God's Presence in His Word - Exodus 20:18-26

Well good morning and welcome to Faith Bible Church and hello to church family that's at home and not well today and we just our hearts are with you and prayers and hope that you're walking with the Lord even in even during the trials and as we should all be doing that because God is good as we talked about this morning and good can mean when it comes to God it's it's everything it's his holiness is his all of his attributes.

For announcements men's bible study is next saturday at 3 30. I was reading a verse that you're all very familiar with it's psalm 119 105. And it's your lamp your your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

And as we're kind of reflecting back over the last couple years really it's been a journey through a fallen world. It's been evident all around us that you know things God is a God of order and of of truth and goodness.

And we don't see that in our world around us because of our fallen nature. And it's been demonstrated in so many different ways throughout all the things that we've been going through personally and in our occupations and and in many ways and the effort of that or the outcome of that is it can destroy our fellowship.

And as believers we have verses like this to say your word is a lamp to my feet. This is something that we can hold on to it's a promise of hope of peace with the Lord. And and also while we're on that path as he's guiding us through the darkness of this world we have the assurance that we're going to have the light of Christ in us to brighten that path.

That that path is is as rough as it is and as challenging as we have the word to hold on to and we have Christ to to come to. So we thank the Lord for that. So we do have hope. The world does not have hope as we know it.

Okay. Well would you join with me in prayer please. Lord God we thank you father that you have brought us together today that you we are gathered to open your word the word that gives us strength for today and hope for tomorrow.

Father. Lord we thank you for for always being there for always showing yourself that you're evident in your word Lord that we never have to look far. We just have to pick up our bibles and we need to read them.

God we pray for those that are not feeling well today that you would bless them that you would comfort them Lord that you would show yourself to them. Father as we open your word today and we lift our voices in song may we be encouraged father may we realize that you are the Lord over all things that we can rest in you and not rest in the things of this world.

Father because you are good you are righteous you are worthy of our of our worship. And Lord as we offer these offerings of worship to you father in the power of the Holy Spirit. Lord may you be pleased and we just commit it all to you in Christ's name we pray.

Amen. Create in me a clean.

Heart oh God and renew a right spirit within me. And good morning to all and let's stand for our.

John 1:9-14 and the Word Made Flesh

Opening song good morning our journey for this morning is John. Chapter 1 verses 9 through 14.

That was a true light which guideth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world and world was made by him and world knew him not. He came unto his own and his own received them not but as many as have received him to to them gave he power to become the sons of God.

You to them that believe on his name which were born not of blood nor the womb but of the spirit and of the spirit of the flesh nor the will of man but of God. And the world was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory of the as the only begotten of his father for grace and truth.

The Fearful Encounter at Sinai

Please turn with me to exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20 verses 18 through 26.

Exodus chapter 20 verses 18 through 26. Now all the people witnessed the thunderings the lightning flashes the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it they trembled and stood far off.

Then they said to Moses you speak with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we die. And Moses said to the people do not fear for God has come to test you and that his fear may be before you so that you may not sin.

So the people stood afar off but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. Then the Lord said to Moses thus you shall say to the children of Israel you have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

You shall not make anything to be with me gods of silver or gods of gold. You shall not make for yourselves an altar of earth. You shall make for me. And you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings your sheep and your oxen.

In every place where I record my name I will come to you and I will bless you. And if you make me an altar of stone you shall not build it of hewn stone for if you use your tool on it you have profaned it.

Nor shall you go up by steps to my altar that your nakedness may not be exposed on it. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray father we're thankful that we can hear your word every day. We're thankful that you have given us scripture.

That we may see you. We may encounter you whenever we hear your voice. Father we pray that your holy spirit would open all of our hearts to encounter you to see your presence in your word. Oh god. And father we pray that we would treasure your word.

We would be guided by your word and we would live by your word. Father we pray for this time of fellowship as brothers and sisters that we would enjoy and delight in the love of the father that comes from Jesus Christ found in your word in Jesus name.

