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

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A Tale of Two Mountains, Part 2 (Hebrews 12:18-24) | Worship Service

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Once you've found your place there, we'll begin with a word of prayer before we look at God's Word.

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Let's bow our heads. Our Father, we just simply ask today that You would make

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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

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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.

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We pray that You would accomplish this by Your grace and the power of Your Holy Spirit, through Your Word which

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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.

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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.

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And the book of Hebrews is a book of contrasts between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

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One of the central purposes of the book is to contrast Old Testament saints and circumstances with New Testament realities and fulfillments of those

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Old Testament ceremonies and covenants. And we have seen that contrast a number of times in a number of different ways.

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Whenever Christ is contrasted with somebody from the Old Testament, we always see that Jesus is better.

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Whenever His work is compared to something in the Old Covenant, we see that His work is superior, it's better.

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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 1 through 10.

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It was a more intensely theological section of the book where the author was making one comparison of one contrast after another.

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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.

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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.

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And so we have the section on faith in chapter 11 and the discussion about running our race and then the

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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.

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And just to review for you some of the contrasts that have already come before our gaze in the book of Hebrews, in chapters 1 and 2, we saw that Jesus Christ is the greater revelation of God, greater revelation than anything that the

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Old Testament revelation or prophets were given. He is greater than the angels, that's in chapters 1 and 2.

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He's greater than Moses, chapter 3. In chapter 4, he provides a greater rest than Joshua provided and he in fact is the fulfillment of that Old Testament picture.

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He is greater than Joshua, that's in chapter 4. In chapter 5, he's a greater high priest. In chapter 7, he is greater than Melchizedek, than Abraham, than Aaron and than Levi.

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His priesthood is superior, his moral quality is superior, his sacrifice is superior, his blood is superior.

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In chapter 8, 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.

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In chapter 9, 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

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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

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Old Testament intercession of Old Testament priests because he perfectly and unceasingly intercedes for all those for whom he has made the sacrifice.

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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.

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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.

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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 into 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.

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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,

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I'm full of fear and trembling. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living

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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.

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That contrast between those two mountains is part of the fifth and final warning passage in the book of Hebrews.

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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.

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And his voice shook the earth then, but now he is promising yet once more, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.

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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.

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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

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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

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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?

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Notice the contrast in verses 18 and 22. That really marks the fulcrum of the contrast.

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Verse 18, you have not come to a mountain that can be touched. Verse 22, but you have come to Mount Zion.

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You haven't come to one mountain. Instead, you have come to another mountain. So really, this contrast is between two mountains.

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And it's not so much a contrast with the work of Christ comparing his sacrifice with Old Testament priest sacrifice.

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It's not a work in comparison on comparing the person of Christ as if he is to be compared with Moses or Joshua or Abraham.

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The author has already done that. Instead, these two mountains symbolize really two different kinds of privileges.

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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

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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.

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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.

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And I've never heard the audible voice of God. Are my privileges greater or less than those

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Old Testament Israel? Greater. Even without all of those tangible realities, even without all of those tactile expressions and experiences, our privileges are much greater.

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Now officially, this is the fifth of the warning passages. And I've mentioned that and maybe it's been,

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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And most likely you have heard them bring up Hebrews chapter six, verse four through six.

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So these warning passages are passages that people turn to in order to say that you can lose your salvation.

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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.

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Or so the argument goes. Probably the best known warning passage in the book of Hebrews is Hebrews six, verses four through six.

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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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,

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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.

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Instead, what I want to do is I want to 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.

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So here they are, if you want to take notes, the four warning passages. The first is Hebrews 2 verses 1 through 4,

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I preached three sermons on that text. Hebrews 3 verse 16 through chapter 4 verse 13, that's the longest warning passage in the book,

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I preached 17 sermons on that text. Chapter 6 verses 4 through 8,

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I preached 14 sermons on that. And then chapter 10 verses 26 through 31, nine sermons.

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So if you're curious and you have got a lot of spare time, that's 43 sermons on those four warning passages.

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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.

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And probably the most detail that we went into was on chapter 6, which is most often,

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I think, abused and misused in order to suggest that salvation can be lost or forfeited.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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Old Testament, to Exodus 19. Don't turn there yet. Back to Exodus 19, to just see, to 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

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Jew. This was language that was as familiar to them as anything in our lives is familiar to us.

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They would have understood exactly what the author was referring to and they would have, they would have felt the flames and smelled the smoke as it were.

