The Law! Fear or Not Fear

You know, when I read the 20th chapter of Exodus, I
get so depressed, so depressed. I get past preaching and almost
past worshiping when I read the 20th chapter of Exodus. And I
was sitting there trying to account for it. And I think it might
be illustrated in this fashion. It would be like taking one of
my watercolor pictures and hanging it in an art gallery next to
Michelangelo's. Now that depressed you, wouldn't
it? And I guess that's the reason
why I get so depressed when I read the law, putting my life against
the life of God, my holiness against the holiness of God,
my righteousness next to the righteousness of God. My thoughts
next to the thoughts of God. It's depressing. And I would
say this, if you can read it without being depressed, you're
in trouble. You're not in trouble because
you're depressed. You're in trouble if you're not
depressed. If you can see in that law any hope, you're in
trouble. If you can see in your heart
any conformity to that law, you're in trouble. If you can see in
your life even the faintest identification with that law, you're in trouble.
And when God gave this law, look at verse 18. And all the people
saw the thundering and the lightning and the noise of the trumpet
and the mountains smoking When God gave this law, He gave that
law in a great show of majesty, in a show of power, in a show
of great glory. God revealed this law from the
mountains. He spoke. The mountains spoke
and the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled and the trump
of God sounded. It was a time of revelation of
God's majesty. Why? God could have spoken this
law softly, accompanied by an angel song, but he didn't. He
gave it with a show of glory. He gave it with a show of majesty. And I ask why? And I give, I
make these suggestions. Number one, God gave his law
in a great show of majesty, number one, to impress the people. And
he's impressed me with the authority of that law. This is God's law. This is not a standard of conduct
devised by Moses. This is God's law. This is not
a few rules of religion. This is God's law. This is not something that man
has concocted. This is God's law, and it's to
be held in respect and reverence. This is the holy, immaculate
law of the living God. That's what he's saying. When
he gave that law from that mountain, with the smoking mountains and
the lightnings and the glory of God all around, he's saying,
this is my law. This is my law. Secondly, I believe
he gave it in such a fashion to impress the people. not only
with the authority of that law, but with the reach of that law. Now God didn't call the elders
of Israel to gather in a tent in their councils or temple or
tribal meeting and whisper the law in their ears as though it
were designed for Israel only, but God shouted it from the mountains.
This is God's law, and this is God's law that is given to govern
God's universe. God's universe. It reaches to
every son of Adam. What the law saith, it saith
to them that are under the law that every mouth might be stopped
and the whole world, the whole world become guilty. The whole world. And then thirdly, I believe God
gave this law accompanied by a show of his majesty and power,
not only to impress us with the authority of it, this is God's
law, and the reach of it. It is given to govern God's universe. But thirdly, to impress the people,
and this is what I said a moment ago, with their utter helplessness. before that loss. You know, there's a defense against
most every weapon. We can contend with armies of
men, can't we? We can contend with forces from
other nations, our neighbors, that which is flesh and blood.
