back to index2021-07-11 Mount Sinai verses Mount Zion
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Alright, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 12, and I'm going to 00:00:21.240 |
Hebrews chapter 12, verse 18 to 24, reading out of the NASB. 00:00:25.560 |
For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, and to a blazing fire, and to 00:00:30.080 |
darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of trumpet and the sound of words, which 00:00:35.040 |
sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. 00:00:41.000 |
For they could not bear the command, even if a beast touches the mountain, it will be 00:00:47.080 |
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I am full of fear and trembling. 00:00:52.160 |
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 00:00:56.400 |
and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are enthralled 00:01:02.480 |
in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 00:01:07.920 |
and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better 00:01:23.360 |
We pray for the weightiness of your word to strike our thoughts, our hearts, and our very 00:01:31.840 |
Ordain these times, Lord God, that we may see a glimpse of who you are, that we may 00:01:37.840 |
remember who it is that we worship, who it is that saved us, and that who it is, Lord, 00:01:42.760 |
that we are hoping to come, Lord God, and redeem. 00:01:54.000 |
I have a tendency, when I watch movies, it's hard for me to stay awake. 00:01:59.200 |
So I have, I think that part of the reason is I don't get good sleep, so I'm kind of 00:02:06.000 |
And the other part of it is there's like something going on in my head constantly. 00:02:10.720 |
So as soon as when there's, you know, I get distracted, I tend to relax. 00:02:16.520 |
And so when I relax, I fall asleep, you know. 00:02:19.880 |
So it's a running joke in my house whenever we watch a movie to see how long it's going 00:02:25.080 |
You know, the good part of that is I can watch the same movies over and over again. 00:02:29.800 |
You know, and remember when Blockbuster used to be open? 00:02:32.640 |
Like Esther would tell me to go pick up a movie, and then, you know, I don't know how 00:02:36.160 |
many times I would come back thinking like, "This movie looks good," and then she would 00:02:40.680 |
You just saw that four months ago, you know, and I just don't remember anything, you know. 00:02:47.760 |
But the bad part of it is I can't thoroughly explain to you any movie because at some point 00:02:55.080 |
And I remember very specifically this movie, the movie Up. 00:02:58.600 |
And I forgot how old my children were, but our whole family went to watch it. 00:03:02.560 |
And I remember it started out well with this old man growing old together with his wife, 00:03:08.200 |
And then I woke up and this crazy bird at some top of Grand Canyon with this balloon. 00:03:14.200 |
And for the rest of the movie, it's like, "What is going on?" 00:03:20.880 |
They were so riveted by this movie, and I couldn't even ask. 00:03:23.360 |
So the whole movie, I had no understanding what happened. 00:03:27.160 |
Something happened that caused this man living in the suburbs, enjoying his life, is being 00:03:35.620 |
So obviously I had to watch it again, and I said, "Oh, that was a crucial part that 00:03:39.580 |
Another movie that I remember very distinctly was the movie Inception. 00:03:44.740 |
And everybody said, "Oh, it was such a great movie." 00:03:47.180 |
Then I just remember every time they fell asleep, I fell asleep. 00:03:50.980 |
And then I woke up, it's like, "What is this? 00:03:57.460 |
Let's watch it again because maybe it'll make more sense to me." 00:04:03.740 |
So to this day, all I know is it's about dream. 00:04:08.800 |
Something happens in the dream, and then there's this little thing that they turn at the end, 00:04:15.200 |
So I can't explain to you exactly what happened, but that's kind of what I remember. 00:04:19.420 |
So unless the movie is riveting, I usually have a hard time staying awake. 00:04:24.220 |
That's why I love AMC theaters because they have the recliner now. 00:04:29.300 |
So whenever I go watch a movie with them, usually I wake up with somebody angry because 00:04:37.780 |
Well I say all of this because the text that we're looking at in chapter 12, verse 18 through 00:04:43.580 |
24, it presents to us two mountains, Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. 00:04:49.300 |
Mount Sinai is where the Israelites received God's commandment and the law. 00:04:53.420 |
So God comes and He speaks to Moses and He gives the law. 00:04:58.400 |
And so He's telling them, to these Jews, that you did not come to this mountain, but you 00:05:03.340 |
And Mount Zion is representative of God's dwelling, God's place. 00:05:08.260 |
And so that's where they received the grace of God. 00:05:15.340 |
It is essential to understanding Mount Zion, what it is that He was trying to present for 00:05:24.140 |
So because of the way that the gospel has been presented, because New Testament, to 00:05:28.400 |
be honest, is easier to understand because it's straightforward. 00:05:48.120 |
But the shadow is the preparation so that when the reality comes, that the reality would 00:05:55.200 |
But what happens is when you skip the Old Testament and you come just to the New Testament, 00:05:59.720 |
there's so many things that really don't make a lot of sense. 00:06:03.020 |
But because you hear it over and over and over again, you don't question it. 00:06:06.800 |
So one of the fundamental questions about the cross, why did Jesus die? 00:06:19.240 |
Because when we forgive people, we just forgive. 00:06:27.920 |