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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.

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That was the giving of the Ten Commandments. So let's look first of all at how it is that this passage fits into the context of the book of Hebrews.

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And I want to show you that he is not radically altering the subject matter.

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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.

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Look at verse 18 again. Now this sounds like a radical departure from what we've been covering so far, doesn't it?

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Verses 1 through 3, run your race. Verses 4 through 11, don't despise God's discipline.

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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, right?

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Strengthen your weaknesses and straighten your ways and don't be like Esau. Now, two mountains, there's two mountains, tale of two mountains.

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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.

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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.

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

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That is almost because of how most people preach, how most preaching is done, how most teaching is done, that is how most

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Christians view scripture. And there's only one book in all of scripture that can even be remotely treated that way.

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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.

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So, 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.

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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 want to catch the meaning.

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So that's what I want to do now. I want to show you the connections of this tale of two mountains to the context.

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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.

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Now be clear, they did not see God physically, actually in his essence, because no man can see

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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.

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But what they did see was the physical manifestations of, 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.

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No other God could do what he did at Mount Sinai. And what they saw were the physical and tactile manifestations of that.

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They came to a mountain that could be touched. They saw a fire that could be felt and seen and heard.

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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.

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So in a sense, those who were at Sinai that day when God gave the law, they got a glimpse of God.

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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.

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Hasn't the author already spoken of those who will see God? Chapter 12, verse 14,

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Pursue peace and sanctification without which, what? No one will see God. No one will see

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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.

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Why? Because something has happened to take away the terror of Sinai. We'll come back to that at the end.

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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.

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We long for that because the terror and the threatenings of Sinai have been removed.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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He has been arguing all the way through chapter 11 and 12 for an endurance and a perseverance that ends up preserving the soul.

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He wants us to endure in the face of hostilities, and we've returned to that theme over and over again.

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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.

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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?

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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

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God who has revealed himself in such glory and grandeur. The third connection to the context, the author is contrasting again here the

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Old Covenant with the New Covenant, Old Testament with New Testament, old realities with new realities. He did that in chapters 1 through 10.

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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.

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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.

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What is the better? You've come to Mount Zion. You've come to the city of the living

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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

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New Covenant. You've come to a blood that is sprinkled that's better than the blood of Abel. Better, something better for us.

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And now the author here 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.

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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.

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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

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Old Testament saints understood and enjoyed. And we are the adoring and grateful recipients of all of that better stuff.

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That's the argument. A fifth connection to the context is the connection to Esau.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 Esau, wouldn't you?

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Would you sell all of that for a bowl of soup? You think Esau had privileges?

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He did. But your privileges excel Esau's by a long measure. You think

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Esau was a foolish and rash individual? He was. But, says the author,

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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.

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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.

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You see the encouragement? After discussing the folly of Esau, then he reminds you of all your blessings of what you have been given.

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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.

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So, that is how it is connected to this context. That 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.

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Now, turn back to Exodus 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.

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Exodus 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.

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And remember, Jacob got it from Esau and Esau was abandoned. God loved Jacob. God hated Esau. We saw that.

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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.

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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

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Red Sea, part of the Red Sea for them, brought them out onto that Sinai Peninsula. And then God brought them to the foot of the mountain.

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He has already, in the book of Exodus, not only delivered them from their slavery and their bondage in Egypt, but he has judged the nation of Egypt for their oppression of the

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Israelites and Abraham's descendants. And then God has provided for them manna and water and meat out in the wilderness, demonstrating that he can meet all of their needs.

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So he has delivered them, he has protected them. They have seen his miraculous deeds, but they have not yet even seen the fringes of his ways.

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They haven't even begun to see the least bit of God's power. And that they will do as God brings them now to the bottom of Mount Sinai, which

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Hebrews 12 says, a mountain that can be touched. He brings them to the base of Mount Sinai, this massive rock outcropping in the

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Sinai Peninsula. And there, the nation of Israel gathers at the base of this mountain to receive the law and for God to make a covenant with them.

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And at that mountain, he is going to give them the Ten Commandments and his law. He's going to give them national worship, establish a priesthood, give them instructions for building a tabernacle, and he is going to establish the animal sacrificial system by which the nation will approach and draw nigh unto him.

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Exodus 19, that sets up the scene, beginning at verse 1. In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai.

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When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness. And there,

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Israel camped in front of the mountain. Moses went up to God and the Lord called to him from the mountain saying,

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Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel, you yourselves have seen what

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I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Notice the language there.

