Exodus 24:1-18: Taking Your Faith Seriously

Introduction

Guatemala - ascending the mountain to be at a small Bible institute - Required a serious commitment.

How serious is your relationship with God? You’re here this morning, so you must be serious about a relationship with God, right? What is the evidence in your life that you take your relationship with God seriously?

Exodus 24 is serious. Exodus 24 may be a passage that you’re not familiar with, but it’s an important chapter in the Book of Exodus. It’s an important chapter in the Old Testament.

Exodus 24 is part worship service and part ceremony in which God ratifies His covenant with Israel - a formal ceremony. This chapter shows us how serious God was about Israel living in a relationship with Him, and it shows how the people committed to be serious about their relationship with Him.

God is serious about you. The entirety of Scripture demonstrates how serious God is about you. Are you serious about God?

Three questions I want you to answer this morning to help you think about how serious you are about your relationship with God.

Do you realize the commitment you have made? (vs. 1-3)

Ex. 22 - 23 - Case laws that apply the Ten Commands. The Law of God affects every area of life - no part of life untouched by God.

Exodus 23 ends with a promise that God will be with Israel as He leads them to the Promised Land.

Will Israel obey God? Will they keep the commitment they have made to Him? (Exodus 19:8)

Moses called up to the presence of God with Aaron, Aaron’s sons, and seventy elders. This is serious - no one else can approach the Lord. Remember Israel’s failure to ascend the mountain in Exodus 19. Seventy elders (set aside in Exodus 18) can only ascend so far - they must bow and worship at a distance.

vs. 3 - Moses tells the people all the commands and ordinances of God. People reply, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.”

What a statement! “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded!” A statement of loyalty, a statement of surrender.

Obviously, Israel struggled to keep the commands of God. In successive generations they will turn to idolatry, and eventually they will go into exile because of disobedience. However, this is what God desires from His people - loyalty and obedience to His Word.

God still desires a commitment from His people - a commitment to honor Him and live for Him above everything else in this world.

As followers of Jesus, we’ve made the commitment that we will do what God says. 1 John 2:3: “This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commands. The one who says, ‘I have come to know him,’ yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

Being a follower of Jesus is surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Following Jesus is laying down your desires in exchange for His desires (Luke 9:23).

Do you realize the commitment you made to Jesus when you gave your life to Him? How do you live out that commitment?

Reject easy-believism. Being a Christian isn’t simply praying a prayer to get out of hell. Nor is it casual church attendance. Nor is it growing up in a Christian home. For decades, cultural Christianity has embraced easy-believism. However, you don’t see easy-believism in the NT. You see people who are willing to die because of their faith in Jesus Christ. You see a change of allegiance.

Embrace Jesus as the priority of your life. Jesus is not a priority among a list of priorities. He’s not even the first priority on a list of priorities. (E.g., 1. Jesus, 2. Spouse, 3. Kids, 4. Ministry, 5. Job, etc.) If you look at your relationship with Jesus as merely the top priority - when you move down the list, your attitude is, “I already gave Jesus some of my time today.” Instead, Jesus IS the priority of your life. Everything else finds its meaning and purpose in Christ.

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/06/nx-s1-5388290/audrey-backeberg-missing-wisconsin-woman-found - A commitment to live lost instead of found - you’ve made a commitment to live found - and that has HUGE implications for your life.

Do you realize the price that has been paid? (vs. 4-8)

Moses wrote down the words of God - Moses writing God’s Word - future generations will know what God desires from His people. These are the commands of God for future generations.

An altar built (vs. 12) - twelve pillars a reminder of twelve tribes. Altar = a place of sacrifice and worship. Altars often constructed at significant moments in Israel’s history as a reminder of God’s work among His people. An altar was a place of worship - when God works among His people, the proper response is worship.

Burnt offerings offered (symbol of total commitment) and fellowship offerings (symbol of desire to commune with God).

What follows is a covenant ceremony. In ancient world - a covenant a big deal. Up to this point, God has made a covenant with Adam and Eve, Noah, and Abraham. Gen. 15 - a covenant of blood with Abraham - animals split in half and the presence of God passes through the halved carcasses.

In a covenant relationship, if I don’t keep my end of the covenant, may my blood be shed. If you don’t keep stipulations - it’s going to cost.

A covenant ceremony bonded the two parties into a relationship together. In ancient world, Suzerain/vassal was the most common type of covenant. A greater, more powerful party promise to protect the lesser in exchange for loyalty.

In every secular covenant agreement, there were stipulations. The covenant to Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, and later David, were unconditional covenants. God simply promised that He would deliver on what He promised. In the Mosaic covenant, however, there were stipulations. If Israel failed to obey, they would lose the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 28:15-68).

A covenant of blood - blood on the altar and blood splattered on the people. Seems odd, but a very vivid reminder as the blood of a sacrificial animal stained their clothes - they were bound to God by the shedding of blood. This was serious! It was a matter of life and death!

Blood also a sign of God’s mercy. A covenant of grace - the sacrificial system would be a reminder that God wants desires a relationship with His people even though they cannot keep His covenant commands. God makes a way of atonement through the blood of a sacrificial animal. An animal would died in the place of sinful Israel. (Leviticus 17:11 - Life in the blood. Shed blood = substitute.)

