Meeting God

Over the last several weeks, we have looked at the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are first recorded in Exodus 20, after Moses came down from the Mountain. God had delivered Israel out of the slavery of Egypt, and shown his mighty power and authority over all creation, and He gave these Ten Commandments as a moral law to live by.

It is important we understand something, or else we may attempt to get out of our responsibility to obey the moral laws of God, and that is that these Commandments are not only for ancient Israel, they are for all of us. There are parts of the covenant between God and Israel that do not apply to us, and we are so thankful for that. Jesus said He came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. There are many rules and laws, mostly regarding worship, that were exclusively for the people of Israel. They may be called holiness laws. Holiness means setting apart. God’s chosen people, Israel, had a bunch of rules that would make them be set apart from the pagan communities around them. Rules about what they could eat, how they needed to dress, how to deal with the Dead, and so on.

There were also ceremonial laws, or maybe we could call these the laws of worship. The sacrificial system is a big part of that. God was very specific about how his people were to worship him, how to atone for sin, how to remove guilt, and so forth. Thankfully for us, Jesus becomes or once and for all sacrifice for sin. We don’t have to keep bringing animals to the altar. Our church is not a slaughterhouse, which the temple literally was. Our sacrifices to the Lord are to be our very selves, our bodies and souls and everything we are, everything we have. All of our heart and soul and mind.

These ceremonial laws were very strict, and God at times reminded the people how to regard the worship of the Holy God. The priest Aaron’s sons were killed for bringing unauthorized fire into the tabernacle. Uzzah was killed for merely touching the ark of God, because He touched it in an unauthorized manner. These are just a couple examples of how seriously God regarded His rules for how the people were to worship Him. It was a deadly serious business, worshiping God.

And though we are not held to the standard of worship that God imposed on Israel, we can learn much from the worship God prescribed, and we should always evaluate our own worship in light of that, lest we become arrogant in our worship, or lose our holy fear of God. We are not held to the holiness laws Israel was. We are ok to eat foods they didn’t, thank God. (Bacon). We can wear clothes made of two different materials. We do not have a complicated set of rules we must follow perfectly to enter into God’s presence, and even then only the priest on behalf of God as His representative. We are given access through Jesus, we put faith that Jesus’ death was sufficient once and for all, so the only meat of animals we bring to the church are when we are going to prepare them in delicious dishes for a fellowship meal. We are not required to be circumcised, we are not required to keep the passover and other feasts that God required of Israel.

Thank God we are not subject to all of those laws! But we are subject to the moral laws, for they are eternal. We cannot throw out the Ten Commandments as some old rules for one society in past history. God reveals himself to all people through His creation: Romans 1:18-20

Romans 1:18–20 ESV

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

The moral law is indeed written on our hearts. Romans2.14-15

Romans 2:14–15 ESV

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

Our righteousness is not in keeping the commands, because we are unable to perfectly keep them, and if we break any part of the moral law, we have broken all of them. So where does our righteousness come from? Christ alone.

Romans 1:16–17 ESV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

But we know that Paul also teaches that though our righteousness comes by faith, and not through keeping the law, that does not give us any license to sin. Rom6.1-2

Romans 6:1–2 ESV

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

So God’s Moral Law as found in the Ten Commandments are still valid today. This is why Christians have so often posted the Ten Commandments in visible places. They used to teach them in public school, and they would be on the wall of many classrooms, and on the walls of people’s homes, and the tradition of listing those certainly goes to Deuteronomy 6, which we will be getting into next week, but includes a command of God that the people of Israel write His laws on the very doorposts of their house and on their gates.

Now, until now, this has just been my introduction to our passage. A quick recap: Moses is reminding the Israelites about to enter the promised land of how God gave the commandments. This would be, in literature, a flashback. So after listing the commandments, Moses continues:

Deuteronomy 5:22–6:3 ESV

“These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. And as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live. Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’ “And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever! Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’ You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess. “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

3 Observances:

The Commandments (Words) were audibly heard

The people wanted a mediator

Their response earns God’s approval

The commandments were audibly heard. This is very significant. What is referred to as the Ten Words, and we call the Ten Commandments, was heard audibly from the mouth of God to the people of Israel. There are not many examples of a group of people all hearing the audible voice of God. But these people heard His voice. The people present at the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist heard the audible voice of God, when He proclaimed that Jesus was His beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased.

