Moses on the Mountain with the Lord - Part 4
Exodus 20:18-22:24
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - June 23, 2010
BACKGROUND & INTRODUCTION
*The LORD Jehovah, God of the Old Testament was God the Son, the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. Tonight we continue looking at the Old Testament appearances of Christ. We are studying these appearances because the Lord is here with us right now, so each of these appearances has something to say to us.
*Nobody in the Old Testament had more meetings with the Lord than Moses. And tonight we will look at Moses’ fourth meeting on the mountain with the Lord.
*We begin in Exodus 20. The Lord had come down upon the top of Mount Sinai. And in vs. 1-17 the Lord spoke the 10 Commandments, not just to Moses, but to all the people. This was an incredible miracle, even more so, when you consider that there were between 2 and 3 million people in the camp that day. We know this because God’s Word tells us that the soldiers alone numbered 600,000!
*To put this in perspective, the current population of Louisiana is only 4.4 million people. God openly spoke to millions at one time. Naturally, they were terrified, so vs. 18&19 say:
18. Now all 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 and stood afar off.
19. Then they said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.’’
*With this background in mind, let’s look at the beginning of Moses’ fourth meeting with the Lord. Listen to vs. 20-26:
20. And Moses said to the people, "Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin."
21. So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.
22. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ’You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
23. You shall not make anything to be with Me -- gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.
24. An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you.
25. And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.
26. Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.’
*Over the next 3 chapters, God will give Moses many specific details of the law. Then Exodus 24:3 tells us that: “Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words which the Lord has said we will do.’”
*What does the Lord have to say to us in the commands He gave to Moses?
1. First: God cares about our devotion to Him.
*Starting in vs. 22:
22. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: `You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
23. You shall not make anything to be with Me -- gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.
24. An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you.
25. And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.
*Almost 500 years later the Lord would give elaborate plans for Solomon to build the first Temple in Jerusalem. But God knows how quickly our hearts are turned to the idol of achievement and self-reliance. And here God wanted to prevent the people from putting their faith in idols or any man-made things.
*God doesn’t want us to be impressed with ourselves.
-He wants our worship to be fully devoted to Him.
*Then in vs. 26 the Lord said: “Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.” Men walking up steps in loose robes could have accidently exposed themselves.
-Here the concern was for purity and decency.
-The pagans often used sexuality in their worship.
-God didn’t want a hint of that in His worship.
*On every level, God wants our worship to be about Him, -- not about us.
-He wants our hearts to be fully devoted to Him.
*William Borden was a man like that. In 1904, he graduated from high school as a millionaire, heir to the Borden dairy fortune. For graduation, William’s parents gave him a 10-month trip around the world. But traveling overseas gave this young Christian a burden for the world’s hurting people.
*William wrote home and said, “I’m going to give my life to prepare for the mission field.” And he wrote two words in the back of his Bible: “No reserves.”
*William turned down high-paying job offers after graduating from Yale University. And he added 2 more words in his Bible: “No retreats.”
*When he finished seminary at Princeton. He sailed for China to work with Muslims, but stopped first in Egypt for some preparation. There William was stricken with spinal meningitis and died with a month. It may have seemed like a waste. But when friends leafed through William’s Bible they found two more words: “No regrets.” (1)
*Countless people have been inspired by his devotion to Christ: “No reserves. No retreats. No regrets.” May the Lord give us this kind of devotion.
*God cares about our devotion to Him.
2. And He cares about defending our relationships.
*God cares about our relationships with each other, and He had a lot to say about this to Moses. But oddly enough to us, the Lord started in Exodus 21 with laws on how to treat slaves:
1. "Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them:
2. If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing.
3. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4. If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.
5. But if the servant plainly says, `I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’
6. then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.
*The Lord went on to give more commands about how to treat slaves.
-Let me stress 3 important things:
[1] You can see here that the Lord wanted slaves to be treated kindly and fairly.
[2] There is a spiritual dimension for the slave who willingly chose to serve His master forever. That’s the way the Lord wants us to serve Him.
[3] God was in no way condoning slavery as it was conducted in our country in the 17th and 18th centuries.
*Rich Deem has a great study on this at GodandScience.org. But there is a key verse here in Exodus 21 that clarifies to us that God was talking about something very different from the slavery that existed here (and by the way, still exists in Muslim countries today). This verse is Exodus 21:16, which says: "He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.”
