Would you turn to Exodus chapter
20? And last week, we considered the law and faith. And this evening,
we're going to consider the law and the gospel. And we see the
gospel so clearly in Exodus chapter 20. Now, God had just given the
Ten Commandments, we considered the Ten Commandments last week,
the perfect, holy law of God. And I want you to think what
kind of place this place would be if everybody kept the Ten
Commandments. It'd be paradise, wouldn't it?
It'd be paradise. God's holy law. There's only
one problem with the holy law of God. You know what it is?
Us. We are the problem with the holy
law of God. sinful men and women. Like I
said, I've entitled this message The Law and the Gospel. Now remember,
God had just given the Ten Commandments. And in verse 18 of Exodus chapter
20, 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 and they stood afar off. What a fearful sight. It scared
them to death. They heard the law and all it
did was scare them to death. And I can imagine why it scared
me, too. To hear the law, apart from hearing
the gospel, all it does is drive you to distraction. All it does
is scare you. All it does is condemn you. Think of this sight they saw.
They saw lightning and smoke and thunder and the earth was
quaking during the giving of the law. That must have been
a very intense sight. Look in verse 19. And they said
unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear. But let not
God speak with us, lest we die. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
12 for a moment. Hold your finger there. Turn to Hebrews chapter
12. Verse 19, this is the New Testament
commentary on this passage of scripture. Verse 18, For you're
not come unto the mount that might be touched and that burned
with fire, nor into blackness and darkness and tempest. And
you know the law, listen, The law is blackness, darkness and
tempest, apart from an understanding of the gospel. All it does is
bring us in the dark. We can't see. Verse 19, in the
sound of the trumpet, in the voice of words, Hebrews 12, 19,
which voice David heard and treated that the word should not be spoken
to them anymore, for they could not endure that which was commanded. And so much as a beast touched
the mat, it should be stoned and thrust through with a dart.
You know what that means is they couldn't keep the law. They could
not endure. They couldn't stand up to that
which was commanded. It just was something they knew
that they couldn't keep and it scared them to death. I think
looking at this site of the giving of the law is an awesome thing.
And they realize their need of a mediator. He said, Moses, you
talk with the Lord. We don't want to hear his voice.
You talk for us. Now, Moses is a type of Christ
here. Moses in himself was just as sinful as they were. Moses was just as sinful as I
am. That's hard to get hold of that,
but it's true. Moses was a man. And he needed a mediator too,
but here he's a type of Christ, our mediator. There's one God
and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Now, what is a mediator? A mediator
is a go-between. He's one who brings two contending
parties together. Now, there's two contending parties.
I don't know what other kind of language to use. I mean, we're
just using human language with regard to these things. But God
has a contention against us. We broke his law. And we, because
of our sinful nature, have a contention toward God. We don't love Him.
We don't love Him as He is. We are rebellious toward His
commandments. You have two contending parties, and it's going to take
a go-between to bring them together. I can't come into God's presence.
God can't accept me. I'm sinful. He's holy. Somebody's
going to have to go for me. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the Great Mediator. He's the one who brings me into
God's presence. God can't come to me. I can't
hear His voice like the children of Israel. Don't speak to me,
we'll die. Have somebody else speak. Christ Jesus comes as
the mediator. He comes as man. The God-man, but He comes in
a way that I can hear. God-absolute, I'm scared to death
of. I don't want to have anything to do with. But Christ Jesus
comes as man, the one mediator between God and men. Christ Jesus
is Emmanuel. God not against us, God with
us. God with us. He brings me to
God. He brings God to me. He is the
Mediator. Christ, as God the Son, can be
accepted by the Father. As the Son of Man, meek and lowly
in heart, He can come to me. Through Him we have the great
Mediator. Now, God is in the thick darkness.
