A Tale of Two Mountains, Part 1 (Hebrews 12:18-24) | Worship Service

I just want to welcome each one of you here this morning. Would you stand and sing with me today? We're going to sing kind of a new song. It's a Psalm nine, but it's to the tune of to God be the glory.

Oh heart, thanksgiving.

You have two specials for the price of one. All right, turn in your Bibles, please, if you will, to Psalm 68. Psalm 68. And before our scripture reading, I want to make you aware of a few announcements.

I usually try and keep announcements on Sunday mornings to an absolute minimum and make them as short as possible, but bear with me as I have a few things here that I need to make you aware of. Number one, coming up this next Saturday is our men's breakfast, July 15th.

And we will need to know how many men plan to attend that. So there is a signup sheet out in the foyer. If you are going to be here next Saturday for that breakfast and to see a preview of what is to come for the men's study in the fall, then you will need to sign up for that, please, so that we know how much food to prepare for.

And that's on the welcome table out there. So please sign up for that if you plan to be here. Second, you'll notice in your bulletin is a QR code if you plan on registering for the church picnic. So that's just $5 per person for 10 and up.

People who are not 10 years old or welcome to, not yet 10 years old are welcome to attend, but if everybody who is 10 and up and who plans on eating smoked tri-tip that day registers, we'll be able to cover those who are under 10 and have not yet grown to appreciate the taste of smoked tri-tip.

And third, we have Adventure Club coming up starting next month, our week of adventure, which is like a vacation Bible school. We have five nights in a row toward the end of August. I think it's the third week in August.

This year, we have had a number of people who for personal reasons or health reasons or whatever have backed out and stopped serving at Adventure Club. So we're down on volunteers and workers for that children's ministry, which is a catechism, is teaching children systematic theology.

It's catechism for them. So due to that fact, we are probably not going to have a three and four-year-olds club this coming years. We had to move people around. So we could have that if we have volunteers who step up and want to do that.

And I would just encourage you, if you don't have an area of service and you'd like to use your gift in serving the body of Christ and sharing the gospel with kids, if your gift is evangelism, then there's room for you at Adventure Club.

If your gift is teaching, there's room for you at Adventure Club. If your gift is helping out in some way in non-teaching, non-speaking ministry, there's room for you at Adventure Club. So we would welcome you there and just let myself or one of the other elders, Dave is kind of organizing some of that, let one of us know if you would like to serve in that capacity.

And then lastly, when we're done here today, we need to stack all of the chairs here in stacks of seven or eight, keeping the chairs in the sections that they're at. And you can just leave them there.

You don't need to bust them off to the sides of the walls. We have carpet cleaning coming in this Friday and it'd be easier if all the chairs were up for that. All right, Psalm 68. We're gonna read together the entire Psalm.

The pre-script says it is for the choir director, a Psalm of David, a song. Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered and let those who hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away.

As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish before God. But let the righteous be glad, let them exult before God. Yes, let them rejoice with gladness. Sing to God, sing praises to his name, lift up a song for him who rides through the deserts, whose name is the Lord and exult before him.

A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows is God in his holy habitation. God makes a home for the lonely. He leads out the prisoners into prosperity. Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

Oh God, when you went forth before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked, the heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God. Sinai itself quaked at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

You shed abroad a plentiful rain, oh God. You confirmed your inheritance when it was parched. Your creatures settled in it. You provided in your goodness for the poor, oh God. The Lord gives the command.

The woman who proclaims the good tidings are a great host. Kings of armies flee, they flee, and she who remains at home will divide the spoil. When you lie down among the sheepfolds, you are like the wings of a dove covered with silver and its pinions with glistening gold.

When the Almighty scattered the kings there, it was snowing in Zalman. A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan. A mountain of many peaks is the mountain of Bashan. Why do you look with envy, oh mountains, with many peaks at the mountain which God has desired for his abode?

Surely the Lord will dwell there forever. The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands. The Lord is among them as at Sinai in holiness. You have ascended on high. You have led captive your captives.

