after the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments had been given in Exodus chapter 20. And something that I think is glorious to think about, if you've never read the Ten Commandments, the law is still already written in your heart. That's what Romans 2.16 says. Everybody here knows it's wrong to murder. Everybody knows it's wrong to lie. Everybody knows it's wrong to commit adultery. That's the law written in everyone's heart.

Now, what took place after the giving of the Ten Commandments? Now, the setting is about somewhat less than eight weeks after they had left Egypt. This was still fresh on their mind, the parting of the Red Sea. They saw the dead Egyptians on the shore, all of their enemies destroyed. And they finally arrive at Mount Sinai, the place God told them to go to offer sacrifices to himself. And this is the place of the giving of the law.

I think it's very interesting. that Mount Sinai means, the word Sinai means thorny. Curse it is the ground for thy sake, thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth. The curse of the law, Sinai itself, thorny.

In Exodus chapter 19, if you'll turn there, In the third month, when the children of Israel gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they unto the wilderness of Sinai, Mount Sinai, giving of the law. For they were departed from Rephidim and were come to the desert of Sinai and had pitched in the wilderness and there Israel camped before the mount. And Moses went up unto God. And the Lord called unto him out of the mountains, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel, You've seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me, above all people, for all the earth is mine. and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

And Moses came and called to 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. Oh. 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. Here's what they said. All you speak, we will do. And the Lord said unto Moses, go unto the people and sanctify them today 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 upon the people round about.

This is what the writer of the Hebrews talks about in Hebrews chapter 12. Take heed to yourselves that you go not up into the Mount or touch the border of it. Whosoever toucheth the Mount shall be surely put to death. There shall not a hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through, whether it be a 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. Put yourself in their place. Lightning, thunder, the sound of a loud trumpet, thick darkness surrounding the mountain. Would you tremble?

And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the nether part of the mountain. Mount Sinai was all together on smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire. And the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace and of the whole mount quaked greatly. They were experiencing an earthquake at this time. The glory of the Lord coming down upon the mountain.

And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him 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, 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 charges as saying, set bounds about the Mount and sanctify it. And the Lord said unto him away, get thee down and thou shall come up, thou and Aaron with thee, but let not the priests and the people break through to come into the Lord, lest he break forth upon them. So Moses went down into the people and spake unto them,

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God. Now, you notice Lord is in all caps that always references Jehovah, the self-existent one. The one who has no needs, there's nothing you must do in order for him to do something. Every attribute of God is comprehended in his name, Jehovah, the self existent one. Think about how dependent you are. He's absolutely independent. All of his glorious attributes come from his independence.

The Lord God. Now this is the word Elohim. It's the plural for the word God. One God in three distinct persons. Jehovah Elohim. This is the same word in God created the heavens and the earth. The one God in three distinct persons. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. He speaks from the mount.

Verse two, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And like I said, they had experienced this just not very many weeks before. They'd seen the parting of the Red Sea. They'd been brought out of the land of Egypt, and this was fresh on their minds.

Now, he says in verse three, and here we have the first of the 10 commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. He only is God. Nothing is to come before him. He only is God. Only he is to be worshiped.

Verse four, here's a commandment with regard to idolatry. Listen to the words carefully. Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that's in heaven above or that's in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down myself to them or serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that, what? Hate me. Why would a man make a image or likeness either in his mind or physically? One reason only, he hates God in his heart and would invent a God that he feels more comfortable with and likes better. The reason for all idolatry is hatred of God as he is. That's what the book says. He said, I'm a jealous God. Verse six, in showing mercy, and to the thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments."

Now, any kind of religious relic, God forbids it. It's an attempt to bring God down to human level that a human can understand, bringing him down. Verse seven, here's the third commandment. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Quite often people say, my God, my Lord, Lord. Don't do that. His name is holy. His name is reverend. His name is such that to even speak it audibly or even in your heart without the proper reverence is a sin worthy of hell. That's how glorious his name is. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Here's the fourth commandment. Remember the Sabbath day. to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy sons, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath. and hallowed it the Sabbath day.

Two things to understand with regard to the Sabbath day. Don't work. Rest. Isn't that the gospel? Salvation is not by works. It's not by what you do. Rest.

The fifth commandment, honor thy father and thy mother. honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Now, this is not only honoring your mom and dad, which children honor your parents. This is not only about honoring your mother and father. This is about the respect for authority. If I don't teach my children respect for authority, it's not going to be well for them. This is the first commandment with promise that Paul speaks of in Ephesians, the first commandment with promise. If my children respect authority, they're going to do well. And if they don't respect authority, it's at least partially the parent's fault. You're to make sure your children respect authority and make them respect authority. Somebody says, I can't make them. Yeah, you can. Yeah, you can.

And the fifth commandment, the sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill. And we generally think of murder, but it means a whole lot more than that. You can kill somebody's character by slander, by innuendo. You can be angry. With somebody without a cause, be jealous of them. The Lord calls that murder in the Sermon on the Mount. Thou shalt not kill.

Seventh commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery. This is talking about the commandment against all sexual sin. Now, it's the fallen nature that finds sexual sin so attractive, but it's a fallen nature and it's forbidden. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Verse 15, thou shalt not steal. And this means more than jaw flipping. You know, if you don't do your best on the job, you're stealing time, aren't you? If you give yourself credit for something that you shouldn't get the credit for, that's thievery. If you take glory where you didn't deserve it, isn't that what most human religion's about? The glory that should go to God we give to ourselves. That's called stealing. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Lie. Exaggerate. Slander. Thou shalt not lie. Isn't God's law beautiful? I love the way Paul said, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. God's law is beautiful.

Verse 17, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, for I wish I had his house, a lot bigger than mine. Thou shalt not cover thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that's thy neighbor's. 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 removed. They stood afar off. They were terrified.

Now, when I read God's holy law, there are two things that terrify me. The lawgiver. God and the law breaker, me. They were terrified. And if I ever see anything about the law of God, the holy law of God, it'll terrify me. It'll make me want to remove far off.

Verse 19, here's what happens when people have some understanding of the law. And they said unto Moses, speak thou with us, and we will hear. Let not God speak with us, lest we die. You see the need of mediator. You see the law of God. You don't want to stand before God on your own. You see the need of a mediator. And Moses is the mediator at this time. Don't let God speak with us, it'll kill us. You speak with us.

Verse 20, and Moses said unto the people, fear not for God has come to prove you and that his fear may be before your faces that you sin not. This is talking about the fear of the Lord. That's the beginning of wisdom. It's not talking about that slavish fear of punishment. It's talking about the fear of the Lord, the reverence for the Lord. That is the very beginning of wisdom.

And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near into the thick darkness where God was. You see, all the law is, if I don't see the gospel, is thick darkness. I love the imagery of that. Thick darkness. You can't see. If all you see is God's holy law, his requirements, his commandments, with no understanding of the gospel, it is thick darkness, darkness that might be felt.

I think it's so interesting at the end of the giving of the law in Exodus chapter 24, they repeat what they said in Revelation 19, all that he has commanded will do. They obviously didn't understand themselves nor the law. But let's go on reading.

And the Lord said unto Moses, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, you have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make with me, gods of silver, Neither shall you make unto you gods of gold. Now, the first thing he mentions has something to do with the commandment with regard to idolatry. Don't bring me down to a human level. Don't make a man-made god of gold. Don't make a man-made god of silver.

God is as he is. My thoughts about God, Your thoughts about God are inconsequential to who He is. He is as He is. He that cometh to God must, must believe that He is. I love the isness of God. It's recorded in this word. My thoughts and your thoughts of God are all wrong. If you believe, if I believe in salvation by works in any measure to any degree, I prove by that I have wrong thoughts of God. I make him lower than he is, thinking he can accept something that comes from me. I make myself higher than I am, thinking he can accept something that comes from me. God is as he is. Don't make these false concepts of God.

Verse 24. Right after the giving of the law, and altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings." Now, question, why is this here? Right after the giving of the law, we read of altars, burnt offerings, peace offerings, sacrifices. Why is this here? because God knew they wouldn't keep it. That is why.

