God's Holiness and Our Call to Holiness

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1. "So to set the stage for where we are in this Exodus story, we're roughly three months into their journey after they've left Egypt. And in that short time, they've seen God part the Red Sea so that they can cross in dry land. He's defeated the entire Egyptian army in front of their very eyes with one fell sloop closing the sea on top of them. He's given them water when there was none twice. He's given them bread and meat from heaven to eat. And he's gone before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds like a pretty eventful, 90 days." [07:15] (45 seconds) ( | | )

2. "But here in chapter 19, we're coming to the main event, the big hurrah of all of the Exodus story. This is when God himself is coming down onto Mount Sinai to speak directly to the people for all to hear. And for the next 21 chapters, the entire rest of the book of Exodus, they are going to be camped at the base of this mountain with God speaking to them and telling them how he expects them to live. In the promised land that he is leading them to. So this is a big deal. God is about to reveal himself and his plans for his people for all eternity." [08:04] (44 seconds) ( | | )

3. "And it's in this passage that we get one of the most vivid pictures in all of scripture of who God is and how he is and what he is like. Here we have an account of what it is like to encounter the living God in person. And we see on full display his power and his majesty and his authority. And we even get a glimpse of his wrath in this description of him coming. Coming down." [08:55] (32 seconds) ( | | )

4. "So even in, in light of all of the other miraculous things that we've said that Israel had already seen from God up to this point, this would have been an awe-inspiring, almost unbelievable spectacle that they were witnessing in front of them. And if you remember, as I talked about the last time I was here, in scripture, in the Old Testament, any time we see God referred to as the Lord, most scholars agree that this is referring to Jesus before he came, in flesh, as a man. This is the Son of God, the King of all, the King and Creator of all creation, descending onto this mountain to deliver his law to his people in his own voice and to write it in stone with his own finger." [10:10] (52 seconds) ( | | )

5. "He is coming down in such a dramatic way, specifically so that the people of Israel will see and hear and feel his power and remember it forever, as he told Moses in verse 9. He is coming to them so that we, today, will still be talking about this event this many thousands of years later. This is God in all the glory, of what he wants to be known as. And when we think of a ruler wanting to arrive in power, we may think of a large military parade going before them and all the regalia and them speaking on a loud PA system so that they can address the people." [10:49] (49 seconds) ( | | )

6. "So from these verses we learn what it truly means when we say that God is holy in the Bible holy means to be set apart or or separate specifically separate from sin and holy means to be pure and clean from blemish so therefore God's ultimate. Ultimate holiness means that when he came down, he cannot even be in the proximity of sin. Because of his nature being the very definition of holiness, he has no choice but to eradicate anything around him that isn't holy from his presence." [19:56] (38 seconds) ( | | )

7. "So when God instructs Moses to tell the people to consecrate and clean themselves for two days, just to be able to come stand near the mountain, not on the mountain, not touch the mountain, just to stand near the mountain, he is declaring his holiness and his separateness from them and particularly from their sin. He's so holy that even to touch the mountain that he is standing at the top of from the base for any man, woman, or child, or animal would have been death. But even two full days of ceremonial cleansing and purification are insufficient to allow them to be near his presence." [20:51] (48 seconds) ( | | )

8. "So God took it upon himself to bear their sin when they could not. And he took on flesh and came to earth as a man, a man named Jesus, and he lived the life that not one of his people could live on their own in order to satisfy his own demand for holiness. His Son came and took their and our sin onto his own flesh to bear the burden of the penalty of that sin. And the Father then poured out all of his wrath for sin onto Jesus in order to make a way to bring his people near to himself." [29:28] (40 seconds) ( | | )

9. "Because of Jesus' atoning sacrifice for sin, we too, who were once far off, can now draw near to him without fear. Referring to this very passage again in this passage in Exodus, in Hebrews 12, it says, For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire, and a darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned. Indeed, anything so terrifying was the sight that Moses, indeed so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. But you have come to Jesus, the mediator, the priest of a new covenant." [30:23] (53 seconds) ( | | )

10. "The loving, gracious, approachable Jesus of the New Testament is also still the God of the mountain. Like I said, this is one story. It's not two different gods. He is both one and the same, all at the same time. One of my favorite writings that conveys, you know, I think very clearly, how God relates to us and how we relate to him comes from C.S. Lewis in his book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. And when the children of Narnia are hearing for the first time from Mr. and Mrs. Beaver that Aslan, who, if you're unfamiliar with the story, represents Jesus, is coming and that they're going to meet him." [38:42] (51 seconds) ( | | )

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