[Rick Shabi] Good afternoon, everyone. Good to see all of you here today. Now, we have some visitors, good to have you with us. And those on the web, good to have you with us too. Let me thank Mrs. Prater for that song. Those words were very meaningful. We have many blessings that God the Father gives us in our lives, and on this Pentecost weekend, we remember many of those things. One of them is that He is always with us and always will be with us. And as we go through this weekend and remember all the things about Pentecost, God has given us some great blessings, calling us out of the world, giving us hope, giving us a reason to live, giving His Holy Spirit to us as we will talk about more tomorrow, and we should be very thankful, very thankful to Him for all that He does.

You know, we're here on Pentecost, and there's many words that we can talk about that help us remember Pentecost and things that we should have been contemplating on as we prepare to observe this day. There are days that God gives us, and we don't come to just think about them on the day that we observe it, but prepare our minds and hearts ahead of time for that, so there's a number of words that we'll be hearing tomorrow that I'm sure have been in our minds over the last few days as we've prepared for Pentecost. Mr. Permar gave you a few of those words in his sermonette. One of those words that, you know, I want us to remember always, because they're part of every holy day really that we observe, and that is what God says in Acts 2:1 when He said on that day of Pentecost, when there was 120 were gathered there before Him, that they were all in one accord in one place. One accord.

And Jesus Christ talked about the unity that He wanted in His church, we talked about it as we observe Passover. We talk about the bread of communion that makes us one as we eat that unleavened bread during the unleavened bread. And here on Pentecost, we talk about one accord as well. So let me just turn over to Ephesians 4, remind us of what God has called us for. It's not the main part of my sermon today, but I think something I like to stress as we progress toward the return of Jesus Christ and the end of this age and the things that God has, as He's preparing for us, and that one of them is that we'd all be unified, that we'd all be one, one with Him, and one with each other. So let me just read the first, I guess, seven verses here of Ephesians 4.

Ephesians 4:1-7 He says, "I, therefore..." This is Paul writing, "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. Walk it with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity or the oneness of the Spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body, one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all." One. We all were called into one truth, baptized into the name of the Father, Son...and Jesus Christ and God wants us to be one. Verse 7, "To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift." All because of Him.

And as we enter into this Pentecost weekend and all the things that we'll talk about, we'll have two sermons tomorrow, and I'm sure they will talk about all the things in the New Testament or many of the things in the New Testament that this day represents. And there will be many things we learn, and there's almost too much about Pentecost in this season we're in to even give in two or three sermons. But today, I want to look at Pentecost from an Old Testament perspective. Because it was around this time of year that as God brought Israel out of Egypt that they came to Mount Sinai and God gave those people, His people, ancient Israel, some commands. And He taught them some things as they were at the base of Mount Sinai there. And we learned something about us and what God is working with us, and we learned something about human nature that we all still have, we're overcoming it, as we look at what He did and what He taught them back there at the base of Mount Sinai.

So let's go back to Exodus. We'll pick it up in Exodus 19. You know, God says He recorded all these things for us as examples. As examples for us to learn about ourselves as the end of the ages come upon us. He says that in 1 Corinthians 10:11. So in Exodus 19, we find the children of Israel. They're a humble people. They've come out of Egypt. God has brought them out of Egypt. They've gone through many things since they've left Egypt. They've gone through the Red Sea. They've seen God feed them miraculously with manna. They've had water come from the rock. They should have been learning God provides everything you need in the most unusual circumstances, we could never think about how God can provide but He does. And they've tested God along the way, and they've tried Him along the way, and they still don't seem to get everything about God.

But remember they didn't have God's Holy Spirit, as we are in New Testament, Pentecost times, God has given us His Spirit, but if we pick it up in Chapter 19, verse 1, we see the time of year that they're in.

Exodus 19:1 "In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the wilderness of Sinai."

So the third month is the time of month that in God's calendar we're in now. They came out of Egypt on the 15th of the 1st month. We got 50 days to Pentecost from the time of the wave sheaf offering, at that time, that would put them in the third month. So it's Pentecost season. The Jews say that "Pentecost, God gave Israel the commandments on Pentecost." If He gave them on that day, He knows exactly the day He gave them. But this is the time of year that we're in.