Now you read, look in Revelation 19, eight. And the people answered together and said, all that the Lord has spoken we will do. Look in chapter 24. This is after the complete giving of the law in 20 through 23, the other commandments involved. Verse three, Exodus 24, Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, all the words which the Lord has spoken, we will do. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up early in the morning and built an altar under the hill. First thing he did was build an altar. 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 sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. There's those burnt offerings and peace offerings. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant and read it in the audience of the people. And they said, all that the Lord has said, will we do and be obedient. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people.

Now I want you to picture that in your mind. They talk about how we're gonna be obedient. He starts sprinkling blood on them. I heard a preacher actually say this was the pact of obedience. It's like two boys pricking their fingers and let a little blood come out and they're gonna be with each, this is the pact of obedience. It's the certainty of disobedience. And the only way God can be approached is through this sacrifice.

Turn back to Exodus 20. Verse 24, an altar of earth. Thou shalt make unto me just a mound of dirt to place the sacrifice on. And thou shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings. Burnt offerings, peace offerings. What's a burnt offering? When you put the sacrifice, the dead animal on the altar and burn it to where there's nothing left. That's the burnt offering. What is the peace offering? The only peace there is comes out of that burnt offering.

Now, what does the burnt offering signify? It signifies God's acceptance of the sacrifice. It's burn up, it's consumed. He accepted the sacrifice. Do you remember when Elijah took the bullock? He had said, the God that answers by fire, he's God. And he took that bullock and placed it upon the altar. The altar was first repaired. It had been broken down. He repairs the altar. He puts the bullock upon the altar. He said, the God that answers by fire, let him be God. You'll remember the priest of Baal had made an altar and put the bullock on it and then danced and cried and screamed and cut themselves with stone saying, hear us, O Baal, like the sacrifice. Nothing happened. Elijah takes his altar and dumps it with barrels of water from the ocean three different times till it's soaked. And he prays to God and the scripture says, fire came down from heaven and it consumed the Bullock and the stones the Bullock was on. and the dust, and it licked up the water. And after that fire came down from heaven, there was nothing left. The people saw nothing. God accepted, completely accepted the sacrifice.

There was another time when the fire came down from heaven upon the one hanging on the cross. And this time, the fire did not consume the sacrifice. The sacrifice utterly consumed the fire so that there's no wrath left. That's what the burnt offering signifies. God's complete acceptance. When Christ said it is finished, God was pleased.

Where does peace come from? The peace offerings. The only peace there is, is God's acceptance of the sacrifice of his son. I have peace. All God requires of me, I have in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was delivered for our offenses, raised again for our justification. Therefore, having been justified, we have peace with God. having made peace by the blood of his cross. Oh, the peace that he accomplished.

Why do I have peace? Because he is my peace. Why do I have peace? Because of all that God requires of me, he looks to his son for, and he accomplished it. And there's nothing for me to do but rest. There's keeping the Sabbath, not working, resting. in Christ. Oh, the peace of the burnt offering. That's where peace comes from. I love the way there. First, the burnt offering, then the peace offering. First, the satisfaction Christ accomplished, then peace.

Verse 24, an altar of earth thou shalt make unto me and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings. thy sheep, thy oxen, in all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee and I'll bless thee." Now, where is his name recorded? In the sacrifice. The only way me and you are going to know God's name, and I'm not talking about knowing how to enunciate his name verbally, you know the person behind the name, speaks of his attributes, the person behind the name. That's where he records his name in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the complete manifestation of his character.

Now let's go on reading, verse 25. And if thou will make me an altar of stone, he said, make it with a mound of dirt. But if you're going to use stones, if thou will make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it upon eunstone. For if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. If you do make me an altar of stone, make sure you don't use stones that men have cut to put in place, that they've worked on. Don't do it. If you put your tool to it, it's polluted, it's defiled, it's unclean before God. Don't you put your tool Do it, it can't be used.

Hold your finger there and turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 28. He that despised Moses' law, Ten Commandments, we just read it. I love the way it's called Moses' Law. He that despised Moses' Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer, severer 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 done despite unto the spirit of grace.

