Gods Big Enough to Matter
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We are in the series Out of Egypt. We have seen God begin to give the Hebrews experiences so they would know who he is. You have been rescued out of Egypt. How would you describe what God is like? Would you have a lot of experiences?
Localized God?
Take care of everyday needs?
What is God like? video
Out of our experiences… How does God want to be known? This is very important.
Companies spend millions so people will see them in a certain way- … important what God is like
11 and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 Put boundaries for the people all around the mountain and say: Be careful that you don’t go up on the mountain or touch its base. Anyone who touches the mountain will be put to death. 13 No hand may touch him; instead he will be stoned or shot with arrows. No animal or man will live. When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they may go up the mountain.”
14 Then Moses came down from the mountain to the people and consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. 15 He said to the people, “Be prepared by the third day. Do not have sexual relations with women.”
16 On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a loud trumpet sound, so that all the people in the camp shuddered. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.
20 The Lord came down on Mount Sinai at the top of the mountain. Then the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and he went up. 21 The Lord directed Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to see the Lord; otherwise many of them will die. 22 Even the priests who come near the Lord must purify themselves or the Lord will break out in anger against them.”
23 But Moses responded to the Lord, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, since You warned us: Put a boundary around the mountain and consider it holy.” 24 And the Lord replied to him, “Go down and come back with Aaron. But the priests and the people must not break through to come up to the Lord, or He will break out in anger against them.” 25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.
How did God prepare his people for the Mosaic Covenant?
How did God prepare his people for the Mosaic Covenant?
Prepare, get ready, pay attention
Don’t try to go up the mountain to get information about God. v. 12
Theology means “the science of God,” and I think any man who wants to think about God at all would like to have the clearest and most accurate ideas about Him that are available. C. S. Lewis
God’s self-revelation more important than what we try to apprehend on our own.
Nature - that there is good and bad, longing for heaven that it exists
C. S. Lewis perhaps put it best: “If we find in ourselves a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
Bible - He reveals himself in his actions and by his word, teaching, commands
Don’t touch it 12b - does this mean god does not want us to know him?
holiness - God does communicate something about himself. - power, separate, different. Cant take him for granted. Electrical Power Station- fences all around, Rail road crossing laws. Nuclear power site. Seriousness
V 14, focus- special set aside time
Exodus 19:16-19 lightening, thunder, smoke, shook violently Moses spoke with God
Not to be taken for granted
Rest of the verses - people or priests breaking through or God breaking out in anger
How did God prepare his people for Jesus, the Messiah?
How did God prepare his people for Jesus, the Messiah?
Promised in the Old Testament was that God would make a new covenant. Jeremiah 31:31
31 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
When we take the Lord’s Supper “This is the New Covenant in my blood”
Just the right time - Kairos
4 When the time came to completion, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
Was Jesus holy and set apart? Yes
7 He was preaching: “Someone more powerful than I will come after me. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of His sandals.
Is there a separation? No one comes to the Father except through me
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
How are you brought into this new covenant?
12 But to all who did receive Him,
He gave them the right to be children of God,
to those who believe in His name,
How does God prepare us for hearing him today?
How does God prepare us for hearing him today?
Our culture today doesn’t like rules. Especially religious rules— Dogma. Because we don’t like dogma, we have low views of God. The Mountain is not holy, Light shows. For many of us, its not real. So when we think, will God hear my prayers. We think of the 7 Billion people on the planet and think of him answering all those prayers, and for us it look like the movie Bruce Almighty. It’s not that God can’t, but that we cannot imagine how he could. Listen, our view of God is too small.
There is part of the book of Ezekiel that speaks about God and his greatness, Jewish people were told they could not read it until they were 30.
Put aside time - Pray and seek him. Quiet your world
Don’t tell God how he is going to be or what he is going to do. Let him tell you. Put yourself in a place where he can speak. In his word, preaching, with other Christians.
(Majesty, thunder and rumbling) Expect that God is big enough to make a difference. Then let God come down with how he wants you to know him and obey him. God won’t come down with something for me … isn't that too much to expect?
21 The one who has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me. And the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father. I also will love him and will reveal Myself to him.”