those things
that please. My heavenly father, but not us. We know what the Lord said concerning
these Israelites and the old covenant. When he spoke of the
new covenant in Jeremiah 31, 32, he said, this new covenant
is not going to be according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring
them out of the land of Egypt. That's talking about our text,
which my covenant, they break. He said, this do and live. And
here he said, you broke my covenant. You didn't do what I said. You
didn't obey me. Although I was a husband to them,
saith the Lord. The Lord was faithful, but we
weren't. That's the problem. And Paul
said, it's not just them. Not just talking about some history
lesson here. Paul said, all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. Every last one of us. So what
do we say in response to God's law? Those three things being
true without question. What do we say in response to
God who says to us, who says to every sinner, honor my law,
obey all the words of my mouth. There are two responses that
deserve consideration, two responses to that in the scripture. Then
it would do us well to know. and from our hearts to echo. Well, you can't fake it before
God. This is either your response or it's not. And it's twofold. First of all, turn to Psalm 119. Psalm 119 verse 34. Now this
Psalm 119, if you'll notice, every verse in this Psalm makes
reference to the law of God, every verse. That's what David
is writing about. He's writing about God's law,
God's statutes, God's word, God's commandment. It's called all
those things and more in Psalm 119. But let's look at verse
34. Can we say this before God? Could
these Israelites have spoken this way instead of saying, we'll
do what you say, we'll do everything you tell us to do. Was David, is David better than
them? No, he just has experienced the grace and mercy of God in
revealing to David what he is before God. He knows. Listen
to the grace here. Listen to, to the wisdom of this. Verse 34, give me understanding
and I'll keep your law. Give me an understanding heart,
Lord. Show me, teach me, enable me. And he doesn't just stop at understanding
either. Look at the rest of verse 34
and then we'll continue reading. Yea, I shall observe it with
my whole heart. If you do something for me. It's
not if you will, God will. It's if God will, you will. That's
what David, David was on that program. If God will, I will.
Lord, give me understanding. Verse 35, make me to go in the
path of thy commandments. Could they have said that in
response to what God said? Can we say that? Instead of popping
off about our ability to keep God's law, could we say, Lord,
you make me, make me to go in the path of thy commandments.
For therein do I delight. By His grace, we have the heart
to do but how to perform. Naturally speaking, we don't
have the heart. These Israelites, remember what God said? They're
talking a good game, but they don't have the heart in them.
Well, God's given us a heart, but Paul said, we can't perform
it because of our sin. I do delight in the law of God.
Paul said, David said that too. Therein I delight. Now make me
Lord, make me. make me to go in the path of
that. That's the right prayer isn't it? With regard to our
obedience to God. Now remember I said this is a
two-fold answer. This is the first part of it
but not the most important part of it. I want to personally obey
God and I'm gonna have to answer him this way because I know that
in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. If I'm gonna follow
after righteousness the Lord's gonna have to make me do it.
What did Paul say? It is him that worketh in you,
both to will and to do of his good pleasure. That's what David's
praying for right there. Lord, you work in me, you make
me do it. Turn us and we'll be turned.
Now look, verse 36, incline my heart unto thy testimonies. and not to covetousness. Why
do you think he put that part in there? Because that's what
we're inclined to by nature. We're inclined away from God
and His Word. And David's saying, Lord, turn
me back. Incline me to You and Your Word. Verse 37, turn away mine eyes
from beholding vanity. You see what he's saying? Make
me, turn me away, incline work in me to will and to do. your
good pleasure. Quicken thou me in thy way. Give
me life. Without spiritual life, there's
no faith. And without faith, it's impossible
to please God. And that's what we want to do.
By his grace, it's pleasing. Give me life. Quicken me. Establish
thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. turn
away my reproach which i fear for thy judgments are good behold i have longed after thy
precepts quicken me in thy righteousness you see how he's praying here
and look at the final verse we'll read here let thy mercies come
also Unto me, O Lord, even thy salvation, according to thy word. Turn me, incline me, influence
me, persuade me, make me, and then when I don't, when I fail,
when I sin, have mercy on me. Is that better than, O Lord,
I'll do everything you say? They have these religious groups,
and one of them comes to my mind, the promise keepers. We're the
promise keepers. What we're going to do, we're going to... No,
you're not. No, you're not. You're a liar.