If we go down to verse 3 here, we begin...and we're going to spend some time in Chapter 19, and bear with me as we go through this because we're going to look at the verses, we're going to learn about people. Even though they lived thousands of years before us, they had some of the same traits that we do and need some of the same things that we need as we walk with God and allow Him to make us His people, just like He wanted them to become His people, His special people on the earth, an example to all the world around them.

Exodus 19:3-5 It says, "Moses went up to God, and the Eternal called to him from the mountain saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell Israel, here's the words to give them. You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now, therefore..." Notice a little word there, "Now, therefore, if," right? You just heard about that. "'Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you will be a special treasure to me above all people.'"

If you do what I say, this is what I called you out to be, just like God has called us out to be a special people, a holy people to Him, but that happens if we obey Him, if we follow Him, if we let His Holy Spirit guide us. "'You will be a special people to me above all people, for all the earth is mine.'" His people, but of all the earth, God is sovereign over all the earth. He allowed man to make his choice, and He allows man to be misled by Satan and influenced by Satan, but the world is God's. He created it for a purpose. "'You will be a special treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine.'"

Exodus 19:6 "'You shall be, to me, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'"

He reiterates that Moses does in Deuteronomy 7, "'You will be a special people. I called you out to be a holy nation and a kingdom of priests.'" Keep your finger there in Exodus 19. Just the similarity between us today because God has called us from various backgrounds, various ethnicities, but He has made us His people. In 1 Peter 2:9, we see the same words He's given to us with just a little bit...because we have God's Spirit today. He is preparing us for something a little bit different than what He was preparing ancient Israel without the Holy Spirit at that time.

1 Peter 2:9 Says, "But you are a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood."

They were a kingdom of priests, but as it says in Revelation 1, God has called us to be kings and priests with God. You are a royal priesthood, kingly as well as a spiritual nation.

"A royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. You once were not a people, but you are now the people of God. You hadn't obtained mercy, but now we have all obtained the mercy of God."

That's what Israel was supposed to be. They were to become God's special people and a kingdom of priests. God has called us out for the same purpose, special people, examples to the world, come out of the world, live His way of life, do the things that He commands us to do as an example to the world around us of how good, how blessed, how happy, how joyful, how purposeful, how meaningful life is when you live by God's ways and trust in Him and follow Him and not the ways of the world.

So we go back to Exodus 19. Exodus 19, God gives Moses those words just like God gave Peter and the other writers of the New Testament, words that we look at today that He gave us as we walk with Him now and follow Him to the kingdom. They were led to the promised land, a physical blessing, we are being led to the kingdom, if we follow Him, if we learn to live His way of life, if we apply it into our lives, and if we live it, love it, and are able to teach it to the people that we'll work with when Jesus Christ returns.

Exodus 19:7 "So Moses came..." I'm back in Exodus 19, "So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and he laid before them all these words which the Eternal commanded him, and then they responded. All the people answered together and said, 'All that the Lord has spoken we will do.'"

Three times we'll see Israel commit to God, "Everything you say we will do." Same things that we told God when we were baptized, when He called us and opened our minds, and we understood the truth of the Bible, and as we repented and realized the way of life that we were living before was meaningless, futile, going nowhere, and had the truth of God and all the promise and all the hope and all the excitement that goes along with it, we said, "Wherever you go, wherever you lead, whatever you teach, we will do." The same words that Israel back then said. We know from their history, they didn't do it. But God didn't give them His Holy Spirit at that time. Today, He gives us His Holy Spirit. They, we might say, had an excuse. They shouldn't have had an excuse, they saw the power of God, but they teach us without God's Holy Spirit we can't overcome the physical ailments of human nature. The physical downfalls of human nature that we're going to see as we go on in this Chapter.

With God's Holy Spirit, we have the power to do that. We have the power to overcome. It doesn't come from us. It comes from God. One of the things that we are grateful to for Him. So today, we're without this excuse. If we were baptized and we said, "All that you said to do we will do," we better be people who are doing it, and committed to that and remembering that. "So all the people answered and said, 'All that the Lord has spoken we will do.'" So Moses went back to God and said, "This is what they all say. This is what they have said."

Exodus 19:9 "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.'"