The writer of Hebrews has Exodus 24 in mind when he writes in Hebrews 9:18-22. Writer of Hebrews goes on to say that Jesus is the once and for all sacrifice who has bore the sins of my, who will return, and bring ultimate salvation to all who are waiting for His return.

Jesus has paid the price. We are unable to keep the stipulations of the covenant. Jesus does it for us, and then He goes to the cross and dies in our place as the once and for all sacrifice so that we could be forgiven of all our sins and live in a relationship with the God of all creation.

Treat salvation as a matter of life and death. The only way you can gain eternity is if blood is shed, and no sacrifice other than Christ can take away sins (Hebrews 10:4). Without the sacrifice of Jesus, you are doomed to eternity apart from God because of your rebellion against God.

If salvation is a matter of life and death, you need to give your life to Jesus today!

If salvation is a matter of life and death, we need to share the Good News with urgency.

Beware of spiritual amnesia. Write it down… It’s easy to forget the price that was paid. It’s easy to forget how serious the cross really is. When I forget that Jesus paid it all, I also forget all to Him I owe.

You need visual reminders of the Gospel (Baptism, Lord’s Supper).

You need daily reminders (e.g., Gospel Primer, preach Gospel to yourself, discipleship, accountability).

You need daily confession (1 John 1:9) to remind you that God’s grace does not run out.

Do you realize the privilege you have gained? (vs. 9-18)

vs. 9 - 11 - Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons, along with the seventy elders saw God! And they don’t die! An act of God’s grace! He allows them into His presence! Don’t know what they saw of God. Maybe just His feet? But, it’s a royal and majestic sight - feet on pavement of precious stones. They are in the presence of the King of the universe.

God showed Himself - a willing party to His covenant with them. He has entered into a covenant relationship with His people. You’ve likely had the thought - “I wish I could see God…” Or, “I wish I could get that close to God.” BUT… think of privilege - brought close in a relationship with Jesus. The Spirit of God within you. You are close to God, and someday you will see Him face to face.

They ate and drank - what you do after you enter a covenant relationship. It’s a sign of fellowship. God did not harm them (Exodus 33:20). Sinful people in the presence of God - they deserve judgment, not a meal! But, in grace, God allowed them into His presence.

God’s people invited into a relationship with Him. What a blessing! God desires communion with His people.

Moses ascends the mountain with Joshua. Moses gets closer. He’s invited to come closer to receive the Law on stone tablets. For forty days and forty nights Moses in God’s presence receiving the tablets of God.

Stone = permanent. Ten commands on the tablets - ten on each tablet - one tablet for the suzerain and one for the vassal (Deuteronomy 4:13).

Moses ascends to receive the covenant expectations written in stone for all generations to know how to live before their God. Yet, the people fail.

1500 years, Jesus ascends Mt. Calvary to pay the penalty for our rebellion against God. Jesus died the death we deserved only to rise from the dead three days later so that our sins could be forgiven and we could be given the gift of life abundant and eternal.

Jesus ascended the mountain so we could ascend the mountain and stand and live in the holy place of God and live.

You get to be in the presence of God because of the blood of the New Covenant.

Now, we get to feast with God. Lord’s Supper is a reminder that God has done everything necessary so we could enjoy a relationship with Him. Matthew 26:27-28 - From Epic of Eden (Sandra Richter):

Do you hear the echo of Exodus 24? Moses said, “this is the blood of the covenant”; Jesus said, “this is My blood of the covenant.” This echo is not coincidental, nor was it missed by its first-century audience. Rather, on that Passover night Jesus announced to his disciples that something greater than the exodus was about to transpire. By means of oath and sacrifice, another rabble of slaves was about to be transformed into God’s covenant-people (cf. 1 Pet 2:10). As Moses sprinkled the blood of bulls upon the people of Israel in order to ratify the Sinai covenant, so Jesus distributed his own blood that night to ratify a new covenant. And this time the oaths were not sealed by “the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer,” but by the blood of God the Son (cf. Heb 9:13-15). Moreover, the slaves who were freed from their bondage by this new covenant were not delivered merely from Egypt, but from death itself. Thus we see that the safe and structured communion meal that you and I participate in according to our liturgies and traditions is actually a most abbreviated representation of the ratification of the new covenant. And in this new covenant the Lord of the cosmos has served as both suzerain and sacrifice.

Don’t take for granted the privilege of a relationship with God. Because of the shed blood of Jesus, some day we will see God face to face without the fear of judgment.

How do we live out this privilege of being in a relationship with God?

Don’t let privilege spoil you. An attitude of “God you owe me…” When God doesn’t give you what you pray for you get angry, or worry when God is not at work on your time schedule. Or, you get depressed when you think God has forgotten you. You think because you are in a relationship with God, He should spoil you. God doesn’t owe you. You owe God.

Don’t waste your privilege. You waste the privilege of a relationship with God when you push God to the back burner of life, or when you neglect gathering with the body of Christ, or when neglect the opportunities to serve the Lord, or when you hold on to sin instead of confessing sin.

Live humbled by the privilege of knowing God! Christianity is not “I have to” but “I get to…” I get to walk with God. I get to grow in Christ. I get to live differently than this world. I get to look forward to life eternal. I get to worship.

Following Christ is a serious matter. God is serious about you. Are you serious about Him? Today, if not a follower of Jesus, turn to Him by faith. If a follower, repent of spiritual apathy.