Now, how do you count the blood of the covenant unholy? Now, the word unholy is the word that's generally translated common. That which is general to all, as opposed to that which is peculiar to the few. That's what the word means by definition, common, that which is general to all as opposed to that which is peculiar to the few. Now with regard to the atonement of Christ, if I call it common, that which is general to all as opposed to that which is peculiar to the few, if I call his blood common, I'm trotting underfoot the son of God. His blood, Hebrews 1.3, he by himself purged our sins. To look at his blood in any other way but utterly successful is to treat it with contempt. He shed his blood for God to elect. This is so important. Somebody that preaches that Jesus Christ shed his blood for everybody, made salvation possible for everybody, but it's up to you what you do with it to make it work. Somebody that believes that way doesn't believe the gospel. Somebody that preaches that does not preach the gospel. That's not the gospel. The gospel is his successful work on Calvary's tree. You know, if Christ died for me, I must be saved. Do you believe that? If Christ died for me, I can't be anything but saved, because who was it died?

Now, back to our text in Exodus 20. Verse 25, if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of eunestone, manmade, man effecting it. If thou shalt lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Would you lift your sacrilegious hand upon the work of Christ and try to help it out? He by himself purged our sins. Verse 26. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon. I've read several commentaries and they were actually saying you don't want steps because people could see up the skirt of the high priest that he's wearing and you'd see his nakedness. No, no, that's not what that's talking about. Steps of ascent. There are no steps to God. Do you hear that? There are no steps to God. This is not about a seven-step program or a 12-step program. There are no steps to God. There are not steps that bring you closer. You take this step, you're closer. You take the next step, you're a little closer. You take another step, you're even closer. If you fall down, you're farther away. Keep getting up those steps. They're not things you need to acquire first. Stop committing this sin. Become better. Come to a higher knowledge. This experience, start doing this, stop doing that. Steps. There are no steps.

When the Philippian jailer said to Paul and Silas, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Oh, what a question. I can't save myself, I'm sure of that. What must I do to be saved? Well, Paul said, first, you need to make sure you understand more. And your life needs to be better. You need to fill in the blank. You need that steps. Here's the one thing. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. No steps right now, just as you are. But I haven't understood enough. I don't feel my sin enough. My repentance and sincerity have not been as genuine and sincere as they ought to be. I need to... Believe right now on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

You know, these Ten Commandments let us know that there can be no steps because we can't keep them. I love God's law. All it does is condemn me. Every commandment shows me how far off I am by nature, by choice, by practice. willfully, it exposes me. That's what God's law does. If you can look at God's law and think, well, I've kept that one, you've missed it all together. You don't understand the law of God. You don't understand the holiness of God. You don't understand yourself. What you and I are called on to do is to forget stamps. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Lord. He's the Lord of creation. I love saying this. I say it a lot, I'm gonna say it again. He's the Lord of creation. He created the universe. He's the Lord of providence. That means that everything that happens in time, he's the first cause of everything. He's in absolute control.

He's the Lord of salvation. If he wills your salvation, you'll be saved. Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He said, I will. There's never been anyone that said, Lord, if you will, you can. But he said, nope, not going to do it. I will. Be thou clean.

Now, if you believe on him, you're saved. He saved you, not steps. I need to do this, need to stop doing that. No, right now, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

Our only and sure hope of salvation is what the burn offering and the peace offering declare. Jesus Christ never sinned. Don't you love to think of his perfect obedience? Yet he is nailed to a cross and dies under the wrath of God. Why? Because my sin became his sin. When he was on the cross, it wasn't the innocent being punished. It was the guilty. My sin became his sin. He put it away. He swallowed up the wrath of God entirely.

And now his perfect obedience becomes my perfect obedience. That's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He died under the judgment of God. He was slain by the law as a law breaker because my law breaking became his and his perfect law keeping becomes mine. And I stand before God as one who has never sinned. There's not steps. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

Isn't it beautiful how right after the 10 commandments, we're given the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Amen.

Let's pray. Lord, I ask, we ask, unite our hearts together to fear your name. We ask that you would cause each person in this room right now, according to your will, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and know the glory of being saved by your grace. In his name we pray, amen.