Exodus 19:1-25
5/29/16
I want to begin this morning by reading Ex. 19. This week, as I was reading this chapter, God spoke to me concerning our journey as a church and as individuals. Israel was in bondage in Egypt for 400 years—almost twice as long as America has existed. Generations of slavery had created a mindset that is probably hard for us to comprehend. They were not used to making decisions. When you’re a slave decisions are made for you; and you are told what to do. My cousin was in prison for 8 years for attempted murder. He and I worked together some right after he got out. The biggest struggle he had was the change in mindset from being a prisoner who made no decisions, to being a citizen who made many daily decisions. Even deciding what to eat or where to eat was hard for him. He had to work at a very menial job where the boss told him each thing to do. I once heard it said, “It was much easier for God to get Israel out of Egypt than to get Egypt out of Israel.” And that is true for all of us, as well. The transforming of our minds, the shaping of our thinking, as described in Rom. 12:2 is a life-long process. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”1
Israel has seen the devastation of Egypt brought on by the 10 plagues. They crossed the Red Sea on dry ground and watched God destroy Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea. It is now three months later.
Follow with me as we begin reading in Ex. 19:1.
“In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, (Notice the providential guidance implied here. They were not here by chance. They were in this exact spot at this exact time according to God’s plan for their lives.)
they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. 2 For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before the mountain.
3 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."
7 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. 8 Then all the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD. 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. 12 You shall set
bounds for the people all around, saying, 'Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. 13 Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.' When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain."
14 So 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. 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.”
We know that there are a number of significant contrasts between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. I am not going to deal with any of that today. We did recently addressed that in our series on grace. But that is not my subject today. Today I simply want to share with you four observations that come to mind as I read this story.
Observation 1: God’s people were led to a new place of decision.
New experiences lay ahead for them: an open door, a fresh opportunity to know God in a deeper way. They had seen the hand of God strike Egypt. They had seen the power of God at work. They had passed through the Red Sea which is symbolic of salvation. As 1 Cor. 10:3 puts it, They “all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” When we see these people at Ex. 19 we are seeing people who have already had some powerful experiences with God. Yet for them, it is a new day. They had arrived at Mt. Sinai. God had planned it that way. And He had brought them to a fresh place of decision.
I remember the day I was providentially brought to a decision about full-time ministry. For several years I had used my free time to minister. But I had a full time job at Bell Helicopter, working about 50 or 60 hours a week. I went to work there as a janitor and God gave me promotion after promotion. At this point I was making very good money. I had just accepted another big promotion. But at the same time, the pastor of our church came to me and asked me to go on staff as an assistant pastor. The pay was minimal. We would have to move out of our large two-story home into the worst part of town. I was taking my little girls from a quite suburb to a high crime area. I was walking away from a career that was on a fast track upward. I had come to my mountain of decision. We go along on our journey, but God brings us to points where life-altering decisions must be made. The Lord was talking to me about accepting the pastor’s offer and walking away from my career. I knew what I was supposed to do; but I found myself in a negotiation with God. The Lord said, “Walk away from the career and into the ministry.” I said, “Yes, Lord I want to do that someday.” I did not want to say no. My passion really was ministry. But “someday” gave me more wiggle room. It was a defining moment in my life when God said to me, “Someday your life will be over. It will not be what you intended to do; it will be what you did. What is your answer?” That day a decision was made that profoundly affected the direction of my life.
When God providentially brings you to a major decision, be very careful what you decide. Almost always, the easy, cushy, route is the wrong path. “…broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it…narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt 7:13-14). The natural mind will gravitate toward what is easy on the flesh. This is why we must listen carefully to the Lord at those decision points.2
Observation 2: To understand what God was doing, someone had to go up the mountain and meet with Him.
Verse 2 “…So Israel camped there before the mountain. 3 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain….”
At one level everyone wants to hear God: or at least they think they do. I’m sure in Jesus’ day if you asked any religious leader if he would like to hear from God, he would have said, “Of course.” He would have probably wondered what kind of fool you are to even ask such a question. Yet when Jesus spoke to those people, they didn’t want to hear it. There were certain things they wanted to hear from God. There were other things they simply would not hear from God. The same was true in Jeremiah’s day. The same was true as Stephen gave testimony to his murderers. Hearing from God requires a certain heart condition.