Now, there are people who claim to have heard the voice of God audibly, and since God can speak however He pleases to people, I will not deny it can happen. Some of them we know are lying because they claim God said something that either does not align with scripture, or is a prophetic claim of something that will happen and does not happen, they are liars. In Jeremiah 23 there are some serious warnings to those who would claim to have a word from the Lord. Do not ever flippantly say the Lord has told you something that you are to tell others. I’ve seen it many times in the church, but many times it amounts to what is spoken of in Jeremiah, where Jeremiah is rebuking those who have a “burden of the Lord”, or in other words, a word form the Lord. Some people in the church will say they have a word of knowledge.

But Jeremiah says to those false prophets, the liars, Jer23.34-36

Jeremiah 23:34–36 ESV

And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ I will punish that man and his household. Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man’s own word, and you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God.

Does God speak audibly to people? He can do whatever He wants, so I cannot say He does not or can not. However, scripture is full of warnings to those who would claim to speak for him. But thankfully, we do not need to rely on modern day prophets to tell us a word from the Lord, for He has given us his Word. There is a reason so many people have fought to get the Scriptures into the hands of people, from Luther and Tyndale to the Gideons today, the realization that the Word of God is the only reliable source to know for certain the will of God has driven men and women to risk their very lives to put a copy of this word into the hands of people.

If you want to hear God’s Word audibly, read your bible out loud. Or listen to someone else read it. It you want to see in writing God’s will for your life, read the Bible. We may not hear as a congregation the actual voice of God like the Israelites did, or those who heard him at the baptism of Jesus, but we can know for certain God’s Word, delivered to us in written form. We are privileged to have access to the Word, most of us, at any moment in time. You don;’t even have to carry a book around with you. Most of us have phones that we can look at scripture on.

They heard the commandments given audibly, and that ought to make us realize that these ten commandments, or ten words, are very important. The rest of the rules God had for the people he gave through Moses, but the Ten Commandments were given verbally to the people by God and also written on stone tablets.

And here in Deuteronomy we see that even if we heard the audible voice of God, we probably could not bear it. For Moses recalls to the people that as soon as they heard the voice, they came to Moses in fear.

Deuteronomy 5:24–27 ESV

And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live. Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’

You see, their response to witnessing the power of God, the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, they realized two things. First, that a rare thing had just happened. They saw God speak with man, and man still lived. They realized the power and majesty and holiness of God was too much for them. They realized this is a rare occasion, when God spoke to man and man still lived. But in the same breath, they state their understanding that this is not sustainable, they realize they cannot meet the standard of holiness, they need a mediator.

They see that they cannot stand before God. They know this can’t continue, that if they stayed in the presence of God, they would die. Deut 5.25

Deuteronomy 5:25 ESV

Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die.

Do you tremble at the thought of God’s holiness? You ought to. Christians have the privilege of access to this holy God because we wear the cloak of righteousness that comes from Jesus. And yes, He told his disciples he called them friends. But be very careful that you do not have an attitude towards God that you say he is a friend, yet forgetting to have a proper reverence towards him. There is a song, I am a friend of God, and I knew a guy at Bible College that did not like this song. He said, the problem is that so many Christians sing a song like this and put God in the friend zone just as they would speak to him like their buddy. “Let’s go hang out together, tell some jokes, have a laugh. O God, you are such a nice friend”.

Too many Christians today have no understanding or respect for God. In fact, someone has made the case that Christians are the greatest violators of the third commandment. You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain, or speak it lightly. If you think he is just your buddy, you will be more likely to take lightly His name. But the people who were there at the giving of the commandments had no such illusions about the greatness, the majesty, the omniscience, the holiness of God. They realized they would be consumed by Him. They wanted a mediator.