Now, we're going to see this thick cloud appear some other times here in Chapter 19, and where we go on from here as we look at that whole time of Pentecost in the Old Testament, God did use that thick cloud as a sign of His glory when He was pleased. When He was pleased with what the people were doing, that thick cloud was there. It's the glory of the Lord. When they built the tabernacle in the wilderness, remember God filled that tabernacle with the thick cloud. He was very pleased. When Solomon built the temple, the glory of the Lord was there. Well, you will see later on that when Moses goes up to receive the Ten Commandments, the thick cloud was there. God was there. He was pleased with what was going on.

The glory of the Lord...and this would be a sign to the people of Israel, God is there. God is there with Moses, and they are doing things. And so that's one of the things that we'll see through here, God leads us today. There they had a visible sign, the thick cloud, just like the thick cloud led them in the fire by night through the wilderness.

Exodus 19:10 "So the Lord said," in verse 10, "to Moses, 'Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow.'"

Well, here's the word consecrate. We're going to see this word show up two more times in this Chapter. "'Go down to the people Moses,'" and in the Old King James, it uses the word sanctify, "'sanctify those people.'" Now, when we hear the word sanctify we may think of Jesus Christ's words in John 17, "Sanctify them by truth. Set them apart by truth. Your word is truth." The sanctify in the Old Testament is a little bit different than that. It means make them pure. Get them cleaned up because they're about to appear before God.

So we see this word consecrate in this verse, later on in verse 14 we're going to see the very same Hebrew word, there it is mentioned as sanctified, and in verse 22, we're going to see it, again, where it's, again, consecrate. But it's make them pure because that's what God needed them to do. Here they were wandering through the wilderness. Now, they were coming before God. Now, He was going to give them the way of life that would lead them into what would set them apart, that would help them to be the example to the world around them that there is a way of life that leads to happiness, joy, peace, and everything good.

Exodus 19:10-11 "So He said, 'Go down to the people and make them clean, purify them today and tomorrow.'" Couple of days of purification. Some time, time because it'll be the third day as we'll talk about here in a few minutes. "'Consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.'"

They need to be appearing before God in clean clothes. Take the time. I'll give them the time to clean themselves up. You don't come before God in dirty clothes. His people, they're purified. We can compare that to us in this day and age. We repent when God opens our minds and we see just how filthy and dirty and worthless we were. And what do we do? We repent. Put away our old life, and we're baptized, and when we're baptized what happens? God forgives all our sins. Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, so then we become clean people before God, purified of those sins. Now, ready to walk with Him as He puts His Holy Spirit in us after hands are laid on us, and we're ready to walk with God.

So as God is preparing Israel here, to give them the law, to give them the way of life they are going to follow, He says, "Wash your clothes. You need to be clean before me." Now, we can fast forward all the way to the end of the Bible if you keep your finger there in Exodus, and we'll go back to Revelation 19. And we see in verse 7 the marriage of the Lamb, people who will come before Christ and be at that marriage ceremony at the time that Jesus Christ returns.

Revelation 19:7 "'Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.' And to her, it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean, and white."

Purified to the time of life, purified at baptism, made clean at baptism, but then through the rest of our physical lives, living a life that's dedicated to become pure.

Because if we have the hope of the resurrection, if we have the hope of being in the kingdom, what does it tell us in 1 John 3? "Anyone who has this hope in Him, purifies himself." Through life, allows God, through His Holy Spirit, to identify those weaknesses, faults, and sins that are in each of us, and become pure, become like Jesus Christ who is perfectly clean and faultless, become like Him. It's a lifelong process, and in this life, none of us have come close to achieving that, and as long as we live, breathe, God will... As long as we draw breath, God will continue to cleanse us, purify us, if we pay attention to what He is showing us and what we need to do. So as He prepares the people to appear before Him at Sinai, He says, "Get yourself clean, wash your clothes."

If we go back to Exodus 19:11, He says, "Let them be ready.” They need to take some time to get ready to appear before God. Make sure they understand what they're doing, the significance of what is going to happen, Moses, who they're going to appear before, or what they need to be ready for. I don't need to turn to Matthew 24, but you remember Jesus Christ says the same things to us, "Be ready, for we don't know the day or the hour." We don't know when these things will happen. We don't know when the world will move into another era where it is basically headed on toward the return of Jesus Christ. Be ready. Don't waste time but redeem the time. Don't think you've got years to go. Be ready and have that sense of urgency now. Be ready so that God can see what's in our hearts, and that we are ready to stand before Him. Ready as we are working on those things, and He's telling Israel here, "Get ready."

