OPEN: A school teacher injured his back and had to wear a plaster cast around the upper part of his body. It fit under his shirt and was not noticeable at all. On the first day of the term, still with the cast under his shirt, he found himself assigned to the toughest students in school.
Walking confidently into the rowdy classroom, he opened the window as wide as possible and then busied himself with desk work. When a strong breeze made his tie flap, he took the desk stapler and stapled the tie to his chest.
He had no trouble with discipline that term.
APPLY: There’s something about a teacher that’s able and willing to staple his tie to his chest that can get the attention of a class. And this teacher got that attention because… in that simple act… he proved that no matter how tough they thought they were - he was tougher!
Now, at the foot of Mount Sinai, God has essentially stapled His tie to His chest. He’s come down on the mountain with fire and He has made it to smoke like a furnace. His presence has caused the earth to tremble so violently that it shakes the ground where the Israelites stand. And then there’s the sound of the trumpet grew louder and Louder and LOUDER in their ears.
Hebrews 12:21 tells us that
“The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."
No matter how tough these Israelites may have thought they were up to this point God just proved He was tougher.
Now why would God do that? Why go thru this big “light and sound display” at this point in His relationship with Israel?
Well, God is about to give them His rule book. His Law.
And people are funny about rules.
There’s just something about rules and regulations that makes people itchy.
Many people don’t like rules. They prefer “guidelines”.
They prefer items that are “flexible” and malleable.
ILLUS: Several years ago, the State of Kentucky had a law that every classroom in its in public schools had to post the 10 Commandments. But the US Supreme Court ruled against the state of Kentucky ordering it to take down all copies of the Ten Commandments from the walls of its schools saying: "Having the commandments on the wall may induce a student to read, meditate upon, and actually obey what is therein written."
There has been a continuous low grade effort to remove the 10 Commandments from the national consciousness. Again and again, the ACLU has pushed to have them removed from every public venue in an effort that can only be described as a vendetta.
Why all this opposition?
Why? Because the 10 commandments are so absolute.
As one person noted:
The Ten Commandments were written on stone, not in metal, clay, or mud which can be melted, shaped or molded. None of the commandments, like the tablets on which they were originally carved is malleable. Each can be broken, but not altered.
ILLUS: Now, according to the book "The Day America Told the Truth" that doesn’t make much difference to many people:
In America, only 13 percent of adults believe in ALL 10 commandments.
While 40 % believe in 5 out of the 10.
There’s something about the permanence of God’s Law that offends people. And it offends them because it calls them on their innate sinfulness. They prefer to make up their own rules. They prefer to be the gods of their lives the ones who determine what is right and wrong.
And basically - what God is doing on the mountain is telling these folks that won’t work for Him. He’s saying to them:
I am God… and you’re not.
I get to make the rules… and you don’t
If you want my blessings in your life - if you don’t want to get on my bad side - then you better come to grips with the fact that the law I’m going to give you is not open to debate.
You don’t get to vote.
You don’t get to choose which parts you like and which parts you don’t.
And God is making this point with the Israelites because, they want to vote.
Look again at Exodus 19:21-25
Moses gets part way up the mountain to get the 10 commandments and God tells him
“… and the LORD said to him, ‘Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the LORD and many of them perish. Even the priests, who approach the LORD, must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out against them.’
Moses said to the LORD, ‘The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’’
The LORD replied, ‘Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the LORD, or he will break out against them.’
So Moses went down to the people and told them.”
Essentially, God gave ONE simple command: “Don’t touch the mountain!!!”
But no sooner does Moses leave the people than they’re tempted to do it anyway.
They’ve voted in their hearts and they’ve decided they don’t want that rule in their lives.
They are determined to touch the mountain.
SO God says “go down and tell them again and tell them
‘Don’t go there. Don’t cross the line.’”
(Pause…) We have an excellent set of teaching tapes (Jule Miller Video Series) and one of the things this series stresses is “Man has never been obedient to God for very long”. And the series gives a whole litany of Bible History to prove it.
