Amen. You may take your seats and turn with me to Exodus chapter 19, as we read from verse 16 through the end of the chapter this morning. Exodus chapter 19, from verse 16 through 25. Once again, this is God's word and may he bless it to our hearts and accomplish the divine purposes with it that he has for each and every one of us, for us as a church. 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. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord ascended upon it in fire, and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. And the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder. 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. 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. Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, or else the Lord will break out against them. Moses said to the Lord, the people cannot come up to the mountain, for you warned us, saying, set balance about the mountain and consecrate it. 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 Lord, or he will break forth upon them.' So Moses went down to the people and told them." So far the reading of God's Word. Now, beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, we come to the scene where the people of God now actually is going to meet their God. You will agree that so many things have happened. And over the years, God has indeed showed not only his grace, but also his power and his might to his people, especially when he delivered them from Egypt. all the miracles, the plagues, the killings of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, the changing of bitter water into drinkable water, the Lord's provision of food, water from the rock, the victory over Amalek. And now the time has come for them to see or meet their God. Now, breathtaking things took place on that mountain that is here revealed to us. Just as with the miracle of Israel traveling through the Red Sea, and it was on dry land, if you remember, many critical commentators tried to give naturalistic explanations for even this phenomenon that took place there on Mount Sinai. But as always, these efforts are really pathetic. The only explanation there is, is that the Almighty and Holy God cast this, and he is the one who came to meet his people. That's the first point that I want us to see, that God meets his people. Kind of obvious, right? But you will remember that we learned that Israel had to go through a three-day cleaning process, a cleaning ceremony, in order to be ready for this meeting that was about to take place. And we also very clearly see that an unholy people could not meet the Holy God. The need for their washings was symbolic of their sin and the miserable state they were in before God. Thus, they had to be cleansed. And you and I asked ourselves last week, but what does that mean for us? How do you and I prepare? And I'll focus on that again this morning because it's so important. And now, after the third day, he was about to meet his people. Yes, our God is not an isolated being. No, he loves, he wants communion with his people. He is the God of the covenant, a personal God. And this truth about God, you will agree with me, holds some very dear comforts for us. The fact that we do not have a relationship with some far away or unknown deity. We do not follow some god without knowing exactly how to follow him, or don't know what to expect of him, or live with that uncertainty of when might he strike us down for any misbehavior. No. the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Bible, who made himself known to his people so that you and I may know and love and obey him according to his own precepts. When God came down to meet his people here for the first time, he did it in a very extraordinary way. We have read that in chapter 20. But also here in verse 16, if I can read that again, you can follow it with me. So it came about on the third day when it was morning that day with thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound so that the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Think about it. Mount Sinai was smoking. The Bible said the smoke ascended like a furnace. The Lord descended upon the mountain with fire. And the whole mountain quaked violently like an earthquake. And as if that was not enough, the people of God heard the sound of a trumpet getting louder and louder and louder. That was most likely the ram's horn, because that was usually what was used when the coming of a king was announced. And here, the king of glory descending to meet his people. Now, could you imagine what your reaction would have been when you were in that crowd? Perhaps to run away. It must have been terrifying, to say the least. God, descending upon that mountain, about to meet and speak to his people. Later in Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 33, he reminded them of this event when he said, as any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it and survived, And you and I know the answer to that question. No one else ever experienced what Israel experienced there on the mountain, where, as one commentator says, and I quote, where they learned how awesomely dangerous it is to approach the God who is there and is not silent. How dangerously, how awesomely dangerous it is to approach the God who is there. and he's not silent. Do you know when the previous time was that God revealed himself through fire and smoke? It was when he rained fire and brimstone down on Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities were destroyed. And when Abraham went to the place where he met the Lord the previous day, he looked down towards the cities and he saw what? The smoke of the land ascended. And it says like the smoke of a furnace. What a terrible sign of God's judgment over sin, which is significant to us. Even here, where the Israelites are