Egypt to Canaan (5): Sinai and - the Character of God, the Children of Israel, Calvary, the Christian

We're reading tonight in Exodus chapter 19, verse 1 of Exodus 19. In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For they were departed from Rephidim and were come to the desert of Sinai and had pitched in the wilderness.

And there Israel camped before the Mount. And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel, Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagles' wings. That's a remarkable expression.

I bear you on eagles' wings and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. For all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation.

These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And Moses came and called for the elders of the people and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.

And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear what I speak with thee, and believe thee forever. And Moses told the words of the Lord of the people unto the Lord.

And the Lord said to Moses, Go unto the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes and be ready against the third day. For the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. Now verse 16, please, of this chapter.

And it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the nether part of the mount, and Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire.

And the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. Chapter 20, please, in verse 1. And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me, and so on. Look at verse 18 of this chapter. And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountains smoking.

And when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, speak thou with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die.

And Moses said unto the people, fear not, for God has come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. I believe that this is the most difficult subject that's on this chart, maybe the most difficult for the preacher. I was thinking today about the subject for the meeting tonight, and I'm very conscious of the fact that we could repeat a lot of facts.

And they could be true things. They could be doctrinally sound. They could be most correct.

And yet they could be as clear as an icicle and twice as cold. And I was impressed with the fact that what we've just read is perhaps one of the most important parts of the Word of God. This year that the children of Israel spent pitched before the Mount Sinai is without doubt one of the most important years in the history of mankind.

And of course, some would argue without question that there has been no year parallel to it. And yet it's strange that sometimes such important events can have so little effect upon us. And perhaps in reading through the chapters that deal with the time when Israel pitched before the Mount, perhaps we're not greatly impressed.

And perhaps there's very little that we really glean for our souls from it. Tonight, I want to try to speak to you under four very simple headings. And I believe that there'll be something in it that's very practical.

And I hope there'll be something for our hearts. I want to think first of all of Sinai and the character of God. And then Sinai and the children of Israel.

Sinai and Calvary. And Sinai and the Christian. Now, it took two months to come from Ramses here in the land of Egypt down to this place where they pitched before Mount Sinai.

There were nine stages in this journey from Egypt to Sinai, but it only took two months. And now they've come to Mount Sinai and they pitched before Mount Sinai for 11 months and five days. And the period of time that Israel spent at Sinai takes up 58 chapters in the word of God.

From Exodus chapter 19 and verse 1 to Numbers chapter 10 and verse 11. 58 chapters, including 27 chapters of the book of Leviticus. 58 chapters are taken up with the 11 months and five days that they spent pitched before Mount Sinai.

Now, in comparison to that, whenever God is describing the creation of heaven and earth, he does it in 21 verses. And if I was to judge the importance of events by the length of time or the space that's given to them in scripture, then I would certainly say that the time that Israel spent before Mount Sinai was perhaps the most important of the history of Israel. Certainly that's true without a question.

That time that they spent before the month, before the mount can really be divided into three sections. And if it helps you to understand it, then it's worthwhile pointing it out to you. Chapter 19 of Exodus is a section all by itself.

Chapter 19 of Exodus deals with the revelation of the divine character. God revealed himself in his character of righteousness and holiness, inflexible justice, a God who dwells in light, the fearful Lord, the God of Israel. That's chapter 19 of the book of Exodus.

It's the revelation of the divine character. Now, the next section that deals with this time spent before Mount Sinai runs from Exodus chapter 20, all the way to the end of the book of Leviticus, to Leviticus 27. And it deals with the constitution of Israel as a nation.

We sang tonight, Lord, we are thine, bought by thy blood. Once the poor guilty slaves of sin, thou hast redeemed us to our God and made thy spirit dwell within. Israel could not have sung that God had made his spirit dwell within them, but they certainly could have sung the rest.

They were the guilty slaves of sin. They were held in bitter bondage and they were purchased by blood. They had been brought out of the land of camp of Egypt, out into the wilderness.

