A Tale of Two Mountains: Law & Grace (Part 1)

Sovereign Grace Family Church iconSovereign Grace Family Church

2 views

0 comments

A Tale of Two Mountains: Law & Grace (Part 2)

00:02
I want to invite you to open your Bible and interpret with me to Hebrews chapter 12.
00:11
We're returning this morning to our study of Hebrews.
00:14
We're going to be in verses 18 through 24.
00:19
I don't expect to do all of that today, but it is going to be somewhat of a two part lesson.
00:28
And the title of the sermon is A Tale of Two Mountains, and you'll understand what that means in just a moment.
00:39
In Hebrews chapter 12, we have a series of admonitions which are supposed to help keep the church from failing to achieve its mission.
00:50
These admonitions are keeping us in line with what we are supposed to be doing and what we're not supposed to be doing to keep us from those things.
01:03
It comes to us in a list of what I call see to it's sort of like when you have your child at home and you tell them, I'm going to go away.
01:14
I'm going to go, you know, I'm going up to the store while I'm gone.
01:18
See to it that you do this, this, this and this.
01:21
And it's a it's a pretty, pretty common phrase that we might use.
01:24
See to it that this gets done.
01:26
Well, we have a list of see to it's in Hebrews chapter 12, and that's what we've been studying over the last couple of weeks.
01:35
You know, starting in verse 12, down to verse 17, he talks about see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God.
01:41
And that simply means that we're supposed to see that there are not any false professors among us, not any false converts.
01:48
We proclaim the reality of sin and the necessity of grace so that no one sits comfortably outside of grace inside the church.
01:56
That's the see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God.
01:59
We're also to see to it that no root of bitterness springs up.
02:04
This is referring to people who would create division within the church.
02:07
Church discipline is designed to ensure that sin will not creep in and destroy us like a cancer.
02:13
We're to see to it that that doesn't happen.
02:15
We're to see to it that no one among us is living a sexually immoral or unholy lifestyle.
02:21
This is simply a way of saying that those who are driven by their appetites is what we talked about last week.
02:26
Folks who are driven by their appetites ultimately become a detriment to the mission of the church.
02:32
And we're called to recognize these things in each other, call each other to account and see to it that no one become like Esau.
02:39
Remember, last week's lesson was all about the person of Esau and how he was a man driven not by a fidelity to God, but rather a fidelity to his own appetite.
02:52
So we see these series of admonitions, see to it, see to it, see to it down the text, and it becomes somewhat of a pattern.
03:00
Well, if you look in verse 25, since you have your Bibles open, just glance over at verse 25.
03:06
You'll see that it begins in the ESV, at least it says, see that you do not refuse him who is speaking.
03:11
You'll notice that sort of continues the pattern of see to it, it continues.
03:16
It's another thing that we're to watch out for, another thing that we're to ensure that we're doing well between verse 17 and verse 25.
03:26
We have verses 18 through 24, verses 18 through 24 is somewhat of an aside.
03:32
It's somewhat of stepping away from that pattern just for a moment to give us an example of something that we need to understand.
03:42
And that's what we're going to be looking at this week and next week.
03:45
We're going to be studying specifically verses 18 through 24, because at this moment, the writer steps away from his list of see to it and provides a reminder about the reality of the condition in which the church he is speaking to is in.
04:00
He takes a moment to contrast the old covenant and the new covenant and the realities of the blessings which are now being enjoyed in the new covenant, which were not a part of the old covenant.
04:13
And this morning, we're going to examine and look at that aside.
04:17
We're going to see it in two parts.
04:19
As I said, it's a tale of two mountains.
04:21
The two mountains are Mount Sinai and Mount Zion.
04:25
And this week is our focus is going to be Mount Sinai.
04:30
So let's stand together and we'll read that entire verses, entire section of scripture and we'll begin our study.
04:44
Verse 18 begins, For you have not come to what may be touched a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest.
04:56
And the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg and no further messages be spoken to them, for they could not endure the order that was given.
05:09
If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.
05:14
Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear.
05:21
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable angels and festal gathering and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God, the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that spills forth from heaven.
05:52
He speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
05:57
Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to again read your word.