about to receive the renewal of God's covenant with them, God does not only manifest Himself to assure them of His power or His presence, but He also makes it very clear to them that we cannot see, they cannot see Him in His full holiness and glory and love. Even when He speaks, He will not allow them in his presence. Only Moses was allowed as the mediator of the Old Covenant. All the other people had to stand at a distance. You remember, they may not even touch the mountain. Yes, Israel always had to remember who this God is they were dealing with. You and I must always remember who this God is that we are dealing with or who is dealing with us. The God we call our Father in heaven, the God we approach through our mediator Jesus Christ, is still the same God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the same God that spoke to Moses. He is still the same God we cannot look upon and love. The prophet Isaiah was privileged to enter the throne room of the Almighty. What did he see? He saw the Lord exalted on his throne and the foundations of the threshold shook while the house was filled with smoke. You can go and read that again in Isaiah chapter 6. In the Apostles John's account of seeing and coming into the presence of the God in Revelations chapter 4 verse 5, he says, and from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. The same God. The same revelation. That was what man was able to see about God in his holiness and his glory. Thunder and lightning, fire and smoke, anything more would cost man's death. But then we see also in this passage that not only is God a God who meet with his people, and that's the next point, he's also a God who speaks to his people. Later, they even asked Moses to speak to them, rather than God, or they might die. And it reminded me of that passage in Hebrews chapter 4, where we read, the Word of God is living and active. and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Do you and I still regard God's word in this way? Is God's word still regarded in general in this way today? Do we still tremble when the living God is speaking? Do we realize when we open God's word that it is the almighty and holy God that speak to us? Remember then again this morning, even as a pastor, we are called to bring God's word. We are not just an opinion former, but someone was called by God to bring his word and to lay out God's word, to proclaim the gospel to his church and to call us to repentance for the glory of God. Fortunately, God has said to the people, don't fear, because God just wants to test you. We'll talk about that again. But something that we must remember, and without repeating what I said about the holy seeker-friendly movement that I talked about last week, that we find inside the church. I realized this week with the Missions Conference that the broad evangelical church has also moved away from the only means that God has given to bring the unrepentant to faith. There are things that people do these days to bring people outside the church, inside the church, that you can just put your hands together and say, where is this coming from? People that are called people of peace, for instance, that are appointed to bring people outside the church to their group of people, the things that they feel they have in common, and many of those people peace are not even Christians. Without summarizing the conference, the one thing that stood out to me is that the means that God has given to bring those who belong to him, his chosen ones unto himself, has not changed. It is still and must be the gospel. the gospel of Jesus Christ, it still must be the word of God that is used to bring people unto himself. We were reminded how often churches, even churches like us who support missionaries, how we lower our standards. We protect the pulpit fiercely. We make sure that the right person is on the pulpit, in the pulpit, but we don't have the same standards when we send someone out or support someone in the field. Those persons must have and be measured by the same standards as the ones in the pulpit. And those are the ones, the ones who love and preach nothing but God's word and the gospel. Those are the ones we need to support. And you and I, You and I must remember how many out there still live under the judgment of God. Because each and every one of us is called to missions. Does it still touch our hearts that many still don't know the Lord? That they will perish? That they will die and go to hell? Does that still move us to share with them the only gospel that is able to save them from the terrible judgment of God? I hope so. And I think we should always pray for that, also for our church. I hope we understand a little bit more of God's holiness. As we went through this whole chapter 19, Revelation chapter 15 verse 4 states, Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy. God is frequently called the Holy One in Scriptures. And He's called that because He is the sum of all perfectness. The sum of purity and sinlessness is found in him that John says in 1 John 1.5, God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. And Habakkuk could cry out, thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on iniquity. And in heaven before his throne, the seraphim cries out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Because God is pictured in the Bible more often as holy than almighty. You never find the expression, his wise name, but you find his great name, and most of all, his holy name. That is the greatest title of honor for our holy God. Jonathan Edwards once said, almost every natural man that hears of hell flatters himself that he shall escape it. But that is not what the Bible teaches us. Psalm 5, verse 5 says, thou hatest all workers of inequity. And Psalm 7 verse 11 says, God is angry with the wicked every day. Unholy people have much to