But I'll tell you when the heavens are on fire, When the mountains
are smoking, when the lightning is flashing, when Almighty God
is acting, there's no defense. I've thought oftentimes when
I've read about, like, up north, northeast, when these heavy snows,
two feet of snow or three feet of snow paralyzes a city, or
an earthquake, there's no defense. Nothing you can do. Or a flood. There's no defense. Or a tidal
wave. There's no defense. All you can
do is just fall down. All you can do is just wait on
death. All you can do is just wait on
destruction. Turn to the book of Habakkuk. It's one of those little books
hard to find. Micah and then Habakkuk. Over here in the Minor
Prophets. But I want to read verse 16. Habakkuk. Chapter 3,
verse 16. When we studied a few weeks ago
in Bible classes, we studied the prayers, the Old Testament
prayers of some of the great men of God. We missed this one
here, Habakkuk 3. I read it the other day. Habakkuk,
in his prayer, trembleth at God's majesty. God's majesty. God's power. And verse 16. He
says in Habakkuk 3, you got it? Verse 16. Listen to it. When I heard my belly tremble,
my lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered my bones. I trembled in myself. That I
may rest in the day of trouble when he cometh up unto the people,
he will invade them with his troops. I trembled. Yes sir, God gave this law to
impress us, to impress the people with their utter, utter helplessness. Helplessness. Before that awful
majesty of God. My belly trembled. And then, fourthly, I believe
God gave this law with such a revelation of glory and majesty, fourthly,
perhaps someone suggested, perhaps this is a dress rehearsal of
the last judgment. If the giving of the law is so
awesome, think of the enforcement of it. If the giving of the law
is so terrible, what will it be like when men are called to
account for having broken this law. God didn't slip off somewhere
in a corner and give his law. He announced it from a smoking
mountain as a dress rehearsal of that great day when men shall
be brought forth from every corner of the world and called to account
for having transgressed this law. But fifthly and primarily,
and this is the message for the morning, I see all this glory
and majesty and holiness and power and God acting in this
fashion for a reason. And that reason is to shut men
up to a mediator. Now let me show you that. It
says here in verse 18, when the people saw the thunderings and
the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain
smoking, when they saw it, they ran. They ran. The law was given and the people
ran. The law was given and the people
fled with terror. Those that were there, those
that saw this majesty and heard this voice and heard this law,
They ran. They were filled with terror.
It says they stood afar. The law was given and they feared
that death was nigh. They said in verse 19, Moses,
speak to us and we'll hear, but don't let God speak with us lest
we die. They felt that death was near.
So what'd they do? What did they do? They asked
Moses to be their mediator. They asked Moses to represent
them. They asked Moses to approach
God for them. They sought a Mediator. They
cried out for a Mediator. Without a Mediator, they knew
that to approach God would bring nothing but death. And for God
to approach them would bring nothing but death. And they wanted
personally nothing to do with that Holy God. He said, what are you saying,
preacher? I'm saying this. Now this is what I'm saying. I'm
summing it up right here. If you ever get a glimpse of
God's holiness, if you ever get a glimpse of
God Almighty's holiness, now I know a lot of people use that
word and they talk about holiness and righteousness and obedience
and all of these things, but if you ever If you ever get a
glimpse of God's immaculate, immutable, infinite holiness,
the thought of approaching that God on the basis of your right
or righteousness will paralyze you with fear. And you had just
assumed try to walk into the door of one of these blast furnaces
down here, that's to approach the presence of that God without
a mediator, if you ever get a glimpse of his holiness. Now, first of all, let me give
you three things. First of all, the Lord, as I
see it from the Scripture, the Lord first, in dealing with a
sinner, if God's going to bring me or you to salvation. And that's
what I'm interested in. I'm interested in knowing God,
to know Him, to win Christ and be found in Him, to know Him,
the power of His resurrection, to attain to the resurrection
of the dead, to have restored what I lost in the fall, and
what I, by sin and nature and rebellion, have failed to accomplish. This salvation. When God first
deals with a sinner, when God first appears to the sinner,
He deals with and appears to him in a manner that will produce
fear. Now, modern religion, and I'm
going to say this, and it may offend you, but modern religion
has missed it totally. And the reason for such shallowness
in present day religion, you know the reason for such shallowness? You want to know what's wrong?
I'll tell you what's wrong. They've never seen the majesty
and holiness of God. Modern religion knows nothing
of divine justice. Modern religion doesn't touch
it, won't deal with it, doesn't preach it, because modern religion
knows nothing of the majesty and holiness and justice of Almighty
God. Job, Job had a revelation of
it. And he fell down in the dust
and said, I hate myself. I've been talking about things
too wonderful for me. I'll never open my mouth again,
Job said. God gave him a revelation of
his majesty and broke it. Isaiah saw it. He fell down. When he saw the glory of God,
his holiness filled the temple. And he said, I'm a man of unclean
lips. And I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips. Daniel saw it. Daniel saw it,
the majesty, the holiness of God. And he said, my comeliness,
my beauty melted into corruption. Habakkuk saw it, the majesty
of God. And he said, my belly trembled,
my lips quivered, rottenness filled my bones. The modern religion is talks
of God, of Christ, always appearing in love and kindness and tenderness,
this is totally without support in God's Word. When our Lord
first appears to the sinner, He appears in judgment, judgment
against sin. No man, no man can know anything
of mercy until he's convinced of misery. No man can enter into
the brightness of Calvary until he's seen the blackness of human
nature. No man can appreciate what Christ
has done until he knows why he did it. No man can embrace the blood
that was shed until he sees the sin for which it was shed. The question today, do you want
to go to heaven? The question in the Bible was,
do you want to know God? And God reveals himself to the
sinner first of all in the brightness of his glory, in the brightness
of his holiness, in the brightness of his righteousness and justice. He strips the sinner. He'll never
clothe you till he strips you. He'll never give you life till
he slays you. He'll never raise you up till
he's brought you down. He'll never exalt you till he's
humbled you. Saul of Tarsus hit the dust.