In Matt. 13:10 Jesus’ disciples asked Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"
Jesus’ answer seems very strange. The answer essentially was, “I don’t want them to understand what I’m saying.” Does that fit your understanding of the kind of answer Jesus should have given? Our thought would be, use parables as window to help them see the point. And there were times when Jesus did that. But here He specifically says the point is being veiled. He quotes Isaiah’s prophecy that says, 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; 15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.' What was going on with that? God was simply honoring previous decisions they had made. They had turned down truth over and over again. Every time they did that the heart became more calloused and insensitive to the voice of God.3 And here is the bigger deception. They thought themselves to be, as Rom 2:19 puts it, “a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes….” The horror of deception is that a cure is never sought because the person refuses to recognize a need.
Jesus gave this explanation in Matt. 13:11 “He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” He said to the disciples in verse 16 “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.” Do you realize the high and holy privilege of hearing God? If you see, if you perceive, the kingdom of God you should be profoundly thankful. Because that is not given to everyone; and you can’t make it happen on your own.
Moses went up the mountain and met with God. God spoke to Him. He carried the message of what God said to the people of Israel. In doing that he fulfilled prophetic ministry. He carried the message of the people back to God. In doing that he fulfilled priestly ministry. Of course, the ultimate mediator between God and man is Jesus Christ. But under his headship we have the privilege of prayer. We can carry the needs to others to the Lord in intercession. We can carry the word of the Lord to people.
There is a price to pay. Jesus paid the price we could not pay to make it possible. But to enjoy the privilege we must consecrate ourselves to the Lord, make Him our priority, seek His face, and obey His commands. Otherwise our hearts become too hardened to hear.
To each of the seven churches in Revelation the message was, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”4 Of course, that’s not talking about a natural ear. It’s talking about a spiritual ear and only Christians have that kind of ear. But the exhortation is to us. “You have been given the capacity to hear Me; now take heed to listen and hear what I say to you.”
Moses went up the mountain. Ministry is mostly about going up the mountain and meeting with God; hearing God. Then coming down the mountain to give what you have received from God. If we stay at the base of the mountain we have nothing significant to give to others. If we stay on the mountain we consume it all for ourselves and are not fruitful.
Somebody has to go up the mountain and hear the word of the Lord as to what’s happening.
Observation 3: The key issue was and always is obedience.
Ex 19:3-8 “And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."
7 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. 8 Then all the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.”
God was not asking these people to build a great nation for Him. He would be the one to build the great nation. God was only asking one thing: “if you will indeed obey My voice” and of course, that was the way they would keep their side of the covenant.
They said they would do that. But we know that in reality they did not do it. It was not long after that that Aaron and the people made the golden calf and went into idolatry. As they journeyed toward the Promise Land they complained about the lack of water and the lack of meat. When they got up to the Promise Land only Joshua and Caleb were willing to go in and fight the giants (another decision point). At Mt. Sinai the talk was good. But when it came down to it they did something altogether different. At this point we could talk about the differences between the Old and New Covenant. They are significant. But obedience was the issue in the beginning with Adam and Eve. Obedience was the issue with Abraham before the Law. Obedience is the issue here. And obedience to God is the issue today. The difference between the Old and New Covenant is how that is obtained. Bottom line question for you and me: Are you being obedient to everything the Lord is telling you to do?
Let me give you a vision statement for Life Church. I can do that with one verse: 2 Chron. 7:14 “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Every message I have preached since the inception of this church could fit within that directive. There is one thing God is telling us to do. He doesn’t want it cluttered with a bunch of other stuff. He wants a people who will simply do that. Are we doing it? Are we humbling ourselves? Are we relating to one another and to other people out of genuine humility. Religious elitism, judgmentalism, unforgiveness are the opposite of humility. Humility is not about having a bad opinion of ourselves. Humility is about relating to God and to others out of an unselfish, meek spirit. Are we praying? Some of you have been very faithful to the midweek prayer meeting. Many of you spend substantial time at home praying. Praying is essential to what God is requiring of us. Are we seeking His face? That’s not just about getting things from God. It’s more about intimacy with God. It is more about loving God from the heart, and spending time with Him. It’s about sincere worship and gratitude. Are we turning from our wicked ways? Everyone has wicked ways that need to be dealt with. For one person it might be a gossipy tongue. For another it might be lust. For another it might be spiritual pride or judgmentalism. If you think you have no wicked ways to deal with, just draw closer to a Holy God and you’ll become very aware of them. That happened to Job, Isaiah, and Daniel. His holiness probes deep into the very motives of the heart.