And we read that remarkable statement in Exodus chapter 19, that God didn't bring them out merely, but we read that he brought them onto himself. I think that's a remarkable statement. You know, Jeremiah, the prophet must have had that in mind when by the spirit of God, he wrote those words that Israel went after God in the wilderness.

It was God that they went to seek out into that barren desert where there was nothing for nature. There they learned God. There they found the reality of the presence of God.

Now, the third section of this time that was spent before the mount is from the beginning of the book of numbers to the end of the 10th verse of the 10th chapter. And that deals with the preparation for the journey that yet lay before them. And it was to be a long, long wandering rather than a short journeying.

It would have only been a short journey from Sinai to Canaan, but because of the rebellion of the people, it became a long period of wandering. So these 58 chapters that deal with the time that Israel spent before Mount Sinai really have to do, first of all, with a revelation of the Lord to his people, with the regulations of God for his people, and with the provision of God to meet their need. Now, the character of God is revealed to us in Exodus 19.

And I don't know anything that would be of more interest to us as God's people than to learn God. I know that there are mysteries in the Godhead that we can never found. And yet the Lord Jesus came to reveal the Father.

No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten son in the bosom of the Father, he has led him forth into revelation. And in Exodus 19, there are three things that are taught us about the character of God.

We're taught, first of all, about the divine purpose. That's from verse 3 to verse 8 of Exodus 19. The purpose of God for his people.

That's like Ephesians chapter 1, where you read of the God who purposed in himself. You read of his will for his people. And you read of a day that's coming when God will gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth.

So the first thing in Exodus 19 that you learn about God's character is his purpose for his people. Of course, the next thing that we learn about his character is the sanctification of his people. They're set apart unto God.

And the third thing we learn is the fact that God delights to reveal himself to them. He manifested himself to these wilderness people. Now, I think perhaps if you look at Exodus 19 with me and follow the verses as closely as you can, and I'll follow them just as simply as I can, perhaps we'll see exactly what the spirit of God has in mind.

You know, when they come out of Egypt, they were to learn the faithfulness of God. The record of these journeyings is a record of the sin of Israel, their rebellion, their waywardness, their unbelief, their faithlessness. I can't tell you whether I'm glad of the record.

Sometimes it makes me so guilty. It's such a mirror to show me my own heart, but I can't say that there's times when I really find a great deal of pleasure in it, for it really shows me myself. But as we were saying last night, it exposes the human heart in the presence of divine grace.

For throughout the journeyings of Israel, God was displaying his faithfulness. When they came from Egypt, they learned, first of all, redemption. They were purchased by blood, and they learned the value of the blood of the Lamb.

I wonder, has everyone in the meeting tonight learned the value of the blood of Calvary's Lamb? And can you say from your heart, I have been to the altar and witnessed the Lamb burn holy to ashes for me, and watched its sweet savor ascending on high, accepted, O Father, by thee? They learned of God's character in redemption out of Egypt. They learned of God's character by the guidance they received. For the pillar of cloud came down at Etham, and the pillar of fire by night to guide them along the way.

And they learned the faithfulness of God, regardless of their rebellion of the people, regardless of what they said against God or against Moses, there was the pillar of cloud to guide them. And God, in his faithfulness, said it would never depart from them until they were landed safe in the land of Canaan. That pillar of cloud was an evidence of God's faithfulness.

Of course, they learned of the power of God at the Red Sea. They were brought through that Red Sea by the mighty miracle working God. And it was a mighty miracle God performed on their behalf.

You'd wonder that they could ever forget it. And you know that only three days from the time they sang redemption song at the Red Sea, and their hearts swelled up in thanksgiving to God for his great deliverance, within three days they were murmuring against God. We were saying the other night that when they came out of the land of Egypt, the psalmist tells us there was not one feeble one among them.

But last night we were reading that Amalek, who fought with them here, that Amalek was tracing behind the pathway of Israel and the stragglers, those who lagged behind, and the feeble among them were cut off by Amalek. So it didn't take long for the feeble to appear among them. You know, in the beginning of Christian experience, there's really a pattern set, and it very seldom changes.

