Trading God for A Pastor — Anton Bosch

1st Peter chapter 2 this is the passage that we're studying on Thursday nights and I want to spend the next few weeks speaking on verse 9 and so today connects to that and I would encourage everyone to attend the Thursday night Bible studies because the next few weeks are all the meetings are important.

There's not one that is less important but sometimes things are more important. And this concept that we are going to speak about in the next few weeks the priesthood of every believer is absolutely vital and crucial for our church particularly at the time that we find ourselves here in this in this church.

And so I'm going to begin in Peter and I'm going to move to many scriptures in the Old Testament this morning. Please try and stay with me. We are going to cover a lot of ground but please try and follow the thread and try and understand the the central message that comes through these these many texts.

So let's read 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 1 through 10. Therefore laying aside all malice all deceit hypocrisy envy and all evil speaking as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious coming to him as a living stone rejected indeed by men but chosen by God and precious you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Therefore it is also contained in the scripture. Behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone elect precious. And he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore to you who believe he is precious but to those who are disobedient the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

They stumble being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light who once were not a people but now are the people of God who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

And while we're in Peter you'll see that that phrase a holy priesthood is repeated twice in this passage verse 5 you also as living stones as being built up a spiritual house a holy priesthood. And then in verse 9 a chosen generation a royal priesthood.

Verse 5 speaks about a holy priesthood a priesthood that is set aside for God's service. And then verse 9 a royal priesthood. For those who have been with us on Thursdays know that this passage is directly connected to Exodus chapter 19.

In Exodus 19 God is preparing the people of Israel to receive the law. He had brought them out of Sinai out of Egypt to Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb the they were three months out of the out of Egypt this is three months out of captivity and God is now wanting to speak to them personally.

God wants to establish a relationship with them. Israel had not had a relationship with God for all the hundreds of years that they were in the in in captivity in Egypt. They knew that their fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob had had a relationship with God.

But it seems that in all of that time in captivity no one had a relationship with God. They didn't know who God was. And in fact even Moses who was the the best of the lot. When God begins to speak to Moses at the burning bush Moses says who are you.

Who shall I tell Israel who is this God. Is he one of the many gods of Egypt. Is he another God is he may be the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Moses didn't know who God was. God then speaks to Israel through the plagues or the miracles because he is proving himself to them.

He is trying to build a relationship with Israel. And then he brings them to Mount Sinai. And he says in verse chapter 19. Verse 4 you've seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself.

I'm not going to spend more time on that because we spoke about that on Thursday. But God brought Israel out of Egypt primarily to bring them into a relationship with himself. It wasn't so much about the promised land it was about a relationship with God.

God does not save us first of all to get us to heaven. He saves us that he might have a people that he might have a relationship with us. The problem is that Israel just wanted the blessings and unfortunately so many Christians just want the heaven and they want to not be in Egypt and they want to have all the blessings that God provides but they don't really want a relationship with God.

And of course that really spoils the whole purpose for which God has saved us. He has saved us to have a relationship with him. I brought you to myself. And now God wants to begin to speak to Israel in.

And he says in verse 5. Therefore I will indeed obey. If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant then you shall be a special treasure to me above all the people for all the earth is mine. You see some rarities in this passage.

And in that of Peter. Then verse 6 says. And you shall be a kingdom of priests. Remember that in Exodus in 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 9 he speaks about a royal priesthood. Here he speaks about a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

These are the words which is our speak to the children of Israel and so what God is saying to Israel. And this is something that they just could not get a hold of that they couldn't grasp and unfortunately that many Christians today just cannot grasp and that is that God did not envisage initially a priestly class a group of priests who would stand between God and the people.

God wanted everyone to be a priest. In other words that each one was able to enter into God's presence personally directly without the intermediary of a priest. God wanted to speak to the people personally individually without speaking through priests.

And of course where they'd come out of Egypt all of the religion of Egypt had to do with a priestly class who who would hear from the the gods and who would speak to the gods and make sacrifices to the gods on behalf of the people.

And God says no I want you to be different. I want a personal relationship with you. I want each one of you to be a priest. And then God begins to speak to Israel. Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

And so what is happening here is very significant. Moses had met with God in the burning bush and God had been speaking to Moses all along until he brought them to this place. And obviously after that also but the people did not know who God was.

And so God says to Moses bring the people that you may introduce them to me. And so Moses brings the people out of the camp to meet with God. So this is when God and Israel are going to meet for the first time they had seen God through Moses.

They'd seen God in the in the opening of the Red Sea. They'd seen God in the plagues. They'd seen God in the fiery pillar and all of those things. But they had no concept of God's Word and of God's voice.