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I brought you to myself. God's purpose in bringing Israel out of Egypt was that they would be his special people.

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Do you remember what the crowning jewel of the Abrahamic covenant was that Jacob had secured through all this trickery? It was

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God himself. And here's God saying, this is why I brought you out of Egypt, out here so that you will be my people.

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I have delivered you and redeemed you from myself, not just because God opposes slavery, not just because they cried out to him and things were rough, but so that they could be his people.

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God has his own redeeming and affectionate and loving design in bringing those people out and bringing them to the foot of this mountain.

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Verse 5, Now then, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine.

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And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.

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So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words which the Lord had commanded him.

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All the people answered together and said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do. Now, before this month is even over, they're going to be bowing down and worshiping a golden calf and committing all types of fornication and violating all 10 of the 10 commandments.

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But we'll lay that aside, that's a story for another time. All that the Lord has commanded, we will do.

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They're overselling it just a little bit. And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, behold,

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I will come to you in a thick cloud so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever.

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Then Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. Now, the intention of God in manifesting himself to the people was for them to understand that Moses was

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God's appointed leader, he was God's spokesman, so that they would believe him and the words which he would give to them, and so that they could hear for themselves the character and the nature of this

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God. He was going to reveal to them his power, his majesty, his glory, and his holiness.

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Verse 10, the Lord also said to Moses, go to the people and consecrate them today.

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That means to set them apart, to make them holy. They were to go through a process over the course of three days to make themselves presentable as it were.

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Much of this has to do with ceremonial cleanliness. They weren't to have any kind of marital relations for the next three days as they prepared to meet

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God. And they were to wash their clothes, you're going to read about that. All of this was a consecration, a making holy, a setting themselves apart, interrupting the ordinary flow of their lives so that they could prepare to meet

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God. Remember Hebrews 12, verse 14, pursue peace and sanctification without which no one will see

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God? Well, now they are making preparation and preparing and setting themselves apart, that is to make holy, sanctifying themselves as they prepare to meet

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God as a nation. So go to the people, this is verse 10, go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments and let them be ready for the third day.

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For on the third day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai and the sight of all the people. You shall set bounds for the people all around saying, beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it.

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Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through.

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Whether beast or man, he shall not live. When the ram's horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.

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So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people and they washed their garments. And he said to the people, be ready for the third day, do not go near a woman.

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It doesn't mean social distancing, it just had to do with marital relations. It was to sanctify, ceremonial cleanliness as they prepare to meet

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God. Now there are a number of lessons from this. They were to consecrate themselves and to make themselves holy, set themselves apart as they get ready to receive this law and hear the voice of God audibly.

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God had delivered them unto himself and they were about to see his power and his majesty in a physical, tangible way demonstrated to them.

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Though they had come to know him through the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea, that was nothing compared to what they were about to see.

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Exodus 19 verse 16, so it came about on the third day when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.

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And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God and they stood at the foot of the mountain. I don't think that you and I can appreciate just how terrifying that event was.

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If you are thinking to yourself, I would love to have been there to see that. No, you wouldn't.

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Because there was not a person standing there who said, man, this is great. This is three dimensional,

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CGI can't even capture this. This is awesome. I just love to sit here and soak it in.

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These people were terrified, terrified. You see, for years they had been in Egypt where all they had seen was idols.

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Carvings on walls, carvings of stone that sat on the mantle, that sat on the altar, that occupied the home, all they had seen that.

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Idols which could never do or say or go anywhere. They couldn't get up and move. They couldn't start a fire.

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They couldn't put out a fire. They couldn't part a Red Sea. And if the crops were good, they praised the idol.

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And if the crops were bad, they thought, well, we must not have praised the idol enough. And so the idols could never do anything.

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And now they're about to see that their God is not like the gods of Egypt. Their God, a triumph over the gods of Egypt at the

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Red Sea and in all of the plagues. And they're about to catch a vision of their God that they will forever remember.

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Verse 18. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace.

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And the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.

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The Lord came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain. And Moses went up.

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Then the Lord spoke to Moses, go down, warn the people so that they do not break through to the Lord, to gaze, and many of them perish.

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Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, or else the Lord will break out against them.

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Moses said to the Lord, the people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you warned us, saying, set bounds about the mountain and consecrate it.

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Then the Lord said to him, go down and come up again, you and Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the

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Lord, or he will break forth upon them. So Moses went down to the people and told them. Here are the lessons that they were to learn.