You have received gifts among men, even among the rebellious also, that the Lord God may dwell there. Blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation. God is to us a God of deliverances, and to God the Lord belong escapes from death.

Surely God will shatter the head of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who goes on in his guilty deeds. The Lord said, I will bring them back from Bashan. I will bring them back from the depths of the sea that your foot may shatter them in blood.

The tongue of your dogs may have its portion from your enemies. They have seen your procession, O God, the procession of my God, my King into the sanctuary. The singers went on, the musicians after them in the midst of the maidens beating the tambourines.

Bless God and the congregations, even the Lord, you who are of the fountain of Israel. There is Benjamin, the youngest ruling them, the princes of Judah in their throng, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

Your God has commanded your strength. Show yourself strong, O God, you who have acted on our behalf. Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings will bring gifts to you. Rebuke the beasts and the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples, trampling underfoot the pieces of silver.

He has scattered the peoples who delight in war. Envoys will come out of Egypt. Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth, sing praises to the Lord. To him who rides upon the highest heavens, which are from ancient times, behold, he speaks forth with his voice, a mighty voice, ascribe strength to God.

His majesty is over Israel and his strength is in the skies. O God, you are awesome from your sanctuary. The God of Israel himself gives strength and power to the people. Blessed be God. You stand with me as we pray.

Let's bow our heads.

Amen.

Our Father, you are majestic and holy and righteous. A God of strength and power and glory and majesty. And you have veiled yourself from our eyes so that physically we cannot see you. We behold you in your word.

We see glimpses of you in creation. We are acquainted with merely the fringes of your ways. You have made yourself known through all that has been created and in our conscience sufficient to hold us accountable before a holy and righteous God.

And yet we cannot approach unto you unless you should open a way, unless you would condescend to make yourself known to us and to open a way by which we may come to know you and by which we may spend eternity with you.

And you have done that very thing. As transcendent as you are, you've condescended to love us and to draw us to yourself and to make yourself known in the person of Christ. And so we thank you that you're holy.

We thank you that your holiness demands a payment for sin and that those who have no payment for sin will perish before you, for you are righteous and holy and just. But we thank you that you have satisfied the demands of your justice on behalf of all who look to Christ in him and his sacrifice on the cross.

It is because of what he has done that we can rejoice before you and know that we are among the righteous, those who are righteous, not because of our own deeds or our own works, but because of what Christ has done.

We are righteous because you have given us the righteousness of your son. And so we can stand before you with rejoicing and affectionate hearts instead of fear because you have brought us near by the blood of your son.

It is in his name that we thank you and it is by his grace that we praise you and ask these things.

Amen.

Let us love and let us praise God

In Hebrews 7, 25 to 27, therefore, he is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens, who does not need daily like those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people, because he did once for all when he offered up himself.

God the strong, whoever

You'll need to, in your copy of God's word, please turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Once you've found your place there, we'll begin with a word of prayer before we look at God's word. Let's bow our heads.

Our father, we just simply ask today that you would make your word live in our hearts and minds to reside there and that you would fill us with your truth, that you would sanctify us by that truth, that in seeing a vision of who our God is and what you have done for sinners in your son, that we would simply marvel and respond with obedient, affectionate and loving hearts to you and your grace.

We pray that you would accomplish this by your grace and the power of your Holy Spirit through your word which you have given, we ask in Christ's name, amen. You and I have been given immense privileges in the person of Christ that saints before Christ came had no ability to even comprehend or imagine.

We have simply been graced in the new covenant with privileges and blessings which were unimaginable to Old Testament saints who related to God on a different basis. And the book of Hebrews is a book of contrast between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

One of the central purposes of the book is to contrast Old Testament saints and circumstances with New Testament realities and fulfillments of those Old Testament ceremonies and covenants. And we have seen that contrast a number of times in a number of different ways.

Whenever Christ is contrasted with somebody from the Old Testament, we always see that Jesus is better. Whenever his work is compared to something in the Old Covenant, we see that his work is superior, it's better.

