Moses On The Mountain With The Lord - Part 3 Series

Moses on the Mountain with the Lord - Part 3

Exodus 19:14-20:20 & Hebrews 12:18-26

Sermon by Rick Crandall

McClendon Baptist Church - June 16, 2010

BACKGROUND & INTRODUCTION

*This summer are looking into the Word of God to see Moses on the mountain with the Lord. Most people think Moses only went up the mountain once or twice. But the Bible tells us that Moses went up seven times to meet with the Lord. (1)

*Each of these meetings has a message for you and me. Last week we looked at the second meeting in Exodus 19:6-19. There God told Moses He was coming down to speak to the people. The Lord also told Moses that it was vitally important for the people to get ready. Listen to vs. 9-11:

9. And the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever." So Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.

10. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.

11. And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

*Exodus 19:14-19 shows us what happened next:

14. Then Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes.

15. And he said to the people, "Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.’’

16. Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.

17. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

18. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

19. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.

*This background leads us to Moses’ third meeting on the mountain with the Lord. Let’s read about it in vs. 20-25:

20. Then the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

21. And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the LORD, and many of them perish.

22. Also let the priests who come near the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them."

23. But Moses said to the LORD, "The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, ’Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.’"

24. Then the LORD said to him, "Away! Get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break out against them."

25. So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.

*Moses’ third meeting on the mountain gives us some very important lessons.

1. And the first lesson tonight is that God sets holy standards for us.

*God set some very holy standards in vs. 20-25. And in the next chapter He gives us His most famous standards of all: The Ten Commandments.

*Now when God sets His standards, He doesn’t fool around.

-Listen to vs. 21-22 again from the New Living Translation:

21. Then the Lord told Moses, "Go back down and warn the people not to cross the boundaries. They must not come up here to see the Lord, for those who do will die.

22. Even the priests who regularly come near to the Lord must purify themselves, or I will destroy them."

*Most of the time, most people take sin lightly. Christian author C.S. Lewis once said we are living in a time when “minimum decency passes for heroic virtue and utter corruption for forgivable imperfection.” (2)

*Most people take sin lightly. God never takes sin lightly. Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” And it is.

*We need to search our hearts daily and see whose standards we are following.

-Make sure you are following the Lord, because He is God.

-God sets holy standards for us.

2. The second lesson from the Lord is that we need Godly support.