And so Moses brings them to a place where God now can speak to them. And in chapter 20 verse 1 and it says God spoke all these words saying. And then we have the the Ten Commandments. Sometimes we get the impression because we don't read the Bible properly.

But we get the impression that God gave the commandments to Moses. No God spoke the first Ten Commandments to the whole of the nation. God audibly spoke from heaven. And he spoke the Ten Commandments or literally the ten words.

Now this is important if you go to Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 36 out of heaven. This is remember Moses giving an account or recounting what had happened out of heaven. He let you hear his voice. God spoke to you.

He says that he might instruct you on earth. He showed you his great fire. There was fire on the mountain and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. Israel heard God's voice. Now if we go back to Exodus chapter 20 the people witnessed the thunderings the lightning flashes the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking.

And when the people saw it they trembled. They were afraid. And they stood afar off. Now remember those words. Now remember God had said that they were not to touch the mountain. But when God begins to speak the people withdraw even further.

We're going to come back to those words. The people stood afar off verse 19 and then they said to Moses you speak with us and we will hear you or we will hear. But let not God speak with us lest we die.

Can you see what's happening. God goes to all of this trouble to bring Israel out of Egypt to bring them to himself. He says I want you to all be priests. I want you to hear me. I want you to be able to speak to me.

And Israel says we're not interested. We don't want to hear God. You say well it's not that bad. Yes it is that bad. They are rejecting God's overtures of love. God says come let's have a relationship let me speak with you.

You can speak to me. And Israel says no thanks. We can't have God speak to us now spoken about this many times. But I feel it's important to remind you of these things at this stage of our of the development of the church.

They said what we will do is we will get Moses to go and ask God what he has to say. And Moses can come and tell us. And we will hear. We will listen when Moses speaks on behalf of God. Now folks this is exactly where the vast majority of Christians particularly in America find themselves today.

God wants to have a personal relationship with every Christian. And we see in Peter that God again says that I want you to be my own special treasure. I want you you to be a kingdom of priests. In other words that each one has a relationship with God.

The problem is that the vast majority of Christians today do not have a relationship with God and we can argue whether they indeed are Christians or not. But what they do is they hire a pastor and they say pastor.

You go and ask God what he has to say and if you come and tell us what God says we will listen. But here's the problem and we will see this as we go along. If you will not hear God speaking to you personally you will also not receive his word when it comes through the pastor.

There are many in the church and there are those in this church who are unteachable. Then I can teach nothing because they cannot hear and they will not listen. And they say I'm listening to God. No. If you will not listen to the pastor it means that you've already rejected God's voice in your life and you're not hearing him.

Because if you cannot hear God you will not hear Moses. And I'm not Moses. But I've been put in the same position as as Moses was. And folks let me be very honest I resent being in this position. I resent being the one who has to stand between you and God because what it is is I'm taking the place of Jesus Christ.

Your relationship with God is through Jesus. But when you employ a pastor to stand between you and God to pray for you to speak to you on behalf of God you're rejecting the mediator the role of the mediator of Jesus.

God says I want to have a relationship with you not through the pastor. Yes there is pastors and elders and teachers and prophets and the ministries have a function and have a role and have a part to play in the body of Christ.

But they can never never stand between God and the people. And yet people force us to stand between them and God. That's why we speak about pastors as being ministers. Minister means a servant. We don't stand between God and the people.

We stand but below the people we serve the people to bring them into a relationship with God. And people say no. We don't. We can't hear God. We can't understand God. God is too. God is too awesome. God is too difficult.

God is too complicated. Pastor you go and ask God what he has to say and we'll listen. But if you've rejected God you will reject the one that you have delegated. And so the people stood afar off same words again.

But now look at this. But Moses drew near. The people stood afar off but Moses drew near. God says come. The people says no. But Moses says I will come. And I believe that Moses coming into the presence of God was not primarily because of the people but because he wanted a relationship with God.

And when I personally draw near to God and I believe Henry does the same. When we draw near to God it is first of all because we want to be in his presence. We want to hear his voice. I desperately want to hear the voice of God speaking to me first before he speaks to the congregation.

And so the question is this morning are you standing afar off or are you drawing near. The book of Hebrews says let us draw near with a full heart or the true heart with full assurance of faith. And the context of Hebrews is exactly the Old Testament priesthood where the people could not draw near.

And yet in the New Testament we know the veil was torn and we have access into his presence. And he says draw near. Now if we go to verse chapter 32 and I'm just jumping and Henry has filled and will fill in these gaps in Sunday school.