06:02
I pray, O Lord, that as I seek to give an exposition of your word, that you would keep me from error as I am a fallible man and capable of teaching error.
06:12
I pray that you use this opportunity to instruct your people.
06:16
You would open their hearts to understand and that your word would go forth from this pulpit.
06:23
In Jesus name, we pray.
06:25
Amen.
06:38
There are some really famous mountains in the Bible.
06:41
In fact, if you mention certain mountains, it's almost as if you're mentioning a story to go along with that mountain.
06:50
It's sort of like it sort of calls to your remembrance certain things that happen in the Bible, such as if I say Mount Ararat.
06:59
What do you think? Noah, that's the place where the ark came to rest after the flood or Mount Moriah.
07:08
And I remember where Abraham sacrificed Isaac Mount.
07:13
This isn't a test, by the way, if you don't know, it's OK.
07:16
I just I'm saying there's a few of the Mount Gilboa.
07:21
Anyone know that one? That was where Saul and Jonathan met their death.
07:27
Mount Carmel.
07:28
A lot of people know that that's the story of Elijah when he went against the priests of the prophets of Baal.
07:36
What about Mount Olivet, the Mount of Olives? Obviously, this is very instrumental.
07:45
It was the scene of David's flight from Absalom, and it was also the scene of Jesus's weeping over Jerusalem and his ascension.
07:52
So we're familiar that there are mountains all through the Bible.
07:56
And when we read about those mountains or we hear those mountains, we hear instinctively the stories that go along with those mountains.
08:04
They kind of bring to our remembrance certain things.
08:07
But there are two mountains in the Bible which bear a particular spiritual significance and that they represent.
08:15
The old covenant and the new covenant, the one represents the giving of the law and the other represents the giving of grace.
08:28
And these mountains have.
08:30
A powerful significance in the history of the church, the old covenant was focused primarily on God giving his law, demonstrating his holiness, and he gave his law through whom? Moses and where? On Mount Sinai.
08:52
And the new covenant is focused primarily on God's grace.
08:57
Somebody might say, well, wait a minute, pastor, there was grace in the law, the very act of God giving a demonstration of his law is an act of grace because God is condescending to love his people enough to tell them the right and wrong way to live.
09:12
And there's an action of grace in the law.
09:14
Of course, there's an action of grace in the law.
09:17
But even the very Bible itself says that the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
09:24
So there's a distinction in the Bible itself between law and grace.
09:30
And when we think of Mount Sinai, we think law, God's unchangeable, immutable, holy character demonstrated to us in his standard, his law.
09:47
That's what Mount Sinai represents.
09:50
And then we come to the mountain of grace, which is called throughout the Bible Mount Zion.
09:58
The writer of Hebrews, knowing that this is a contrasting reality, chooses these two mountains, though I will readily admit Sinai is not mentioned by name in this passage.
10:12
Sinai is mentioned by reference.
10:14
It's being referenced in this passage.
10:15
We'll talk about that in a few moments.
10:17
But he's using these two mountains to remind his readers of the promises which accompany the new covenant, the promises which are found only on Mount Zion.
10:31
Remember the context of Hebrews.
10:33
Everybody remember the context of Hebrews? I know we've been studying it for three years.
10:36
You know, you guys probably know this, but I always know we forget.
10:40
I don't and we have new folks coming in all the time.
10:42
The context of Hebrews is this.
10:44
The writer is concerned that there are people who are and he's writing to a group of Jewish converts to Christianity and they are he is concerned that they are turning from Christ and going back to their Judaism, whether it's social pressure, whether it is economic pressure, whether it is physical pressure, whether it may be the very threat of life endangerment.
11:10
And they're considering abandoning their faith, abandoning the new covenant and going back to the old covenant, and they would have been readily embraced by society, particularly their families, who many of them were disowned.
11:26
Jesus said, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword for there will be a division between father and mother and father in law.
11:32
Mother in law, there's always there's Jesus made this point that there's going to be this great division that comes in families for people who follow after him.
11:40
And even down to this day, we know that's the truth.
11:43
If you have unbelieving loved ones, you're that weird one that goes to church all the time.
11:48
You know, maybe they don't call you weird, but maybe a little bit more gracious than that, but you're you're different than them and they know it.