So we heard the gospel, and especially if you grew up in the church, without ever really 00:06:37.080 |
What was this drama of being crucified, dying and resurrected? 00:06:42.000 |
So we have this very superficial understanding because we fell asleep at the crucial part 00:06:49.260 |
And so our understanding of the gospel, if you ask me what the movie Up is about, it's 00:06:54.480 |
about an old man, and he's lost his wife, and then some crazy bird. 00:07:02.120 |
I tell you, Inception, it's about some dream, and then they have another dream inside of 00:07:04.960 |
the dream, and then they have many other dreams inside that dream. 00:07:09.500 |
So it's probably not wrong, but it's not a good synopsis of the whole movie. 00:07:15.780 |
If you grew up in the Western church, the emphasis has been predominantly, I would say 00:07:20.660 |
90-95% of your understanding of your faith strictly comes from the New Testament because 00:07:28.940 |
In fact, years ago, I was at a pastor's conference with about 3,500 pastors in the room, and 00:07:35.700 |
one of the seminars was that we need to preach the Old Testament. 00:07:40.260 |
And he asked all the pastors, "How many of you are currently preaching out of the Old 00:07:47.220 |
And so he asked us to stand up, and I happened to be one of maybe six or seven people, and 00:07:56.080 |
But I was also very surprised that out of 3,500 pastors who preach on a regular basis, 00:08:05.820 |
And so the point that he was trying to make is the same point that I'm trying to make 00:08:08.580 |
this morning, that when we have a superficial understanding of Mount Sinai, you may be 00:08:17.380 |
You may be able to articulate the gospel because you've heard it, you've memorized it, you 00:08:20.900 |
sang it, but you don't understand the depth of what it is that we have in Christ. 00:08:27.060 |
So I actually intended to have this sermon in one sermon about explaining the Mount Sinai 00:08:36.860 |
But I felt like I'm not going to do it justice if I just skim through Mount Sinai. 00:08:41.320 |
So I wanted to make sure that we studied this and what he's referring to, and then we'll 00:08:45.980 |
get to what, when he says, "We didn't come to Sinai, we came to Zion," so that we'd have 00:08:50.820 |
a better appreciation of what we talk about next week. 00:08:57.020 |
He said, "You did not come to the first chapter 12, verse 18 to 21, for you have not come 00:09:01.460 |
to the mountain that can be touched and to the blazing fire and to the darkness and the 00:09:10.820 |
He's referring to God coming to give the law. 00:09:15.540 |
And the way that he describes it is blazing fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind. 00:09:22.220 |
Again, if you grew up in the Western church, when we think about the presence of God, when 00:09:27.940 |
Jesus comes, I'm going to walk to him, I'm going to sit on his lap, depending on how 00:09:31.780 |
old you are, hold his hand, and so we have this lovey-dovey feeling of the presence of 00:09:38.220 |
The Old Testament Jew did not have that same view. 00:09:42.540 |
Their starting point at Mount Sinai was terror, gloom, and whirlwind, and to the blast of 00:09:48.580 |
the trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that 00:09:57.380 |
Think about how often we talk about how God spoke to us or we want God to speak to us. 00:10:03.260 |
The Jews, when they heard God's voice, begged that God would stop speaking because they 00:10:09.380 |
were so terrified of his presence that even when he spoke, they said, "We can't handle 00:10:16.380 |
Please ask God to stop talking to us directly. 00:10:20.820 |
Verse 20, "For they could not bear the command, 'If even a beast touches the mountain, it 00:10:27.820 |
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, 'I am full of fear and trembling.'" 00:10:32.140 |
Now prior to this event, it's not like the Israelites had no relationship with God. 00:10:41.140 |
They've seen his mighty works, but this is the first instance where God from heaven is 00:10:47.020 |
physically coming and making his physical presence known in the nation of Israel at 00:10:52.580 |
Sinai to give the law at the inauguration of Israel as a nation. 00:11:05.620 |
As soon as he shows up, there is fear and terror, fire, darkness, gloom, whirlwind. 00:11:11.820 |
In fact, if you can show the picture that comes up, if you can darken it, I want you 00:11:20.980 |
Our projector isn't that sharp, but if you can see, I want this picture because this 00:11:27.460 |
is what's being described for us in Hebrews, and I'm going to jump to the Old Testament 00:11:31.740 |
to show you what the author of Hebrews is referring to. 00:11:35.360 |
And so I want that image because that's the image that's embedded in Israel's history. 00:11:45.620 |
This is God physically presenting himself to the nation of Israel. 00:11:48.700 |
So if you can turn the lights back on, he's referring to what's taking place in Exodus 00:11:57.600 |
So it came about on the third day when it was morning. 00:12:01.940 |
If you looked at that picture, you would naturally think that maybe it's dark because it's at 00:12:06.660 |
Only reason why it's dark is because he said God's presence came. 00:12:14.260 |
That's an accurate picture because the Bible describes darkness fell. 00:12:18.220 |
In fact, remember when we had Dr. Harris here, the darkness and the glory, he describes at 00:12:23.260 |
the third hour when God wanted to inaugurate his new covenant, remember what happened? 00:12:30.420 |
And he was veiling his glory because sinful man cannot be in the presence of this holy 00:12:38.260 |
And that's how the covenant, the first covenant of the law, when it was given, darkness and 00:12:47.620 |