As a general rule, those who in the early days of their Christian experience have an appetite for the Word of God are ready to open their mouths, even if it's in a most simple way, to those who are near them, to friends and family, and tell them of the grace of God to them. Usually that pattern that's set in the days of early Christian experience is followed throughout Christian experience. So early days of Christian experience are very important.

I was visiting dear Floyd Christofferson again yesterday. I would have gone to see him more often if I had the opportunity, because yesterday afternoon he stood out in the corridor, and with all the doors open around and people visiting patients and the staff walking up and down the corridor and the nurses station right nearby, I think he thought he was on the platform. And he raised his voice just about as loud as you could in a conversation and told me of the kindness and the mercy of God that would ever save a wretch like him.

And I tell you, it thrilled my heart to see a man rejoicing in God's salvation and wanting everyone around him to know it. These people had been redeemed by blood. God had shown his faithfulness in their guidance, in the mighty power displayed in their deliverance at the Red Sea.

But God wasn't finished showing them his faithfulness yet. Whenever they get into difficulty and there was no water to drink, whenever there was no food to eat, God provided for them out of his rich bounty. He gave them angels food to eat.

It rained bread from heaven for them, we read the other night. And God, of course, caused Moses to strike the rock and the water flowed out for the refreshing of his people. And last night we were speaking of that as being the gift of the Spirit, which God had given to everyone who knows Christ.

Every believer is indwelt by the Spirit of God. And then, of course, God gave them victory over their enemy. When they fought with Amalek, God gave them deliverance from Amalek.

And then God, in his grace, in chapter 18, we didn't read in chapter 18, but in Exodus 18, God displayed his grace in showing them how he could govern them in righteousness. God was showing his character to them, but there were things about God they hadn't yet learned that they would learn at Mount Sinai. So here in chapter 19 of Exodus, we read that God said, I bear you on eagles' wings.

Now that's just what we've been speaking about. I bear you on eagles' wings. My, what heights God had lifted them to.

They had just been poor slaves in the land of Egypt and God had carried them on eagles' wings and he had brought them to himself. That's the experience of every child of God. And thank God he ever brought us to himself.

And thank God for every time when our hearts have been attracted to the person of Christ and our hearts have gone after him. As the heart panteth after the water brook, the psalmist said, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. In a dry and thirsty land where no water is, he was speaking of the experience of Israel.

God was their portion. The Lord was the inheritance of his people. So he said, I brought you to myself.

And he said, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, then he shall be a precious treasure, a peculiar treasure unto me. And God said that they were to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation unto the Lord. And the people said, all that the Lord has promised, we will do.

Or all that the Lord has spoken, we will do. Now they said that three times. We read tonight in Exodus 19 in verse 8. This is the first time they said it.

All that the Lord has spoken, we will do. We're going to come back to that in a moment. They didn't know their own hearts, but of course God knew their hearts.

And that's one of the reasons they were in this wilderness, to learn their own hearts. You know, if God was just ready to take us home to heaven, the moment we got saved, we never would have gone to school. And the reason we're left here is to go to school.

And I tell you, sometimes we're very slow learners. God took these people out into this wilderness to learn their own hearts. He took them out here to learn God.

And he took them out here that they might be able to appreciate Canaan all the more when they arrived there. And I assure you that Canaan is not heaven, but I assure you of this as well. Any trial that we've ever had here will only make heaven all the sweeter at the close.

And God allows us to go to school. And some of the lessons are bitter. Some of the lessons are very hard.

And tragically, like the child in school, some of the lessons we have to learn again and again. We seem to be very slow, but God is very patient. And there at Sinai, God reveals himself.

He displays his power. There were thunders. There were lightnings, a thick cloud upon the mount, the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud, smoke, fire, earthquake.

And as the sound of the clear ringing note of the trumpet grew louder and louder until it filled the wilderness air, the voice of God was heard. And the people drew back in terror and they trembled as they stood there at Mount Sinai. And God spoke.