"'Let them be ready for the third day.'" He's telling them this on one day but then there's tomorrow and another day and then the third day. Have them be ready for the third day. It's not going to happen today. It's not going to happen tomorrow. It's not going to happen the day after that. It's going to happen the third day. And He repeats it, again, "'For, on the third day, the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.'" Now, the third day in Scripture does seem to have some meaning because we see the third day happen in cases.

Keep your finger there in Exodus 19. Let's go back to Genesis 22. Very familiar story of Abraham and Isaac and the sacrifice that God asked Abraham to make, which seemed like a tremendous request, but Abraham was ready to do it. Whatever you say, I will do. No argument, no questioning, no doubt. I know you have my best interests at heart. Whatever you say to do, God, I will do it. That's who Abraham was. A man who kept God's laws, went wherever God said to go, did whatever God asked Him to do. So in Genesis 22:4, well, let's pick it up in verse 3.

Genesis 22:3-4 "Abraham," it says, "rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son. And he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off."

The third day is when he saw it. So he set out on the journey. Next day, stayed on the journey. The next day, stayed on the journey. And then on the third day, he saw where he was going. Now, we can talk about other third days because there are a number of them that show up in the Bible. You know, Jesus Christ rose on the third day. And if we look at Hosea, right after the book of Daniel, we see an interesting verse that pertains to the end time. In Hosea 6, and pick it up in verse 1.

Hosea 6:1 "Come," it says, "and let us return to God, for He has torn, but He will heal us. He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days, He will revive us. And on the third day, He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight."

There is an element of waiting for God, continuing on. I think just a week or two ago, there was a sermon that was on the four soils, and sometimes the seed will fall on soil and immediately there's energy, immediately there's zeal. But something comes up, and then that first group just falls by the wayside. They lose the fervor. They lose the energy. There's something about continuing on, and doing that, and continuing on until that time. When you look in the concordances or whatever, they will talk about on the third day, when you look at the Bible, it's the life. The life happens at that time. There's something about the third day in the Bible that God looks down and something is delivered to them.

So as God is talking here to Israel, He says, "Do all these things, be prepared, be ready. On the third day, I'm coming down the Mount Sinai. And I will talk to you." Let's go back to Exodus 19 and continue on that as we build our, I guess, resume here. Be ready. Continue on. Don't lose sight. Continue with what God has to say. Be clean before God. And in verse 12.

Exodus 19:12 He tells Moses, "'You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, 'Take heed to yourselves that you don't go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.''"

Set bounds. You know, it's important for humans to have bounds set for them. That it is important that we learn to restrain or have that restraint that comes to do just the things that God has said to do and to know we don't cross over that line.

We live in an age where all those bounds, where all those boundaries that have been set for millennia in human society are just being broken down. Cast off all restraint is what it is. Do whatever you want to do. There are no bounds. There is no law. There's nothing that's going on. But God says to the people of Israel, "There are bounds. Israel, you don't even come near the base of that mountain. Don't you touch that mountain." And the people listen to it. But we'll see in a little bit that even as time went on, there might have been something that was in their mind saying, "Do we really have to not touch that base? Do we really have to do it just the way God said? Will He really put us to death if we just go to the base of that mountain?"

And He makes it clear it is. So God sets laws for us, right? A way of life. We use the word laws and people don't want to hear the word laws, but it is a way of life. It is the things that God says, "You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not lie. You shall not steal. You shall not covet." Those are bounds. Don't do that. If you go that way, you're going the way of Satan, it will lead to death. It will lead to destruction. It will lead to agony and upset. Don't do it. And He gives you and me the Holy Spirit, the last of which fruit says self-control. Don't do it. Do what God said to do. Follow Him explicitly and trust Him. He knows the way that's best. Do it His way. Here, He tells Israel, "Just don't go to the base of the mountain." Seems like a pretty simple command, right? Just don't go to the base of the mountain. Later on in the Bible, again, if you keep your finger there in Exodus 19, we can go back to Proverbs 29. Proverbs 29:18. There it says in verse 18.

Proverbs 29:18 "Where there is no revelation," or where there is no vision, where people don't know where they're going, if they don't have an idea of where God is leading them and what He is going to do when there's no vision, when there's no hope, when there's no direction, and you have no idea, you're just wandering around without anything at all to hang on to, when there is no vision, "the people cast off restraint."