1. Adam and Eve, for example, were given a remarkable Garden in which to live… and only one command: “Don’t eat of the tree.” So, what do they do?
2. Later at Mt. Sinai God forms this wonderful relationship with the people of Israel and He speaks from the mountain telling them – thru the 10 Commandments - exactly what He expects of them. And what do the people do while Moses is up on the Mountain getting the Law? They’re down in the valley breaking practically every commandment.
3. 40 yrs later God gives the Israelites a beautiful land – flowing with milk and honey, complete with cities already surrounded with walls, vineyards they didn’t plant and fields they had not cleared. It’s a wonderful gift, a fabulous land. All a giving by the hand of almighty God. And it’s not long after that that they go off and begin worshipping other gods.
And so it goes - on, and on, and on. Again and again and again, the people of Israel are offered a close relationship with God… and they just can’t get past the idea of doing things their own way rather than God’s
At last God reaches out to them with His only begotten Son. Certainly they would listen to God’s own Son! But once again, the Jews do it their way – they depart from God and they refuse to receive Jesus as the Son of God… ultimately causing Him to be crucified by Roman soldiers.
Man does not remain faithful to God for very long.
There’s something in our DNA that seems to bend us and warp our response to God to the point where we attempt to “force our OWN way through to God”… just like the Israelites at the base of the mountain were warned not to do.
People especially tend to do this with the issue of salvation.
Even with this most important matter mankind tries to force their way thru to God.
ILLUS: Back in August of ’06, Warren Buffett announced he was giving his fortune to charity.
Buffett is worth $44 billion just in stocks, and was giving away $37 billion, most of which will go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
When he presented the gift to the Gates’, he made this remark,
“There is more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way.”
What’s Buffett saying?
He’s saying that you can buy your way into heaven.
In fact, he says “THERE ARE MANY WAYS to get to heaven”
(pause…) No there’s not. There’s only one way: Jesus Christ.
To attempt to get to heaven any way other than the one God prescribes is to attempt to force yourself upon Him. It is the attempt to make God dance to your tune.
Now, the Gospel of John tells us
“Yet to all who received (Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” John 1:12-13
In a simple sentence, John eloquently describes 3 ways people try to force themselves on God
1. There are those who believe you can get to heaven by natural descent.
There are people out there who believe they can become Christians because they’ve born into a Christian family. In the Old Testament that worked. If you were born of Jewish parents… what did that make you? You were a Jew. You were “born” into the covenant. But that doesn’t work that way for Christians. You can’t become a Christian by being born into a Christian family. The only way to be a child of God is to be born again… born of “the water and the Spirit” (John 3:5)
2. Then there are those who believe you can get to heaven… by human decision.
They believe you can decide for yourself that you are acceptable to God. But it doesn’t work that way either.
You can’t just DECIDE you’re good enough to get into heaven.
You can’t just DECIDE that you’ve given enough to charity (like Buffett)
or done enough good deeds to outweigh your bad deeds.
You simply can’t be good enough to be good enough to deserve God’s grace.
3. Then there are those that believe heaven can obtained by a husband’s will.
But a husband can’t decide his wife will go to heaven, nor a wife make decision for her husband. NOR can a parent decide their child is going to heaven… just because they say so.
The only way my wife, my children, or anyone else I care about is going to make it to heaven
is if they personally decide that this what THEY want.
You can’t change the rules.
You can’t force your own way of doing things on God.
And yet people try to do it all the time.
Even those who study their Bible’s regularly can fall into that trap.
Down thru the ages, some well meaning people have tried to change the entrance rules.
The most recent… and most popular example is that of the “Sinner’s Prayer” or “prayer of salvation.”
There is no example of “prayer of salvation” anywhere in the book of Acts (a history of church)
But it is a staple of many evangelical altar calls
And it’s included in the backs of Gideon Bibles and American Bible Society Bibles
And various Bible tracts.
This is an example of man forcing his way on God.
If the “Sinner’s prayer” were taught in Scripture, that would ok… but it’s not.
Nor does the Bible say we are saved by “Faith only”.