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Number one, they were to understand exactly how powerful and majestic their God is. He is not to be trifled with.

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This is why the author says at the end of chapter 12, our God is a consuming fire. We forget that because we are not exposed to his holiness and his transcendence like they were in Exodus chapter 19.

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We find it very easy to trifle with God, to make bargains, to give him consideration when it's convenient for us, to ignore him the rest of the day, to play games with his people, to thank him for his blessings and call out to him when things are bad and to be sort of a foxhole

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Christian, things are going bad, we cry out and we want God to deliver us. We don't see physical manifestations of God like this, like they did at the initiation of this covenant.

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And so we tend to trifle with God and not remember that he is a consuming fire and that we ought to approach him with reverence and awe.

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And instead, this doesn't even need to be said, but instead most of evangelicalism today, particularly in the

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West approaches God like he's a carnival barker running a three ring circus and everybody gets up and comes before him and there's no reverence, there's no awe, there's no majesty, there's nothing that sets the church or the worship service apart that would make it unique or sanctified or set apart in any way.

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And instead it becomes just simply an entertainment venue where people get up and share their own thoughts and their own ideas.

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Our God is a consuming fire. Mountains are symbols of stability and strength and immovableness and Sinai trembled.

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That massive rock in that rocky desert, God made it shake.

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That would strike fear into everybody's heart that was there. Second lesson, God cannot and he should not be approached flippantly.

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You notice the people were told, do not break through to gaze upon God. He is not a curiosity to be ogled for our enjoyment.

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He is a holy and transcendent God and the people were not to approach him flippantly.

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Later on in the book of Exodus and in the book of Leviticus, the people would get that picture as God began to, as they put together the tabernacle and a priesthood and Nadab and Abihu decided, well, let's kind of approach

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God on our terms, our way. We'll just take what he's done and maybe tweak it just a little bit, have fun in the tabernacle, let's just make it a lighthearted deal.

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And God consumed them with fire. Out in the wilderness, they would learn lesson after lesson that God was not to be trifled with.

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A whole generation of them would die because they questioned the ability of this God that you have just read about to bring them into the land and subdue their enemies.

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They still didn't get it. Remember all that the Lord commands we will do? That's a go into the land and take it.

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And we don't think that's really a good idea. This week doesn't work for us, we'll maybe try it later. That's okay, you get to try it, lady.

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40 years later, your sons will get to try it, but the rest of you are gonna die. Those people saw this manifestation of God and they still did not think that he could bring them into the land to fulfill his promise.

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The third lesson is that this is the God who gives the law because chapter 20 is the 10 commandments.

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This is the proper kind of scene to hear commandments like have no other gods before me, don't make a graven image, don't take my name in vain, honor the

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Sabbath, honor your father and your mother, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness and do not covet.

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That's what comes thundering out of the mountain to the people. That is what gets put on tablets of stone for the people.

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And this is the proper environment for them to receive this holy law. Everything that might have characterized the false gods and the idols, all the immorality and iniquity in Egypt, that does not characterize

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God's people. They were not to trifle with him, they were not to approach him flippantly, for he was about to give them his law, his moral law, and they would need to hear thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, 10 times while they're hearing the thunder and seeing the flames and watching the smoke and watching a rock tremble, a mountain tremble in the desert.

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This is the proper perspective for those who were to receive the law. If you break these laws, there is a

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God with whom you must deal. There is a God with whom you have to do, if you violate those laws.

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And that God is described in chapter 19. Look at chapter 20, verse 18. See, God's revelation of his moral will should cause fear in the hearts of people, and it did, verse 18.

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All the people received the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance, and they said to Moses, speak to us yourself and we'll listen, but let not

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God speak to us or we're gonna die. Moses said to the people, do not be afraid for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of him may remain with you so that you may not sin.

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So the people stood at a distance while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was. Remember Hebrews 12, verse 19, the sound of words, which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them.

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That's what he's describing. What you have right there in verse 19, speak to us yourself, don't let

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God speak to us. What's Moses gonna say? Give God instruction? Don't let

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God speak? Does Moses have anything to do with God speaking to the people? Don't let God speak to us. What they're saying is we'll take what

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God tells you, but we can't deal with that voice. We cannot deal with the communication of that majesty and that holiness and that transcendence.

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We'll listen to you, but we cannot bear the sound of those words. Moses says to them in verse 20, do not be afraid for God has come in order to test you in order that the fear of him may remain with you.

