requested prayer. Fred's not
doing too well. He's doing some better than he
was yesterday, but both sides of his neck are swollen. He's
breathing pretty good, but he had a bad allergic reaction to
a medicine he took last night. He had the shivers and the shakes
about all night long. They're trying to prepare him
for the chemo he's going to have to take. Evidently, it's pretty
strong stuff, probably like Sarah had, which really puts you out
of business for a while. So remember him in your prayers,
remember Arlene too, and seek the Lord's help for them. Say,
Loretta's not feeling well? She ain't got the COVID, does
she? She's just fed up with you, didn't
want to ride in the car with you. And Sharon's got snakes in her
house. But other than that, everything's
okay. Let's begin our worship service tonight, hymn number
17, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. ♪ Tune my heart to sing thy grace
♪ ♪ Streams of mercy never ceasing ♪ ♪ Call for songs of loudest
praise ♪ ♪ Teach me some melodious sonnet ♪ ♪ Sung by flaming tongues
above ♪ ♪ Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it ♪ Mount of thy
redeeming love. ♪ Here I raise mine Ebenezer
♪ ♪ Hither by thy help I've come ♪ ♪ And I hope by thy good pleasure
♪ ♪ Safely to arrive at home ♪ ♪ Jesus saw me when a stranger
♪ ♪ Wandering from the fold of God ♪ He to rescue me from danger
interposed his precious blood. Oh to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and
seal it, seal it for thy courts above. Hymn number 51, Praise
the Savior. Praise the Savior, you who know
Him, who can tell how much we owe Him. Gladly let us render
to Him all we are and have Jesus is a name that charms us he for
conflict fits and arms us nothing moves and nothing harms us while
we trust in him trust in him ye saints forever He is faithful,
changing never. Neither force nor God can sever
those he loves. from him. Keep us Lord, oh keep us cleaving
to thyself and still believing to thee I row by receiving promised
joys with thee. Then we shall be where we would
be, then we shall be what we should be. Things that are not,
now nor could be, soon shall be our own. You have your Bibles. Turn to Exodus,
Chapter 24. We�re going to look at verses 1 through 11. The title
of my message tonight is They Saw God. And he, that is God, said unto
Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou and Aaron, and Nadab, and
Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship afar off.
And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall come
not nigh, neither shall the people go up with him. Moses came and
told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments,
and all the people answered with one voice and said, ìAll the
words which the Lord has said we will do.î Moses wrote all
the words of the Lord, rose up early in the morning, built an
altar under a hill and twelve pillars according to the twelve
tribes of Israel. And he sent young men to the
children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings and sacrificed
peace offerings of oxen. under the Lord. 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 we will do, and be obedient. Moses took the blood and sprinkled
it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which
the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words. Then went up
Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Nebihu, and the seventy of the elders
of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his
feet, as it were, a paved work of sapphire stone, and, as it
were, the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles
of the children of Israel he laid not his hands. Also they
saw God, and did eat and drink. Our Father in Heaven, we thank
you and bless you that you have left us with this witness, which
is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. We know that the entrance thereof
give us light and understanding to the simple. Cause us to hide
thy words in our heart that we might not sin against thee. Help
us, Lord, to appreciate what we have. that we have this great
book, this divine book, this word from heaven. Help us, Lord, to give ourselves
to it, to learn doctrine and look to Jesus Christ. Pray for
those who are sick, especially Brother Fred as he's struggling
with this lymphoma and the things that are causing him to be more
and more sick. We ask, Lord, you'd be with him
You know our hearts, Father. You know what our desire is,
is that he be healed and brought back to a good measure of health.
We are thankful for the wonders of modern medicine. We know that
you've created doctors, created men with great minds to search
these things out. We pray that they will use them
for Fred's benefit. Be with Arlene, she ministers
to him. She struggles with these things that her husband is sick. Pray for Loretta, she's feeling
better, and for Debbie also. The others who requested prayer,
we ask your help for them and strength for them. Remember our
shut-ins, as they are unable to come, we ask, Lord, you'd
be with them and strengthen them in Jesus Christ. Help us, Lord,
to remember one another, to call each other's names out to the
Lord. Enrich our hearts to do so and cause us to love one another,
love lead supremely. Help us tonight to worship you.