So now this Moses, who not too long before this, they wanted to string up, is who they look to to be the buffer between them and this awesome, fearsome, holy God. They now tell Moses they will trust Him to be their mediator. You go to God, and bring us His words. We cannot bear to be in His presence again. Implied in all of this is a realization of their sinfulness and inability to stand before God. The need and intermediary. You see, those who have even a beginning of an understanding of God’s holiness will desire to have a buffer between him and us. One person said, “the sight of God kills either the sin or the sinner.”

Another said, the mediation of Moses was craved by the people, because the manifestation of God’s holiness overwhelms sinful men. Moses not only endured this manifestation, but wen up alone into the thick darkness where God was. This shows the greatness of Moses. He was exceptional. Their desire for a mediator shows a tendency to enhance in their minds the impression of God’s holiness and the feeling of their own sinfulness.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume Deuteronomy 5:23–33

2. Their earnest request that God would henceforth speak to them by Moses, with a promise that they would hear what he said as from God himself, and do it, v. 27. It seems by this, (1.) That they expected to receive further commands from God and were willing to hear more from him. (2.) That they thought Moses able to bear those discoveries of the divine glory which they by reason of guilt were sensible of their inability to stand up under. They believed him to be a favourite of Heaven, and also one that would be faithful to them; yet at other times they murmured at him, and but a little before this were ready to stone him, Ex. 17:4. See how men’s convictions correct their passions. (3.) That now they were in a good mind, under the strong convictions of the word they heard. Many have their consciences startled by the law that have them not purified; fair promises are extorted from them, but no good principles fixed and rooted in them.

People who understand the seriousness of God’s holiness have always desired a buffer, or mediator, between them and God. There is an old Clint Eastwood movie called Hang ‘Em High. In this movie, there is a judge who is judge over an entire territory. He is the only law in all of Oklahoma, and he is known as the hanging judge. He takes law and order very seriously, and life and death as well. He has compassion for even some who he must sentence to be hung. And this judge is actually based on a real judge that existed, who was appointed by Ulysses S. Grant.

But right near the end of the movie, the judge tells Clint Eastwood’s character about the burden of his position. He wishes he were not the only law in such a large territory, that his decisions could be overseen or checked by someone else. He says this:

Well, maybe that's inevitable when there's only one man, one court, with the power of final justice over a territory that's five times the size of most states! Mistakes? Oh, I've made 'em, Cooper. Don't you doubt about that. Don't you doubt, either, there are times sitting up there in that judgement seat I have wished, I have prayed, that there was someone standing between me and God Almighty – someone with the power to say, "You're wrong, Fenton! You've made an error in law – that this man deserves another trial, this man here a reprieve, and this man is innocent!" But until this territory becomes a state, with a governor, and a state court of appeals, I am the law here – all the law. If you don't like that, you can cuss me till hell freezes over ... or you can join me, Cooper; even fight me. Help me turn this godforsaken territory into a state where no one man calls himself the law!

He took his responsibility seriously, so seriously that he wished there was another mediator between him and God. Imagine this sort of pressure. As judge, he made a final decision to send over 100 men to be hung, and he realized even his best fell far short of perfection. Likely every judge is subject to mistakes, but in his case there were no appeals courts available. His judgement was final, and he wished there was another mediator.

When we realize the seriousness of our relationship with the Holy, holy, holy God, we realize we ned a mediator. And when the people asked for Moses to be their mediator, God approved of their response, or perhaps put this way: He approved of their attitude. Deut5.28-33

Deuteronomy 5:28–33 ESV

“And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever! Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’ You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.

So after this, the rest of the commandments were given to Moses directly to pass on to the people. They got their mediator. But in the language, there is a hint that God realizes this will not always be their attitude. “oh that they had such a heart as this always!”

