Exodus Chronicles: Part 11
Pastor: Rollan Fisher
Focus: God desires to make you part of his holy people, set apart to live in the wisdom and redemption of Christ.
The End of the Exodus
A Consecrated People
Living in the Wisdom of Christ
The End of the Exodus
God’s end in the Exodus was to create a holy people to be his treasured possession.
Exodus 19:1-8
On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
As stated in the Westminster Catechism as a careful synopsis of the Scripture:
“Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.”
As God was bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, he made it clear that his end was to bring a people to himself who would be his treasured possession in all of the earth.
These people would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
To be such a people, we would have to heed God's voice by knowing his covenant, expressed through his Word, living lives of faith and obedient application of that Word in the world.
The following chapter would begin the record of God giving his laws, the basis of his covenant, to the people.
A Consecrated People
The Holy Spirit works to make us a consecrated people.
Exodus 19:9-25
And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments. And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.” On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to look and many of them perish. Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.” And Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.’” And the Lord said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break out against them.” So Moses went down to the people and told them.
Holiness and consecration work hand in hand.
Holiness is the goal - being inwardly set apart to God, producing outward actions of consecration in our life, speech, love, faith and purity.
The rubber has to meet the road connecting:
what God says in his Word to
what we say we believe to
what we value and
therefore how we live.
This is what it means to live a holy and consecrated life.
To be a consecrated people means to be set apart to God - for God’s purposes and God’s glory.
Sanctification is God’s ongoing process of making us holy through the renewing of our hearts and minds replacing the old idolatry of humanism.
“Humanism is the defiant denial of the God who is there, with man defiantly set up in the place of God as the measure of all things.”
— Francis Schaeffer
The Israelites were to wash their clothing as an outward symbol of the inward purifying of their hearts, coming into alignment with God.
2 Timothy 2:22
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
Living in the Wisdom of Christ
God consecrates us to live in the wisdom of Christ - forever in the shadow of the cross and the hope of the resurrection.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
There is a difference between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God.
As a holy, consecrated people, we are called to live by the wisdom of Christ.
The Word and presence of God are anchors amidst the emotional buffeting of a world that rages against Christ:
“How many winds of doctrine we have known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. The small boat of thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - thrown from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, and so forth. Every day new sects are created and what Saint Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which tries to draw those into error (cf Ephesians 4, 14). Having a clear Faith, based on the Creed of the Church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching', looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires. However, we have a different goal: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of true humanism. Being an 'Adult' means having a faith which does not follow the waves of today's fashions or the latest novelties. A faith which is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ is adult and mature. It is this friendship which opens us up to all that is good and gives us the knowledge to judge true from false, and deceit from truth.”
― Pope Benedict XVI
All of the wisdom of Christ leads to the cross.
Through his life, Jesus satisfied all of the righteous requirements of the law.
Matthew 5:17-20
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Through his blood spilled at the cross and by his resurrection from the dead, faith in Jesus’ finished work became the foundation of a new covenant with God.
In the cross and the resurrection EVERYONE can find both God’s forgiveness and redemption.
Repentance - a change of mind to come into agreement with God and go in a different direction - is key to this new life.
Here, as we follow Jesus by faith, we have a new wisdom through which we are free to look out not only for ourselves, but to consider the interests of others, that the love of God might be seen and Jesus might be glorified (Philippians 2).
It is countercultural and counterintuitive to our sinful nature, but denying yourself and picking up your cross daily are a prerequisite to serving Jesus as a disciple.
Matthew 16:24-27
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
The good news of the gospel is that if we die with him as we live day by day, we will also live, rule and reign with Jesus.
2 Timothy 2:8-13
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.
Redemption comes as we allow God to use our lives in a fallen world to be salt and light, preserving and flavoring it a bit longer, until Jesus returns to make all wrong things right.
“Give your life to Christ. It doesn’t mean that you give up your career and your business. It means that you go back into your career, go back into your business, and live for Christ—unless it’s something dishonest. Make the choice. Turn from the broad road to the narrow road today.”
-Billy Graham
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher