Sermon Tone Analysis

We preach book by book, verse by verse, and we preach the whole counsel of God.

We do this type of preaching because we believe it is the most profitable means in which preaching should be one.

We let the Word of God dictate for us what we are to preach and what we are to say.

As we have traveled throughout the book of exodus, we have seen who God is, how he relates to his people, his grace, his mercy, and his justice.

we have seen pictures or shadows of what was to come in Jesus Christ.

As we continue to worship this morning and do it by the preaching of the word, lets read the word and pray, so that we may ask for the spirits help, knowing that God is near to us.

Marriage is a beautiful picture to what we are going to learn about this morning.

One man entering into a covenant with his bride, promising to love her for the rest of their days.

The bride promising the groom to remain by his side till death takes either one of them.

The Marriage covenant between the bride and the groom as they enter into it, show a devotion to one another.

No other man will take His bride.

No other woman will take her groom.

They promise to be devoted to one another, in sickness and health, through thick and thin.

Devotion comes from the relational understanding of Who they are to each other in this covenant.

While this is not a marriage sermon, the picture of marriage is seen here in Exodus 19 .

Through the convenant that God makes with Israel.

Israel will now be devoted to him.

God gives a promise that the Israelites will be his treasured possession.

This relationship between God and israel now points to the church in the new covenant brought by Jesus’s blood.

When we get to Exodus 19 we see a covenant being reminded to the people of Israel.

They are going to hear the covenant and enter into it understanding that, they are to live devoted lives to their God and Savior for the rest of their existence.

The Christian enters into a covenant with God through Jesus Christ .

For the Christian, our lives are now to be lived devoted to our savior.

MPT: God is preparing his people to live as his people.

MPS: Jesus has brought is into a new and better covenant, worship and Devote yourself to your savior.

1. Reminding of the Covenant (1-9)

We return, with Moses and the Israelites, to the Mountain of Sinai.

Sinai is going to be central for the people of Israel up until they leave for the three day journey to the promise land, in which they will do twice, the first three day journey they will not enter into the land, It is then separated by 40 years of wandering, and then another return to Sinai before traveling three days into the promised land with Joshua.

As the people of Israel come to the Mountain for the first time, they are unfamiliar.

However, Moses knows this mountain quite well.

Moses encounters the true and living God for the first time upon this mountain in the form of a burning bush.

In God’s providential redemption plan for his people, the Israelite arrive and for them this place is going to signify a new relationship between the Israelites and God himself.

The Israelites have seen a God that has saved them from slavery to be his people, now God is going to show them what that relationship is going to look like, how they are going to act and how they will live.

To do this god issues a covenant.

Covenants are not new in the biblical storyline.

God made a covenant with Adam in the Garden, Noah after the flood, and Abraham.

Each covenant that God makes with mankind follows a form.

God declares who he is, then he declares who is to be a part of the covenant, then he gives the stipulations.

For the Abrahamic covenant, God covenants with Abraham that from Abraham God will establish offspring and from that offspring all the nations of the earth will be bless.

From Abraham, there was Isaac, then from Isaac there was Jacob and from Jacob came the twelve tribes of Israel.

The same people here that have traveled through the wilderness to the bottom of this mountain.

Moses goes up to the top of the mountain.

This will be The first out of many trips of Moses Moses will go up and down this mountain interceding on behalf of God and his people for a year.

The Lord speaks to Moses and God is in this moment is Reminding the people of Israel of the Covenant that he made with Abraham and showing the continuation of that covenant for the people of Israel now.

There are four things i want us to see as God is reminding them in this Covenant

Notice who this covenant is coming from

God in verse 4 reminds Israel who he is.

This covenant comes from Yahweh, The I AM.

The one who showed himself to Moses, The one that deliver the people of Israel from Egypt.

They had seen the Lord’s judgement upon Pharaoh and Egypt.

They had see the plagues that happened to the Egyptians, and saw the grace that was shown upon them as they were not affected by the plagues.

They saw his grace extend to them as they crossed the sea unharmed and Pharaoh’s army destroyed.

They saw him guide them by a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day.

They saw him issue manna from heaven in the morning and even give them water that came from a rock.

They have seen how powerful he was from a distance.

God continues to remind them who he is by pointing to what he has done for them.

He says, “how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself.”

God uses the imagery of the Eagle to show how he has swooped down to protect the people of Israel, further, It shows the fearlessness and power found in the bird of prey.

Through this poetic language God is speaking of the saving work that he did for Israel to bring them out of slavery and make them his own people.

Next, I want you to see the stipulations of the covenant.

Remember that they are already in this covenant with God because of what he has done to redeem the people to himself.

Because of what God has done in saving them, they are now to obey his voice and keep the covenant.

Notice, that obedience is not found here as a means for Israel to be saved.

They have been saved, therefore they obey.

Their obedience is an out-flowing response to God’s saving work on they behalf.

They are to be devoted to God, because they have been redeemed by him.

This is for their own good and benefit.

This saving work of God was done by grace for the people of Israel.

He already chose to make them a nation.

He brought them out of slavery.

Now they are to live devoted to him.

Third, As God is reminding them of the Covenant that he has made with them, he shows their benefit for being in the covenant

They will be his treasure possession

Out of all the nations in the earth God will take the nation of Israel as a personal treasure.

There were to be his people and he was to be their God.

God’s relationship with Israel was to be like a Father to a son.

One of intimate love as he was their protector and fortress.

They were to be his personal possession from out of all people.

They were the most prized possession for a special purpose.

They will be a kingdom of priest

It was not that all of the people of Israel would be those who were priest because God is going to establish the levites to be priest in the chapters to follow.

However, They were to be the means in which the nations were brought to God.

They were to be the means in which the nations, tribes and people groups were to be reconciled to God.

They would be the means in which redemption for the sinfulness of man was to be reconciled.

They will be a holy nation

Holy means set apart.

Different.

We can see this in some of the laws that the people were given.

How different they were to be than the nations that surrounded them.

They were to reflect God’s holiness and perfect standard in the law that they were about to receive.

Christ

I want you to quickly think through the biblical storyline.

Israel does not obey.

God requires in his law, perfect and perpetual obedience.

As we see in this covenant made by God, Israel does not fulfill their duties and they forfeit their benefit to be God’s personal treasure, a kingdom of priest, and a Holy Nation.

However, The true and better Israel came.

The one to whom the covenant was fulfilled in.

Jesus Christ came and obeyed where Israel disobeyed.

He is the one who God’s beloved son, In whom the father was well pleased.

(Matthew 3:17) He is the father’s treasured possession.