But now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him come make us gods that shall go before us. Now look at this. For as for this Moses the man who brought us out of Egypt we do not know what has become of him.

Who was their relationship with it was with Moses. It was not with God. And the moment Moses was no longer there everything fell apart. And folk I fear for this church and I fear for every other church that is dependent on the pastor.

What happens when God removes the pastor. Will we also fall into idolatry as Israel did. Where is Moses. We didn't hear God's voice. We don't believe in God. We believe in Moses. Verse 4 of Exodus 32 Aaron that is received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made a molded calf.

And they said this is your God Israel that brought you out of the land of Egypt. This is days from God revealing himself and speaking on Mount Sinai. We're not talking about months and years. This is days after God had spoken to Israel and Israel said no.

We cannot hear God and remember that God had spoken to them. This although Moses would come down after the 40 days with the tablets of stone God had already told them you will not make images and you will not worship those images.

But you see they'd rejected God this is your God. Now they probably were not worshiping a false God. They were probably worshipping the true God but in an unacceptable way. You see because the first command the second command said that you will not make images and you will not bow down and before them and you will not amongst other things he says make images of that which is in heaven above.

In other words making images of God and using God as a what modern charismatics call a point of contact in order to reach God. Worship in modern churches has become a point of contact. It's the thing that we are able to use in order to get into the presence of God.

The church building is a point of contact to television preachers. The television is a point of contract and contact. And they will tell you put your hand on the television while I put my hand on the on the camera.

Because we need this physical connection we need this point of contact and God says no. I don't want you to connect with me through a point of contact. I want you to connect with me one-on-one. And you'll see that in verse 5 so when Orin saw it he built an altar before it and Orin made a proclamation and said tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.

The screen is not correct because most translations the word Lord is in capital letters meaning that in the original this word is Yahweh. In other words this is not a feast day to the gods of Egypt. This is a feast day to Yahweh to God the only true God.

So they're still trying to worship God but they're trying to worship him in a way that God had not determined. And so we said well that's not a big deal as long as I worship God. One of the catchphrases of modern Christianity is that the method doesn't matter as long as the message is the same.

No the method does matter. How we can reach out to God. How we connect with God is absolutely crucial. Because if we do not meet with God in the way that he is prescribed it is by definition idolatry.

And if you're reaching God and if the only way that God is speaking to you and the only way you have a relationship with God is through the pastor it is idolatry. Because the pastor has become a point of contact.

The pastor has taken the place of the golden calf and you're saying we're still having a feast to the Lord but we're just not going to do it directly we'll do it through something else or through someone else.

And I think you can see that this is really really serious. Moses comes down from the mountain breaks the Ten Commandments breaks the tablets of stone and he stands at the entrance of the camp and he said whoever is on the Lord's side come to me and all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.

I believe that God is crying again today. And maybe if I am Moses then the question is who is on the Lord's side. Who is on the Lord's side. Who in the church this morning and who listening to the recordings is on the Lord's side.

And it's interesting down to the whole nation of Israel out of the twelve tribes only one tribe say we're on God's side. The others were honest enough to say we're not. Unfortunately many think that they're on God's side when they in fact are not.

And of course it's interesting that it was the sons of Levi that would now become the priests because God had now turned away from his original plan. That wasn't what he wanted. God wanted everyone to be a priest.

But when Israel rejected God God then gives them what they want. But he also understands that they are not going to listen. Remember the same happened when they chose a king. God says I want to be your king.

I want you to have a personal relationship with me as the as the as the king and the leader of Israel. And Israel says no. We don't want God as a king. We want to be like everybody else. We want a pastor.

We want somebody who can go and ask God on our behalf. And God relents and gives them a king. But with the king comes all sorts of trouble. And of all the kings of Israel very very few of them were good kings.

The kings led them into idolatry. The first king Saul failed miserably. David is a good king. The next one the third one Saul is a good king for a while but he loses the plot. And after that is just downhill all the way all the way to Assyria in captivity and Babylon's captivity.

The question tonight is this morning is who's on the Lord's side. Prophet speaks about the fact that God sought a man to stand in the gap and he found none. And so he found Jesus this morning. I believe that God is looking for men and women in this church who will who will stand up and say I'm on God's side.

I'm going to do things his way. And of course it doesn't end. Well I didn't include those scriptures. But Moses then tells the sons of Levi to strap on their swords and go amongst the people and to kill their brothers.

God's judgment upon the nation. 3 ,000 people 3 ,000 men died on that day. You see rejecting God's voice has serious consequences. Oh but we're we're saved. We're born again. We're the people of God. We were brought out of Egypt.

God's feeding us with manna. We see he's the pillar of cloud the cloud and the pillar of fire. We're God's people. When Israel rejected God he sent judgment upon them. And 1 Corinthians chapter 10 says that we need to be careful because what happened to Israel happened as an example to us.

And then he cites a number of experiences that Israel had in the Old Testament. And the point of Hebrews 1 Corinthians 10 is that all who came out of it all came out of Egypt. They were all baptized in the sea.

They were all baptized in the cloud but they didn't get to the promised land. And he says that is an example to us. Now if we go to Exodus chapter 33 and I'm moving on now Moses has had to went back up into the presence of God brings down another set of tablets spent another 40 days in God's presence and it says Moses took his tent.

Exodus 33 verse 7 Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp far from the camp and called it the tabernacle of meeting. Now don't get confused. This is not the tabernacle that we're learning about in Sunday school.

This is before that tabernacle was built. This is simply Moses's tent and it's pitched outside the camp and it's a place of meeting. And it says it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp.

Can you see that God is still reaching out to Israel and he's still saying I want you to speak with me. I want to speak with you. I want to have a relationship with you. And what I'll do God says is is I'll use this place and you can come here and speak with me.

And I can speak with you. And I'm not sure if I included that verse this morning but it says that Moses communicated with God there as a man speaks with his friend. In other words a two-way conversation.

33. Verse 8 says so it was whenever Moses went out of the tabernacle that all the people rose and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. Can you see what's happening.

Moses goes to speak with God. And what are the people doing. They're just watching for Christianity is not a spectator sport. Church is not a spectator sport where you can sit in the pews and watch the elders enter into the presence of God.

You must participate for yourself not just and we'll be speaking about this in the next few weeks on Thursday night not just in your prayer life and in your reading of the scriptures but in the life of the church.

Unfortunately that's what we have today worshipers degenerated to a spectator sport. That's why we want to encourage everyone when we sing the hymns to for everyone to participate in the singing. I cannot sing on your behalf.

I cannot pray on your behalf. I cannot read on your behalf. I cannot worship God on your behalf. You must do it for yourself. And yet when you go to modern churches you'll find that there's a band on the stage and they worshiping God and the congregation sits there and watches them.

The same thing happens in high church. In high church the the priests go around and they do the various things and they relate to God. And there's a choir that worships God on behalf of the congregation.

God says no I want to hear from you. I want you to have a relationship with me. We cannot stand or sit at that stand at our tent door or sit in our pew and watch the preacher have a relationship with God.

And you know it records that no one else it doesn't say that anyone else ever went into the presence of God except it came to pass in verse 9 that when Moses entered the tabernacle that the pillar of cloud descended it was a visible sign of God's presence and stood at the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked with Moses and all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door and all the people arose and worshiped each man in his tent door.

So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend and he would return to the camp. But his servant Joshua the son of nun a young man did not depart from the tabernacle did not depart from the tabernacle.

Moses had to come back because he had work to do. He had to. He had to judge Israel he had to lead Israel. But Joshua stays in the presence of God. It's no wonder then that of the men of all of Israel only two men went into the promised land and one of those men was Joshua.

If you want to get into the presence of into into the promised land you better get into the presence of God. And then verse chapter 34. Verse 29. And it was so when Moses came down from Mount Sinai and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses's hand when he came down from the mountain that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

You see we can't be in God's presence and not be changed. We're going to go to Corinthians at the end and you'll see that it speaks there. Or the fact of maybe in fact I don't think I've included that verse but it says that we are changed from glory to glory as we behold his image as we see him as we spend time in him in his presence.

And as Moses comes down his face is radiating the glory of God. So Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses. This is Exodus 34 30. And behold the skin of his face shone and they were afraid to come near him.

We seen those words before the people stood afar off. They were afraid to come near God. Now they're afraid to come near Moses. Can you see the pattern. Verse 31. Then Moses called to them and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him and Moses talked with them.

Afterward all the children of Israel came near and he gave them as commandments all that the Lord has spoken with him in Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them he put a veil on his face.

Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him he would take the veil off until he came out. And he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses the skin of Moses' face shone.

Then Moses would put the veil on his face again until he went to speak with him speak with God. Can you see the pattern. When Moses goes into the presence of God he's open-faced. He has no veil. But when he speaks to Israel he has to put a veil on his face.

Why. Because Israel had rejected when God revealed his glory on Mount Sinai. A little bit of that glory is now reflected on the face of Moses. And they said we can't have this either. The preacher may reflect a little bit of the heart of God.