Many Christians are simply continuing in their wicked ways. They are not making diligent effort to make their calling and election sure.5 2 Chron. 7:14 “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” That’s the vision that God has given us for Life Church.
It’s been difficult to stick with that because I know how to create goals and rally people around an external objective. We have built buildings and increased church attendance and launched outreaches before. Some of you here have partnered with me as we have done that. But Life Church is different. I have felt a caution to keep it about the basics. I have felt compelled to not clutter the true objective with activities. Here we are at the base of the mountain. And God is saying, “if you will indeed obey My voice.” Don’t substitute something else for what I’m telling you to do. Don’t give me externals when I’m looking into the heart and saying, “Give Me your heart first; then we’ll talk about the other things to do.”
I have often thought of what it must have been like for the five hundred followers of Christ to meet with Him after His resurrection. Can you imagine the excitement of something like that? You would want to go tell everybody about what has happened. Nothing could be more motivating. But what did Jesus tell those people to do? Luke 24:49 “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." “I’ve got one thing for you to do at this point. You tarry in Jerusalem waiting for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.” One hundred and twenty of those people did just that. I don’t know what happened to the other 380; but they were not there when the real stuff happened.6
I would not blame anyone in this church for wondering why the pastor doesn’t give us a vision chart. “Why doesn’t he set some goals and let’s see some things accomplished?” The thing God wants to accomplish first and foundationally is not something you can easily see with the natural eye. Are you turning from your wicked ways? You probably know the answer to that. I may see some evidence one way or the other in your behavior. But it’s not the kind of thing you can put on a denominational report. This I can tell you as your pastor. I am personally pursuing the vision of 2 Chron. 7:14. I am not doing those things perfectly; but I am making progress on it. I am not asking you to do anything I wouldn’t do.
In 1 Sam. 8 the people of Israel went to Samuel and asked for a king, so that they could be like other nations. God took it as a rejection of His rule over them as their king. He had called them to be a special people of His own. He had not called them to be “like the other nations.” But a king is something you can visibly see. They got a stately king—a man who stood head and shoulders above all the rest. He really looked good as a king. His name was Saul. Saul was into appearances. When it did not look like God was going to come through for them in 1Sam. 13, Saul took matters into his own hands. He worked his own plan. He made a burnt offering for the people to rally around. When Samuel issued his correction from God to Saul, Saul defended his actions rather than repenting of the self-will. Later in a battle with the Amalekites he did essentially the same thing again. It was in that setting that Samuel said “…to obey is better than sacrifice… (1 Sam. 15:22). Have you ever been in a restaurant and read on the menu, “No substitutes.” That’s what I read for Life Church: “No substitutes.” Don’t substitute externals for the internals of 2 Chron. 7:14.
Observation 4: The key objective was relationship.
What was God’s ultimate goal for Israel in Ex. 19? Look at verse 5 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'
First God wanted the relationship with them: “then you shall be a special treasure to Me.” Out of that would then flow ministry to the nations. They would have ministered as priests to the whole world. God’s heart is for the harvest. Our heart should be for the harvest. It’s not just about us. We are to reach people with the good news of Jesus Christ. But we are not equipped to do that without a vibrant relationship with the Lord ourselves. The abounding iniquity in our society has hardened hearts and made it difficult to share the message of Christ. We must have the Holy Spirit preparing hearts for the message. We must hear the Holy Spirit on how to communicate the message. We must have His guidance on where to cast the nets.
There are preparations for the events that stand before us. Israel was not to just rush up the mountain. They were warned about gazing on the presence of God out of carnal curiosity. They were to enter into deeper relationship with God on His terms. The overflow of that relationship would be personal blessings and ministry to others.
I was trained in the corporate world to set goals and get results through human effort. I have been specifically restrained from doing that in this context. If someone wants to know the vision of the church, I have no charts; I have no budget objects. I have one verse from the Bible. 2Chron. 7:14 “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” The burning question is this: Will you do it?
Invitation
END NOTES:
1 All Scripture quotes are from New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
2 Prov. 3:5-6; Luke 18:22-23.
3 Heb. 3:7-8; 2Thes. 2:10-11.
4 Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13,22.
5 2 Peter 1:5-10; 2 Chron. 7:1; James 4:8.
6 Acts 1:15; 2:1-4; 1 Cor. 15:6.