They were to learn that he's a God of holiness, that he's a God of justice, that he's a God of truth, and he's a God of righteousness. And they had to learn that from understanding something of God's holy character at Mount Sinai. You know, I never know.

I've never known of a time in Christian experience, not in my own little history. And that's not very long, but it's long enough to have seen some changes. And I've never known a time when we as God's people needed more to get a fresh grip of the holy character of God, to have the fear of God put in our souls afresh.

For around us in the world, there is no fear of God before men's eyes. And talk about Christians being different from the world around them. When I was saved as a lad, I used to hear a great deal of teaching about separation from the world.

The world of 35 years ago was a vastly different world than the world of 1972. And if it was necessary to be separated from the world of that day, how much more necessary it is to be separated from the world of this day. You see, this was a God of righteousness and truth.

This was a God who demanded holiness in his people. He had said that he would make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. You know that that wasn't to happen because they didn't keep God's law.

Because though they said all that the Lord had commanded we will do, they did not do it. They did not become a kingdom of priests. But God in grace has brought us into the very place where they failed.

And God has made his people today a holy people and a kingdom of priests. First Peter 2 tells us. The law that was given at Sinai was spiritual.

It was moral and it was practical. You know, it was written on the tables of their hearts before it was ever written on the two tables of stone. And I didn't even read the decalogue, the 10 words of Exodus 20 tonight.

I trust that you know the commandments. I didn't read them because I don't think they're important. I think they're of the greatest importance.

I think it was absolutely necessary that they be given. I hope to be able to tell you before the meeting's over tonight why they were given. Those laws were written on the hearts of God's people before they were ever written on tables of stone.

Someone asked me the other night that question, what kind of law guided them as they come out of Egypt during this two months of journeying through the wilderness? The law had not yet been given. But listen, God speaks three times during this period of two months of the commandments that he had given them. Three times he refers to the fact that he had given them commandments.

Where? In their hearts. The law was written in the fleshy tables of the heart before they were ever engraved by the finger of God on those hard tables of stone. This is a moral law.

We live in a lawless age, and we need to learn afresh that our God is a God of righteousness and holiness. Because this lawless age has an effect upon the people of God. You know, this is an amoral society today.

And while it isn't always amoral, and while it isn't even always immoral, yet there are movements working in the world today that will bring down all the works of men. We believe that this nation and all the great works of men will be destroyed by moral decay. We know that the wrath of God is going to be visited upon this world, but it will be like the people who lived here in the land of Canaan.

The Amorites that God speaks about to Abraham in Genesis 15, he told him that his seed would remain 400 years as slaves in Egypt, and that God would bring them out with a high hand and with much substance, which he did. And God said that he would bring them into the land of Canaan. For God said the cup of the Amorites is not yet full.

God was going to use Israel to punish the wicked people of Canaan. And I believe for this world we live in today, the cup is filling fast. I believe with all my heart that this world is ripening fast for the wrath of God.

When I say an amoral society, I just mean this. Men have always recognized that there's a moral law, a law that distinguishes light from darkness. The very first work of God in the Bible is to separate the light from the darkness.

And God has always done that, and he will do it to the end. But men today love nothing better than to confuse the light and the darkness. There's nothing they like better than to mix it up.

And so today they're actually attacking the moral code, the standard that God has set for man to live by. And mind you, it is the standard, and it still is the standard. I'll explain it to you perhaps in a few minutes, that it was not given to Israel for their salvation.

It was not given to them to keep it for they had already broken it. They were already guilty sinners. Nevertheless, it is God's moral standard, and God will not lower his standard to meet the guilt of man.

God's standard is inflexible and unchanging. He says, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Now you see, in heathendom, when they had a God of lust, a God that was worshipped by immoral practices, of course the people partook of the nature of that heathen deity. If they had a God of war, then the people partook of that type of nature and were a warlike people. But none of them had a God of holiness.