Jesus is better or Jesus is greater is the central theme of the book of Hebrews. And we haven't really noticed that comparison as much in recent months as we did earlier on in the book of Hebrews when we were going through chapters one through 10, it was a more intensely theological section of the book where the author was making one comparison of one contrast after another.

But then you get to the end of chapter 10 and though he doesn't slide theology off the table as it were, he does sort of move into some more practical applications of that. We understand the theology of it.

Then beginning in chapter 11, we are implored and exhorted to respond to those realities with faith, persevering and enduring faith. And so we have the section on faith in chapter 11 and a discussion about running our race and then the Lord's discipline in chapter 12 and how we are to respond to that discipline.

But now beginning at verse 18, the author picks up this one final contrast. And just to review for you some of the contrast that have already come before our gaze in the book of Hebrews, in chapters one and two, we saw that Jesus Christ is the greater revelation of God, greater revelation than anything that the Old Testament revelation or prophets were given.

He is greater than the angels, that's in chapters one and two. He's greater than Moses, chapter three. In chapter four, he provides a greater rest than Joshua provided. And he in fact is the fulfillment of that Old Testament picture.

He is greater than Joshua, that's in chapter four. In chapter five, he's a greater high priest. In chapter seven, he is greater than Melchizedek, than Abraham, than Aaron, and then Levi. His priesthood is superior.

His moral quality is superior. His sacrifice is superior. His blood is superior. In chapter eight, he has inaugurated a better covenant. He has instituted a better ministry. He has entered into a greater tabernacle and he provides for his people a better intercession.

In chapter nine, the basis of that intercession is because he shed a better blood and made a better sacrifice and has provided a better atonement than anything under the old covenant. And then in chapter 10, his better offering has provided a better result in that it perfectly covers those who are sanctified by it.

His sacrifice is better than the animal sacrifices and his intercession is better than all Old Testament intercession of Old Testament priests because he perfectly and unceasingly intercedes for all those for whom he has made the sacrifice.

So he's better in every way. Then in chapters 11 and up till now in chapter 12, we have a bit of a break from the comparisons that have characterized the rest of the book. But now we come to chapter 12, verse 18, and we have here another comparison.

He is, as he winds down this letter, he is exhorting and encouraging his readers as he presses upon us some closing exhortations and encouragements. And he provides this one final contrast, a contrast between two mountains, actually two kinds of privileges.

Let's pick it up at verse 18. We'll read verses 18 through 24. Verse 18, for you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them.

They could not bear the command. If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I'm full of fear and trembling. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

That contrast between those two mountains is part of the fifth and final warning passage in the book of Hebrews. The warning, the earnestness of the warning begins in verse 25. Read with me. Verse 25, see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven. And his voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised saying, yet once more, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.

This expression, yet once more, denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

That's the warning. You'd notice the elements of warning in those words in verse 28, we're to approach God with reverence and awe. Verse 29, our God is a consuming fire. Verse 25, if they back then did not escape when he warned them from earth, how much more will you and I escape if we neglect to refuse or walk away from him who also warns us?

Notice the contrast in verses 18 and 22. That really marks the fulcrum of the contrast. Verse 18, you have not come to a mountain that can be touched. Verse 22, but you have come to Mount Zion. You haven't come to one mountain.

Instead, you have come to another mountain. So really this contrast is between two mountains. And it's not so much a contrast with the work of Christ comparing his sacrifice with Old Testament priest sacrifice.

It's not a work in comparison on comparing the person of Christ as if he is to be compared with Moses or Joshua, Abraham. The author has already done that. Instead, these two mountains symbolize really two different kinds of privileges.

What you and I have been brought to, what we have come to, what we enjoy in Jesus Christ is far superior and far greater than that which was seen and enjoyed underneath the old covenant. We might look at the nation of Israel and say, man, what a privilege it would be to stand at the base of that mountain and to see the smoke and the fire and to hear the thunderings and the voice.