That there were thunder and lightning, flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a 00:12:52.820 |
very loud trumpet sound so that all the people were in the camp trembled. 00:12:59.140 |
There wasn't this celebration, God is drawing near to us, let's all gather together to go 00:13:06.180 |
As soon as they saw God's glory coming upon Mount Sinai, terror falls upon them. 00:13:14.500 |
They were afraid that they're going to die because of this presence, verse 17, and Moses 00:13:17.900 |
brought the people out of the camp to meet God and they stood at a foot of the mountain. 00:13:23.100 |
Now Mount Sinai was all the smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire and the 00:13:28.300 |
smoke descended like the smoke of the furnace and the whole mountain quaked violently. 00:13:34.940 |
I want you to look at the next pictures that I have up here. 00:13:40.180 |
This is an actual picture of the way they believe that it's Mount Sinai. 00:13:45.980 |
So I don't have time to go over the details but there's plenty of documentaries or you 00:13:50.460 |
can go on Google and look this up, YouTube and look at videos because it's well documented 00:13:56.100 |
that they believe and it's very convincing that this is the mountain that is being referred 00:14:02.740 |
If you look at it, it looks like there's two mountains. 00:14:05.740 |
You have the one in the front and one in the back. 00:14:10.660 |
It's just that at some point the color changes. 00:14:15.180 |
The top of the mountain is black and then at some point in the middle it's light. 00:14:21.220 |
Let me show you the satellite picture of that mountain. 00:14:26.220 |
So because secular archaeologists are also intrigued why that would be there up on that 00:14:32.340 |
mountain because they don't see any other mountain, any of that because it's a complete 00:14:37.060 |
So their explanation is at one point there must have been a volcanic eruption that caused 00:14:42.900 |
that mountain, just the top part of it, to be black. 00:14:47.020 |
Well since then they've gone up to test these rocks and if you can turn to the next one, 00:14:51.940 |
this picture you probably can't see too well but you'll see that the top of it is dark 00:14:59.820 |
And so they were able to study the rocks and they broke it up and found out that it's not 00:15:03.460 |
volcanic ash at all because if it's volcanic it should be dark all the way through. 00:15:10.700 |
Meaning that the only logical explanation is something external burned these rocks and 00:15:20.980 |
Now that's not directly connected to what I'm about to say but it is intriguing that 00:15:26.740 |
we have physical evidence of all that is mentioned here. 00:15:30.060 |
And along with that if you watch the documentary they'll tell you that at the bottom of Mount 00:15:35.040 |
Sinai God made borders and so that they could not come up the mountain and at that archaeological 00:15:41.780 |
site they found piles and piles of rocks all around to make borders so they couldn't come 00:15:47.740 |
And it is at that mountain when Moses comes up and he comes down, Aaron and the Israelites 00:15:56.300 |
They found an altar at the bottom of this mountain with an altar with images of golden 00:16:02.540 |
And that's also the mountain where Elijah goes and hides in the cave and they found 00:16:09.220 |
So there's more than enough evidence to show that this is the mountain that the Bible is 00:16:14.660 |
referring to and the fact that God's glory shone up up there with blazing fire and that 00:16:21.420 |
it burned up the mountain and that it still remains there shows you how intense this scene 00:16:29.660 |
Exodus chapter 19, 12-13 says, "You shall set bounds for the people all around saying, 00:16:35.540 |
beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border." 00:16:41.580 |
"Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. 00:16:44.980 |
No hand shall touch him but he shall surely be stoned or shot through whether beast or 00:16:57.980 |
They were so terrified and God actually tells them, "If you come to me, you will die. 00:17:11.180 |
Exodus chapter 19, 22 says, "When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses 00:17:18.780 |
The Lord came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain and the Lord called Moses 00:17:22.820 |
to the top of the mountain and Moses went up. 00:17:25.660 |
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, 'Go down, warn the people so that they do not break through 00:17:32.060 |
Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves or else the Lord 00:17:37.780 |
To break out means to have disease or even death sentence. 00:17:43.500 |
So the priests preparing and consecrating themselves, nobody drew near to God casually 00:17:53.500 |
Again in Exodus chapter 20, 18-19, "All the people perceived the thunder and lightning 00:17:58.420 |
flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking and when the people saw it, 00:18:06.500 |
They didn't run to it, they stood at a distance. 00:18:09.420 |
Then they said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen but let not God speak to 00:18:16.980 |
If you remember the scene when Moses is up in the mountain as God is commanding him to 00:18:21.140 |
lead the nation of Israel, he says, "Let me see your glory." 00:18:24.420 |
And God says, "If I show you my full glory, you will die. 00:18:28.660 |
But because you have asked," he says, "I'm going to cover you and I'm going to pass by." 00:18:33.620 |
So you're going to see a glimpse of my glory, partial glory as I pass by, not my full glory. 00:18:39.980 |
But that glory, that reflection of that glory of God as he is protected, as he's passing 00:18:45.780 |
by was reflecting on the face of Moses and when he came down and started to speak to 00:18:51.100 |