You're a promise breaker. That's what you are before God.
And that's why God gave his law, so that you'd shut up about your
promise keeping, and your Christian life living, and everything you
do. And pray, Lord, you make me Cause
me to honor you, give me grace, incline my heart to your glory
instead of mine in everything that I do. And then have mercy
on me because I'm going to need it. I already need it. I've needed
it since the day I was born. You see that we want to obey
God, but based on our obedience, we know we can never see God. If we go about to establish our
own righteousness all of our lives, at the end of our life,
we'll find that we have no righteousness before God. Paul said in Romans 7, I delight
in the law of God after the inward man. Do you? You should. And that's all fine and well.
And I mean that. It is fine and well to delight
in God's law. But Paul still had to say, oh
wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? And you will too, if you're going
to be honest before God. The second and most important
response to God when He commands us to obey is this. Turn to Luke
18, verse 9. And He does command us to obey,
by the way. God demands righteousness. He
demands perfect righteousness of you. Here's two people standing
before God in Luke 18 9 Look at the first verse here
verse 9 and He spake this parable unto certain. This is the Lord
Jesus speaking and here's who he's talking to certain people
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and Despised
others. They said Oh Lord will do everything.
We've always done what you say, and we'll continue to do that
And here's something that goes right along with that, they hated
everybody else. And here's the parable, two men
went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other
a Republican. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men
are. extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican, he just quoted some of the law there
that we're going to see in the next chapter of Exodus. Adulterers,
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
He's sitting there talking to God about how he measures up
to God's law. I've done what you say, I'm doing
what you say, and I will do what you say. And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying, When God commends righteousness
and perfection and holiness from you, this better be part of your
answer than mine. God be merciful to me, the sinner. That's our answer. And the Lord
said, I tell you this, this man went down to his house justified
rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. God be merciful to me, the sinner. Now this is an interesting
verse with regard to our text in Exodus because what this publican
said was Helaskomai. That's the one word that's translated
be merciful to me. He said God Helaskomai. And that
word means be propitious to me. Be placated or appeased. And he's making direct reference
here to the mercy seat. What happened at the mercy seat
under the old covenant is what this man is praying would happen
between him and God here. What happened at that mercy seat?
The high priest went into that holy of holies on the day of
atonement only. There's one purpose, atonement
with God, atonement with God, communion, fellowship, being
with God. What did Moses say? What did
God say to Moses there in our text? Bring the people down on
the third day to meet with me, to meet with me. And on the day
of atonement, that high priest went in there and he splashed
blood on the mercy seat, the blood of the sacrifice that God
had ordained, an acceptable sacrifice before God. And God said in Exodus
25, 22, and there I will meet with thee. Again, that's
what we saw there in our text in Exodus 19. It had to do with
meeting with God. There at the mercy seat, I will
meet with thee and I will commune with thee. God met them there
at Sinai in a sense through the mediator Moses who spoke to God
for them and to them for God. But they had no access to that
mountain. They had no access to the presence
of God there. He said, you just touch it and
see what happens. You'll have to be killed. You'll
have to be, and they didn't want none of it, did they? They didn't
want to come anywhere near it. When they heard the, they said,
it said there in that verse in Deuteronomy, he said, the Lord's
shown us his glory. We don't want anything to do
with that. Not directly. You go and talk
to him for us and come tell us what he says. through a mediator. Now, but they had no access to
Sinai, but at the mercy seat, God said, I'll meet with you
there and not no thunder, no lightning. I'll commune with
you. I'll have fellowship with you. So this publican was saying,
Lord, have mercy on me on the basis of atonement made on the
basis of blood accepted. And Christ said, that man went
down to his house justified. He didn't come before God saying,
look what I've done and look what I'm doing. And I promise
you, I'm a promise keeper and I'm promising you, I'll do what
you say. That man went down to his house in his sins. The one
that went home without sin was the one that said, God have mercy
on me. Now, what's your answer going to be before God? And the Pharisee came saying,
not only will I obey all you say, but I have done so. And
he left in his sins. But that publican wouldn't even
lift up his eyes to heaven, much less brag about what he had done. And God had mercy on him. God
answered his prayer. He was propitious toward that
sinner through the blood of atonement. by virtue of that shed blood.