None of them. We have a God of holiness. I'm reminded of the words of John chapter 2. Be ye holy, for I am holy.

This is a holy God. In the world today, and this is for the sake of young people, and this is a kind of a tangent, forgive me for it. In the world today, there are many people rising up in the last generation or two who really believe in their hearts, what is, is right.

A man by the name of Dr. C.S. Lewis was saved when he was about 29 years of age. He was a teacher at Cambridge University in England. He was a most ungodly man.

He was a thorough atheist. He believed nothing. And when he became dissatisfied with the world and himself and everything around him, he began to seek for salvation.

He didn't even know what his trouble was. And of course he went through all the religions of this world and its philosophies too with which he was most familiar. And when he got to Hinduism, and this might be surprising to some of you, to some of you who are younger, perhaps in university, this will not be too surprising.

When he got to Hinduism, he found something that appealed to him. Of all the, of all the religions of, of heathendom, Hinduism perhaps has the most to commend it. So I'm taking the very best of man's religions.

Heathendom can boast at least something good in Hinduism. But wait a minute. Do you know that in Hinduism, whenever they come to any kind of a moral standard, this is it.

Whatever men do, then that's right. Whatever is, whatever exists, whatever is the behavior of man, then that is what is right. Now stop for a moment and think what that means.

One day a brilliant young university student who had been raised a Hindu was taking part in a conversation about moral standards. There were Christians present. And those Christians turned to him and said, is it not true in your religion that what is, is right? And he had to acknowledge that that was so.

And they said to him, that means that if there's cruelty, if there's oppression, if there's murder, adultery, rape, anything else that goes on in the world, because it exists, that makes it right. And that brilliant young student was caught in a corner and he was most confused. And finally he dropped his head and excused himself from the conversation.

And we've got people in enlightened America with an open Bible, with all the background of the gospel that's been preached in this land for generations. We've got people not by the hundreds today or by the thousands, but by the millions who agree with that kind of thinking. What is, is right.

They're amoral. When you come to Sinai, you learn that there's a holy God. The first table of the law was Godward.

The second table of the law was manward. Those five commandments on that first table were in this order. First of all, thoughts, and then words, and then deeds.

Now because it's Godward, it's thoughts first. God knows the thoughts of our heart. Psalm 139 says, He knoweth my thoughts afar off.

He understandeth all my ways. And so you have thoughts first on that first table. On the second table, it's a manward table.

And so it goes just the opposite. First of all, you have deeds, and then you have words, and then you have thoughts. But it's God's holy order.

Why was the law given? You know, I, I'm certain that this is a matter of confusion in the minds of many. And there may be young Christians here tonight, and, and, and really this is something that's, that's often puzzled you. You may know the answer to it, and yet there may be parts of that answer that you may not be clear about.

Well, I hope this gets cleared up to you tonight. I hope it's so clear, and so simple, and so plain that you'll be able to understand what I have to say about it. Now in the first place, God did not impose the law upon these people at Sinai until they voluntarily accepted it.

In Exodus 19, when Moses went up in the mount to talk with God, and he came down and told the people the words of God, the people said, all that the Lord has commanded, we will do. All that God has said, we will do. And then God took them on that ground.

And in chapter 24, in verse 3, and in verse 7 of Exodus 24, they repeated those words again. So three times over, Israel said, all that the Lord has commanded, we will do. And God took them on the ground that they took.

And then he imposed his law upon them. And he made a covenant with them there at Sinai. It was a covenant of works.

It was based upon the moral law. They miserably failed. But why did he give them the law? I'm very interested to know that.

Why did God give the law to a guilty people? Maybe you say, well, that isn't of interest to me. Well, it should be, because this affects you very much. Why did he give the law to a guilty people anyway? They'd already broken it.

They'd already come short of it. There was the standard and they had missed it. Why did he give it to them? Now listen, I'll tell you why he didn't give it to them.

He did not give it to them for salvation. Certainly not. If you were to turn to Romans chapter 5 and verse 20, you'd read these words, the law entered that sin might abound.