11:55
There's a there's a divide there, even in the family up until today.
11:58
And you go back to this time.
12:00
There was a major divide.
12:01
You were disowned from the family.
12:04
You were pushed out of the society.
12:05
You were you were out with a very small, newly formed religious group.
12:13
Remember, Christianity in its early stages was not considered a strong, new, up and coming religion.
12:18
It was considered a Jewish heresy.
12:23
That's the way it was seen by so much of society.
12:26
It was considered an offshoot of Judaism, a Jewish heresy.
12:29
This is this is a guy who called himself a prophet who was supposed to have died and rose again.
12:33
But, you know, they didn't see it as something even worth considering.
12:39
And yet there were people being saved all the time out of the Jewish community coming into this new thing called the church.
12:44
And as they came into the church, their families wanted them to come back, wanted them to come back to the fold.
12:53
And certainly when they were out there, there were times when it would have been easy just to fold up tents and go back home.
13:01
The writer, the writer of Hebrews is concerned with that group of people.
13:05
He is concerned with the people who are like in Jesus's parable of the soils.
13:09
They're allowing the cares and concerns of this world to choke out the affection for Christ.
13:15
Remember when Jesus said there was a seed that fell among the weeds and it tried to grow, but the weeds choked out its nourishment and killed it? Well, that's what's happening here.
13:27
And the writer of Hebrews is concerned for these people.
13:30
Jewish believers were considering sinking back and falling away from their commitment, which they had made to Christ.
13:38
So the writer paints a very vivid picture.
13:42
He says, look, there are two mountains here.
13:47
There is Mount Sinai, which is in almost every sense is representative of the Old Covenant.
13:57
And you have Mount Zion, which is representative of the New Covenant.
14:06
You have approached Mount Zion and now you are looking back to Mount Sinai, you're looking back to that Old Covenant, you're thinking of retreating from the grace of God to go back to the law of God.
14:22
And that is the concern of the writer and why he is making this point.
14:27
So this morning, our focus is going to be on Sinai, our focus is going to be on the law of God.
14:39
And then next week, we'll move to the grace of God.
14:42
But again, never let it cross your mind that in speaking of law, we're not also in a turn speaking of grace also.
14:51
So let's look at the text together.
14:52
It says the focus of this morning is going to be verse 18 through verse 21, verse 18 through verse 21, says, for you have not come to what may be touched a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them, for they could not endure the order that was given.
15:16
If even a beast touches the mountain, it should be stoned.
15:19
Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear.
15:25
Stop there because that's as far as we're going to go today.
15:27
That's up to verse 21.
15:30
What the writer of Hebrews is here doing is he is giving us a vivid picture of Moses going up on the mountain to receive the law of God.
15:42
Now, Moses didn't just make one trip up the mountain.
15:44
Moses made several trips up the mountain.
15:47
There were different times where he went up for different reasons.
15:50
But this in particular is the time that is being referenced here is in Exodus chapter 19.
15:58
So I wanted to look at that with you today, if we could.
16:00
It's a very vivid picture.
16:02
And here's the thing.
16:03
While you're going there, I want you to think about this.
16:05
Most of us have a very Sunday school like view of Old Testament stories.
16:13
And by that, I'm not I'm not discounting the value of Sunday school.
16:17
But sometimes what we have is we have a view of the Old Testament stories.
16:21
For instance, if you walk into our room and I help paint it.
16:24
So I'm part of I'm partly to blame.
16:26
If you walk into the first room on the right, when you go down into our Sunday school area, you'll see this nice big picture of Noah's Ark.
16:33
And you'll see, you know, we painted that on the wall and I drew it out and we painted it.
16:36
It was very nice.
16:37
And you'll see Moses standing there, you know, sort of a half smile on his face.
16:41
And these animals, there's a there's a giraffe sticking his head out.
16:44
There's all these things, these animals.
16:46
And the reality is.
16:49
That was probably one of the most horrific scenes in human history.
16:53
But we painted as a as a as somewhat of a as a caricature, we painted as a as a cartoon, because to be faced with the reality of the flood and the fact that the very earth itself split apart and the fountains of the deep burst forth and literally people were crushed by walls of water, they didn't drown.
17:18
They were crushed to death.
17:21
It's considerably difficult to even think about.
17:26
So we think about.
17:29
Our stories that way, we think about them in sort of a cartoonish fashion just to help us digest it, help us talk to our children about it, because, I mean, such a thing is so serious, it's difficult.
17:41
Well, the same thing is true with this Mount Sinai picture.
17:46
Most of us have a sort of a Charlton Heston view or a cartoonish view where where Moses walks up on the mountain, you know, kind of like kind of like a cowboy, sort of John Wayne style, you know, and he gets up there.
18:00
He has his little discussion with God.
18:02
God gives him two tablets and he rolls back down.
18:06
You know, like nothing doing, no big deal.
18:10
But the story from Exodus is so much different than what we are used to.
18:16
In fact, it's somewhat interesting that we are doing this sermon today with a tropical storm right off the shore.
18:25
And the reason why I mention that is because tonight we're going to be hearing wind going by.
18:31
Tomorrow we're going to be seeing rain probably going sideways across the front of our yard.
18:36
And that's OK.
18:36
We're from Florida.
18:37
We're used to it.
18:38
You know, if the earth shook, we'd all have a cow because we're not from California.
18:42
But wind is OK.
18:43
We're used to that.
18:45
But here's the thing, we understand what it means to be in a tempest.
18:50
We've seen it, but we've never been in a tempest.
18:57
Like these people were, because these people were not in the presence of 50 and 100 mile an hour wind.
19:03
These people were not in the presence of hail the size of golf balls.
19:06
These people were not in the presence of of simply an earthquake.
19:11
These people were in the presence of God.
19:17
You know, one of the things that always gets me people, people tell I hear these evangelists, I had a conversation with the Lord and he was right in front of me and he looked like, you know, Hank Williams.
19:32
That's the kind of it's always it's always this this person that there is no majesty.
19:44
It's as if God is just, you know, Hank Williams, the times when God shows himself in Scripture.
19:56
Do you know what happens? People fall down on their face in fear because God's presence is a holy presence and we are not outside of grace, a holy people.
20:16
And God's presence is a powerful presence and God's presence is a moving presence.
20:23
And might I say God's presence is a fearful and it is described very well in this chapter.
20:33
So just go with me to chapter 19.
20:36
Look at starting in verse seven and we can go all the way back to the beginning of the chapter.
20:40
I think we can come into the story well at verse seven.
20:45
Moses has gotten his command from the Lord as to what he's supposed to do.
20:49
And so Moses came down and called the elders of the people and set them all or set before them all.
20:57
These words that the Lord had commanded him, God had given him a command as to what he was supposed to do.
21:02
Moses comes down to tell the people to relay the message.
21:05
Moses being both priest and prophet, he spoke to God on behalf of the people and he spoke to the people on behalf of God.
21:13
All the people answered together and said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do.
21:18
Oh, how that word would come back to bite them later.
21:21
You know, all the Lord has commanded we will do that.
21:23
That certainly was not fulfilled in their in their lives.
21:27
But they at least said they obeyed, they at least bowed the knee.
21:33
And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord and the Lord said to Moses, behold, I am I am coming to you in a thick cloud.
21:43
That the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe you forever.
21:49
Have you ever seen an ominous cloud, ever seen it roll in? And it's I say, if you if last year we went to the homeschool convention down in Orlando, it was bad weather all weekend.
22:05
But there was a point at which we were driving back to our hotel room and I'm what I've been near a tornado as it was going by.
22:13
And I don't ever want to be there again.
22:15
There's a few places in the world I don't want to go.
22:17
That's one place.
22:18
Tornadoes are just the most frightening thing to me ever.
22:21
And I'm sitting Jennifer and I are in the car.
22:23
We're right like half a block from our hotel and there's this cloud that's coming and it just it looks like judgment and death and everything I've ever been scared of in my life.
22:36
It's just rolling towards me.
22:38
And I'm thinking, you know, this is it's probably just rain, but it's so ominous in its appearance that in my heart, I just little fear began to well up.
22:49
I mean, it's a hurricane or not hurricane, but a tornado.
22:52
You know what? What could this cloud have in store when it finally gets to us? Remember this? Remember when this happened? And I just kept thinking, please turn green because of that red light.