fear from God. And I love you as a church, as a pastor. That is why I will not neglect to teach you this truth about God, that He's holy, that He judges the iniquity. And I hope these truths about him still make your heart pound faster. I hope this makes you feel, in a sense, but what now? Who is this God, then? And how can I live before him if he is so holy? How can I come in his presence when he appears to speak? Remember our passage. Only Moses and Aaron were allowed, not even the people and the priests. No one, even after they were consecrated, was to come up that mountain. Only the mediator appointed by God himself. And for God's people, the only way to meet with God Whether it's in personal worship, whether it's in family worship, whether it is in corporate worship, the only way to meet with God without coming under the judgment of God is through a mediator. The unholy cannot come into the presence of the holy God without God's appointed mediator. In the old covenant, it was Moses. but it foreshadowed the perfect one that was provided for us, Jesus Christ himself. So blessed be the name of our God who has provided him for us. He is what God's holiness demanded. His grace provided for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. And every poor sinner who has fled to him for refuge stands, as Ephesians chapter 1, 6 says, accepted in the Beloved. Without a mediator, there is no entrance into the presence of God. Without a mediator, you are under the wrath and judgment of God. Jesus himself said, no one comes to the Father but through me. That is the gospel. That is the means God still uses today to bring his chosen people unto himself. Many today feel we need more of the thunder and the fire and the trembling of Mount Sinai. And that will change people. That will keep them from sin. No, beloved. What happened to God's own people there in Exodus chapter 19, we may not forget because it was not even a month or just over a month after these events that the whole nation wore after a golden calf, praising it, that it was the God who saved them out of Egypt. Isn't it unbelievable? All is not to be confused with the fear of the Lord. Yes, they were in awe of what happened, but they still did not submit to the Almighty God. There's a big difference between emotion and obedience. They were trembling, but they still did not obey. It almost makes me emotional because I see myself so often in that same shoes. Thanks be to God that we have forgiveness of our sins. That is the contrast between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. Remember what Hebrews chapter 12 says, for you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, and to a blazing fire, and to darkness, and bloom, and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet. You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel. Yes, by God's grace, we came to a different mountain. I like how David Gusick put it. He says, Sinai speaks of fear and terror. Zion speaks of love and forgiveness. Sinai with all its fear and power is earthly, but Mount Zion we come to is heavenly and spiritual. At Sinai, only Moses could come to meet God. At Zion, there is an innumerable company, a general assembly. Sinai had guilty men in fear, but Zion has just men, made perfect by the blood of Jesus Christ. At Sinai, Moses is the mediator. At Zion, Jesus, the mediator. Sinai put forth an old covenant ratified by the blood of animals. Zion has a new covenant ratified by the blood of Jesus Christ, his own precious Son. Sinai's about the law, Zion about grace. Where will we then go to meet our God? To Sinai? No, rather to Zion. Because only when we meet God at Zion will we meet Him based upon what Jesus Christ has done for us, who has set us free from the law. He has fulfilled it on our behalf, and He laid down His life to pay for all our sins against God's law. Unless you come to Jesus Christ, you will still be under the curse of the law. Yes, without Christ, your guilt increases evermore, and you will die under His punishment. But when you come in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, you receive salvation, because He is the justifier of him who believes in His Son. With so much done for us, how will we not fear our holy God, and live before Him in holy obedience, worked by the Holy Spirit in us, how will we not obey and serve Him? Will we not love and fear Him? He is the holy God. And God's people say, let us pray. Father, hear us. as we come to you, you, our great Yahweh. And Lord, as we travel through this barren land, knowing that we are weak, we know that you are mighty. Thank you that you revealed yourself again to us this morning as holy. Let us never forget that. But we thank you and praise you that you made it possible for us to come into your presence and serve and worship and love you for the sake of your son. And it's in his name we pray. Amen. Hymn number 682, guide me, O thou great Jehovah. you ♪ Guide me, O God, great Jehovah ♪ ♪ Pilgrim through this barren land ♪ ♪ I am weak, but Thou art mighty ♪ ♪ Hold me with Thy powerful hand ♪ ♪ Bread of heaven, bread of heaven ♪ ♪ Give me till I want no more ♪ Take me till I want no more. Open now the crystal fountain. ♪ In streams of gold ♪ ♪ Land of fire and cloudy billow ♪ ♪ Lead me on my journey through ♪ ♪ Strong deliver, strong deliver ♪ ♪ Be thou still my strength and shield ♪ ♪ Be thou still my strength and shield ♪ When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside. Death of death and hell's destruction, land me safe on Canaan's side. Songs of praises, songs of praises, I will ever give to thee. Receive God's blessing now and go from here in peace. Now may the Lord of peace himself give us peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with you all. Amen. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. you you you Yeah. you you