What a privilege that would be. I've never had that experience. I've never stood at the base of a mountain. I've never seen fire come down from heaven or smoke ascend like a furnace up into heaven. And I've never heard the audible voice of God.

Are my privileges greater or less than those Old Testament Israel?

It's greater.

Even without all of those tangible realities, even without all of those tactile expressions and experiences, our privileges are much greater. Now, officially, this is the fifth of the warning passages.

And I've mentioned that, and maybe it's been, I know it's been a while since we were in a warning passage at the end of chapter 10. So that's been almost now two years ago. So I know that there are new people here.

You have not had the benefit of suffering through the previous warning passages as we've gone through them. And when I say this is the fifth of five warning passages in the book of Hebrews, you may be wondering what is a warning passage?

The warning passages are those passages which offer stern warning to people who are on the cusp of turning away from Jesus Christ and the truth that they have been given. You're familiar with some of these warning passages.

If you've ever had a conversation with somebody who believes that it's possible to lose their salvation, then you have likely heard them bring up one of these warning passages. And most likely you have heard them bring up Hebrews chapter six, verse four through six.

So these warning passages are passages that people turn to in order to say that you can lose your salvation. In other words, since there is a warning there about turning away from the faith, falling away from grace, it must therefore, if follows, be possible for someone to walk away from their salvation and someone who had once had faith to turn away from that and go into not having faith and thus lose their salvation.

Or so the argument goes. Probably the best known warning passage in the book of Hebrews is Hebrews six, verses four through six. And that's not the entirety of the warning passage, but it is sort of the heart.

And it does sort of form the one that people turn to the most. You're familiar with the words, verse four. For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucified to themselves the son of God and put him to open shame.

Now, I don't think that any of the five warning passages teach that you can lose your salvation. I don't think that any of these five passages teach that. And I've been making that case as we've gone through the first four warning passages.

And here we are on the threshold of the fifth one. And I was tempted, in fact, I told somebody this last week, I'm tempted to go back and to review all four of the previous warning passages so that I could bring you up to speed on what we've covered in the case that has been made all the way through and to fit all of them into sort of one sermon so you can see the theme as it develops over all four of those.

But I'm not going to do that. Instead, what I wanna do is I wanna remind you of where those four warning passages can be found so that you can go to the church website and you can listen to all the messages that I preached on those passages if you're curious.

So here they are, if you wanna take notes, the four warning passages. The first is Hebrews 2, verses one through four. I preached three sermons on that text. Hebrews 3, verse 16 through chapter four, verse 13.

That's the longest warning passage in the book. I preached 17 sermons on that text. Chapter six, verses four through eight. I preached 14 sermons on that. And then chapter 10, verses 26 through 31, nine sermons.

So if you're curious and you have got a lot of spare time, that's 43 sermons on those four warning passages. I did my best to thoroughly answer the questions and objections that are made and raised by people who believe that you can lose your salvation.

And probably the most detail that we went into was on chapter six, which is most often, I think, abused and misused in order to suggest that salvation can be lost or forfeited. So I will just simply point you back to those if you want to review where we're at on the warning passages.

Today, I have two things that I want to accomplish. First of all, I want to explain to you how it is that this discussion about two mountains and the warning passage fits into the flow of the book of Hebrews, so that you can see the argument as the author intends for us to understand it.

Because it does seem, does it not, out of the gate, as if we're kind of taking a hard turn and switching and picking up an entirely different subject that seems entirely unrelated to everything we've covered before.

So I want to do that. And then second, we're going to go back to the Old Testament scene that the author is describing when he speaks of the mountain in verse 18, with a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a whirlwind and the blast of the trumpet and the sound of words and the warning about animals touching the mountain.

We're going to go back and we're going to look at that. So I'm going to show you how this passage fits into the flow of the book of Hebrews. Then we're going to go back to the Old Testament, to Exodus 19, don't turn there yet, back to Exodus 19, to just see the context that the author has in mind and what they would have learned back then, because this language would have been familiar to any Jew.