Let's just try anything. Let's just be whoever we want to be. Let's be whatever sex we want to be, any gender we want to be. Let's just do whatever we want. Let's make it all legal so that whatever comes into anyone's mind, let's do it. The people cast off restraint.

We see it happen in ancient Israel as they walked with God and as He was with them, they didn't have the Holy Spirit, but they would always do, well, not always, but they would typically follow after the Gentiles. Whatever the Gentiles did, let's bring that in. Let's bring it. Let's not say, no, we will not do that because God said, "Let the world be the world, you do what I say to do. Follow it in exactly the way I say to do it." Where there is no vision or, "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint." But notice the next part of that verse, "Happy is he who keeps the law." Want to be happy? Do it God's way. Say no to self. Deny yourself.

As Christ would say, "Deny self and follow me." Even though your being in your mind wants to do it your way, do it God's way. If you want joy, peace, happiness, future, to be led to the kingdom, and be there when Jesus Christ returns, do it His way. We said we would when we were baptized. We'll do it your way. Wherever you go, whatever you say, whatever you show us we need to do, we'll do it your way. And He gives us the Spirit that gives us the power to do that. So in verse 12, we see the people, they need to know the way of life. And God begins to train Israel by setting bounds for them. We need them. Our children need them. That's why we raise our children in accordance with the way that God said to raise them. Do it this way. Follow what your mom and dad say, who have the responsibility of teaching God's way.

Okay, let's go back to Chapter 19, verse 13, He says, you know, as He follows up what He just said about setting bounds.

Exodus 9:13-16 "'They're going to be stoned or shot, whether man or beast. And then when the trumpet sounds, they will come near.' So Moses," verse 14, "went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people." Here's what you need to do. Here's the instructions. This is how you obey God. "And they washed their clothes. And he said to the people," again, "'Be ready for the third day.'" Be pure. Be ready for what God said. So then in verse 16, we see God announcing Himself, "Then on the third day, in the morning, there were thunderings and lightnings and that 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."

Now, on the day of Pentecost, in 31 A.D., when the Holy Spirit came, remember there was a sound of a rushing, mighty wind that was in that room where the 120 were assembled. A loud noise. And God announced Himself to the people there, and they felt His power. They felt His power on that day. They saw that thick cloud. This is what God said how He would appear to them. This is Him coming down to meet with us on the third day, exactly as He said. Thunderings, lightnings, loud noise, very loud trumpet. And they saw, and they felt the power of God. And they trembled. And they trembled when they felt the power of God. You know, God says His people will tremble.

Remember Isaiah 66:2? He says, "'To this one, I will look, who has a contrite heart and who trembles at my Word.'" When they hear me say something, they understand the power and the might and the love and the graciousness and the mercy and the patience of God, but they tremble. They recognize who they are. And when we tremble at His Word, we do His Word. And if we ever allow ourselves to become lax or lackadaisical or thinking, "Well, I did that this time, and it didn't really...no flashes came down. I didn't get sick. God didn't strike me with a bolt of lightning." And we think, "Oh, God's really not there. He was okay with me doing that thing." And we can lull ourselves to sleep as that Laodicean attitude without the sense of urgency and without the sense of commitment should keep us to tremble.

Tremble at His word. That's what the people learned that day. We should learn that too. And when God speaks or where we hear where His Word is and we see, oh...when we look at ourselves and say, "Oh, I'm not doing that, that what the Bible says isn't who I am. I need to change. I need to cast away. I need to let God make me pure. Ask forgiveness and for the strength to start doing things His way and not my way."

Exodus 19:17-20 "So Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. And Mount Sinai was completely in smoke," He was there. They knew and Moses knew here is God, He is ready to talk to His people. "Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire." Cloud, noise, fire should remind us of the other way that the Holy Spirit appeared in Acts 2 as that group of 120 people were assembled there on the day of Pentecost. "Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered Him by voice. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mountain, and He called to Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up."

People were all watching this. Here's God. There's the smoke. Look who's talking, and He's calling Moses up to there. And then God says something interesting in verse 21. The people had already been warned. They've been told, "Get ready, be ready, listen to what God has to say. If you come to that base of the mountain, you're going to die. God means what He says. Be sure that you're obeying Him implicitly."

Exodus 19:21 Says, "The Eternal said to Moses, 'Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Lord, and many of them perish.'"