23:03
I wanted to go.
23:04
I wanted to get away from it.
23:05
I wanted to be, you know, and I can't imagine what it would have been like had I known that that cloud was the very presence of God moving towards me.
23:19
But yet that's what these people had.
23:21
They had the very presence of God, which was going to descend from heaven in a cloud and be in their midst.
23:28
What an amazing thought.
23:30
Even it goes on to say when Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, the Lord said to Moses, go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day.
23:43
For on the third day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people and you shall set limits for the people all around saying, take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it.
23:56
Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.
24:00
There was a death penalty for going to this mountain.
24:05
Why? Because the presence of God had consecrated the mountain.
24:12
It was then holy space and it was not to be tread upon with unholy feet and touched with unholy hands.
24:24
Remember what happened to the man, Uzzah.
24:30
How many of you remember Uzzah? What did Uzzah do? Uzzah was helping deliver the ark back to Jerusalem after it had been stolen and wore.
24:41
He's bringing it back.
24:43
And as the ark is being carried on an ox cart, which it wasn't supposed to be to begin with, the ark was supposed to be carried on poles by the priestly class.
24:54
And it was not supposed to be carried on an ox cart, but it was being carried by an ox cart.
24:57
It hit a place in the ground where it was soft and the soft ground caused the cart to tumble.
25:03
And what does it do for a moment? He placed his hand up on the Ark of the Covenant and God struck Uzzah dead.
25:14
Why? Uzzah knew, Uzzah was among the priests.
25:22
He knew the ark is not to be touched with unholy hands.
25:30
See, Uzzah's problem was he believed that the dirt was dirtier than his hand.
25:36
He would have been better to have let the ark fall into the dirt and be sullied by unsinful dirt than to be touched by a sinful hand.
25:47
Some people argue, well, Uzzah made a mistake.
25:51
What did he mean to? If he had time to think about it, he wouldn't have done that.
25:56
Well, maybe so.
25:57
A lot of people make mistakes and they pay their lives for it.
25:59
And that was a mistake he made.
26:01
He knew what was right and wrong.
26:02
Don't ever think that Uzzah didn't know he wasn't supposed to touch it.
26:05
It was well understood among the Jewish people.
26:08
You do not touch because that ark is holy.
26:11
That ark is the presence of God among us.
26:14
So, too, now is Mount Sinai in Exodus 19.
26:19
Mount Sinai is the presence of God among the people and it is not to be touched.
26:23
It is not to be treaded upon.
26:25
There is a border around the mountain that is not to be crossed, representing again the law of God, how the law of God sets borders in our life.
26:34
And gives us places beyond which we are not supposed to.
26:40
Verse 13, No hand shall touch it, but he shall be stoned or shot.
26:46
And there, of course, is not with a gun because they have guns at this time, would have been shot through with an arrow or some type of other projectile.
26:56
Whether beast or man, he shall not live.
27:02
When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.
27:08
The trumpet, what trumpet? It is the trumpet of God.
27:15
This is not the trumpet of the people.
27:17
This is the trumpet of God, which will sound from heaven, declaring God's presence among his people.
27:26
When is the next time we're going to hear that trumpet? First Thessalonians chapter four, right? And the Lord himself will descend with a shout and the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God and the dead of Christ will rise first.
27:39
And those who are alive will be caught together within the clouds.
27:42
Right.
27:43
That's that's the next time this trumpet will be heard by all men everywhere.
27:48
But this is the time.
27:49
So you can imagine an ominous cloud, a death sentence for crossing a border and a trumpet sound from God coming from the sky.
28:06
So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people and they washed their garments.
28:11
And he said to the people, be ready for the third day.
28:13
Do not go near a woman.
28:15
There was a there was a degree, celibacy was put out, a decree of celibacy so that there would be no relations in those three days simply for bringing cleanliness to the people.
28:27
The consecration, what consecration means set aside to make holy, set aside for cleansing.
28:33
You know, there's going to be a three day period.
28:35
And that's what you're going to do on the morning of the third day.
28:38
Listen to how the story paints the reality of this is awe inspiring because it really happened.
28:47
Remember, read the Bible existentially.
28:49
Remember, these people actually existed at a time and a place and this was going on.
28:54
It's amazing when you read it that way.