This was language that was as familiar to them as anything in our lives is familiar to us. They would have understood exactly what the author was referring to, and they would have felt the flames and smelled the smoke, as it were.

They could have understood that. It was just part of their national history. Not that the Jews to which the author of Hebrews wrote were the people who originally were there at Mount Sinai, they weren't, but they knew that passage.

That was the giving of the 10 commandments. So let's look, first of all, at how it is that this passage fits into the context of the book of Hebrews. And I want to show you that he is not radically altering the subject matter.

He is not just picking up something entirely new. This is actually in keeping with what he's been saying now for the last couple of chapters. Look at verse 18 again. "'For you have not come to a mountain "'that can be touched into a blazing fire, "'to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, "'and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words, "'which sound was such that those who heard "'begged that no further word be spoken to them, "'for they could not bear the command.

"'If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned.'. "'And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, "'I'm full of fear and trembling.'". Now this sounds like a radical departure from what we've been covering so far, doesn't it?

Verses one through three, run your race. Verses four through 11, don't despise God's discipline. He loves you like a child, like a father loves his son. Embrace that. Verses 12 through verse 17, how is it that you are to respond to God's discipline?

Strengthen your weaknesses and straighten your ways and don't be like Esau. Now, two mountains, there's two mountains, tale of two mountains. It seems like the author just sort of cuts everything off and says, oh, I forgot, I wanted to tell you about these two mountains.

They have nothing at all to do with anything we've talked about so far. There is a danger that we have as believers in our era that when we read scripture, we read scripture as if it is a series of quaint sayings and little morality tales that are disconnected from one another.

Every time you get to a period in the text, you think, okay, wash the slate clean, now we're gonna pick up, here's another little quaint saying that I can find some way of plugging into my life and applying to myself.

That is almost because of how most people preach, how most preaching is done, how most teaching is done, that is how most Christians view scripture. And there's only one book in all of scripture that can even be remotely treated that way.

Men, you know what book it is? The book of Proverbs. That's the only book. Because there are these little isolated, there's themes that connect it all the way through, but there are isolated statements in the book.

Every other book is written with a goal, with a theme, with an idea that you can trace from the beginning of the book and to the end of the book. And if you don't know what that idea is, you have not understood the meaning of that book.

You may have understood individual passages in that that happened to comport with the overall meaning, but you don't wanna catch the meaning. So that's what I want to do now. I wanna show you the connections of this tale of two mountains to the context.

First connection, those people that he is describing here in verses 18 through verse 20 and 21, those people saw the physical manifestations of God at Sinai. Now be clear, they did not see God physically, actually in his essence, because no man can see God and live.

If God had revealed himself in all of his glory to them, it would have consumed every last person standing at the foot of Sinai. But what they did see was the physical manifestations as God unveiled his glory to a degree for them so that they could get a picture of his power, his majesty, his glory, his holiness, his transcendence.

No other God could do what he did at Mount Sinai. And what they saw were the physical and tactile manifestations of that. They came to a mountain that could be touched. They saw a fire that could be felt and seen and heard.

There was whirlwind that could be felt and seen and heard. There was a trumpet blast and the sound of words which they could hear. So in a sense, those who were at Sinai that day, when God gave the law, they got a glimpse of God.

Now, not God in his essence, but they got a glimpse of the physical manifestation of what God can do when he comes down to visit his people. Hasn't the author already spoken of those who will see God?

Chapter 12, verse 14, pursue peace and sanctification without which, what? No one will see God. No one will see God without holiness. So the author has already alluded to the idea of seeing God, but for us, and this is key, for us, that is not a terrifying thing.

Why? Because something has happened to take away the terror of Sinai. We'll come back to that at the end. Something has happened to take away the dread. So now the idea of seeing God is something that we anticipate, we look forward to, we hunger for that.

We long for that because the terror and the threatenings of Sinai have been removed. Number two, connection to the context. The author is still arguing for our endurance, for our perseverance, and he is providing further motivation for that endurance.