Saul of Tarsus was in religion. Saul of Tarsus had a righteousness. Saul of Tarsus had a form of
worship. Saul of Tarsus had a knowledge
of God, he thought. But before he could have a righteousness
with which God would be pleased, before he could have a knowledge
of the true God, he had to be brought down! He had to see God
in his glory! You know what's wrong with us? Sin. And all the sinfulness of sin. I want to take just one member
of our fallen nation, just one member, I'm not going to deal
with the heart, deceitful above all things, desperately wicked,
every imagination of the heart evil. I'm not going to deal with
the mind. Our thoughts are not God's thoughts.
The natural mind is enmity against God. I'm not going to deal with
the hands that that move in rebellion against God, or the feet that
are swift to walk to mischief, or the affections that are perverted
and without natural affections, and that love darkness and hate
light. I'm going to deal with one little
member. Listen right here, your tongue. Won't you listen to the
Bible? Now listen. Psalm 52, thy tongue diviseth mischief
like a sharp razor. Psalm 52, 4, O thy deceitful
tongue. Psalm 64, 3, they whet their
tongues like a sword. Psalm 123, what shall be done
to thee, thy false tongue. Proverbs 6, 16, 16's God hates
a proud look, a lying tongue. Proverbs 17, 20, a perverse tongue
falls into mischief. Proverbs 25, 23, a backbiting
tongue. Proverbs 26, 28, a lying tongue,
God hate it. Romans 3, 13, with their tongues
they have used to see. James 3, 5, the tongues. is a
little member, boasts its great things. Behold, how great a matter,
a little fire kindling. The tongue is a fire, a whirl
of iniquity. It's set on fire with hell. That's
just the tongue." Now, he's moved to the eyes,
having eyes filled with adultery, they cannot cease from sin. You
move to the ears, you move to the mind, you move to the hands,
you move to the throat, you move to the heart, you move to the
Every part of our being is permeated with sin, rebellion. What Israel saw at this mountain,
they didn't just see a little religious ceremony. God spoke,
and God spoke His holiness. God revealed His holiness. God Almighty at this mountain
revealed his holiness. And what Israel saw at this mountain
is a preview of what every ransom son of Adam will see if the Holy
Spirit is pleased to draw him to Christ. He'll show him his
sin. And that son of Adam will go
off saying, can it be that I should gain? I, the chief of sinners, I, traitor,
rebel, filled with iniquity from the sole of my feet to the top
of my head? Can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood? Died he for me who him to death
pursued? Amazing love! How can it be that
thou, my God, should die for me?" Now look at verse 19. God gave
the law. People ran with terror. Now verse
19, and they said, Moses, be our mediator, speak with us,
speak with God, we will hear, let not God speak to us lest
we die. The people turned to Moses, they
turned to someone to represent them. And brethren, when you
and I see the holiness of God, the holy law of God, you don't
try to begin seeing what you can do to obey it. You don't
begin, you're a fool if you begin to look within yourself to see,
now, I've come up pretty bad on this one, but I've done pretty
well on that one, but this one over here, well, I blew that
one, and this one, well, you know, that's not to offend in
one point to be guilty of the whole lot. And when you see His holiness
and your wretchedness, you know what you do? You throw up your
hands in total, complete surrender. And you look for somebody to
represent you. That's what Israel did. They
backed off, they backed off, and they turned, they said, Moses,
Moses! Speak to God. Without a mediator, a man's in
trouble. Now, the sons of Korah learned
this. Turn to Numbers 16. You can take
this out and look at it later and read it, but the sons of
Korah wanted to do away with Moses. They didn't need Moses.