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There's a proper fear and an improper fear. And what Moses, when he says, do not be afraid, I think what he is saying is you don't have to worry about God consuming you in this moment.

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He's not gonna burn you up. He's not gonna turn you to chaff right now. He's not gonna destroy you. That's not the purpose of this revelation.

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The purpose of this revelation is so that you may have a healthy fear of him, which would be that you would not sin, verse 20.

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You would not sin. A healthy fear of God keeps me from sin because I don't want to face his discipline.

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I don't want to endure his wrath. I don't want to be at distance from him. I don't want to offend such a holy and gracious and loving

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God. So there was a proper fear that says I will not sin. I will not offend this

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God. I will not transgress his law. And then there is an improper fear that the people had because of what they had seen.

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Now they had every reason to think that they should be consumed. Just as you and I, if we were to see God today, might have every reason in us to think that we should be consumed, that that is not

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God's intention, but rather we would have a healthy fear. This event is the event that is referenced by the author of Hebrews.

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It is the giving of the law, the marking out of a people of God, this fearful and awesome revelation of God's nature, his holiness, his righteousness, and his righteous judgments.

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But says the author of Hebrews, you and I have not come to Mount Zion. This is not our encounter with God.

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Why is that? It's really because of a third mountain. There's Mount Sinai where the people trembled before the law of God and the revelation of his righteous judgment and his holiness.

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That's Mount Sinai. Then there's Mount Zion, the blessed state of the redeemed, the city of God, our ultimate reward, our ultimate home, heaven dwelling with God.

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But between those two mountains, Mount Sinai where we tremble before the law of God and Mount Zion where we rejoice and bless and praise him, there's a third mountain in the middle that none of our texts mentions just yet, and it's

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Mount Calvary. Where one who fulfilled all the demands of that law died in our stead so that he might credit to us his righteousness and take our sin from us so that we can go from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion.

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And the only way from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion is through Mount Calvary. It's one path, it's one man, it's one substitute, it's one high priest, one sin bearer, one son of God who died to bear the sin of any and all who will repent and believe upon him.

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Some of you here do not know Christ and you are still standing in front of Mount Sinai. And the thunderings of God's law are appropriate in your life and you have every reason to fear that you will be consumed.

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For if you die in an unforgiven state without anybody to bear your wrath before God, you will stand before this

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God in all of his glory and all of his majesty, and you will hear the just condemnation of the law announced on your behalf.

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Guilty, guilty, guilty. And the just judgment of God will be to cast you into hell where you will suffer everlastingly for all of your sins, for all of eternity.

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That is what you deserve. But there is good news. The path to Mount Zion is through Mount Calvary.

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There is a sin bearer who came and he lived a perfect life, fulfilling all of that law that was given at Mount Sinai.

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And then he died on a cross as the substitute to bear the sins for any and all who will believe.

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And if you will turn from your sin and repent, if you will trust and believe that his sacrifice is sufficient for you, then it will be said of you that God made him who knew no sin to be sin on your behalf so that you might become the righteousness of God in him.

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And then you can stand on Mount Zion and the fear of standing before God is gone because your condemnation has been removed.

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The terror of standing before God without any righteousness is taken away because Christ gives you his righteousness and it is all a free gift.

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Do you have a sin bearer? Do you have one who has borne your justice and taken your punishment for you?

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If you do not, you are at Sinai and you will never see Zion unless you come through Calvary.

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There is only one name given among men whereby we must be saved. And that is the name of Jesus Christ who bears our sin and gives us his righteousness so that we can stand before him among the company of the righteous made perfect and rejoice and praise him forevermore.

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That is God's indescribable gift. Thanks be to him. Let's pray. Our Father, we rejoice in thanksgiving for the glory of what we have in Jesus Christ all as a gift of your grace.

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We thank you that you have called us out of darkness and into light. We thank you that you have brought us through the thunderings of your law to the lawgiver himself who bore our penalty on the cross and we thank you that one day you will usher us into your presence through death that we might rejoice in your presence forevermore.

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Thank you for so great a salvation and thank you that our sin is taken away in your son. Be honored and glorified through the response of your people today, we pray.

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And we ask that you would draw sinners to yourself, that they may see their need for a savior because of what

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Sinai thunders over them and that they may come to Calvary, to the cross of Christ and receive forgiveness and life everlasting from him, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and we praise you in that gracious name, amen.