Let's go on reading. And Moses, verse 20. And Moses said to the people,
fear not, for God has come to prove you that his fear may be
before your faces that you see not. And the people stood afar
off and Moses drew near under the thick darkness. Where God
was. Now. First, I see the gospel
right after the giving of the law and all this terror, I see
this mediator. Moses. Coming into the very thick
darkness of God where I can't see and bringing my interest
into the very presence of God and Christ coming back. To me,
the mediator, there's one God and one mediator between God
and me and the man, Christ Jesus. Now, God gives us the gospel
right off the bat as the mediator, Moses, the type of Christ. Now
let's go on reading. Next, we have a revelation from heaven.
Verse 22, 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 have been given a revelation. You shall
not make with me gods of silver, neither shall you make unto you
gods of gold. Now, when I see the holy law
of God, how can I stand before it? All it does is condemn me. The only way that question can
be answered is by a revelation from heaven. He said, you see,
I've talked with you. I've spoke with you. I've given
you a word from heaven. That's the only way I can know
how I can stand before this holy God. Because men can't come up
with the answer. Men can't figure out a way as how a holy God can
accept a sinful man. Not in a way that justice would
be satisfied. God and a revelation from God
can bring that answer. You know, I was I was reading
about the rich young ruler this week. Would you turn to Mark,
Chapter 10 for a moment? Mark, Chapter 10, and. He comes to
the Lord on the footing of law, Mark, Chapter 10. Verse 27. Verse
17, I'm sorry. And when he was gone forth into
the way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked
him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal
life? And Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? There's
none good, but one, that is God. Now, the reason the Lord says
this is he knows this man is coming to him just as a man.
He didn't believe he was God and it was wrong for him to say
that. Why callest thou me good? That's the way he came. So let's
go on reading. Thou knowest the commandments. He takes him to
the law. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not
kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false
witness. Defraud not. Honor thy father and mother.
He talks about the Ten Commandments. And he answered and said unto
him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus, beholding
him, loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou likest. Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou
hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.
And come, take up the cross, and follow me." And he was sad
at that saying. And he went away grieving, for
he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about
and saith unto his disciples, How hardly should they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of heaven. And the disciples
were astonished at his words. But Jesus answered again and
saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them to trust
in riches to enter into the kingdom of God? It's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God. Now, how easily can a camel get
through the eye of a needle? It can't be done, can it? And
they look at verse 26, and they were astonished out of measure,
saying among themselves, who then can be saved? If this man
can't be saved in his obedience, he can say, all these have I
kept from my youth up. Now, he hadn't, but he thought
he did. I don't know many people that could look at the law and
at least think outwardly they kept it. He thought he did. And
when he was turned away, the disciples said, if this fellow
can't be saved, who can be saved? And look at the way the Lord
answered. And Jesus looking upon them said, with men it's impossible,
but not with God. For with God, all things are
possible. Now, the only way we can know
that is by the revelation of God. Him giving us a revelation
as to how we can stand perfect before this holy law of God.
Now, this book we call the Bible, is a divine revelation and it
tells us how we can stand just before this holy law of God. I'm so thankful for a word from
heaven. And so first, after the giving of the law, we have a
mediator and then we have a word from heaven, a divine revelation.
Now back to Exodus chapter 20. Let's go on reading. He says in verse 24. Now, he forbids him to make false
gods, and then he says in verse 24, an altar of earth thou shalt
make unto me. And shalt sacrifice thereon thy
burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep and thy
oxen in all the places where I record my name, I'll come unto
thee and I'll bless thee. Now, in this very chapter of
the giving of the law, we're also given instructions regarding
sacrifice. Now, what's the sacrifice for?
Why does God give a sacrifice in the first place? What's it
for? Well, it's for lawbreakers. The Lord knew right off the bat
that they wouldn't keep the law. And right immediately, he tells
of the sacrifice. He said, you'll build an altar,
an altar of earth, not a fancy altar, just an altar of earth
to put the burnt offerings and the peace offerings. Now, the
burnt offering was a lamb. The peace offering was an oxen.