Amen. We have been going through exodus 20 for the third week. And this is because exodus 20 is the climax of exodus. It's the pinnacle. Literally because it's on mount sinai. But also figuratively. And this is because we have just witnessed the giving of the 10 commandments on mount sinai.

It is the giving of God's word for the old covenant people of Israel that they may live by it. Today's text shows us the response of God's people to God's giving of the 10 commandments. And it is that of fear and trembling.

And this text is so important because it shows us how we encounter the Lord. Many different religions have different rituals to encounter the Lord whether they have to travel to one place or they have a set temple or they have certain sacrifices and rituals.

But for God's people even from the beginning they encountered the Lord in his word. It is when God spoke. And this is why judaism but of course christianity is they're so adamant on the veracity the truthfulness of scripture.

That's because that is how God reveals himself. That is how God's people encounter God. And this is why the enemy of God often tries to discredit God's word. And we see that even from the beginning of genesis 3.

Right. The crafty serpent who is satan. What's his goal. Did God really say. Did God really say to plant seeds of doubt in God's word. And this is crucial because that craftiness that method of planting seeds of doubt in God's word has not changed historically.

It's all even from the old testament to the early church it's always been. Did God really say that. Did God really say prophet Jeremiah. God didn't say that. No we won't go into exile. Right. And they imprisoned the prophet Jeremiah.

And same with the new testament church. The main goal of the apostles the early apostles was that Jesus is the fulfillment of scripture. But what did the pharisees and sadducees and the other religious leaders do.

They try to plant doubt. They try to discredit God's word. And this has been an ongoing battle. Nowadays we see people trying to plant doubt in God's word through post-modernism. You have your own way of interpreting scripture.

But I have my own way. Right. They take out the meaning of scripture when meaning used to be in the text they take it out and give the meaning to the listeners and the readers. Well I read it this way so I can do whatever I want.

Right. Paul didn't mean that. So he obviously meant this. It's dependent on the listener the reader rather than the author. Again to discredit God's word. And when God's word is discredited you do not encounter the true God.

You don't worship the true God if you discredit what's in here. If you don't believe in the truth of the bible. So today's text is really important because it is through the word of God we commune. We have a relationship with the Lord.

And if we miss the word of God we cannot have a relationship with the true God. If we don't believe in the God of the scriptures we cannot possibly meet the true God. So the main point of today's text is that God's people commune.

They relate with the Lord through the word he speaks. God's people commune with the Lord through the word he speaks first when the Lord presents himself through his word his people stand in fear from a distance.

Right after the 10 commandments are given to Israel from Mount Sinai Moses tells us the response of God's people in the first part of verse 18. Now all the people witnessed the thunderings the lightning flashes the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking.

Remember the 10 commandments were given at the hearing of all the people not just through the intermediary Moses. Everyone heard it and saw it. The sight of God's presence was magnificent. It was a sensory overload.

Right. Lightnings thunderings mountain smoking. However this is a curious verse because the verb here is that people saw the thunderings. As you know thunders can be heard. Right. It's the sound. But usually we don't see the thunders.

We see the lightning but we don't see the thunder. But curiously the verb to hear is missing some translations like NASB put and heard in order to make sense of it but they would italicize it to show that it's not actually in the original Hebrew text.

Some translations like NKJV put witness to make sure that it encompasses seeing and hearing. But the Hebrew verb here is just to see. And this is very curious because that's how Moses wrote this. The people saw the people saw the thundering.

And furthermore if we directly translate the word for thunderings they're actually the same word for sounds or voices. And again this is a curious phrasing because how can one see sounds or voices. And this has stumped many theologians for for years.

And one Jewish commentator calls this a sound paradox. It's it doesn't seem to make sense. How can you see sound. But what we know is when God showed up his people even saw the sound of the invisible God.

They did not see his face. They saw his sounds they saw the words spoken from him. God was directly present in his word. And this is a continued characteristic all throughout the Bible. God spoke all things into creation and he wasn't present.

He was present there after Adam and Eve's rebellion. Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. We don't know what they saw but God was present in the sound of him walking.