The law came in to show man his sin. The law was like a mirror let down to heaven from heaven. And if you looked in that mirror, it might show me my tie's crooked.

It might show me my face is dirty, but it wouldn't straighten my tie or wash my face. It would only show me what's wrong. The law was like a plumb line.

You put that plumb line against the wall. It'll show you the wall is crooked. It won't straighten it out.

It was like a light. The light might show me that there are obstacles in the path, but it won't remove the obstacles. But listen now, and this is very important.

And these are things that are so basic that sometimes we can slip over them very easily. That law did not create evil either. You see that that mirror doesn't make my face dirty.

That plumb line doesn't make the wall crooked. That light doesn't put the obstacles in the path. It only reveals.

It doesn't create. The law didn't make the evil, but the law did show it. The law was added because of transgressions, it says.

That statement is found in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 19, that the law was added because they were already transgressors, because they were already guilty. It was added to show them their guilt. Galatians 3 and 21 says, if there had been a law that could have given life, verily righteousness would have been by the law.

The law never gave life to the Israelite. It never provided salvation for anyone. If you have an old Schofield Bible, that old Schofield Bible will say that under the old economy, the people were saved by law keeping.

In the new Schofield Bible that has been produced recently, that's one correction they have made. No one was ever saved by law keeping. There was only one who ever fulfilled the law, and he was the spotless, unblemished Lamb of God.

Holy in all he thought, in all he said, and all he did in all of his life. The law was given to show man their guilt, to show them their sin. In fact, the words of Galatians 3 and 24 are very important to us.

Paul is referring to Israel, and he said the law was their schoolmaster until Christ. The law was the pedagogue, the teacher, until Christ came. The law showed them their need of Christ.

The law showed them their guilt and their sin, and that's all it could do, and that's all it did do. I wonder, is there someone in the meeting tonight and you've never seen yourself? You've never really got a look at yourself the way God sees you? You've never understood your sin in the eyes of a sin-hating God? You've never stood in the unsullied light of his divine presence and had your heart exposed? The man in Psalm 90 knew about that. He said, Lord, thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins, in the light of thy presence.

A young man was saved last winter in meetings we had, and I suppose he was such an outstanding moral young man that when he came to meetings, the Christians who heard him talk, who saw his life, who watched his conduct, believed that he was really a Christian. Of course, he took the place of being a Christian, though he had never been saved. He took the place of being one, and he had such an outstanding life.

He was one of those kind of, uh, you remember those four kinds of creatures that were in the heat that Peter saw let down from heaven? There were, there were birds, and there were, there were fowls of the air, and there were four-footed beasts, and there were creeping things. And, you know, he, he was, he must have been like one of the fowls of the air, because, uh, he seemed to, perhaps his standard of life might have been higher than some Christians. But when God awakened that young man, you know what he told us one night? He said, I'm such a wicked sinner that I don't wonder that I deserve to be in hell, because we had asked him that, if he could see, deserve to be in hell.

He said, I don't wonder that I deserve to be in hell. He said, I wonder that I wasn't there long ago. God had really showed him his sin.

The only place to see your sin is in the light of the divine presence. So the law was given that sin might abound, but where grace abounded, or where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. And very briefly, I want to try to look at Sinai and Calvary tonight, just for a moment.

You know, I think there is a great contrast between Mount Sinai and Calvary, and I believe that the contrasts are not incidental or accidental, but God has actually given us a great contrast between Sinai and Calvary. At Sinai, there was a great storm and a tempest. My, I don't wonder those people drew back in fright from that mountain.

God had told them to put a fence around it. Moses had to draw a line around the mountain, and whoever crossed the line would die, whether it was man or beast. But I tell you, there was another reason to make them draw back, for a tremendous tempest shook the mountain.

A storm from God descended on it. At Calvary, was there a tempest? Was there a storm? Christians sang, the tempest's awful voice was heard, O Christ, it broke on thee. Thine open bosom was my ward, it braved the storm for me.