And he gives instructions regarding these sacrifices right off the
bat. Now, a burnt offering. That's the lamb. The lamb. The lamb of God. The Lord Jesus
Christ. The peace offering is the peace
that comes as a result of that. We're given the gospel substitutionary
sacrifice right now. Now, how can I stand before the
holy law of God? Obviously, the blood of a lamb
and the blood of an ox won't do anything for me. It's what
that blood of the lamb and ox points to. The blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. First, He is a burnt offering.
The lamb was a burnt offering. Now, the burnt offering, there's
all kinds of different offerings in the Old Testament, but the
burnt offering is where fire would come down and consume it.
You'd burn it until nothing was left. And that is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Sin. What is sin? It's transgression
of the law. I just read that in 1 John chapter
3. It's the transgression of the law. The scripture says he
was made sin. All my transgressions came into
his body. He was numbered among the transgressors. He was reckoned among the transgressors. All my law-breaking became his. So he became guilty. Guilty before
God. And the wrath of God came down
upon him as my Lamb. results as a, what's the result
of his substitutionary sacrifice where he was the lamb, substitutionary
lamb. What happened to that? Peace.
Next we have the peace offering. The peace that comes as a result
of that. You know, it gives me so much
peace to know that Christ bore my sin. I don't have to, it's
gone. God's at peace with me. He doesn't have any reason to
be angry with me. He's at peace with me. I'm at
peace with him. I'm reconciled to him through the substitutionary
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is what happened as
a result of the sacrifice. Peace. How can I stand before
this holy law of God, the burnt offering and the peace offering?
Now, let's go on reading. He says in verse 24, an altar
of earth thou shalt make unto me and shalt sacrifice thereon
thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings and thy sheep and thine
oxen and all the places where I record my name I'll come unto
thee and I'll bless thee. Now what do you mean by that?
He says in all the places that I record my name I'll come to
thee and I'll bless thee. Is that talking about some kind
of different geographic location or different places where he
records his name and if you can just get there where his name
is recorded then he'll bless you because of that? You know
what that means. The Lord's name is who he is. The Lord's name is the person
behind the name. It's not just talking about the
name, it's the person behind the name. Now, in the book of
Revelation, three different times, we read where God says, I'm going
to write my name on their foreheads. That's where his name is. I'm
going to write my name on their foreheads. This is talking about
God's elect, God's people. He puts his name on them. Now,
what is his name? What is the name he puts on them?
Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is there in Jeremiah
33, 15. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called the Lord our righteousness. That's my name.
The Lord our righteousness. That's God's name. That's my
name. He says, I'm going to put my name on them. And because
I put my name on to them, I'm going to come to them and I'm
going to bless them. Look at the language of this. He says,
in all the places where I record my name, I will come unto thee
and I will bless thee. Because his name is upon us,
he will come to us and bless us. And it doesn't say I'll come
to you and bless you if you do this or if you do that. He says,
I will come to thee. and I will bless thee. Wherever my name is, I will come
and I will bless. You see, all the promises of
God in him are yea and amen. All God's promises are complete
in him. So we see the Gospel promise right here in the giving
of the law. Wherever I put my name, the Lord our righteousness,
Christ is my righteousness before God, I'll come and bless thee.
Now look in verse 25. Now here we have faith. And if thou wilt make me an altar
of stone, thou shalt not build it of ewed stone. For if thou
lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt
thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be
not discovered. Now, an altar is to lay the sacrifice
on. Now, if I was going to make an
altar, I'd try to make it as ornate as I could, wouldn't you?
I'd want it to be good looking. I'd want to do everything I could
to make a really nice altar to put sacrifice on. But you know
what God says to do? He says, don't do it. He says,
don't let don't make it of hewn stone. If you put your tool on
it, if you touch it, you've polluted it. You just pick up rocks from
the ground, you pile them up, you put the sacrifice on that.