3 Observances:

The Commandments (Words) were audibly heard

The people wanted a mediator

Their response earns God’s approval

There are other observances we could make, but these three are what we are considering this morning. The passage continues and flows right into Deuteronomy 6, which Lord willing we will dive into next Sunday, and especially as we embark on D6 everyday as our goal and mission as a church is to be a people of the Word, who live it out and obey it, and our particular focus right now is preparing our hearts and giving the resources to every person to be obedient to the charge of Deuteronomy 6.4-9

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Context is king. The context of this command found in Deuteronomy 6 is that Moses has just recalled to the people the giving of the Ten Commandments. He is directly linking the loving of God to the keeping of His Commandments. He is charging every generation to teach their children by word and deed the ways of God. He also links the keeping of his commands to long life. God himself said to Moses that if they would have the heart of humility they showed for a moment there when the Ten Commandment were given, that it would go well with them. Later in Deuteronomy we will look at how God gave a list of curses if the people did not follow Him, and a list of blessings if they did.

So why do we obey? First, because God is the creator and most powerful, and He has commanded us. His moral law is eternal, and we are to obey it. Second, we obey because God has proven himself faithful to us. The prelude to the commandments was a reminder that he brought them out of Egypt. For us today, believers have seen God prove himself faithful in providing salvation through the gospel. And third, we obey because we love. If you love me, Jesus said, you will keep my commandments. Jesus affirmed the Ten Commandments were for believers today, and in fact he even made them more clear to us, bringing the moral imperative.

We may not audibly hear God’s voice, but we have his word. We must have a holy reverence and fear of God, that while we may call him friend we realize that we could not stand before him without a mediator. Thank God that he has provided us with such a mediator!

1 Timothy 2:1–7 ESV

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 8:6 ESV

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

Not only do we have the written commands, but his law is written on our hearts: Heb8.10-13

Hebrews 8:10–13 ESV

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Now we must remember the moral law of God, as shown in part in the Ten Commandments, is not obsolete. What is obsolete is the old covenant and its requirements for blood sacrifice and all those other holiness and ceremonial laws I spoke of earlier. We in the new covenant are still responsible to obey the moral laws.

And scripture tells us that those in the New Covenant face the same temptation to refuse to hear from God. Yet the hope of the believer is that we are in a kingdom that cannot be shaken. The writer to the Hebrews rejoices that we are no longer at that mountain, but are instead have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God. Believers are made perfect by Him. They have come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. And therefore we are not to refuse to listen to this gospel.

Hebrews 12:18–29 ESV

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and 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, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

Our God is a consuming fire. The people of Israel knew it and begged for Moses to be their mediator. May we understand that God is still a consuming fire, for He does not change. For the unrepentant sinner, the judgment day will be full of fear and pain and a true realization of the holiness, majesty, and power of God.

If you are living in opposition to God, he is warning you through this preaching to leave your sins behind and put faith in Jesus. If you do not put faith in the mediator, Jesus, then on judgment day nothing will stand between you and the wrath of God, who is a consuming fire. I preach a hard message, because I cam called to do so and because I love God and people. This message is not what many want today. They want an escape from God’s wrath without a turning from sin. They want an escape from the wrath of God without a man on the cross. They want to heaven but they don’t want God himself.

You may mock, you may laugh, but this truth is not revoked by the majority who refuse it. This truth is not undone by rebellious people. If you hate God and reject His moral law, and further, refuse the sacrifice of Jesus on your behalf, then you have no mediator. Satan will not buffer you from the wrath of God. All the demons cannot buffer you. If you reject the gospel of Jesus Christ, you are left with no buffer. In Revelation it says the people under the wrath of God will plead for the very mountains to fall on them, as though that will buffer them from the wrath of God, but even if they were buried under the mountains, the wrath of God would yet consume them.

Do not take lightly your eternal destiny. For the unrepentant sinner, it is eternal, conscious torment, and for the believer, eternal bliss in the presence of God, who through Jesus will prefect us to be able to stand in His presence.

Believe in Jesus. Repent and believe the gospel.

Romans 1:16–17 ESV

Believe and receive the righteousness of Christ by faith, and you can look forward with eager anticipation to meeting God, instead of the dread that every sinner should feel.

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