the nation of Israel, they were terrified just by the reflection of that glory on Moses' 00:19:04.100 |
Because they were terrified of his presence and his very voice. 00:19:09.940 |
Again in Deuteronomy chapter 5, 24 through 27, you said, "Behold, the Lord our God has 00:19:16.220 |
shown us his glory and his greatness and we have heard his voice from the midst of the 00:19:21.780 |
We have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives," referring to Moses. 00:19:26.740 |
Now why should we die for this great fire will consume us? 00:19:31.220 |
You see how talking about God's fire, they didn't automatically think like, "Oh, if we 00:19:37.860 |
They said, "If we go to God, we're going to die." 00:19:45.900 |
If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die. 00:19:50.020 |
If we keep hearing from God, we're going to die. 00:19:53.460 |
Think about that from the new covenant perspective in Western Christianity, how the gospel is 00:19:59.700 |
God loves you, has a wonderful plan for your life. 00:20:04.580 |
Whenever we hear anything harsh, we automatically, "This doesn't fit the gospel that I know." 00:20:11.260 |
Whenever there's a warning about God's holiness, it's like, "It doesn't fit the gospel that 00:20:19.380 |
Because the starting point in the Western church doesn't allow the judgment of God. 00:20:28.620 |
It is clear in the scripture because this is the way God presented himself. 00:20:31.980 |
Verse 26, "For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking 00:20:36.460 |
from the midst of the fire as we have and lived? 00:20:39.760 |
Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says, then speak to us all that the Lord our 00:20:44.700 |
God speaks to you, and we will hear it and do it." 00:20:50.180 |
When I was in college, I was a Bible major, so I spent four years in undergrad studying 00:20:57.680 |
Then after I graduated, I went to seminary and spent a couple more years studying the 00:21:01.580 |
So, minimum of six years I was studying the Bible. 00:21:04.720 |
So when I came out, obviously I thought I have a good grasp of the Bible, learned systematic 00:21:10.100 |
theology, how to do exegesis, went through the different parts of scripture. 00:21:15.500 |
But it wasn't until I started preaching through the Bible I realized how superficial my understanding 00:21:23.660 |
I started, first of all, and the reason why I started preaching through the Bible wasn't 00:21:27.480 |
because of an example that I saw or somebody told me that that's the way to preach. 00:21:33.660 |
You know, after preaching three, four years topically, every week the greatest struggle 00:21:38.540 |
was what am I going to say about discipleship this week? 00:21:41.360 |
What am I going to say about, you know, lordship? 00:21:46.020 |
So after about three years of preaching with the same group, you know, either I have to 00:21:50.180 |
move church because I ran out of material, you know, or I'm going to have to repeat these 00:21:56.940 |
And then I remember Chuck Smith, you know, I was listening to a seminar and they said, 00:22:02.060 |
You know, we're just going to open up the Bible in 1 Timothy. 00:22:08.300 |
So I remember very distinctly I started with the gospel of John. 00:22:18.580 |
And then I went to study the book of Romans and then to Hebrews. 00:22:23.060 |
And eventually I made it through majority of the New Testament. 00:22:25.580 |
And then I started jumping through the Old Testament because I was running out in the 00:22:29.420 |
And then I just started preaching through the Old Testament. 00:22:31.780 |
And it wasn't until about four or five years into the study, systematically, verse by verse, 00:22:37.460 |
through book by book, and I began to realize my theology has completely started to change. 00:22:43.380 |
And the primary thing that was starting to really be highlighted, even after six years 00:22:50.620 |
of Bible education at seminary, was God's nature of His holiness. 00:22:58.620 |
And I really felt like I got punched in the face, like, of course I knew God was holy. 00:23:02.580 |
If you take systematic theology, you talk about the attribute of God, holiness is always 00:23:11.920 |
But to the degree that the Bible punches you in the face about this attribute and how every 00:23:19.460 |
other attribute, everything that I know about the Bible and the gospel, stems from understanding 00:23:27.140 |
It stems from understanding the law, why the law was given, and proper view of who God 00:23:36.940 |
Part of the reason why we wrestle, why we have so much problem in the Western church, 00:23:41.380 |
and again, this is not unique to the Western church, but part of the reason why is because 00:23:48.380 |
We view God as a supreme being who is so enamored with us that even though we won't articulate 00:24:00.220 |
And so we receive Him and reject Him based upon what He does for me. 00:24:12.620 |
What does this small group have to do for me? 00:24:24.780 |
Because the whole purpose of the law is to teach us that you are dead in your trespasses 00:24:29.940 |
and so that you may see how utterly sinful you are. 00:24:39.480 |
So you remember Israel's history was God in heaven. 00:24:42.380 |
They were speaking to Him, all of a sudden He comes to Mount Sinai. 00:24:45.000 |
And this is the closest that the Israelites have ever seen Him physically. 00:24:53.480 |
But now they're seeing a physical picture and the first encounter with Him is absolute 00:25:02.960 |
So imagine that that God that they saw at Mount Sinai, now at the end of Exodus say, 00:25:13.220 |
I told you, you can't even come to the bottom of the mountain. 00:25:24.780 |