They said, God speaks to all of us. We don't need you, Moses.
We can do without you. And Moses rebuked them in Numbers
16, 10. And Moses said, And he hath brought
thee near to him, and all thy brethren, brethren, the sons
of Levi, with them, seek ye the priesthood? Is that what you
want? Are you seeking the priesthood, you sons of Korah? And they were. And so in verse 32 of number
16, the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their
houses and all the men that appertained to Korah and all their goods. They and all that appertained
to them went down alive into the pit and the earth closed
upon them and they perished from among the congregation. They
must have done something awful, terrible. You know what they
did? They tried to take the mediator out from between them and God. That's what they tried to do.
Now turn to 2 Chronicles. I'll show you another example
of this. 2 Chronicles 26. 2 Chronicles 26. Turn over there
a moment. Verse 16. 2 Chronicles 26, 16.
Now here was a king, King Uzziah. Verse 16 says, he was strong,
his heart was lifted up to his destruction. He transgressed
against the Lord his God. He went into the temple of the
Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. That's what
he did. You remember studying the tabernacle? That altar of
incense? Aaron, sons of Levi, kept that
burning. Well, the king came in and said,
I'll burn it. And they withstood him. Verse
17, 18 said they withstood him and told him he wasn't supposed
to do that. Only the high priest got ordained. Verse 19, and he was angry and
he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was
wroth with the priest, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead
before the priest in the house of the Lord from beside the incense
altar. And verse 21 says, Isaiah the
king was a leper until the day of his death. He went in before
the Lord without a mediator. As I said, if you're sensible
of your sins and God's holiness, you'll no more attempt to approach
the holy, almighty God without a mediator any more than you'd
walk into a blast furnace. Someone said this. Till God in
human flesh I see, to act as my mediator between me and God.
Till God in human flesh I see, my thoughts no comfort can find. The holy, just, and sacred three
are terrors to my mind. But if Emmanuel's face appear,
my hope, my joy begins. His name, Immanuel, God with
us, God in human flesh, his name removes my fear, his grace removes
my sin. I say this, when Israel stood
at Mount Sinai and God revealed himself in his awesome, awful
holiness and revealed his law in its in its holy domains, reaching
inwardly and outwardly, before and after, governing the whole
universe and every son of Adam, revealing the character of God
in motive, imagination, attitude, word and deed. Israel reacted
like any sensible sinner will react. They backed off. They
backed off. They wanted nothing to do with
that God. Because they knew they couldn't deal with him. They
knew they had no grounds upon which to deal with him. They
knew that they were sinners. They knew that they'd broken
that law. I don't give this law to you as a rule of life. If I were fool enough to do that,
and you were fool enough to accept it, you'd be the most miserable
human being that ever walked on the earth. You'd never smile
again. Because I'd be giving you an
impossible task, totally impossible. And you'd have no reason to do
anything but run from it, run from it, run from it, fear it,
back off, filled with terror. But now wait a minute, wait a
minute, Israel turned to Moses. Moses, you got to do something. When God speaks to us, we die.
Even the words of his voice consume us. Even the shadow of his presence
consumes us. God said, no man can look upon
me and live. No man can see my face and live. But Moses, look at verse 20. Moses said to the people, don't
be afraid. God has come to prove you. His fear may be before your
faces if you sin not. And the people stood afall, and
Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. Moses
went in and spoke to God, and came out and spoke to the people.
Now Moses is a type of Christ, first of all, in that he loved
the people. He loved the people. He said
one time, God was going to destroy the people, and he stood as a
type of Christ before the God of wrath, the wrath of God and
the people, and he said, Lord, don't destroy them. If you do,
if you destroy them, blot me out of your book. That's an intercessor. And that's Christ. He loved the
people. Secondly, Moses was in favor
with God. God selected Moses. He appointed
Moses. He ordained Moses. Thirdly, Moses,
why was he like Christ? Why is he a type of Christ? Moses
was a man too. He understood the people. Moses
had his infirmities and weaknesses and sins. He was a man. Jesus
Christ was a man. He's God-man. Listen to this.