Thy form was scarred, thine image marred, now cloudless peace for me. The pent-up fury of the wrath of God burst there at Calvary. An old preacher who was nearing heaven, nearing the glory, he used to tell us years ago when he was a much younger man, that it was the floodgates of mercy that held back the judgment of God from falling upon us as sinners, and it was the floodgates of grace that opened to pour out God's blessings upon us.

But there were floodgates that were opened at Calvary, the wrath of God, and he bared his gentle bosom to the storm, and I thank God that the storm that bowed his blessed head is hushed forever now. Peace divine is ours instead, while glory crowns his brow. The storm has spent its fury.

I'll never feel the storm. The storm was at Sinai. The storm was at Calvary.

There was a thick darkness at Sinai, and Moses entered into that thick darkness. Do you ever see a thick darkness? I never did. I've been down in the coal mine and had the miner turn off his headlamp, and I felt the darkness creeping in around me like a physical thing, but it wasn't very thick.

I couldn't feel the thickness of it. At Sinai there was a thick darkness. Do you know what it says about Calvary? There was a darkness over all the land.

Now let me tell you what the indefinite article means there, or the lack of the definite article, because that's all there is in the New Testament. There's no indefinite article. The lack of the definite article means this.

It wasn't just the darkness of night that descended upon Calvary. It wasn't just the ordinary darkness that men knew. It was something entirely different.

It was a darkness, and at midday a darkness covered the land. Moses entered into the darkness at Sinai. At Calvary the Lord Jesus entered into the darkness alone.

No human eye looked on. God shrouded the sin in darkness. Sinai was a holy place.

Could it compare with Calvary where the Holy Son of God went into the darkness for me? At Sinai the mount quaked greatly. We read that in Exodus 19. A great earthquake shook the mountain at Calvary.

I read today in Matthew 27 that the earth quaked and the rocks rent. Sometimes we sing that hymn, mid-rending rocks and darkening skies. My Savior bows his head and dies.

The opening veil reveals the way to heaven's joys and endless day. At Calvary there was a great earthquake. At Sinai God was displaying his holiness.

Why is there such similarity and yet such contrast? Because it's the holiness of God both at Sinai and Calvary. The holiness of God. Think of the words of Psalm 22.

Our fathers trusted in thee. They trusted and thou didst deliver them. But I am a worm and no man.

I reproach of men and despised of the people. For thou art holy. Thou art holy.

O thou that inhabitest eternity. Thou art holy. This was the holy God who was dealing with his son.

It was the holiness of God displayed at Sinai. All the people trembled at Sinai. At Calvary it says all the people that came together to that site smote their breasts.

At Sinai the voice of a trumpet was heard as the people stood afar off. At Calvary it says in all his acquaintance and those that had followed him from Galilee stood afar off beholding the things that were done. You know in a sense as believers although we've been to the cross I appreciate the fact that I've been to Calvary but in a sense my friend in a sense I've been like Israel when they crossed the Jordan.

When the feet of the priests went into the Jordan up here the people had to keep their distance between the priests who bore the ark and the congregation. You know what that tells me? In the thick darkness of Calvary in the sufferings of the Son of God there are mysteries there that I can never fathom. The feet of those priests going into the Jordan the river of death tell me of the Lord Jesus going into death's dark angry flood for me and there are depths of suffering there.

There are mysteries that I've never yet been able to fathom. I've still stood afar off and then at Sinai the Lord descended in fire and at Calvary the Lord Jesus cried from above hath he sent fire into my bones. God's wrath burned against him when Israel saw the fire on Sinai it made them realize our God is a devouring fire.

Did you know what that's the reason that verse is found at the close of Hebrews chapter 12? That's the reason. You see Hebrews 12 has been dealing with Mount Sinai and the fearful sight that took place and the chapter closes with this great fact our God is a devouring fire and yet I'm fitted to dwell with the God who is a devouring fire. What a wonder oh what a fitness the blood of Christ gives me.