Our mercy seat is the Lord Jesus Christ. He, as our high priest,
made atonement for our souls by offering his own precious
blood unto God for our sins. And on that basis, by virtue
of that blood, we cry as that publican did, God be merciful
to the sinner, me. We answer to God's law, not with
hypocritical claims of having kept it, nor empty promises that
we will do so. By his grace, we know better.
But we answer to God's law with a cry for mercy on the basis
of a satisfactory blood offering, the blood of God's lamb, the
Lord Jesus Christ. I hope and pray that that's clear.
Is that clear? There are two ways to come before
God. And this Pharisee and this publican represent them. Cain
and Abel represented them. We don't answer God's law by
saying, accept my works. Look what I've done. But by saying,
accept the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, be propitious to
me on the mercy seat. God said, concerning the mercy
seat in Exodus 25, where we read there, I will meet with you there. And in our text in Exodus 19
and verse 17 at Mount Sinai there, we read in verse 17, and Moses
brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God. And Paul said in 1 Peter 3, 18, Christ also hath suffered once
for sins, the just for the unjust, to what end that he might bring
us to God. This is the be all, end all.
This is the ultimate desire and need of man, to be with God,
to be with God. Adam enjoyed perfect communion
with God before the fall, but now, as Isaiah said in Isaiah
59-2, your iniquities have separated between you and your God. They
came to Mount Sinai there to meet with God, but they couldn't
commune with Him there. But he said, at the mercy seat,
I'll meet with you there, and I'll commune with you there.
And the Lord Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of all that's set
forth and pictured by that mercy seat and by that high priest
and by that shed blood and by everything pertaining to that
tabernacle and access to God and to the holy of holies. The
Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled all of that and died the just for
the unjust that he might do what man has needed since the fall
to be brought back to God. He accomplished it for his people. by his precious blood that he might bring us to God. How do we get back to God? Listen
to this Hebrews 10 19 having therefore brethren boldness to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus the Lord Jesus Christ entered
there for us as our high priest and Paul said now we have access by a new and living way which
he hath consecrated for us. Through the veil, that is to
say his flesh, behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a faithful and merciful high priest, to make
reconciliation for the sins of the people. So through the veil,
that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over the
house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance
There wasn't no drawing near to that mount. There wasn't no
coming up there and even touching that thing without dying. But
Paul said, come on, come on in, into the holiest. How? By the blood of Jesus. Let us draw near with a true
heart and full assurance of faith, knowing that that blood has given
us access. Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. God said you
wash your clothes. And our bodies now are washed
with pure water. We have access to God by the
blood of Jesus. Now turn to Hebrews chapter 12,
and this pertains to our text also, directly references our
text in Exodus 19. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 18. Paul is exhorting the people
of God throughout this chapter. He said in verse one, we're compassed
about with this great cloud of witnesses, so let's lay aside
every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us and run
the race, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our goal. He's our prize. He's the author
and finisher of our faith. Look to Him. Verse three, consider
Him. He talks about enduring chastening
and doing so faithfully and knowing that the Lord has done this for
our good and trusting Him in it. And he talks about helping
one another. And then he says, look diligently,
verse 15, lest any man fail of the grace of God. Don't fail
of God's grace. Don't start trusting yourself.
Trust only His grace and His precious blood. And then verse
18, four, you're not come to the mouth that might be touched.
and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness and darkness and
tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, which
voice they that heard and treated that the word should not be spoken
to them anymore. You not come there. You're not
going to have access to God that way. That's by the giving of
the law. That's the old covenant. That's
God saying this do and live. They break it. You've broken
it. I've broken it. Everybody's broken it. You're
not going to have that. You're not coming to that mountain
and getting to God. And remember, that's always been.
We've got to be with God. We need the communion with God.
We need fellowship with God. We need the favor of God. How's
that going to happen? His death, the just for the unjust. By that, he brought us to God.
You haven't come to Sinai for salvation. There's no salvation
there. It might be touched. That was
a physical mountain that you could have gone up and touched.
But God would have killed you if you had. You not come to that
mount. For they could not endure that
which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched
the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart.