We pray in Christ's name. Now this account takes place
just prior to Moses being called up on the Mount Sinai to receive
the law chiseled in stone tablets by the finger of God. Now here
the Lord calls Moses and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu and seventy
elders to come up to the Lord. Now, it s the Lord who calls
him, and he says, Come up to the Lord. Now, the seven of the
elders are most likely the wisest men among the ancients and could
be the men who were ordained to help Moses in civil judgments
to ease his burdens over Numbers chapter 11. Could be the same fellows. In
Numbers chapter 11 and verse 10 Moses is burdened down with
all the questions because all the people of Israel are coming
to him and asking him what do we do about this, what do we
do about that? And he's burdened down. He says in verse 10, Then
Moses heard the people weep throughout their families. Every man in
the door of his tent, and the anger of the Lord was kindled
greatly. Moses also was displeased. And Moses said unto the Lord,
Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? Wherefore have I
not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest burden of all
this people upon me? Have I conceived all these people?
Have I begotten them, that thou shouldst say unto me, Carry them
in thy bosom as a nursing father, beareth his suckling child unto
the land which thou swarest unto the fathers? When should I have
flesh to give unto all people? For they weep unto me, saying,
Give us flesh that we may eat, I am not able to bear all these
people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal
thus with me, just kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have
found favor in thy sight, and let me not see my wretchedness.
And the Lord said to Moses, Gather me up seventy men of the elders
of Israel, whom thou knowest to be elders of the people, and
officers over them, and bring them into the tabernacle of the
congregation, that they may stand with thee. And I will come down
and talk with thee there, and I will take of the Spirit which
is upon thee, and I will put it upon them, and they shall
bear the burden of the people with thee. They shall bear it
not by thyself alone." Those probably are the same seventy
that has gone up with him to the Lord here in our text. Now
God says, Come up unto the Lord. Now God does not speak of Himself
in third-person language in Scripture. What He is doing is telling these
men to come up and meet the Lord Jehovah, because it is in capital
letters, He sent come up and meet the Lord Jesus Christ. These
men are called to worship the Lord afar off. Moses alone was
permitted to draw near to the Lord. He was the one to whom
God spoke face to face as with a friend. The others were not
allowed to draw nigh to go up with Moses. That's what it says
in verses one and two. Now this teaches us an important
precept concerning the law and grace. In the covenant of the
law, men were told to worship afar off and not draw nigh. Stand
back. This was seen early on when the
people were backed away from the mountain because of the fearful
display of fire, smoke, lightning, and thunder. But under the old
covenant, men were told not to draw nigh. It is the nature of
the law, because it was added because of transgression, that
man is discomfited in its presence. The law was outside them, always
outside them, on those tables of stone. It was an ever-present
watcher and an accuser constantly indicting them for their manifold
transgressions. How completely different is the
grace of God and the language of grace! For grace says, Draw
nigh unto the Lord, and He'll draw nigh unto you. The Lord
is near, so near that in Him we live and move and have our
being. How often did the Lord say, Come unto Me, not go far
off, but come unto Me. Everyone that is given to Christ
and is taught of the Father according to John Chapter 6, they all come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And anyone who comes by Christ
can go to the Father. No man can go to the Father but
by Me. The difference is life and death.
That is the language used over in Hebrews Chapter 12 when He
talks about those two mountains which we have read before, but
let us read again. In verse 18 of Hebrews chapter 12, For ye
are not come unto the mount which might be touched, that burned
with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and
the sound of trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice that
they heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to
them any more. For they could not endure that
which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched
the mountain, it should be stoned or thrust through with a dart.
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly
fear and quake. But ye are coming to the Mount
Sion, to the City of the Living God, to heavenly Jerusalem, and
to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly
and the Church of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God the Judge of all, and to spirits of just men made
perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the
blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Notice it speaks of the blood
of sprinkling there in that passage of Scripture. That blood of sprinkling
is also mentioned here in our text back in Exodus chapter 24
in verses 6 and 8. It talks about Moses sprinkling
the blood, and that is the language used in Hebrews. depicting what
is going on here in Exodus. In verse 6 and verse 8 it says
this, And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins,
and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then down in verse
8, And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and
said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath
made with you concerning all these words. So that sprinkling
of the blood was fulfilled in the sprinkling of the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And in verses 3 through 8 of
our text is a record of Moses rehearsing the law in the ears
of the people, and then writing the law in a book, and reading
the law to the people from the book. Now twice the law was spoken
to the people, and twice they gave the same response. Twice
after hearing the law, which indicted them for their transgressions,
for the law was added because of transgressions, they responded,
all that the Lord said, we will do and be obedient. They said that in verses 3 and
verse 7. It is the natural response of
the carnal religious man to arrogantly presume that the law is something
for him to do. That's the natural thing and
also that he can do it. Also remember the rich young
ruler who came to the Lord Jesus Christ and said, What must I
do? to be saved. What must I do to be saved? Religion
is enamored with the law because religion thinks that it is a
path. It thinks that it is THE path to righteousness and eternal
life. Religion thinks that keeping
the law will give you eternal life. Our Lord dealt with that
very thing with those Pharisees in John Chapter 5. When He says,
You do search for the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye find
eternal life. but they are they which testify
of me, and you will not come to me that you might have life."