So if the Israelites were afraid to even hear His voice, can you imagine what this did to 00:25:29.900 |
the nation of Israel when God said, I'm going to come to that tabernacle. 00:25:34.860 |
If a God that I saw from a distance terrified me, and God set it up so that all 12 tribes 00:25:43.600 |
And this tabernacle at the Holy of Holies was a concentrated presence of God that they 00:25:50.220 |
saw from a distance where they didn't even want to hear from Him. 00:25:55.220 |
Imagine what that did to the nation of Israel. 00:25:58.040 |
That's why in 2 Corinthians 3, 7 and verse 9, Apostle Paul calls the ministry of Mount 00:26:03.900 |
Sinai as ministry of death and ministry of condemnation. 00:26:09.940 |
I guarantee you, nobody casually came to the tabernacle. 00:26:16.040 |
Because the tabernacle reminded them of death. 00:26:22.940 |
And if you've ever seen a physical, physical, you know, setup of a tabernacle, or just imagine 00:26:33.620 |
It was probably the size of maybe, maybe our building. 00:26:39.060 |
And they had to constantly sacrifice day after day for every sin committed by over a million 00:26:47.220 |
So you can imagine how many animals were being slaughtered every day that they smelled the 00:26:54.660 |
And all of this reminded them, this is what you deserve. 00:27:06.220 |
And God deliberately showed this to mankind, to Israel. 00:27:10.400 |
And that's why the author of Hebrews is telling them, you can draw near because God's not 00:27:17.540 |
Because if He calls you to Sinai, you will die. 00:27:21.060 |
You need to understand what Sinai is so that we can understand what Zion is. 00:27:28.300 |
There's a reason why it says in Proverbs 8.10, "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." 00:27:35.700 |
In the Western world, if you grew up in the Western church and you've heard the gospels 00:27:40.960 |
exclusively through the Western pulpit, you probably heard at some point, the fear is 00:27:49.320 |
The fear he's referring to is talking about reverence and honor. 00:27:53.440 |
Because the terrified presence of God doesn't fit the gospel of the Western church. 00:28:00.140 |
Because He loves you, has a wonderful plan for your life. 00:28:05.720 |
And so because we've exclusively heard the gospel that way, it doesn't fit our paradigm. 00:28:11.240 |
So the way that it is described is, he's not talking about being terrified in the presence 00:28:21.600 |
That's exactly what it means, to be terrified. 00:28:24.280 |
To be terrified of the presence of God is the beginning of wisdom. 00:28:28.240 |
Why is the fear of the Lord beginning of wisdom? 00:28:31.340 |
Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of our salvation. 00:28:35.400 |
Until you recognize who it is that we have offended, until you recognize who it is that 00:28:40.840 |
you will meet outside of the blood of Christ, and there is no terror, then there's no 00:28:49.240 |
The beginning of wisdom, the beginning of salvation is recognizing that the one that 00:29:04.280 |
That's why He says in Matthew 10, 28, "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable 00:29:10.460 |
to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." 00:29:22.960 |
That's what He said, "No, fear, honor Him who can kill you in hell." 00:29:31.260 |
Think about how often we make decisions and we compromise because we're afraid of what 00:29:40.680 |
We're afraid of the consequence in this earth. 00:29:45.120 |
But He said if you're going to be terrified in anything, be terrified where you really 00:29:50.560 |
Not only is there a consequence physically, but there's consequence in eternity who can 00:29:55.920 |
If you're going to be terrified, if any fear is going to guide you in your decision, if 00:30:01.680 |
any fear is going to cause you to make certain decisions and live a certain way, make sure 00:30:08.720 |
That's why Mount Sinai is essential in understanding Zion. 00:30:13.640 |
Without understanding, grace is just a free gift. 00:30:16.560 |
It's just like Halloween, they're giving you candy for free. 00:30:21.840 |
That's why when Apostle Paul introduces the gospel in Romans chapter 1, he says, "The 00:30:27.680 |
wrath of God is being revealed against all unrighteousness." 00:30:36.080 |
R.C. Sproul describes the word wrath in Greek as "orge" where we get the word "orgy" 00:30:46.800 |
And he describes the word wrath there as God without constraint, without mercy. 00:30:58.600 |
He says that in the end, all that we have seen about the wrath and the terror of God, 00:31:05.920 |
all of that, all of that was tempered because he knew his son was coming. 00:31:13.680 |
But on the day of judgment, all of that will be behind. 00:31:17.640 |
And we have a tendency to think, again, the idea of hell doesn't fit Western Christianity. 00:31:24.320 |
So the way that hell is described is, hell is a place where God withdraws himself. 00:31:31.520 |
So you're kind of like washing his hands, "Oh, God's not guilty of hell. 00:31:40.320 |
Hell is a place where the grace of God has been withdrawn. 00:31:43.440 |
It is the full display of his glory without constraint, without the covering of the blood 00:31:52.380 |
So heaven is a place where we see the full degree of his grace. 00:31:57.040 |
And hell is a place where we see the full degree of his glory in his wrath. 00:32:03.020 |
And both places is magnificent and terrifying because of God. 00:32:09.640 |
That's why John Newton says in his song, "Amazing Grace," "Twas grace that taught my heart to 00:32:16.080 |
He's like, "Oh, because we're under grace, there's no fear in our hearts." 00:32:20.760 |
He said, "No, it's the grace of God that caused me to fear." 00:32:25.280 |
Because it's the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of salvation. 00:32:34.040 |