*Slavery in Exodus was a different thing altogether. Rich Deem points out that there was no safety-net for ancient people who could not provide a living for themselves. In ancient Israel, people who could not provide for themselves or their families sold them into slavery so they would not die of starvation or exposure. In this way, a person would receive food and housing in exchange for labor.
*So, although there are rules about slavery in the Bible, those rules exist to protect the slave. -- For example:
-Injuring or killing slaves was punishable up to death of the offending party. (Exodus 21:20)
-Hebrews were commanded not to make their slave work on the Sabbath. (Exodus 23:12)
-In fact, the slave owners were encouraged to pamper their slaves. (Proverbs 29:21)
*In the New Testament, God did not distinguish between slaves and freemen. As Paul said in Gal 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
*Rich Deem concluded: “The idea that God or Christianity encourages or approves of slavery is shown to be false. However, since voluntary slavery was widely practiced during biblical times, the Bible gave laws to protect the slaves. (2)
*God cares about our relationships. He cares about how we treat each other.
-Here are some more examples from the laws God gave Moses.
*Exodus 21:18-19:
18. "If men contend with each other, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed,
19. if he rises again and walks about outside with his staff, then he who struck him shall be acquitted. He shall only pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for him to be thoroughly healed.
*Exodus 21:33-34:
33. "And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it,
34. the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to their owner, but the dead animal shall be his.
*Exodus 22:21-24:
21. "You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
22. You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.
23. If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry;
24. and My wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
*We see here that God deeply cares about our relationships.
-And He especially cares about our relationship with Him.
*Jesus cares so much that He died on the cross for our sins! So being a Christian is mainly about having a personal relationship with God through the Risen Savior Jesus Christ. This relationship with God can and should make a difference in every other relationship in your life.
-Do you have a relationship with God?
-Do you know Jesus as your Savior and Lord?
-Going to church is not enough. We must get to know Jesus.
*As Keith Green once said: “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonalds makes you a hamburger.” (3)
*But when we trust in the Lord He makes us a Christian. And our relationship with Him will help us to treat other people in a Christ-like way.
-God cares about defending our relationships.
3. And He cares about a greater degree of His goodness.
*God calls us to a much higher standard in Jesus Christ.
-He calls us to a much higher standard than we see here.
*We are reminded of this in Exodus 21:22-25, where God said:
22. "If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no lasting harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
23. But if any lasting harm follows, then you shall give life for life,
24. eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25. burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
*Many of you remember some of these words from the New Testament. Jesus quoted them in His Sermon on the Mount. Look at Matt 5:38-48, where Jesus said:
38. "You have heard that it was said, `An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
39. But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
40. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.
41. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
42. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
43. You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
45. that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
46. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
47. And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?
*Over and over again Jesus raised the bar on the Old Testament Law. And in summary, in Matt 5:48 He said: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
*Anybody here been perfect today? -- I doubt it, but maybe.
-Have you ever been perfect for a week, a month or a year? -- No way.
*What are we going to do? -- Without God’s grace and mercy, we would surely die. God wanted us to know that, so there on the mountain with Moses, in short order, the Lord gave 10 death penalties.
*Here are the first 3:
-Exodus 21:12 - “He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.”
-Exodus 21:15 - “And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.”
-Exodus 21:16 - “He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.”
*The wages of sin is always death, not just physical death, but eternal death in a terrible place called hell. That’s what we all deserved. We were guilty with no way to pay the debt. But the Lord paid the penalty for us. It cost the Son of God His life.
*God loved us so much that He took our death on the cross.
-And now the Risen Savior offers eternal life to all who will trust in Him.
*There is much to learn from Moses on the mountain tonight:
-First, God cares about our devotion to Him.
-God cares about defending our relationships, especially our relationship with Him.
-And God cares about a greater degree of His goodness than we ever see in the Old Testament Law.
*Trust in Jesus, and let the Lord start spreading His goodness through you.
1. Perceptions #200152 (Also found on other web sites)
2. Adapted from “Does God Approve of Slavery According to the Bible?” by Rich Deem - www.godandscience.org/apologetics/slavery_bible.html
3. Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “Abide in Me” by Martin Dale - John 15:1-17