Over in Galatians chapter three, this is addressed by Paul the
Apostle to the Galatian church in Galatians chapter three. In Galatians chapter three, in
verse twenty-one and twenty-two, he says, Is the law then against
the promises of God? God forbid! For if there had
been a law given, which would could have given life very righteousness
should be by the law if that were possible but the scripture
have concluded all understand that the promise of faith the
faith of jesus christ might be given to be in the the law there's
no longer produce life so no if there's no life there's no
possibility of righteousness the law cannot make good man
righteous paul said several times the book of romans by the by
the works of righteousness, there'll no flesh be justified. No flesh. But their response, an arrogant,
presumptuous response of carnal humanity to the law is, I can
do that. And I will do that. I will do
that. And Moses' response to the people's
words is to build an altar with 12 pillars, representing the
entire family of the elect, and thereupon offer burnt offering
of oxen and peace offerings of oxen. And these offerings signified
the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The burnt offering
represented Christ's finished work that secured the salvation
of the people and satisfied the law's requirements. And the peace
offering signified the peace of reconciliation to God by the
blood offered on the burnt offering. Salvation, praise, and thanksgiving
are what comes in the peace offering. The people, no matter their sincerity,
cannot satisfy the law. Now, we don't doubt their sincerity.
They say, We'll do this. We're God's people. We'll do
this. We don't doubt their sincerity, but they can't satisfy the law.
But in order for them to be saved, the law must be satisfied. They
can't do it, but it's got to be done. Moses then, after they
had made these two profound statements and blow situations, he took
the blood of the sacrifice and he put it in basins. From one
basin, he sprinkled the altar. This signified that the covenant
was ratified and enforced. It was assurance that the people
would indeed enter the promised land, though it would be some
40 years hence. Afterward when he had read what he had written
and got the same response from the people, he got out the blood
and sprinkled them and the book and the people with the blood
of the accepted sacrifice. He sprinkled the people. Why?
Because it is an awful bold statement and presumptuous to think you
can keep the law. What you need is the blood of Christ. This signified that the only
way the law is fulfilled and satisfied is with the blood of
the accepted sacrifice. There is no other way. No man, by his own death, can
satisfy the law because it is merely a just desert. And he
is not a perfect sacrifice, therefore his death is called an eternal
death where he never stops dying. One man said, Hell is nothing
more than God getting payment but being never
paid off, because no man's death is ever sufficient to satisfy
the law, except for the death of the man, Christ Jesus, who
is both God and man. This signified the only way the
law is fulfilled is with the blood of the sacrifice that God
has accepted, fulfilling the righteousness as then of the
law applied and imputed to them, which is called the righteousness
of the law that's given, fulfilled by the children of God because
Christ made flesh for them. Would you keep the law? Then
your death must be accounted as having taken place in the
sacrifice of the substitute, because that is the only way
you are going to keep the law. You will keep the law as Christ kept
it. How did he keep it? He died. He fulfilled the law
in all its righteous obligations, but he kept the law in his death.