Charles Spurgeon in his autobiography has a whole chapter dedicated saying God's law 00:32:39.040 |
tormented him before he came to saving faith in Christ. 00:32:45.040 |
It was because he understood what it meant to be in the presence of God by the law that 00:32:52.680 |
Martin Luther, the whole Reformation, Protestantism, it's based upon this man. 00:32:59.260 |
And he describes his salvation as hating righteousness, recognizing that he could not appease God with 00:33:06.760 |
the law, which caused him to see that that's what grace was. 00:33:18.200 |
And it's because his idea of the gospel doesn't fit hell. 00:33:27.400 |
Again, the reason why it doesn't fit him is because his very understanding of the gospel, 00:33:32.360 |
his very understanding of God himself, he fell asleep. 00:33:37.120 |
He doesn't realize the primary person that has been offended is not the world, is not 00:33:48.640 |
When we're younger, we'll run to mom or dad because we assume that they can protect us. 00:33:54.080 |
So if you go to a playground and there's a bully, we run to mom and dad because mom and 00:34:00.720 |
When we grow up, you know, we're stronger than our parents at some point, and so we 00:34:09.080 |
Or maybe they're too far, so you'll buy a gun. 00:34:12.120 |
Whatever that may be, fear of something that may harm us, so when we are afraid, we go 00:34:18.000 |
to something bigger and stronger to protect us. 00:34:24.440 |
What caused the greatest fear and greatest terror was God himself. 00:34:31.520 |
So who do you run to if God's the one that you're afraid of? 00:34:35.880 |
Where do you run when you see God coming, knowing that that's where life is, but that's 00:34:51.960 |
If God's the one that causes the greatest terror. 00:34:58.720 |
We've heard the gospel through the Western channels where God has been presented because 00:35:03.200 |
we're marketing the gospel to get as many people through the door, and the deception 00:35:07.800 |
of Western Christianity is that so many people have come through the door not knowing who 00:35:12.600 |
God is, and when God, when Jesus says, they will say, "Lord, Lord," and He says, "I 00:35:21.360 |
That's how He was going to describe, "You did not know me." 00:35:26.120 |
You said the right things, but you didn't know me because they did not understand Mount 00:35:33.760 |
He's not unconditionally in love with rebellious sinners. 00:35:52.720 |
So if your paradigm was created simply by the New Testament preaching of the gospel, 00:36:01.280 |
and you jump through all the difficulty, "I don't want to know this wrathful God. 00:36:07.080 |
I want to get to the new God of the New Testament," you can easily miss what Christ has done on 00:36:16.680 |
That's why Isaiah 6, verse 5, this holy man, as he is being prepared to be sent out to 00:36:22.160 |
represent God, it wasn't enough that he got the message correct. 00:36:29.920 |
It's not enough that you study, then you can regurgitate and tell you, "I got this, and 00:36:35.280 |
A representative of God needs to properly understand God Himself. 00:36:39.640 |
That's why God doesn't just give him the words. 00:36:44.680 |
As soon as he's in the presence of God, in Isaiah chapter 6, verse 5, he says, "Woe is 00:37:05.840 |
And this is a man that God handpicked to represent Him, and His response in the presence of God 00:37:13.360 |
I'm a man of unclean lips from the people of unclean lips." 00:37:16.400 |
Meaning, he knew that he was being called to open his mouth to present God. 00:37:20.400 |
But how can I use this dirty mouth to present this? 00:37:30.760 |
In every instance, whether it was the disciples, John in the book of Revelations, elders at 00:37:38.000 |
the throne of God, the angels, the holy creatures in the presence of this holy God, covering 00:37:45.120 |
their eyes to veil themselves from His glory because they were terrified of His presence, 00:37:50.600 |
were circling His throne saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty." 00:37:57.940 |
Every instance that a human being, a sinner in the presence of this holy God, is terrified. 00:38:08.620 |
But that's what he means, that you did not come to Mount Sinai. 00:38:13.380 |
Because to a first century Jew, they didn't have to be taught to be terrified by God. 00:38:19.680 |
Their whole experience with God was terrifying. 00:38:22.700 |
There's a reason why they wouldn't pronounce His name. 00:38:27.100 |
And if you read the Old Testament, they changed His name Yahweh to Adonai because they were 00:38:31.860 |
afraid that they were going to break one of His commandments to use His name in vain. 00:38:38.540 |
I don't know if that's what God meant, but just in case, we don't want to mess with the 00:38:42.980 |
I remember Adab and Nebihu, God gave them specific instructions and they didn't follow 00:38:47.500 |
strictly and because of that, the holy fire comes and consumes them and they die. 00:38:55.300 |
So imagine, so you know what, we're not going to get this wrong. 00:39:01.060 |
So to this day, you know, you probably heard the name Jehovah, Yahweh. 00:39:11.060 |
Because the Hebrew language doesn't have vowels and they didn't pronounce it for so many years. 00:39:16.980 |
We're guessing, is it Yahweh or is it Jehovah? 00:39:20.780 |
But that's the reason why we have Jehovah and Yahweh. 00:39:27.520 |
You didn't have to tell first century Jew, have reverence, be terrified, take this seriously. 00:39:34.380 |
In fact, they have to be told exactly the opposite. 00:39:46.980 |
But remember the progression, the whole progression of the gospel is God from heaven coming to 00:39:53.340 |
Mount Sinai and then that terrifying view of Sinai, God says, I'm going to come in the 00:40:00.220 |