God and yet man thou art. True God, true man art thou.
of man and of man's earth apart, one with us, thou art now." Listen
to me. I want you to hear this. I know
some people in the world imagine that they would believe the gospel
if God were to speak to them out of the heavens. Wouldn't
that be something? I hear, I'm sure a lot of people
think that Boy, I'd really believe if God would speak to me directly.
If God would speak out of the heavens like He spoke here, I'd
believe. Don't you believe it? Don't you
even wish for it? The terror of His voice, the
terror of His presence, the awesome holiness, majesty of His presence,
It would fill you with fear. It did Israel. God spoke to them and they ran.
God spoke to them and they turned and fled. God spoke to them and
terror filled their heart. God spoke to them and fear filled
their heart. God spoke to them and they looked
for death. Don't you believe it? The voice
of God will not convert you. You need a mediator. You need
a mediator. You need someone who can speak
to God for you, who understands you, who is a man like you, but
who doesn't have sins like you. One whom God will accept. One
whom God will receive. One whom God will communicate
with. And that person is Christ. And
then we need someone who can come from God and speak to us.
And reveal the Father unto us, because we don't know God. No
man knoweth the Father, but the Son. And he to whom the Son will
reveal it. It says, Moses drew near into
the darkness. And that's where Christ went.
He went to the darkness. He walked the winepress of God's
wrath alone. He took us to God, and he brought
God to us. And that's who we deal with in
mercy. Christ was tempted in all points
as you are, yet without sin. He brings to you a holiness you
don't have. He brings to you a righteousness
you don't have. He brings to you a perfection
you don't have. And he gives it to you in what
he did from the Father. And you're accepted in Him. Listen
to this now close. Look up, my soul. Look up, my
soul, with cheerful eye. See where the great Redeemer
stands, the glorious Mediator on high, with the precious incense
in His hands. He sweetens every humble groan. He makes holy every broken prayer. O rest, my hope, on Him alone.
whose power and love forbid despair. He ransomed me from hell with
his blood, and by his power my foes controlled. He found this
wandering soul and brought me to his chosen foe. His spotless
robe the same appears while ruined nature sinks in years. No age can change its glorious
hue. The robe of Christ is always
new. always knew. And I'm not progressively
coming to the point where God will receive me. God received
me in Christ to start with, he received me in Christ now. In
my own nature, in my flesh, now listen to me, it's no different
from it was the day I met God, and yours isn't either. God is
not Working on your flesh, God has given you a new spirit, a
new nature, a new heart. God will never receive your flesh.
In the flesh no man can please God. In the flesh dwelleth no
good thing. The flesh and blood shall not
inherit the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is
flesh. Our hope is Christ, the Mediator.
And that's when God gave that holy law, and when God deals
with a sinner on the basis of his holiness, not one thing to
do, and that's turn and run. Till you find somebody who'll
represent you. Who is it? Mary can't do it.
She's out there running too. The priest can't do it. He's
out there, ought to be out there running too. The preacher, the
church, nobody. Christ, he's at the right hand
of the Father. And he's the mediator. There's
one God and one mediator between God and me and the man Christ
Jesus. Because he's been a man, is a man, and he is God. And
he'd speak for God to us and for us to God, and be heard.
Our Father, we are grateful for the gospel. We're grateful for
the hope which we have in Christ. Our hearts should be filled with
such impossible fear, such terror, if it were not for Christ. There's
no good thing dwelling within us, but there is a good one on
thy right hand. who is our representative and
our advocate and our mediator, receive us in him, accept us
in the beloved, and we pray in his name for his glory. Amen. Stand, please. Steps of mercy,
can there be? Mercy still reserved for me? Can my God His wrath forbear? Be the chief of sinners fair? I have long withstood His grace,
long provoked Him to His face. Would not hearken to His calls,
read Him by a thousand falls?

The Law! Fear or Not Fear

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