Believe me, I looked in several translations, but the phrase just isn’t there.
But this is a popular battle cry for many churches across the land.
So, why would people – who are otherwise Biblically literate – endorse these manmade concepts? Why do people want to change Biblical doctrine?
They do so because they - like the Israelites at the base of the mountain – have forgotten to ask if that was what God actually said. All they know is what their church doctrine and creeds declare… and so they embrace those creeds and doctrines and presume God will accept it.
It is essentially forcing our will upon God’s Word.
(pause…)
SO… God comes down on the Mountain and essentially staples His tie to His chest.
He proves, by displaying His awesome power, that He is God… and the Israelites are not.
He shows that He is a powerful and mighty God.
Now, this is my last point: God IS God… and we’re not!
Let me repeat: God is God, and we’re not.
We don’t get to change His rules… we don’t get to vote on them.
No man has the right to create creeds or statements of faith that say things He didn’t.
To many people this would seem to be a bad thing
ILLUS: Back when I was preaching at my first pulpit, several churches got together for a big youth rally which was held at a fairly large and elegant church building. Someone mentioned to me (since I was the MC) that we should caution the kids not to damage anything since we were there as guests. And what do you suppose some of the kids did? They took out a penknife and carved their initials into one of the pew racks.
Why would they do that?
Because, I asked them not to.
They felt such rules were a bad thing.
In the same way, many in this world think giving God full authority to set the rules is a bad thing… but it’s not.
1st - If God sets the rules then I know what He wants from me.
I don’t have to wonder if something is right or wrong. God’s already told me.
I don’t have to depend on others to tell me what God desires, or worry about being led astray. All I have to do is look in Scripture, and read what He says.
2ndly– since our God is an awesome and powerful God… then if I lean on Him and obey Him I don’t have anything to be afraid of.
ILLUS: Years ago, I remember seeing a little sports car pull up to the sidewalk. Out of the itty bitty car came this humungous, muscular guy. He must have stood 6’5” and built like a brick house
When I saw this guy, 2 things occurred to me:
1st – How did he ever get into that car?
2nd – This is a guy I wouldn’t want to get angry. If anything I want to be his friend and keep on his good side.
Now, let’s say I was in trouble. Let’s say I’d ventured down a dark alley and suddenly found myself facing a gang of toughs who wanted to beat me up and take my wallet. If this guy (that stepped out of that sports car) were on my side… I wouldn’t worry. I could sit on the sidelines cheering while he whipped them all by himself.
Now, here’s my point: We’re preparing for our “Forward In Faith” Capital Stewardship Campaign. We’re focusing on raising $1 million for a new building and various mission and ministry outreaches. But just this week I overheard a couple of conversations where people worried about the fact they didn’t know how they (or anyone else) could possibly give anymore than they already do.
Let’s revue what I’ve already explained from this pulpit.
There is NO WAY we’ll ever be able to raise a $1 million. If we put all of our funds together… if we emptied out all of our wallets, our bank accounts and gave all of earthly possessions to the church, we can’t do it.
And you know why? Because we’re not God.
We’re not big enough to get the job done.
But that essentially one of the major reasons why your leadership set the goal that high. I mean, that’s how much we’d need if we were going to meet all of our goals, but we knew our little church wasn’t going to be able to do it… by ourselves.
But if we’re trying to it by ourselves, then we’ve missed something here.
If we try to do it ourselves, we’ll have fallen into the mode of thinking on this issue as if we were God.
But let me ask you something:
How big is your God?
How much can your God do?
If God wants us to have a $1 million, how much will we get? ($1 million)
Then why should any of us worry?
Turn with me to Hebrews 12:18-29
“You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.’
The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear.’”
We have a God who’s still capable of doing things like that, but then the writer of Hebrews continues:
“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’
The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken— that is, created things— so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’”
I Believe OUR GOD is going to shake our church.
I believe He will do something powerful in the midst of this “Forward in Faith” campaign, and when He does it will shake the foundations of this congregation… and of all who hear it.