If you put your tool to it, you've polluted it. You know what that
means, don't you? If I come into God's presence
in any way by my works, if I'm talking about the beginning of
salvation, if I'm talking about the middle of salvation, if I'm
talking about the end of salvation, if I come into God's presence
touching it with my tool, with my works, I've polluted it. Now, you think about this. Where
does salvation begin? It begins with God. It doesn't begin because of something
I do. It doesn't begin because of something I believe. It doesn't
come to me as a result of my will or anything like that. It
begins with God. If I started with something I've done, I've
polluted it. What about the middle of salvation?
The life we live until we die? Well, if I put my works in there,
I've polluted it. I'm preserved by Him only, so
I don't keep myself by my works. And when you end it up, at the
end, when God's people are given their place in glory. I'm not
one who's going to get a better place because of his works in
another place. No, if you put works in there anywhere, you've
polluted it. You've polluted it all together.
Salvation is all by grace. Salvation is of the Lord. I love
that scripture. Every one of us knows that. Jonah
chapter 2, verse 9. Salvation is of the Lord. It's not of me. It's not what
I do. It's of the Lord, and I find such comfort in that. Aren't
you thankful salvation is of the Lord? It's of the Lord and
it's planning. He planned it. He purchased it. He applies it. And he gets all
the glory in it. Salvation is of the Lord. Turn
with me to Romans 11 for just a moment. Verse six. And if by grace. If salvation is by grace, then
it's no more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace,
but if it works, then it's no more grace. Otherwise, work is
no more work. It's either one or the other.
It's either all of grace. Or it's all of works. And he
said, if you put your tool on it, you've polluted it. And look
what he says in verse 26. Neither shalt thou go up by steps
unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered." There are
not steps to salvation. There's not a seven-step program.
There's not a 12-step program. There are no steps to God. Now,
what does that mean? May God give me the grace to
say what this means. I was amazed when I read some
commentators that I have a lot of confidence in. They said,
well, you know, They didn't have steps because they're naked.
This might appear like they could look up the steps and see something
they shouldn't see. And that has absolutely nothing
to do with what this passage of Scripture means, obviously. How do I get to God? There's
only one way to answer that. It's Christ. I don't come alongside
Christ. I don't come behind Christ. No
man cometh to the Father but by me. Christ brings me into
the very presence of God. I don't take steps. I don't hit
this step and then rise to this step and this step. Not at all.
I'm brought into the very presence of God by Christ himself. Now, this also destroys the notion
of progressive sanctification, that you can become more and
more holy and less and less sinful. You just keep hitting these steps
and finally you're there. No, that's not. There's no steps
to God. In Christ, here's how I get to go. Here's how I can
overcome this law that I've broken. I'm in the Lord Jesus Christ. When he comes into the Father,
I do too, because I'm in him. I'm not taking any steps. I actually
literally come by him. Now, isn't it glorious that in
this chapter we would actually We would accurately call the
law. We have the gospel. Now, it's kind of funny. I was
thinking this message is great. And it is. I've not briefed it
very well. I feel like I've done my best. But in this very message regarding
God's holy law, we're given the gospel. We're given a mediator. Thank God for that. A mediator
to bring me into the very presence of God. We're given a revelation,
a word from God that tells us how we can come into the presence
of God. We're given a sacrifice, a burn offering that puts away
my sin and a peace offering that shows the peace that comes as
a result of that. Thank God for that. We're given
a promise, an unconditional promise. I will, everywhere my name is,
I will come to thee and I will bless thee. Oh, there's the unconditional
promise of God that he comes to us for Christ's sake. And
then we're given faith. We're given faith. You don't
put your tools. on the altar. Don't put your
tool on it. You'll ruin it. Any kind of works,
you make it all of works. Salvations of the Lord. And there's
not steps to God. I'm so thankful for that. When
the Lord Jesus Christ came into God's presence, I came in right
with Him. I didn't take a step. I was simply
in Him. And He brought me in. So we have
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ clearly set forth in Exodus
chapter 20, the place of the giving of the law. Let's pray
together.