And I don't have a shining face. And I by no means have what Moses had. But I prayed and I trust God day by day that I would somehow reflect to you a little bit of his glory. But you see if you will not see his glory face to face you will reject the glory that is reflected off the face of the preacher.

The same principle again. And so what they do is they put a veil on Moses' face. And it's not something that blocks him out completely because obviously Moses can still see. So it's like those veils that the woman wear in the Middle East.

They can see out but you can't see very much. It's it's it's a filter. It's like shade cloth that we use to cover our cars. It lets some light through but blocks most of it. You see if you will not hear God what we do then is that we filter God's message.

When the preacher preaches that message. I never I never ceased to be amazed by how little people actually hear of what the preacher says. The preacher can say the same thing over and over and over and over.

I've never heard that before because we've put a filter. We filter out the bits that don't please us. We filter out the bits that convict us. We filter out the things that we find hard to accept. But I want you to see Moses as he goes into God's presence.

He says I I don't want to filter what God reveals to me. Speak. Lord Samuel says your servant is listening and Moses opens himself to God. And he says God show me your glory. Show me your glory. Israel says no we will veil God's glory whether it is on Mount Sinai or whether it's on the face of Moses.

But we don't want to see his glory. Now if we go to 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and this connects directly to the passage that we've just looked at in Exodus. For if the ministry of condemnation had glory he's speaking about the Lord the giving of the law at Mount Sinai.

If that had glory the ministry of righteousness in other words of the New Testament exceeds much more in glory. So what we have in the New Testament is far more glorious than what they had in the Old Testament verse 10.

For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect. Because the glory of the glory that excels in other words what God revealed on Mount Sinai and what Moses reflected he says is nothing in comparison to the glory that is visible to us through Jesus Christ.

And then he goes on to say further on in the next chapter he says that we have this treasure the treasure of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have that glory in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

And then there's a second reason why this glory that they had was inferior. For if what was passing away was glorious what remains is much more glorious. And what he's speaking about if you go back to Exodus and spend time in the word this afternoon you'll see that what happened is that as Moses spends time away from God's presence the glory fades.

And so he says if what was passing is passing away the glory of Moses would pass away. And then when he gets into the presence of God he would be recharged if you will. And then he says what remains the glory of Jesus remains.

It's not temporal like the glory on Moses's face. Therefore since we have such hope we use great boldness of speech. Now he says we are not or we ought not to be like Moses who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.

You see the reference to passing away the glory was fading. But he says we should not be doing what they did verse 14 but their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains where unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament because the veil is taken away in Christ.

Can you see what happened. Israel says we will veil God's glory and put a veil on Moses's face. And God says effectively my glory will not be veiled. If you do not want to see my glory I will take that veil that you put on Moses's face and I'll put it on your hearts.

But my glory will stand. And folks here's the warning to us if you will not receive the glory as God reveals himself on Mount Sinai you will not receive it as Moses reveals it. And if you don't receive that God says I will blind you but my word will endure my glory is forever.

And folks the question simply this morning is where is your relationship. Is it with Jesus Christ. Or is it through this church or through the elders in this church. What would happen to you personally.

What would happen to this church if God takes the elders from this church. Father we pray that you'd help us to understand help us Lord to have an open face as Paul says in Corinthians. In other words not have a veil not have a filter but Lord to hear you and to see you.

And to understand what it is that you're saying to us because Lord we don't want to go the same way as Israel who God finally said through Isaiah hearing they will not hear and seeing they will not see.

And even when Jesus the the very express image and the glory of God stood before them they couldn't see him because the veil had been placed upon their hearts. Lord we want to see you. We want a relationship with you and Lord.

I pray for each one who is here this morning and each one who listens to the recording help us Lord that this may not just be yet another message another time when brother Bosch is going off the deep end about something that's got under his skin.

But Lord that it may be your voice and that we may hear you. We may be those Lord who are indeed a royal priesthood that every one of us would be a priest standing before you and standing before the people.

Lord that our church would not be a spectator church but it may be a participant of church a church in which everyone participates because each one is a priest and each one fulfills his role in the body of Christ.

I pray that you'd help us Lord these things are hard to understand and even when we do understand Lord the culture that is ingrained within society today mitigates against us. But Lord I pray that you'd help us to get back to the scriptures and to a biblical form of worship a biblical form of relationship with you and a biblical church help us I pray in Jesus name go with us now Lord we pray that you'd keep us protect us and bring us together again safely on Thursday.

I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.