His form cannot be seen but his presence is in his voice in his word. When the disheartened prophet Elijah runs away into the wilderness God appears to Elijah not in the wind not in the fire nor the earthquake.

But the still small voice. It was not the powerfully visible natural disasters that contained his presence but his voice his very word. And on Mount Sinai Israel every one of Israel not just Moses uniquely saw God's word and trembled.

When God came down on Mount Sinai Israel mysteriously experienced God's presence by seeing his voice on Mount Sinai God's glory became visible through his word. And what is the response of God's people upon witnessing his presence.

The latter half of verse 18 through 19 tell us. And when the people saw it they saw it they trembled and stood far off. Then they said to Moses you speak with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we die.

It was a frightening experience for Israel to stand before the presence of God that they requested Moses to serve as an intermediary someone to come in between them and God. And after this point God will only directly speak to Moses and Israel will hear of the laws indirectly from Moses.

And this is because there's nothing more frightening for sinful people than to stand before the glory of the holy God. God who is sinless. God who is majestically set apart from all things is unapproachable for mere creatures.

God who is perfectly pure is scary to sinners. God who is utterly other is threatening to people who are drenched in sin. And this is why Israel stood afar off. They stood from a distance because they understood that they would cease to live if they got any closer to this deity.

That's who God is. And in verse 20 Moses tells Israel that the fear is for their own good. Do not fear for God has come to test you and that his fear may be before you so that you may not sin. When God's people fear him they fear disobeying him just as children obey their parents instructions when they fear parent authority.

God's people would obey his commandments when they fear him. And this is more than just reverent fear that we have that Israel felt. After all they were trembling. They were shaking like trees as when the wind blows.

It was this fear that they would cease to exist if they got any closer to the Lord in their folly in their sin. Facing the Lord even from a distance produced a trembling fear. Verse 21 shows the result.

So the people stood far off but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was because of their fear of God. Only one person out of the whole nation could approach the invisible God who dwells in thick darkness.

The thick darkness was to prevent his people from dying if they were to stand at the pure unblocked unveiled glory of God. No one can stand even Moses before the full presence of God. And for Moses sake God covered himself in thick darkness.

And the people fear God so much that they choose to stand far off and choose one man to represent them on their behalf. And this is an important reminder today because the fear of the Lord is missing in the world.

Today most shows and movies use the Lord's name in vain. Internet memes mock God and academics criticize scripture. That's all they produce nowadays. Unfortunately the fear of the Lord is also missing in the church.

There are so-called churches that treat the Sunday morning worship service as a form of entertainment. I've seen horrendous shows that they call a worship service. People dressed up as stormtroopers from Star Wars spaceship flying aboard people talking about movies.

And the purpose of course is to grab the attention of the listener not to present the word of word of God so that all may encounter him. And this is why their sermon series revolves around what the people want to hear rather than what God has to say.

Sermon series on social media. Sermon series based off of a movie. Sermon series on pop psychology absent is a sermon series on a book from scripture. The gospel is assumed rather than explained for all to understand.

And this is because the fear of the Lord is missing. And they're rather driven by the fear of negative opinions of men. They're more scared of seeing empty seats than disobeying the living God. And this morning we also ought to ask ourselves.

Do we fear the Lord. Do we understand what kind of deity we are dealing with when we gather to worship the Lord on Sunday mornings. Do we fear the Lord. Or do we fear missing out on the bliss of the world.

All the enjoyments that the world has to offer. Do we fear the Lord. Or do we fear what our co-workers friends and family think of me when I share the gospel of Jesus Christ who died for my sin and rose on the third day.

Do we fear the Lord. Or do we fear what we may lose when we truly follow Jesus our delightful sins and wicked desires. Do we fear the Lord when we open up our scripture every morning. When we dwell in God's presence and listen to what he has to say to us.

Do we fear the Lord. Now how do we have a relationship with the Lord who is afar. How do we have a relationship with the Lord who is afar. God's people must commune with the Lord according to his word.

God's people must commune with the Lord according to his word. Verse 22 reminds Israel of their witness of God speaking on Mount Sinai. Thus you shall say to the children of Israel you have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

This is another reminder that the encounter of Israel was when they saw God speak the invisible God who was present in his word. After reminding them of the significant meeting the Lord lays out how his people must continue their relationship with him.