And that is the way a person keeps the law. And if you are
going to be saved, that is how you are going to be saved. by
that sacrifice, fulfilling and satisfying the law for you. And
in verses 9 and 11, Moses and the rest of the group grew up
to the base of the mount. It says, Then went up Moses and
Aaron and Adab and Abihu and the seventy of the elders of
Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under
his feet, as it were, paved work of a sapphire stone. and as it
were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles
of the children of Israel he laid not his hands, also they
saw God, and did eat." Now, that is a narrative there, but it
is quite important to understand what is being said. These people
saw God. It says there they saw the God
of Israel. This assures us that they saw
the Lord Jesus Christ. They see the God of Israel standing
high upon the floor of Sapphire. Sapphire is blue and it represents
Heaven. Where is God? Where is the Lord
Jesus Christ? He is in the Heavens. That is
what David said, Our God is in the Heavens. He had done whatsoever
He is pleased. In Isaiah chapter 66 verse 1
it says, The Heaven is His throne, and the Earth is His footstool. Does God have feet? God is Spirit, but the Lord Jesus
Christ has feet. The blue ribbons of the priest's
robe represent their connection to Heaven with God. He is standing
on blue sapphire and its clearness. The sapphire flows under God's
feet. This is the Word made flesh that
dwelt among us that we beheld his glory as the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth." This is the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. They saw the God of Israel that
day. They saw the God of Israel. Who is the God of Israel? He
is our God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know this is Christ because
they saw God and they lived. They not only lived, they had
a meal. They had a meal, and the record
is that they saw God, they saw the God of Israel, and He laid
not His hand on them. He did not hurt them. He did
not harm them to kill them. They saw God, and they ate and
drank. Who did they see? The only God
a man can possibly see and live. That is Jesus Christ, God incarnate. For in Him dwells the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And finally, we see the representation
of the way things really are. We see men on earth afar off
from God. This picture is the fallen race
among whom the fallen elect reside. How far did man fall when he
fell in the garden? Old Scott Richardson said he
fell so far he could not get back. That is how far he fell. Then we see God. Where is He?
He is in the heavens on the sapphire stones beyond the reach of men. who are forbidden to draw nigh,
they must worship from afar. As it were, Abraham said to Daivas,
who was in hell, besides all this, between us and you there
is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence
to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from
hence. Between the men on earth and this gulf and God in heaven,
what is there? an altar, whereupon the blood
of the accepted sacrifice, the blood of the mediator of the
new covenant is there. He�s the one who ratified the
blood, a covenant, called a covenant. It�s also called a testament. It�s also called a will and testament
because that�s what it is. Remember, this is a covenant
of promise. You�re going to the promised land. You're going to
have things that you didn't buy, you didn't pay for, you didn't
build. It's all going to be yours freely. I'm going to give it
to you. I'm going to run your enemies out. I'm going to give
it to you. I'm going to give it to you. It's a covenant of
promise ratified by blood. So is the covenant of promise
in the New Testament. It's ratified by blood over in
Hebrews chapter 9. In Hebrews chapter 9 verse 16
it says this, For where a testament is, that is a covenant, there
must also be a necessity to be the death of the testator. Recently
Debbie and I went to a lawyer over in Bryson City and we filled
out a will and powers of attorney and all those things and what
we're going to leave all our immense wealth to. You know, a few guns and a few
caravans, that's about what they're going to get. But anyway, they're
going to get it all. There's a will and testament.
That will and testament, I'm getting ready to go put it in
my lockbox in the bank so it'll be safe. But it's not in force. It's not in force. When will
it be in force? When I die. And when Debbie dies, when we're
gone, then it will be in force. and the kids will get what's
left of what we have. So it says, where a testament
is, there must also be the necessity of the death of the testator.
For a testament is a force after men are dead, otherwise it is
no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither
the first testament was dedicated without blood. The first testament,
so he's talking about what we're looking at right here. The first
testament, that covenant, was ratified by blood. For when Moses
had spoken every precept to all the people of the law, he took
the blood of calves and of goats with water, and scarlet wool,
and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people,
saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath
enjoined to you. That is what we just read a few minutes ago.
Moreover, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the
vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by
the law purged with blood. For without the shedding of blood
there is no remission of sin. It is therefore necessary that
the pattern of these things in heaven should be purified with
these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices
than those bulls and goats and oxen that were offered back in
our text. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but unto heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. nor yet that he should offer
himself often, as a high priest enters into a holy place every
year with the blood of others. For then must he have often suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now, once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself." He is that Mediator of the New Covenant. He is what
is between the Man on Earth and the God of Heaven. the Mediator,
the Daysman that stands between them. There is one Mediator,
it says in 2 Timothy 1.5, there is one Mediator between God and
men, just one, and that is the Man, Christ Jesus. And all we can say, as we consider
these things, is Glory to His Name. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's Name. Amen.