So you better believe they took every command seriously. 00:40:05.020 |
Touching of the poles, presenting the measurements, where they're supposed to go, where they're 00:40:09.340 |
not supposed to go, what sacrifices they're supposed to make, what sacrifices they're 00:40:13.460 |
not supposed to make, and they bring a tainted animal and as a result of that they die. 00:40:18.340 |
And they break any commandment, they would die. 00:40:20.260 |
So it wasn't just, oh, we made a mistake, God forgives us. 00:40:22.740 |
He's like, no, if you did that, you came and touched the holy things when you're not supposed 00:40:29.860 |
So I guarantee you people did not casually come into the tabernacle. 00:40:35.740 |
My guess is every time they needed to go to the tabernacle, they had probably had a meeting 00:40:42.380 |
And maybe they probably didn't take their children either because just in case any of 00:40:46.220 |
the kids run into a place where they're not supposed to go and they die. 00:41:11.980 |
The presence of the tabernacle was so terrifying. 00:41:16.940 |
My guess is that they took that very, very seriously. 00:41:23.580 |
That's why at that tabernacle, when they went to the temple, and from the temple, he sent 00:41:34.320 |
And then that Spirit that is in us, that they were so terrified of, he says, now you are 00:41:43.420 |
And that's what Apostle Paul means in Corinthians chapter 3 and chapter 6. 00:41:47.420 |
You have a church who is divided, not taking sin seriously. 00:41:54.980 |
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you? 00:42:01.080 |
So when a Jew heard this, that terrifying scene, that terrifying God, that God that 00:42:07.580 |
they were so afraid of in tabernacle, he's in you now, it would have created terror in 00:42:15.180 |
them, realizing that they are the temple of God, individually and collectively. 00:42:25.140 |
You see, somebody who does not understand this is not going to understand the weightiness 00:42:32.460 |
They say, worship is somewhere we come, we sing some songs, you know, and then it's how 00:42:41.580 |
We've made it so casual, make it easy as possible, and as a result of marketing the church, we 00:42:46.580 |
have this weightiness of what it is that God has called us to do, and most people don't 00:42:50.580 |
understand in our generation that we're approaching a holy, holy, holy God. 00:42:56.460 |
And the only reason why you and I are not consumed is because if you're a child of God, 00:43:04.300 |
And the only one that could have saved us from that wrath of God, that terrifying scene 00:43:13.500 |
And it is that that covers it, that that He's referring to in Mount Zion. 00:43:18.580 |
People ask me, like, why do you keep wearing a suit? 00:43:24.420 |
I have people tell me, it's like, this is California, hang loose, man. 00:43:30.740 |
And I know, I know I look like a fuddy-duddy. 00:43:34.420 |
You know, short and stocky people don't look good in anything. 00:43:48.780 |
I wear it because I recognize what it is that God has called me to do. 00:44:01.820 |
And I'll tell you, if it's my opinion, I'll tell you it's my opinion. 00:44:07.700 |
I've been called to declare what the Bible says, even if it offends you, even if you 00:44:18.140 |
And so I want to make sure that what I do physically, mentally, and spiritually reflects 00:44:34.580 |
As a church called to the presence of God, we don't have dress codes at our church. 00:44:39.860 |
Because I don't think saying you have to wear this and you've got to do this, that doesn't 00:44:46.460 |
But I encourage you to examine when we come to church, do we recognize the God that we 00:44:55.060 |
Are we coming to church because it's just a gathering for me? 00:45:02.460 |
How much of our attitude reflects the God, the almighty, holy, holy God that we have 00:45:07.380 |
come to honor and thank for covering us with the blood of Christ? 00:45:13.460 |
Somebody who doesn't understand Mount Sinai takes his own sin lightly. 00:45:20.660 |
Our whole doctrine is based upon a cliche, a bumper sticker. 00:45:28.660 |
So our whole understanding of salvation is by a bumper sticker or for cliches or little 00:45:37.260 |
Man or woman who doesn't understand who God is takes his sin lightly. 00:45:45.020 |
Because not recognizing that this is his very breath that we are handling. 00:45:54.100 |
Do not turn from it to the left or to the right. 00:45:58.180 |
And a man or woman who does not understand who God is takes the church lightly. 00:46:07.860 |
We don't actually, we never say this out loud but that's our, everything is evaluated based 00:46:17.140 |
I guarantee you nobody walked into the tabernacle saying, "The priest, they're not reaching 00:46:22.620 |
I guarantee you nobody walked into the tabernacle thinking, "Oh, the altar is too far." 00:46:29.380 |
They came in making sure that they followed the rule that they don't offend this holy 00:46:36.420 |
The church is the temple where God dwells collectively in us. 00:46:44.280 |
Is our casual nature toward church and worship a reflection of a wrong view of God? 00:46:51.180 |
Do we take the collective coming in the presence of God as if it's convenient, is it inconvenient? 00:47:03.700 |
First Peter chapter 3, 18, it says, "For Christ also died for sins once for all. 00:47:13.120 |
With all the yelling and screaming and marching and rioting about wanting justice but the 00:47:18.420 |
greatest injustice that the world has ever seen is Christ crucified. 00:47:26.780 |
Because the only innocent man who died, the only true innocent man who died, died for 00:47:44.680 |
We worship him because of the greatest injustice that has been carried out by God the Father 00:47:57.360 |