First. Verse 23 sets out what they must not do. The prohibition. You shall not make anything to be with me. Gods of silver or gods of gold. You shall not make for yourselves. I prefer the NASB's rendering of the preposition.

Be with me. Rather you shall not make other gods besides me. Right. The Lord is the God who stands as one and only not first of many. Right. He is the one and only. And there's no other gods that will be worshipped.

And of course this is the repeat of the first two commandments. Nothing in all creation must be worshipped. Nothing in all creation must be used to represent the Lord their God. God cannot be restricted to an image or form.

That's the second commandment. Even if the idols are beautiful and made up of materials that are precious as gold and silver the true God will not be bound that way. Even the most precious materials of all creation fail to truly represent the Lord.

And of course as mentioned before idolatry had a bigger problem. It's because idols were used to control the divine the surrounding pagan nations. Of course Israelites were paganistic when they were in Egypt they had little idol statues and what they believed was idols were powerful beings.

But one thing they cannot do was feed themselves. So that's where people come in. And the people are to feed the idols with food. And when the idols are fed with food of course they don't eat their the food is just standing in front of the statues not moving.

They would expect a blessing in return. They would expect I do something to you idol and you give me blessing. I scratch your back you scratch mine. A quid pro quo. Another word God could be controlled.

God who needs to be fed could be controlled if you are the one feeding. And for the Lord he will not have any of it. Because the Lord is a true God who does not need anything from his creation he will not be treated that way.

He will not be manipulated by his own creation. Second God tells Israel in verse 24 to 25 the proper way of approaching him. An altar of earth you shall make for me and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings your sheep and your oxen.

In every place where I record my name I will come to you and I will bless you. And if you make me an altar of stone you shall not build it of hewn stone. For if you use your tool on it you have profaned it.

The instruction is given to build an altar before a more detailed instruction for the tabernacle is given. This will be a makeshift altar to sacrifice to the Lord until the tabernacle is built. The fact that sacrifice is required before approaching the holy God is an important reminder that only the shedding of blood of an innocent being could make it possible for the sinful people to approach God.

There was no other way for a sinner to stand before the Lord unless an innocent being died on their behalf. And of course the ultimate sacrifice will be done on the cross when Jesus died for our sin in order that in order that we may approach God clothed in his righteousness.

Now there are some speculations as to whether why the stone has to be uh hewn stones not of hewn stones right. Uh hewn stone means that the stone was cut by an iron tool. In um a direct translation of that iron tool would be a sword.

The stone that's cut by a sword. Now there's some speculations as to why. One commentator believes that a sword was inappropriate to build an altar for God because it's a tool that cuts down people shortening their lifespan while the altar was to bless his people lengthening their lifespan.

Another commentator believes that the presence of an iron tool would be a temptation to engrave an image on the altar. After all many altars around the pagan nations were engraved with beautiful pictures and images of their gods.

However for the Lord the altar was not about the image because an image could never capture the holiness and beauty of the living God. Now again these are just speculations. But the Israelites really followed that command.

So when the temple was built they did not use the tools to make cut the stones. They would make the stones away from the temple mount where the sound of the tool could not be heard and then bring the stone to the temple mount to build it according to God's instruction.

They took this command seriously. Third. God tells Israel in verse 26 how the intermediary must come before him. Recall that Moses has become an intermediary and also that the priests would be serving as intermediaries.

Now you shall go up by nor shall you go up by steps to my altar that your naked nakedness may not be exposed on it. In ancient times underwear was not worn hence going up the stairs to sacrifice wood exposed the nakedness of the priest.

Going up now nakedness was a problem for God's people because the surrounding nations pagan priests performed rituals often in the nude and the rituals often became sexually immoral cult prostitution.

And that has been always the case for all the pagan religions. The Lord however prohibits this for his priests because they serve a holy God. The priests of the Lord must represent the Lord purely because he is pure.