If you were to go back to chapter 10, verse 36, he says, you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. Chapter 10, verse 39, we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

He has been arguing all the way through chapter 11 and 12 for an endurance and a perseverance that ends up preserving the soul. He wants us to endure in the face of hostilities, and we've returned to that theme over and over again.

So now he is saying here, in the light of the tremendous privileges that you and I have been given, verses 22 through 24, in light of all of those glorious privileges, verse 25, see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven? So here's a warning about not enduring. And really that's one of the points of this contrast.

Here's what happens when people turn away from a God who has revealed himself in such glory and grandeur. The third connection to the context, the author is contrasting again here, the old covenant with the new covenant, Old Testament with New Testament, old realities with new realities.

He did that in chapters one through 10. He's just returning and doing that again here in chapter 11. Fourth, this analogy of these two mountains connects with the statement he made at the end of chapter 11.

Look at verse 39 and verse 40. And all these, that is speaking of the heroes of faith in chapter 11, all these having gained approval through their faith did not receive what was promised because God has provided something better for us so that apart from us, they would not be made perfect.

What is the better? You've come to Mount Zion. You've come to the city of the living God. You've come to the souls of the righteous men made perfect. You've come to God, the judge of all, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.

You've come to a blood that is sprinkled that's better than the blood of Abel. Better, something better for us. And now the author here in these, with the analogy of these two mountains is contrasting what they had and what they looked forward to and what they understood with what you have, what you look forward to and what you understand.

And his point is the same that he made at the end of chapter 11. They did not receive what was promised so that they would not be made perfect. Apart from us, he has offered to us and provided something better for us.

We all get the same inheritance and reward and glory and salvation in the end, but there was something that was better than what Old Testament saints understood and enjoyed. And we are the adoring and grateful recipients of all of that better stuff.

That's the argument. A fifth connection to the context is the connection to Esau. What does it have to do with Esau? We spent three weeks looking at Esau, right? Well, verses 22 to 24 lists out a whole host of blessings and privileges and joys that we have been provided, how much greater light we have and how much greater revelation we have of God's truth and glory that has been revealed to us.

And so the author is saying, would you turn away from that? If you think Esau was a man who was on the cusp, on the threshold of enjoying great privileges, you have been given these privileges. Would you then turn away from that?

If you were to turn away from all of the things listed in verses 22 to 24, you'd be just like, well, you'd be just like Esau, wouldn't you? Would you sell all of that for a bowl of soup? You think Esau had privileges?

He did, but your privileges excel Esau's by a long measure. You think Esau was a foolish and rash individual? He was, but says the author, I'm here to tell you, if you would trade in everything you have, everything you have offered in Jesus Christ for ease or comfort or convenience in this world, or to make the hostility of friends and family cease, or for a better experience in this life, you're worse than Esau.

You think Esau was a fool? Esau didn't trade away nearly what you'd be looking at trading away if you walk away from so great a salvation. You see the encouragement? After discussing the folly of Esau, then he reminds you of all your blessings of what you have been given.

Esau didn't know the half of it, and he traded it away. You, on the other hand, you have that full revelation of all the blessings that God has given to you. So that is how it is connected to this context.

It is a warning passage that warns us not to follow the example of Esau, reminding us that our blessings are numerous and our privileges are glorious, and our inheritance is eternal. Now, turn back to Exodus chapter 19, and we will look at the background for what the author describes with the mountain, the blazing fire, and the darkness, and the gloom.

Exodus chapter 19. And while you're turning there, I'll set up the context for you. We spent enough time in Genesis tracing the promises to Abraham's descendants through Isaac and then to Jacob. And remember, Jacob got it from Esau, and Esau was abandoned.

God loved Jacob, God hated Esau, we saw that. And then the 12 sons of Jacob with Jacob ended up all going to Egypt, where they spent a couple centuries in slavery in Egypt. And then God brought them out through Moses, through the Exodus with all the signs of the 10 plagues, brought them up to the edge of the Red Sea, part of the Red Sea for them, brought them out onto that Sinai Peninsula.