Just for the unjust so that he might bring us to God. 00:48:01.600 |
Having been put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. 00:48:13.360 |
There's reasons why we have, as you're walking through, I don't know how many of you guys 00:48:18.720 |
We have three essential books that we ask all our members to read. 00:48:22.440 |
And the reason behind it, Holiness of God, R.C. Sproul. 00:48:27.560 |
Now I rarely recommend books because I'd rather have you be saturated with God's Word. 00:48:33.520 |
But we recommend this as fundamental in the church because Holiness of God changes the 00:48:39.020 |
paradigm that Western Christianity has about who God is. 00:48:44.640 |
He's not a holy bellhop servant like we call him and then he comes running. 00:48:49.160 |
Maybe God's not real because he doesn't serve us. 00:48:53.440 |
I think R.C. Sproul does the best job that I've read in helping us to change that paradigm. 00:48:59.560 |
So even if you read it, if you read it superficially or you didn't really digest it, I highly recommend 00:49:07.720 |
And any part of it that you don't understand, go back and read it and ask questions. 00:49:13.600 |
The second thing is the Gospel according to Jesus. 00:49:17.640 |
There are other books that you can read for this, but I think he does the best job on 00:49:21.840 |
Gospel according to Jesus, knowing who God is helps us to understand what the Gospel 00:49:29.240 |
It's not just like God just like, "Oh, you know what? 00:49:31.640 |
I took sin very seriously, but since my son died, I don't care about sin anymore in the 00:49:41.280 |
I'm knocking on the Western Christianity, but this is true probably of everywhere else. 00:49:46.360 |
That's just where I am, so that's what I'm referring to. 00:49:48.720 |
But this helps us to understand what does salvation look like? 00:49:54.500 |
What does a sinner who's been covered by the blood of Christ having a personal relationship 00:50:01.880 |
That's what this book helps us to understand. 00:50:03.240 |
He just goes through passage after passage, parable after parable to help us to understand, 00:50:18.200 |
So if you don't understand this or maybe disagree with this, you're probably going to have a 00:50:24.480 |
You're going to have a lot of problems with the way that we present the Bible because 00:50:28.920 |
you either don't understand this or you don't agree with it. 00:50:32.360 |
So this will help you at least understand why the preaching and teaching is a certain 00:50:36.320 |
way at our church because we believe this to be true. 00:50:40.000 |
There are other books that you can read on this, but we think he does the most thorough 00:50:44.080 |
job on what the biblical church looks like because if the church is a temple of God, 00:50:50.440 |
we're going to want to know that he didn't just say, "Gather together and just figure 00:50:54.300 |
it out and then reach the lost and try to figure out how to do it." 00:50:59.400 |
Imagine a God who gave so much intricate details how the tabernacle and temple was to be built 00:51:03.880 |
did not build a New Testament church and say, "You just figure it out." 00:51:07.960 |
It's inconsistent with the God that we know, the Old Testament, and God didn't do that. 00:51:11.960 |
He gave us intricate details of what we ought to follow, what the church should look like, 00:51:17.320 |
standards of an elder, how to discipline when people are in sin. 00:51:20.960 |
And so all of these things are described in the New Testament that we just kind of give 00:51:25.360 |
And so if we're going to approach this holy God, even though we're covered by the blood 00:51:28.720 |
of Christ, we need to properly understand what the Bible teaches about the church. 00:51:38.840 |
So if we're going to build a church that honors God, we have to figure out how to honor God 00:51:44.600 |
And I think he does the best job in doing this. 00:51:46.280 |
So this is probably one of the more drier versions because if you're looking for a novel 00:51:52.560 |
to fall asleep, you know, like to revive you, you're going to require to be committed to 00:51:58.800 |
this and try to understand, wrestle with this. 00:52:01.200 |
And again, the reason why we practice church membership, the reason why we're so slow in 00:52:06.200 |
establishing leadership in our church, and why we have certain things that we do, it 00:52:11.280 |
all helps you to understand it from this book. 00:52:13.420 |
So these are the three essential books that we encourage you to read because it will help 00:52:19.640 |
you to understand your faith, but it also helps you to understand what we're trying 00:52:24.980 |
And all of this so that we do not turn from his word to the left or to the right, that 00:52:31.720 |
we don't view God based upon the prejudices that we've gained. 00:52:38.280 |
So much of Christianity is evaluated, received, and rejected based upon what we think is fair. 00:52:48.640 |
When we do that, we place ourselves above God. 00:52:52.760 |
If God is truly king, even if every part of us says it's unfair, I trust God over my own 00:53:04.600 |
All of this is so that we can understand Zion better because we did not come to Zion with 00:53:15.040 |
Sinai was to better help us to understand what it is that we have in Christ, and we'll 00:53:29.600 |
Let's take a few minutes as, again, our worship team comes to allow the word of God to dwell 00:53:35.040 |
in us richly, to not to superficially follow Christ from a distance, that the Christ and 00:53:42.520 |
the gospel that we profess isn't something that I've chosen to accept because it makes 00:53:47.760 |
more sense to me, but the God that I worship is the God of the Bible. 00:53:55.440 |
So let's take some time to pray as our worship team leaves us.