28:55
You actually consider this is an actual living, breathing, oxygen breathing person who is there at this time and they're seeing this with their eyes.
29:05
Any one of us who saw this with our eyes would be awestruck in fear and fall to our face.
29:11
On the morning of the third day, there were thunders and lightnings and a quick cloud, a thick cloud rather on the mountain, a very loud trumpet blast so that all the people in the camp from.
29:26
Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain no further.
29:41
Now, Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire.
29:48
The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln and the whole mountain trembled greatly.
29:53
And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in thunder.
30:00
The Lord came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain.
30:08
Moses went out.
30:11
Now, we could go further, but we're not going to because I just after this, it begins discussing the giving of the law.
30:18
I wanted simply to remind you of the powerful nature in which God demonstrated his presence to the people.
30:28
And literally, to me, it's the most fearful thing I could imagine.
30:35
I've had moments in my life where I've been made to feel small, both emotionally and physically.
30:43
I remember one time, I know I'm telling personal stories today, but I remember one time we were in the mountains and we were driving through the mountains.
30:52
I had not driven through the mountains before.
30:53
It was it was sort of a new experience for me.
30:56
We're in the mountains and when you start getting to the, you know, the foothills of the mountains, it starts getting bigger and bigger.
31:03
And we're up and up near Tennessee.
31:04
I remember where we were exactly.
31:06
But we went up to the top of this foothill.
31:09
And as we reached the top of the foothill, we began to go down and we went behind another foothill.
31:14
Well, as we came up this foothill, it's dark.
31:17
It's 10 o'clock at night or so.
31:19
As we come to the top of the second mountain, there's this huge mountain in the distance that I couldn't see because the foothill was in the way.
31:30
But what they had done, apparently, was taken these big, huge spotlights and they had lined the mountain up the side.
31:38
And I don't know what it was for, except to scare me.
31:43
But they had lined this mountain to the top on both sides, so it literally illuminated the entire mountain.
31:49
But when you're behind, you're little.
31:50
So when you're behind the foothill, you don't see this this monstrous thing on the other side.
31:55
Your line of sight is interrupted.
31:57
So as I was coming up the side of the mountain, I see what looks like a monster rising up out of the earth.
32:05
It does.
32:06
It looks like the top light, you know, the top of the precipice of the mountain is what I see first.
32:10
And as I get up and it starts to grow.
32:14
And I don't know if you've ever seen War of the Worlds, but it looked like something was coming out of the earth.
32:19
It was a moment where I had never felt so small in my life.
32:28
Because it just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and it was a physical fright.
32:40
But it was also emotional because it was a reminder of my limits, my being small.
32:54
Because here's this rock that's millions of times bigger.
33:00
Can you imagine for a moment the presence of God being among us and the very minuscule feeling we would have in his presence? We would look up to him and be awestruck.
33:20
The word awesome is used way too much and it's used way too often.
33:25
People give us five bucks and say, oh man, that's awesome.
33:31
Back when the Bible uses the word awe and awesome to describe God, it actually means something.
33:40
God is an awesome God and the people of Israel got a moment in the presence of this awesome God to be awestruck by his presence.
33:50
And then Moses was given the law.
33:58
So not only were they struck with the presence of God, but then they were face to face with the holiness of God and his law.
34:07
And they had to know, they had to know that not only were they unable so far to keep this law, but that in the future they would be unable as well.
34:24
Because honestly folks, and we've had this discussion thousands of times, but I remind people all the time, if you ever really want to be confronted with your sins, turn to Exodus 20, read the Ten Commandments, be honest with yourself, and then you'll be confronted with your sins very quickly.
34:40
I mean, just walk through the Ten Commandments.
34:42
Have no other gods before the Lord.
34:43
None of us can say we have kept God holy in our heart all the time perfectly.
34:48
We don't.
34:50
Especially prior to our conversion, but even after.
34:54
Do not make any idols.
34:57
Nothing that you would put before the Lord.
34:59
Oh, gee.
35:02
Do not use the Lord's name in vain.
35:04
That doesn't just mean curse words, because I do know some people that have a pretty sanctified mouth and they don't use curse words.
35:12
But you know what? Using the Lord's name in vain is so much easier than just using a curse word.