What acceptance accepted in the and I never need fear the holy presence of a holy God. At Calvary when the Lord Jesus died a thief was saved at his side. When the law was given at Sinai three thousand perished.

Isn't it remarkable that at the giving of the law three thousand of Israel fell by the sword. Isn't it remarkable at tiny cost three thousand fell smitten by the Holy Spirit awakened to their sin and saved by the grace of God. What a contrast between Sinai and Calvary.

What is the law to the Christian? There are only a few minutes left so I'll just be able to touch it very briefly. What what is the Christian's relationship to the law of Sinai? Tell me what is it? You know I I know in the religious world there is complete confusion about this. There are all kinds of people who think that the law are steps to climb up to heaven by but they can't even take the first step.

A man told Mr. Joyce one time that he was following in the steps of Christ. Mr. Joyce said to him where do you get that in the Bible? Well he said it's it's in the Bible right enough and sure he found it. First Peter chapter 2 he read it to him.

Verse 21 he left us an example that we should follow his steps. The preacher must have got his mouth closed that day then did he? No he just asked the man sir have you taken the first step? The man said what's the first step? Well he said just read on the next verse who did no sin. He had never been able to take that step who did no sin.

Now I assure you that the law is not a way to heaven. Not now and it never was. Israelites that were saved were not saved by law keeping.

They were saved by sovereign grace and don't ever forget it. There never has been a different way to get saved. Never has and in a coming day in the tribulation people will not get saved any other way than by trusting in a crucified risen Savior.

That's the only way for salvation. Well what what relation does the law have to the Christian then? Well of course as sinners the law brought us to see our guilt and our sin but I'm not talking about that. What relation does it have to the Christian? Now listen very carefully.

It has none whatever. Absolutely none. Well you say I'm kind of disappointed.

Well I hope you're not because he that despised Moses law died without mercy. I'm glad I'm not under the law or I wouldn't be here tonight. If I were under the law I tell you I wouldn't be standing on this platform.

Not a bit of it. I never would have been spared to this time. I thank God I'm under grace.

You see Romans 10 and 3 says Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. The law is not our standard of life. All right then preacher don't we keep the law? Well if you don't you're not saved because Romans chapter 8 tells me that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.

Who are those who walk after the spirit in those early verses of Romans 8? They are believers and those expressions that are used in the first 10 verses of Romans 8 are a contrast between believers and unbelievers and those who belong to Christ walk after the spirit and those who belong to sin and Satan walk after the flesh. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in the believer not because he's under the law but because he's a partaker of the divine nature and because he's bound by love to Christ. Now let me explain what I mean by that just very briefly.

In the state of Ohio a lady told me one day that there's a law in that state that says that a mother must nourish and care and cherish her children but the most of the mothers in the state of Ohio have never known that that law was on the statute books. Nobody ever told them but they nourish and they love and they cherish their children. Why? Because it's the law of the state? No, because they're mothers.

That's the reason. Because they're mothers. Of course there are mothers today who have no natural affection.

God have mercy on them but the natural mother loves her children because she's a mother. Why does the Christian live a holy life? Because he's a Christian. Because he's a partaker of the divine nature.

Because he's a bond slave of Jesus Christ and the hymn writer had that in mind when he wrote what has stripped the seeming beauty from the idols of the earth? That's the very first law of the Decalogue. What has stripped the seeming beauty from the idols of the earth? Not the right of sense or duty but the sight of peerless worth. What has made us to differ? We've got to look at Calvary.

We've got to look at the bleeding lamb and divine life has been begotten within our souls and now we walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. And the righteousness of the law will be seen in the life of a Christian because he's enabled by the spirit of God to do that which is well pleasing in God's sight. We have a far higher standard than the law.

As he walked we ought to walk, John says, even as he walked. The Lord Jesus has been given to us as our great example. Thank God.

God has given us the power to live for him. God help us that there might be seen within us holiness of character and absolute righteousness. This is what should characterize every child of God.

And you know, in the world in which we live, that means complete, absolute separation from the world and its ways. May God bless his word to us. Shall we pray?