Really? In just a short while? Could it be that what God was telling Moses, "I already see the attitude, some of them down there saying, 'We can get a little closer, kind of I want to see that smoke. I want to kind of be a little closer to it. I want to see God.'" Was it God rewarning Moses, "Get down there. Warn them. Warn them, 'Don't come close. Many of you will perish, if you take God for granted, if you don't pay attention to His Word, to do it exactly, diligently, carefully, the way He says to do it"? Because later on, that's exactly what the people did, right? When Moses went up and was gone for 40 days, what did the people do when there was no Moses around to tell them, "Do the things that God said"? They built a golden calf. If Moses had been there, they wouldn't have built a golden calf.

They didn't have the character to resist what they would naturally do. And was God already warning Moses of that? Get down there and tell them what I mean or what I say I mean.

Exodus 19:21-22 "So He said, 'Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Eternal, and many of them perish. And let the priests who come near the Lord consecrate themselves.'"

Well, they may think that they're above the law. They may think that they don't have to do things, it's all for the people. No, no, no. "The priests, the ministry," God says, "those are the examples. He holds the teachers to a higher standard. Not only teach, but live it. Be an example to the people." And that's what He's telling the priests there too. Make sure the priests don't think, oh, we got the people already, but they've forgotten about themselves. They too need to be pure when they come before God and recognize His authority and respect Him for what He is.

Exodus 19:23-24 "And Moses," you know, verse 23, "People can't come up to Mount Sinai. You warned us saying, 'Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.' But the Lord said to him, 'Away. Get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But don't let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest He break out against them.'"

So Moses went down and warned them. And from time to time, we need to be reminded of what God says to do. Be reminded of what God's law is and what He has called us to and what we committed, and to Him, we would do and how we would be, and that we would be committed to purification and coming out of the world and being His own special people, this holy nation that He is working with that is living and applying His ways of life now as an example to the world around us, as we all live by those laws.

So with all this background, in Chapter 20, God speaks the Ten Commandments. I don't need to go through all the Ten Commandments. I could even call on someone here, one of our teens, and I'm sure they could recite the Ten Commandments in order for any of us. But He says, "This is my law. Walk in it. Walk worthy of your calling. Look what I've done for you. This is the way to happiness and peace and the way of life you must live if you have that hope in you." We come down to verse 18.

Exodus 19:18 It says, "All the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountains smoking. And when the people saw it," again, it says, "they trembled."

God is a powerful God. He is a consuming fire. He is someone we need to reckon with. He can snap us out in no time at all. He has the power of life and death.

Exodus 19:19-20 "People saw it, and they trembled and stood afar off, and they told Moses, 'Don't let God speak with us, you speak with us.' And Moses said to the people," verse 20, "'Don't fear, for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you so that you may not sin.'"

Oh, the fear of God. One of those foundational things that He showed the people then that He expects us to have too, the fear of God always before our eyes at the base. Because if we have the fear of God before our eyes with the Holy Spirit that we and we see ourselves have going, it's like I committed to God. He is life and death. There is no future without Him. There is nothing to put my trust in in the world. There is no hope in the world. No matter what we think, no matter what we hear, there's no hope there. All the hope is in God. And thank Him that He's given us that hope, because it would be a hopeless and dark and miserable existence to live in a world where you have no idea where hope is and how all that is happening and will happen will end up. You and I have a tremendous blessing to know that's where hope is. The fear of God, one of those foundational things that we should never, never forget. And so down, as you go through the rest of the Chapter, Moses sets apart or to do and to build an offer. God talks about idols in verse 23.

Exodus 19:23 "You shall not make anything to be with me, gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves."

And the next three chapters then, God recounts to Moses all these statutes. It's all based on the law that He thundered down as He spoke the law, those Ten Commandments, this is the way of life. But then He showed Moses, this is how you apply them into your life now, here you are at this time. And then if you read through Chapters 21 through 23, He shows how to apply those laws into their lives then. Just like in this day and age, we talk about how do you apply the law of God into our lives now. It's the same thing for us. God told Moses that in those three chapters. And Moses wrote down all those things. If we turn to Chapter 24, he wrote down all those things. That's what's known as the law of Moses. He wrote down all those things. Those were the statutes that they followed at that time.

Today, we learn how to apply the laws of God into our lives. And no longer is it just the physical adherence to the laws. Now, it's the spiritual. Jesus Christ did that when He came to earth. He said, you know, "It's not it's not okay just to not kill. Don't even hate your brother. It's not okay to just not physically commit adultery. Don't even lust after another woman. Not okay on these things. There's a spiritual element." And we remember that today, and we talk about it. And you come to church services, and you hear about how to apply the law and you counsel with ministers and with God because you can ask God, what does this mean? How do I deal with this situation in my life? Where in the Bible do you give me the direction on how I handle those things? And He will answer if we seek, if we diligently seek, and if we're sincere in wanting to do the things His way, because everything we face in life, I'm convinced the answer is in the Bible. We just don't know where they are until we ask God, and He'll show us what it is.

And so we come to Chapter 24, which is still part of this whole element or this whole time frame that we're in at the time of Pentecost when God gives these words down to Israel at that time. And verse 24 and verse 3, you see that He calls Moses and the priests to come up there.

Exodus 24:3-4 It says, "Moses came and told the people all the words," that are written there for us in Chapters 21, 22, and 23, "and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, 'Everything which the Lord has said we will do.'" Still committed, still the right attitude, great to have the right intent, but you got to do it. You got to do it for the rest of your life. Verse 4, "And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord." That's what he wrote down. And people talk about the law of Moses, sometimes they want to include the Ten Commandments. No, no, what Moses wrote were those first Chapters 21 to 23. It was God who wrote the Ten Commandments. Those are still in effect. Those are still there. Those were written by the hand of Almighty God. See that down in verse 12.

Exodus 24:12 "The Lord said to Moses, 'Come up to me on the mountain and be there, and I will give you tablets of stone and the law and commandments which I have written that you may teach them.'"

So those Ten Commandments, the way of life that Jesus Christ validated when He was on earth, and He said, "Not one jot or one tittle will pass from the law until basically there is no heaven and no earth." So as long as there is physical life, as long as there is a physical earth, those remain in effect. They were to lead Israel then, and they still apply to us today, and if we follow them, our lives will be good. Our lives will be blessed. God will be with us, and He will bless our efforts in all that we do. Let's go back to verse 7 here in Chapter 24. Let's look at verse 7.

Exodus 24:7-8 "He took the Book of the Covenant," this is what we were just talking about in Chapters 21 to 23, "and he read in the hearing of the people and," again, "they repeat, 'All that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient.' And Moses took the blood," as he was sacrificing here because covenants are confirmed with blood. "Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, 'This is the blood which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.'"

You know, back in the book of Hebrews, it talks about these things, and back in…

Hebrews 9:18-22 It says, "Therefore, not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood, for when Moses had spoken, every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people," just what we read in Exodus 24, "saying, 'This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.' Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry, and according to the law almost all things are purified with blood and without shedding of blood there is no remission."

And so when the new covenant was confirmed, it was confirmed with blood as well.

Luke 22:20 "Christ," something we just observed a Passover less than two months ago, "likewise, He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you.'"

Without blood, there is no covenant. So we have the old covenant that was done with blood and confirmed with blood. We have the new covenant with Jesus Christ that's confirmed with blood because when God gives us examples of the things we follow, we can see what He does, He's the same. Today, with the Holy Spirit, then the more physical covenant with Israel, but we see Him following the same pattern.

If we go back to Exodus 24, we see God as He calls Moses, Aaron, Aaron's sons, and 70 elders up to the mountain. It would be only Moses who would go up and receive the Ten Commandments but God gives them a vision, a vision of who they are, where they are going, much like He gives us a vision of who we are, where we're going, and where we're headed. And it's quite a vision that He has here.

Exodus 24:9-10 Says, "Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel." They saw Him. Well, they didn't see God the Father. They saw who they thought was Jesus Christ, or they saw the God of Israel, Jesus Christ, here in this. "They saw the God of Israel, and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone. And it was like the very heavens in its clarity."

God gives them the law. God takes them into a vision. They're at Sinai and all the way to this paved work of sapphire stone that was like the very heavens in its clarity. Now, as we've been going through the book of Ezekiel on our weekly Bible study, we can read in Ezekiel 1 where the sapphire is the very same vision that He gave Ezekiel. If we go forward to Ezekiel 1:26, we see as God is calling Ezekiel to His purpose to be a prophet, He takes them in vision and gives Him a vision of the throne of God, of heaven, of all these elements in it. That's repeated in Ezekiel 10 and very similar to what John saw in the book of Revelation.