35:17
How would I use the Lord's name in vain without using a curse word? Every time we have ever bore the name of Christ and yet lived not for him in the world, we have taken his name and sullied it in the dirt.
35:32
Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.
35:37
It's a long discussion there.
35:39
Honor your father and mother.
35:41
If we were teenagers, we have not.
35:44
We've all been teenagers, unless we're not there yet.
35:48
But we have.
35:49
We've reached the fifth one.
35:51
Sixth Commandment.
35:52
Thou shall not commit murder.
35:53
Wow.
35:53
That's the first one I got to that.
35:55
I made it.
35:58
No, you haven't.
35:59
Jesus said, if we've ever been angry without cause, we've committed a breach of this command.
36:07
Thou shall not commit adultery.
36:09
Well, hey, Pastor, I'm good there.
36:13
Jesus said, if you ever looked with a lust, you've committed adultery in your heart.
36:26
Do not steal.
36:27
I never stole a thing in my life.
36:29
Ever? You've never taken something that didn't belong to you.
36:34
Ever.
36:36
Even from an early age.
36:37
Even a small thing.
36:45
Thou shall not tell a lie.
36:48
Bear false witness.
36:50
That's one I don't think any one of us could ever say.
36:54
We've never told a lie to get out of something or to avoid a punishment or to simply placate a situation.
37:04
Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's anything.
37:09
I mean, the scripture gives us a list.
37:11
Don't covet your neighbor's wife, which again goes back to the seventh command about adultery.
37:18
When Jesus said, don't look with lust, that was not something new.
37:22
He was just reiterating the tenth commandment in regard to the seventh.
37:26
Because lust is coveting.
37:27
It's all part of it.
37:30
He said, don't covet your neighbor's wife.
37:32
Don't covet your neighbor's mule.
37:34
Don't covet your neighbor's ox and all his property.
37:37
And yet we live in a society that revolves around the idea of covetousness and its thrust upon us.
37:47
So here's the reality, folks.
37:51
Not only was Sinai frightening physically, and it was.
37:59
Sinai was frightening spiritually.
38:03
Because by itself, Sinai leaves us nothing but condemnation.
38:12
By itself, the law of God leaves us condemned.
38:20
And that's the concern of the writer of Hebrews.
38:24
How could you turn from the mountain of grace and retreat to the law where there is nothing there but judgment? Fast forward to today.
38:43
There are churches all over this great land of ours, from sea to shining sea, that are still stuck on Sinai.
38:52
That do not teach the grace of God, but rather are so fixated upon the law.
38:58
They're so fixated upon the two tablets of Moses that they cannot see the cross of Christ.
39:06
We must understand the law.
39:09
And we must conform ourselves to the law, because that is God's confirmation.
39:15
That's His demand.
39:15
He says, this is the way you should be.
39:17
This is the holy way.
39:18
This is the way we should live.
39:20
But we must never for a moment believe that our confirmation to the law of God is where our salvation comes.
39:32
The mountain of Sinai brings our condemnation.
39:35
But it is the mountain of Zion, the mountain of grace, the mountain of Christ's work which brings our salvation.
39:45
If you are looking to Sinai for salvation, you will not find it.
39:50
You will only find judgment.
39:53
Look to Zion, to Christ, to the grace of God.
39:58
Only there will you find what you long for.
40:03
And next week we will explain more about what Zion is and how we are to look there.
40:10
Let's pray.
40:14
Father God, we thank you for your grace.
40:16
We thank you for all that you give us as we stand upon Mount Zion covered in grace, wrapped in the blood of Christ and able to know, Lord, that though we are condemned by the law, we are saved by the work of your Son.
40:32
We thank you for your law, Lord.
40:33
We thank you for the grace that comes from the law, the very grace of showing us what holiness is.
40:38
And we pray, Lord, that we would never look to your law as something to be spurned or ignored.
40:46
And that we would never look to your law as something that saves.
40:49
But to understand what your law is, as your word tells us, that the law is the schoolmaster which points us to Christ.
40:58
So we thank you for it and we praise you for it in Jesus' name.
41:02
Amen.
41:04
Beloved, let's stand together.
41:05
And if you have a need for prayer, please come as we sit.