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly
fear and quake. We're not coming that way. But
you're coming to Mount Zion. Unto the city of the living God. The heavenly Jerusalem. And to
an innumerable company of angels. We're coming right into God's
house. Right into the city of God. Where the angels dwell. Can you do that? The angels are
holy. And they're able to come into
the very presence of God. Can you do that? That's exactly
what we do. By the blood of Jesus. By the
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. To the General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn, all of God's church, are not come to Mount Sinai,
they're come to Mount Zion. They're come to Mount Calvary.
Which are written in heaven, and to God, the judge of all,
you come right where God is, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
No man cometh unto the Father, but by me, but by him, that's
exactly what we have done. We've come to God, to God, the
judge of all, the judge of all. How can we come to the judge
of all? Surely he must condemn us and throw us in hell, no?
We come boldly by the blood of Jesus. And to the spirits of
just men, made perfect. Not having achieved perfection,
but made perfect. That's who's going to be there. And how is all that possible?
Verse 24, and to Jesus. The mediator of the new covenant. There was a mediator under the
old covenant, wasn't there? Moses. Don't let God talk to
us. You come tell us what he said
and then we'll tell you. Talk to you and you go tell God
what we said. That's what he did. But the Lord
Jesus Christ, the law came by Moses. But grace and truth came
by Jesus Christ. The mediator of the new covenant.
And we've come to that blood, that precious sin-cleansing blood. That's what that publican was
saying. Now, Lord, be propitious to me. Accept blood on my behalf. Accept an offering on the mercy
seat for me. That's where we come, to the
mercy seat. We come to that blood of sprinkling.
that speaketh better things than that of Abel. What did Abel's
blood say? Man's a sinner. God said his blood speaketh to
me from the ground. What was Abel's blood saying
to God? Cain's a murderer. Man's a sinner. What does the
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ say? It says better things. You
know what it says? God's merciful to sinners. Look what he said now, let's
read the rest of it. See that ye refuse not him that
speaketh, for if they escape not who refused him that spake
on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from
him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth,
but now he hath promised, saying, yet once more I shake not the
earth only, but also heaven. And this word, yet once more,
signified the removing of those things that are shaken as of
things that are made. The things that are shaken are
the things that are made. That's you, me, and everything
we've done. that those things which cannot
be shaken may remain. That's the eternal things of
God. That's the things of the kingdom. Now look at the context.
What things are those things which remain? Look at verse 28.
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved. The kingdom of God is all of
God's purpose of grace brought to pass and fulfilled in the
calling out, the saving, the redeeming and calling out of
a people And setting the Lord Jesus Christ, His King, upon
His holy hill to rule over them and to bless them, to lead them. That kingdom which cannot be
moved. And he said, wherefore receiving that kingdom, having
received the grace of God. Look at that next part. Let us
have grace. Let us have grace. No grace at Mount Sinai. That's
why he says in this content, you do not come there. You come
to Mount Zion. Let us have grace. Is it gonna
be law or grace? Paul said, let us have grace. You know what that word there
have mean? It means let us hold fast to grace. If you've ever been to Mount
Sinai and by God's grace knew what was happening there, you're
going to say this, let's have grace. I don't want to come before
God on the basis of my law keeping. Whereby, this is the only whereby,
how? Grace, whereby we may serve God
acceptably The people at Sinai said, we'll
serve you, we'll obey you, we'll do what you say. Did they do
it acceptably? The Lord said, you broke my covenant.
You failed. But by grace, we may serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a
consuming fire. He hadn't changed. He's still
the same God that thundered from Sinai. He's the same God that'll
put us in hell if we try to come that way. You touch that mountain
and you're a goner. Let us hold fast to grace. Let
us come to the Lord Jesus Christ in the blood of sprinkling. That's
where grace is. That's God's grace is in Christ
and that shed blood that Paul just talked about. Only by grace can we serve God
acceptably because by grace, Christ is our righteousness before
God. Paul said, you're not under law,
but under grace. By grace, we are accepted in
the beloved. That's what Paul said in Ephesians
1, 6, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath
made us accepted in the beloved. Paul said, let us hold fast to
grace that we may serve him acceptably. By his grace, we're accepted
in the beloved. That's how we serve him acceptably.
We do it by faith in Christ. And Christ is our righteousness.
Thank God for his sovereign, free, electing, distinguishing
grace. Grace and truth have come by
Jesus Christ and his precious blood of sprinkling. Let us hold
fast to grace. Let's bow in prayer.