The priests of the Lord must represent the Lord with honor because he is honorable. They represent the Lord to his people according to his word. The Lord set up instructions for God's people to encounter him in the wilderness and they had to follow his word not what they felt like or what they enjoyed or what what they thought was good.

Now the question today is how do Christians commune with the Lord. How do Christians commune with the Lord who is far off. Do we have to build altars now just as Israel did on Mount Sinai. We can only approach the Lord through his word.

We commune with the Lord according to his word. And this was the Apostle John's view when writing his account of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of John. The gospel according to John. The Apostle John was writing with the Jewish readers in mind who vehemently opposed Jesus because they believe that worshiping Christ broke the first and second commandments.

After all how can you worship God in the form of human. Isn't that idolatry. And that's in fact the argument that many Jews use today. How can you worship Jesus and call him God. He's a human. That's an image.

Well not according to John. How does he start his gospel. In the beginning was the word and the word was God and the word was with God. Now what is the significance of the word on Mount Sinai. The ancient Israelites witnessed God's spoken word.

It's a mystery to us as to what the word looked like. But the verb is not to hear. They saw. They saw the word of God. They saw the voices of God. They saw the thunderings of God. They saw the spoken word of God and trembled.

More than a thousand years later the Apostle John writes in verse 14. How can God's people commune with God when we're so scared to commune with him. How can we approach him. Well verse 14 says. The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

He tabernacled among us he his presence dwelt among us lived with us associated with us. He became one of us. And we have seen his glory. The glory of the one and only son who came from the father full of grace and truth.

The glory that they saw in Mount Sinai became human. The glory of God. The presence of God became a man and he is the glory of the one and only son. The same word on Mount Sinai who was given to Israel and seen by Israel is the word who became flesh and dwelt among us.

In the same way we have seen his glory. The glory of the one and only son who came from the father full of grace and truth. John is arguing that the word the word that our ancestors remember John is a Jewish man.

The word that our ancestors saw on Mount Sinai the same word that represented God's very presence is the word who became flesh and dwelt among us. And the same glory of God on Mount Sinai is the same glory revealed to us in Jesus Christ.

And according to John that glory is fully seen on the cross when he died for our sin. Now how can we read Mount Sinai into John 1. Are we just forcing this. Well. John sets the context for Mount Sinai in verse 17 through 18.

For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. For no one has seen God. The only God who is at the father's side he has made him known. Now when was the law given to Moses Mount Sinai.

Mount Sinai represents the law-giving mountain. It is a mountain of the old covenant. In verse 18 tells us what all the Jews are thinking of in their mind. But no one has ever seen God. No one has ever seen God and lived.

And to that of the apostle John says amen. No one has ever seen God. But how was God revealed to the ancient Israelites through his voice through his word. His word showed the presence of God to Israel on Mount Sinai.

And in the same way Christ the word of God makes known the father to us. The word of God on Sinai points to the ultimate word that is spoken who become who became flesh and dwelt among us. And through his sacrifice for our sin on the cross makes it possible for his people to not only commune with him but approach him closer than ever that the Israelites could not even dream of God who dwelt with us.

The spirit of God who dwells in his people. And this morning we worship the same God of Mount Sinai who gave his word who was seen by his word so that his people may approach and commune with him. And that is the fulfillment of the Mount Sinai.

The ten commandments don't just end. After the old testament. Those words point to Christ the final word of God spoken so that his people may live. Let us pray father. We are thankful that Jesus is the final word.

Jesus is the word who dwelt among us. Jesus is the word who represents you. Jesus is the word who is your presence and father. We thank you that we can experience Jesus whenever we open your word. That your presence and our encounter with you does not depend on any sacrifice of blood but depends on your word whom you've given to us to save us from our sin so that we may have a relationship with you.

We pray that we might we may treasure your word delight in spending time with your word. And that we may honor your word in everything we do say and think in Jesus name.

Amen. From the rising of the sun until the going down of the same the lord's name is to be praised and let's remember that throughout our our days and let's stand for our closing song nothing but.

The blood. Thank you all for singing. It's been a blessing to be together and we are dismissed.