Our Relationship With God

Our Relationship with God
Exodus 24:1-8

Text:
1 And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off. 2 And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him. 3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, all the words which the LORD hath said will we do. 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD. 6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words. [1]

Introduction:

Tonight I want to speak to you concerning our relationship with God.  Christianity is more than religion, it is a relationship.  And it is more than relationships with people; it is a relationship with God.  We all have different kinds of relationships.  Marital relationships, Parental relationships, Family relationships, Employment relationships, Church relationships, Recreational relationships, and others.  But I want to remind you tonight the most important relationship you have and can foster is your relationship with God.  No other relationship compares to the importance of the relationship with have with him—both earthly and eternally.  Exodus Chapter 24 tells us about the relationship between God and the Israelites and points toward our relationship with God as well.

Let’s grasp the context of our text. Chapter 20-23 sets forth the terms of the covenant of this relationship. Chapter 24 describes how it is ratified.  How does this relationship with God come into being and how is it sustained?  That is what we find out in this chapter. 

Notice:

1. The Establishment of This Relationship

Take note of the final words of verse 9, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.”  Clearly this relationship is established by God and not man.  It is God’s that has made this covenant with man.

From the very beginning God is the initiator of this relationship. The Israelites did not go to God and say, “Lord, look we would really like to have a relationship with you.” On the contrary, this whole arrangement was God’s idea. It was God who chose them; it was God who had approached them and it God who made this covenant with them.

God acted here independently as well.  Most covenants were dependent of the works of both parties but not this one.  This covenant is based on what God will do and does not take into account what man can accomplish.  This relationship will not begin or be maintained by what man does or does not do. The key truth to understand is that our relationship with God rests on what he has done for us and not what we do for him.

So our relationship with God was something God wanted, something God desired and something God established.

2.  The Engaging of This Relationship!

The relationship between God and man is engaged by the Word of God.  It is helpful to notice the emphasis on the Word of God in the text.  One thing to remember is that you cannot subtract the Word and have a relationship with God.  So many churches are making that tragic mistake.  They offer entertainment and the remove the reading and the preaching of the word and they expect people to somehow to have a relationship with God.  It just can’t happen without the Word of God.

Paul made this truth clear in Romans 10, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? [2]” The Word of God is essential to this relationship.

Notice the Demands of The Word. God is not in negotiation here and he is not bargaining.  He has issued Ten Commandments and then has issued the book of the Covenant that deals with what God expects from his people in their everyday life.  The Word of God contains the demands of God.

Moses comes to the people from God and what does he do?  He reads to them the Word of God—Chapters 20-23.  He tells them all that God demands of them in this life.

Notice the Declaration to the Word. What is the response to the demands of God’s Word?  If there is going to be a relationship then there must be the presentation of its demands and then there must be an agreement to its demands.  Here is the reaction, “All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.”  There is agreement to the demands. God says do this and this and do it this way and don’t do it this way.  And the people say, Yes, Lord!

This does not mean than our relationship with God depends on our keeping the demands but it does mean that our relationship with God does depend on our agreeing with the demands of His Word.

Our agreement with the Word fleshes itself out when we realize that we have failed to keep His Word and therefore guilty and under his wrath for our disobedience.  It is when we don’t see failure and our guilt for falling short is when we dismiss his word and we disagree with it.

So we know we have failed or we have disagreed with his Word but we are presented with one who has kept his demands and we place our trust in him because we agree with his demands.  Faith is Jesus Christ is our saying, Yes Lord to every demand of his word.

3.  The Effectualness of This Relationship!

So far we have seen our relationship with God is established by God and it engaged by an agreement to the demands of God’s Word.  Now something has to seal this relationship.  Something has to make this relationship effectual and permanent.  And the thing that does that is blood.  Our relationship with God is through a blood covenant.  What binds this relationship is blood.

And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.

The blood sprinkled on both parties ties them together in this relationship.  It is significant that the blood is first sprinkled on the altar of God.  It happens in that order because it must meet the Approval of God.  The propitiation must move God ward first. God must be appeased or there can be no relationship.  One of the truths that we often overlook is that God is the offended party of sin. God is the one that is angry at sin.  God is the one who is promising hell to sinners.  He must be satisfied.  He must be paid the ransom price.  The blood goes God-ward first for his approval.

Then the blood is applied to the People.  Again, notice the blood is applied when they agree with the Word of God as read by Moses.  The blood of the covenant does not cover everyone, but only those who agree with the Word.  When they agree, the blood is sprinkled on them. 

This entire blood sprinkling carries great significance.  The blood is the ingredient that commences this relationship and maintains the relationship.  If the relationship depended on my obedience, then we have trouble.  Fellowship depends on my obedience, not relationship.  This relationship depends on the bond of blood.  The same blood that made peace with God and began this relationship is the blood that keeps peace with God and maintains this relationship.  Blood is always the basis for our relationship with God.

Of course you understand that our relationship with God is precisely the same as the Israelites with one exception.  What were shadows in their relationship with God is reality in Christ for us.

We said that God Established Our Relationship with Him.  He did that when he sent his only begotten Son to come into this world to live and die for our sin and forgiveness.

We said that God Engaged Our Relationship with Him through his Word.  He makes demands for his Word. And we must declare our agreement.  The Apostle John says in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  Jesus Christ is the Word and the demand on us to the believe that he is the Son of God, the chosen Messiah, that his sacrifice on the cross was in our stead and in our place and through him we have peace with God.  We must agree to repent and place faith in Christ for our salvation.  The relationship cannot be engaged without Christ.

Then finally, we said that the Effectual aspect of this Relationship is in the bonds of blood.  And you know that it is not our obedience that makes this relationship go, it is the obedience of Jesus Christ who was perfectly obedient, even unto death.  God accepts his Son’s blood and when we agree with his Word, his blood is applied to us and that binds us with God.

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[1] The Holy Bible : King James Version. electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version. Bellingham WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995, S. Ex 24:1-8

[2] The Holy Bible : King James Version. electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version. Bellingham WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995, S. Ro 10:13-15