Ezekiel 1:26 It says, "Above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, its appearance like a sapphire stone, on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it."

Very familiar, very similar to what we just read in Exodus 24. God took those elders, and this is the vision He gave them. Did He show them what the end would be like, what it would be? Very familiar to what He's done here.

If we fast forward to Revelation 15, we see a similar thing in Revelation 15 pertaining to the first fruits. In Chapter 14, we read about first fruits. So I'll be talking about first fruits, I'm sure, tomorrow. And then in verse 15 following that Chapter, right before the 7th trumpet sounds and the 7 vials of the 7th trumpet are poured out.

Revelation 15:1-3 It says, "I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, 7 angels having the 7 last plagues for in them the wrath of God is complete. And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire and those who have victory over the beast."

Well, that would be the time yet ahead of us. Those who overcome the mark of the beast, which will be quite a trial, will require faith in God and the strength we are building now.

"I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name standing on the sea of glass having harps of God. They sing the song of Moses."

Well, the song of Moses, we see that back in the book of Exodus. They understand that. That's kind of a reference back to the Old Testament times because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He changes not. The same vision that He had when He created the earth is the same vision He has for us today, the same vision He had for the people of the Old Testament time. "They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb." They have that vision of the Lamb too. They have a complete vision of a complete picture of what God is doing. And then they sing this song in verses 3 and 4.

Revelation 15:5 It says, "After these things, I looked, and behold the temple of the tabernacle, the testimony in heaven was opened."

If you drop down to verse 8, we see something that we just read in the book of Exodus.

Revelation 15:8 "The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter that until the seven plagues were completed."

God, the same yesterday, today, and forever. The same vision, the same plan for mankind, the same outcome before the foundation of the earth until now. Same vision God gives us of where it's all going. It starts with the day of Pentecost, starts with the receipt of the Holy Spirit. We live our time to life, and the time of trumpets is when the resurrection to be born into the kingdom occurs. It's our life now that we find ourselves committed to God, walking by every word that He says, becoming more and more like Jesus Christ as we get nearer and nearer to the time of the end and as we've been longer and longer in the church.

Let's finish it up back in Exodus 24. We'll notice in verse 11 talked about they're at Sinai, they go up to the south higher stone. And in verse 11, it says, in the last verse there.

Exodus 24:11 "They saw God, and they ate and drank." They had a meal. They had a meal up there as God called them to. Might, and I'm going to stress the word might, might make us think of the marriage supper mentioned in Revelation 19:9. Is that what God was showing them? Only He knows.

Exodus 24:12 He says, "Go ahead and come up here, and I'm going to give you the tablets on which I've written the Ten Commandments.”

Exodus 24:15-18 Says, "Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain, and the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days and on the seventh day, He called the Moses out of the midst of the cloud. The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses was on that mountain for 40 days and 40 nights."

As God gave him, this is the way of life. This is what you've been called to do. You are the called-out ones of the world, ancient Israel. You are the called-out ones of the world, modern-day spiritual Israel here in Cincinnati, all over the United States, and all over the world, all one, all living by the same standards, all living with the same vision, all living with the same promise, all committed to the same thing that God teaches us. So we can learn a lot about us as we look at what happened at the base of Mount Sinai and Old Testament times and what God showed them. We can commit more to God, and we can show Him we really are committed, we really will be committed to the purification that you want in us and that you will bring out and you will make us ready, if we'll let you make us ready. Notice the word if, again. If you let us, if we let you make us ready, because there is always that big word if, God will do it. But it really is up to us and the choices we make and how we live our lives now.

Let's conclude in Hebrews 12. Because, again, in Hebrews 12, at the end of the chapter there, God ties it all together from physical Israel to who we are today. Same people, same purpose for which He's calling us. We have the God's Holy Spirit which they did not, much required of us to whom much is given, much is expected. Let's pick it up in verse 18.

Hebrews 12:18-29 "You have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire and the blackness and darkness and tempest." We haven't come to that mountain, they did. "And the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, and that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore, for they couldn't endure what was commanded. And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned or shot with an arrow. So terrifying was the sight that Moses said, 'I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.'"

"But you," that's you and me, "you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. See that you don't refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth. But, now, He has promised saying, 'Yet once more I shake not only the earth but also heaven. Now this, 'Yet once more,' indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken as of things that are made that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire."