to our musicians as well. It's good to be back with you this Sunday. And most of you know that our car broke down in South Carolina a few weeks ago. And the car is waiting now in South Carolina for us. And my wife is going to go back and get it. The other car broke down while we were on vacation. That was my daughter's car. And so we were sort of in a pickle there. for a little while, but that's the way things go. But we are glad to be back here. We missed you all. And we're glad to be back here in South Jersey. This morning, I want to turn your attention as we continue our study in the book of Exodus to a few verses that may seem like a small postscript, but actually they are very, very important. So I want to turn your attention to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus 20, verses 18 through 21. We talked about this in Exodus 19, about the awesome side of God being on Mount Sinai. We're reacquainted with that after the law is given, after they hear the very voice of God coming from the mountain. So in Exodus 20, in verse 18, we pick up now after the 10th commandment has been given. And the Bible says in Exodus 20, And in verse 18, and all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, I want you to get these words, they removed, or they went away, they departed 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, important words, for God has come to prove or to test you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that you sin not. And the people stood afar off, there it is again. And Moses drew near unto the thick darkness, where God was. I want you to focus upon those little phrases. Standing afar off versus drawing near. Those are going to be important for us this morning. Let's pray and ask the Lord's help before we continue. Father, as we have just read your word, we pray that you would bless it to our hearts. We pray that we would always take it seriously that we would carefully mark and consider its words, and we pray that your Holy Spirit would teach us and would transform us as only He can. So as we go through this passage today, impress upon us what a great and holy God you are, and what our response as people, sinful people, should be. and then point our attention to the glorious Savior, who is the only solution to man's problem, which is sin. So be with us today as we go through this text. In Jesus' name, amen. In the aftermath of World War II, when the atomic bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, The world awoke to the unimaginable power of atomic energy, and the equally unimaginable fear of what it could do. One of the leading scientists on the Manhattan Project, which had worked on these atomic devices, Harold C. Urey, openly admitted his dread. Writing in Collier's magazine not long after the devastation on Japan's two cities, he said these simple words, I am a frightened man. Yuri and the other scientists had seen power beyond imagination, power that could annihilate cities, wipe out entire civilizations, and change the course of world history forever. No wonder it left them shaking with fear. My friends, the Israelites experienced something far greater, and that is the God who had created such unimaginable power. And this is the awe that they had at Mount Sinai. Moses later reflected on that experience in the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 26. And he said these words. Who is there of all flesh, in other words of all people, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire as we have and lived? Who can hear God and live to tell about it? who can see His awesome majesty and live to tell the tale. The Israelites were so overwhelmed by God's majesty and holiness that they begged never to hear His voice again. It was so awesome and so unsettling, and this is why in Exodus 20 and verse 19, they say, do not let God speak to us. lest we die. Friends, that's what happens when sinful man encounters a holy God. And I want to say this, and I want to say it carefully, I don't want to be misunderstood, but friends, this is a fear that all of us should have of God. A proper fear. In fact, when you come to know who God is, this is the very first step. You have to realize how holy and how awesome God is. Because that is the reality. That is the truth. This is not myth. This is not just a portrayal of something beyond our understanding. This is who God really is. This is how He revealed Himself in Scripture. And you must accept Him according to who He is. This is not a shallow or superficial fear. And I'm going to argue, it's not a craven fear that we have of someone who desires to hurt us. But it is a deep, soul-shaking recognition that we are not worthy. That we are not righteous. that we are not even safe apart from the mercy and the grace of God. Have you ever come to that point in your life when you have realized the weight of your sin and that the penalty of sin must be paid and you are responsible to a holy and a righteous God? My friends, this is the first stop in our journey of knowing who God is. Thankful Lord, we don't have to stay there. Amen? Yes, we can still have a proper and a reverent fear of Him, but we don't have to quake before Sinai forever. We have someone who can be our mediator, someone who can draw near to God on our behalf. But first, we have to understand this fact, and that is because of our sin, we are separated from a holy God. We are condemned by His righteous law. We are terrified by the thought of His judgment. That is us in our natural state before Christ. Only a God-appointed mediator, and this is the point of this passage, only a God-appointed mediator can bridge the gap between sinful man and a holy God, leading us from fear to faithful obedience. I want you to notice, number one, the panic before God's presence. In verse 18 of Exodus chapter 20, we talk about and we use this as an expression about putting the fear of God or the fear of the Lord into someone. And I would not use that phrase lightly, by the way, because if you're not careful, you would be taking the Lord's name in vain. But at the same time, there are cases where that indeed happened. It is legitimate to say that. And this is one of those occasions when God unleashes the very forces of nature on an entire mountain so that two or three million people can witness raw power. They were afraid. They were fearful. There was panic. Bible says in verse 18, letter A, there was a terrifying sight. If you have your outline there before you, letter A, a terrifying sight. In fact, the Bible says this in a very interesting way. They saw the thunder. I mean, it was more than just hearing, but it was seeing. It was all the senses combined. They could feel it. You ever felt the ground rumble under your feet? We had a little earthquake not long ago here in South Jersey. The way that I knew about it, I've got my own little earthquake detector. It's my candy jar. By the way, some of the kids in the church have just reminded me that I need to fill it. And I'm getting on that. That's one of my missions this week, is to refill my candy jar. But I remember sitting in my office, and the lid of that candy jar started to vibrate. And that was it. Nothing else in the office but that lid. And I thought, hmm, well, that's strange. Sure enough, I looked at the news, and there was a minor tremor that came through. It's a little unsettling, isn't it, to know that the ground that you think is so firm under your feet is not really firm after all. It is always moving. And we can't feel it. We are on an ocean of lava. We can't feel this going on. We can't feel all the pressure in the earth. And thank goodness, that's part of the providence of God. That's His common grace. That's how we can live on this spherical object called the earth. But it's always moving. And it's always there. We just don't know it. But boy, it is unsettling when it does move and we can feel it. reminds us of that, but imagine a giant earthquake. There are people in this room from California, and perhaps you have felt much more significant tremors, or maybe you're from other parts of the United States, or even the world. You know what it's like to be in a significant earthquake. It's an unsettling feeling. Letter B, there was a thunderous sound, the trumpet blast. And then God's voice boomed out. You could feel it within every bone of your body. Awesome and terrifying. In letter C, we see that there was a terror-filled separation. They stood afar off. Why is that? Well, because they rightly recognized the weight of sin. The majesty of God. That it created a fearful distance. We find this over and over again in God's Word. People who get, and of course no one has ever seen God in the sense that they have seen Him in all of His essence, but people have seen demonstrations of His majesty, and so in that sense they see God. And every time they fall on their faces before God. And they proclaimed their unholy, their unholiness before God. Isaiah said, I am a sinful man. I dwell among a sinful people with unclean lips. I am a man of unclean lips. On your best day, your righteousness comes nowhere close to the holiness of God. I mean, we're very apt to say, yeah, on my worst day, sure, I don't come close to God. But folks, on our best day, our righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God. That's how holy He is. So they stood afar off. They realized their sinfulness in light of God's holiness. Let me ask you this today. Are you standing afar off? Do you have a relationship with God? Or are you separated from Him? Let me ask you this question as well. Do you have confidence that you have a relationship with God? There are some people in this world and they're deluded. They think they know God, but they don't. They're separated from Him. The God of this world has blinded their mind. Then there are other people in this world and they know in their heart of hearts they're not right with God. They suppress the truth and unrighteousness. Where do you stand today? Is it something that you just put out of your mind? Has there been a time in your life when you have drawn near to God through the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? Their fear was not irrational. people of Israel. It was entirely appropriate. Confronted with God's holiness, they needed someone who could stand in the gap. And my friends, all of us have the same need. Someone must stand in the gap between us and God. And that brings us to our second point, and that is number two, the plea for a mediator, verse 19. They said unto Moses, speak thou with us and we will hear. Let not God speak with us lest we die. You see, letter A, there was the fear of condemnation. They realized that they were sinners. They realized that they were under the punishment and penalty of God as the judge of all the earth. And by the way, if you don't understand this, you will never be saved. First and foremost, you have to realize that you're a sinner before God. And that's why Jesus said, He said, I've not come to call the righteous, but who? Sinners. To repentance. We've got to get you lost before you can get saved. That's a crude way of saying it. But that is the truth. Before we can understand grace, we have to understand wrath. And why there is wrath. because of the penalty of sin. Because I should have paid the penalty of my sin forever in the lake of fire. There's letter B, the need for representation. Because we fear condemnation, we know that we need a defense attorney. We need someone to defend us. We cannot stand before God on our own. So they turn to Moses. They say, Moses, you speak to God for us. Well, the people's plea for a mediator was not ignored. It was answered. And for that time, Moses, who was chosen by God, and that's important. And by the way, this is one of the ways that the people would know that Moses was God's chosen leader. There would be no doubt. And that's not to say that they would always be faithful. They would always obey. They knew from this that Moses was God's appointed mediator. He was God's leader. So the Bible says this, that he stepped into that sacred space, Moses did, where they dared not go. But even as he did that, he pointed them forward to someone greater. Moses was not the perfect and final mediator. And we'll find that out as we read through the text, but really we know this already. Moses was a sinner. Moses was guilty of his own sin. He could not be a perfect high priest. But he and the Levitical priests were temporary priests that were established in the Old Testament. And they were types, in other words, they pointed forward to a reality greater than themselves. They pointed forward to the great mediator, the great high priest who is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's number three, the path into God's presence. Aren't you glad that in the middle of all of this terrifying fear, Moses can say this in verse 20. Notice this. And Moses said unto the people, what? What are the next two words? Fear not. Fear not. Moses says, God has put on this terrifying demonstration of who he is for a reason. And ultimately, it's for your benefit. He wants you to know who he is. so that you will not sin against Him. God's revelation is a blessing. None of us likes to be frightened. And there may be some people in here who are frightened of snakes. Or maybe spiders. Go underneath a house and spiders are there and you know you're running the other direction. Whatever you're afraid of, none of us likes to be afraid. But you know, fear does have its uses. It has its advantages. It tells you that certain things in this world are dangerous. That's why we have to have a healthy fear of sin and judgment. God is not playing around. God does not sweep sin under the rug. He is not an unjust judge who just says, well, you know, I'm in a good mood today, so we'll just forget about your sin. That's not who God is. God is perfectly just, so how in the world can we ever draw near to a righteous judge when we ourselves are unrighteous? When we are under His condemnation? That's what verses 20-21 explains for us. because Moses acts as a mediator, and he is a type of the great mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. But I want you to notice what he does. Letter A, he calms their fear. Verse 20. Moses told them, don't be afraid. God has come to test you, to keep you from sinning. God's holy presence was not meant to crush them. Maybe some people in this room need to hear this. God is not out to get you. The Bible says, in fact, God Himself says, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God takes no pleasure in people going to hell. He loves people. He loves you. And if you have not yet drawn near, He wants you to come to Him today and to be saved. But yet there is a way to do that. We must come through the way that he has provided. We have to understand who God is. And so God's presence was not meant to crush them, but to cultivate reverence. His law, remember, does three things for us. Number one, it restrains sin through fear of consequences. It can't change our hearts, but it can restrain us on the outside, our outward acts. And that's a good thing. It can be a restraint on a sinful society. Number two, it reveals sin through exposure of guilt. There's the objective guilt that we all have. That's the penalty. But even the subjective guilt, God frees us from that. But first of all, the law reveals it. It's somewhat like a doctor examining you and saying, you've got cancer. Nobody likes to hear that news. But what if the doctor didn't give you that news? What if he just went about his merry way? Would he be a good doctor? You say, well, boy, you know, he really ruined my day by telling me that I'm sick. What he did was he just saved your life, especially if the cancer can be caught in time. And by the way, that happened to me when I was 20 years old. I had a malignant melanoma. I had the worst type of melanoma that you can have. And when I first came in, the doctor told me, he said, well, most of the time, this is just not on someone your age who doesn't have this. He says, but I'm going to do my part. I'm going to do my job anyway. We're going to make sure that it's not anything dangerous. You know, not every doctor does that. I know of cases where doctors have not done that. A few days later, he comes to me and he says, you know, I've got some bad news for you. When I came to his office and he told me what the diagnosis was, well, it was unsettling, to say the least. You know, at that time, I didn't know if it got into the lymph nodes It was unsettling, but it saved my life. He did his job. He told me what the problem was, and that's what God does. God is the judge of all the earth, but he warns us about the penalty of our sin. So we have to have an advocate. That advocate, when we choose this advocate, we don't want him to fill us with despair, but we want to be given hope. When you hire a lawyer, you want someone who's going to say, hey, we can win this case. So it was with Moses, who stood as Israel's mediator. He declared, fear not. Their fear was natural at first, but it was not meant to remain. God was not against them, but for them. Faithful mediator removes fear. And this is what our great mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ did for his people. In Luke chapter five, if you want to turn to Luke chapter five and verse 10, notice this, Luke five. Luke five and verse 10. The Bible says, after the miraculous catch of fish, Peter met Jesus. Luke chapter 5 and verse 10. The Bible says that Peter fell at Jesus' knees because he realized that this was a divine miracle. He said, depart from me for I am a sinful man, oh Lord. Yet Jesus replied, and what did he say? What are the next two words? Fear not. Fear not. from henceforth thou shalt catch men. Here's another passage to write down. Luke 12 and verse 32, Luke 12 and verse 32. To his disciples he said this, fear not, there it is again, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Here's another one, go to Matthew 28, Matthew 28, verse 5. At the empty tomb, Jesus said these words. Actually, this is the angel talking to the women. The angel tells them, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. The Bible says, Though they departed with trembling, they went with fear and great joy. See, when we know Christ, we don't have to be afraid of the penalty of our sin. Not anymore. Because Jesus is the one who paid that penalty. Notice letter B. Moses in particular carried their burden. Verse 21, Moses entered the darkness alone. The people stood afar off, but Moses draws near. But remember, Moses was not the final mediator. He could not do what was necessary to atone for our sins. He could not die for us. He was a sinner just like all the rest of us. He pointed to the Great Mediator. And friends, I want you to bear with me for a few minutes here because this is the most important part of this message. I want you to get this. This is important. That is, first of all, Jesus is the only Mediator between God and man. And it says this in 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5. And by the way, I've put this in the study guide for this week. If you're wondering how to access that, it's on the weekend editions. But if you still can't get to it, I would be glad to show you how to get through that. Because that's where I put a lot of material that I couldn't possibly cover in the sermon. I would invite you to go to the study guide. It has a lot of material there on the fear of God and on how Christ is our mediator. But in 1 Timothy 2 and verse 5 it says this, For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. It is Jesus who, according to Hebrews 7.25, intercedes for us. We can always go to Him and know that He hears and that He listens. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us. In Romans 8, verses 26 through 27, He tells us that we're children of God. He assures us that one day the Lord is going to return. He's gonna set all creation right. Hebrews 4 and verse 16, we have this great, great verse. Hebrews chapter 4. The Bible says this about our Lord. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse, let's go to verse 15. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Some people say, yeah, Jesus was perfect. Does He really understand what I go through? The Bible says, yes, He did, because He endured the entire temptation, yet without sin. And so the Bible tells us in verse 16, let us therefore come, what? Boldly. Now when we hear the word bold, sometimes we can get the wrong idea. We can think of someone who is arrogant or pushy. That's not what this means. It means that we can come with openness and with confidence. Let's read the rest of the verse. Unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Because Jesus is your mediator, you can always go to God in prayer. And on the basis of His sacrifice, faith in His blood, you can know that He hears you. You can know that He cares for you. That does not have to be a question in your mind. You never have to say, have I done enough to please God? Am I going to have to spend time in a, like some people say, purgatory? Have I done enough good works to be acceptable to God? Folks, there's no purgatory. The Bible doesn't teach that. That's a false doctrine. It's dangerous for you to think there's a purgatory. It is spiritually dangerous. There are two places you can go. That's heaven and hell. The only way you can go to heaven is through the Lord Jesus Christ. And if he's not your mediator, you're going to go to hell. And I say that with love and with kindness. I don't want you to go there. No child of God would ever want anyone to go there. But that is the reality of the situation. These are not just intellectual arguments that we have in ivory towers. This is real. This is eternity. This is the most important thing in all of life. It's more important than your job. And yes, it's even more important than your family. As important as all those things are, the most important thing in the world is your relationship with Jesus. And you have to know the truth about who He is. And you must accept Him according to who He is. Friends, the sorrow is that there are some people and they are depending upon Mary or they're depending upon the saints and they pray to them. Because they think that somehow they're going to intercede. The Bible does not teach that. That is idolatry. That is a violation of the first commandment. By the way, when you speak to Roman Catholics, you have to do this very, very carefully. Because they've been brought up to believe that this is true. But listen, it's not. Mary is not a co-redeemer with Jesus. The Bible does not teach that. And it's not that we want to insult people. But we want people to be saved. We want them to know the truth. And it's spiritually dangerous for them to be trusting in anyone or anything else other than the Lord Jesus Christ. People say, well, we just honor Mary and pray to her, but not like we do to Jesus. And that's if you've been raised in Roman Catholicism, that's what your priest has told you. But my friend, to pray to someone, especially someone who is dead, is to worship them. And the Bible condemns praying to the dead, even if it's the mother of our Lord. And by the way, Mary herself, if she could come down from heaven, she would be appalled. She would be horrified that people would set her up alongside her son. Mary was a sinner just like all the rest of us. Yes, we honor her just like we would honor Moses. But listen, I don't pray to Moses. Moses can't do anything for my sin. Only Jesus can forgive you of your sin. Now listen folks, this is not a minor point. It's not. It is a major issue. It's come up again in evangelicalism. Well, you know how these things go. They all come in cycles. But we've got to stick to what the Bible says. This is a matter of a person's soul. This is a matter of a person's eternity. So Jesus, Jesus is the only mediator. Charles Wesley said, no condemnation, now I dread. Jesus and all in Him is mine, alive in Him my living head, and clothed in righteousness divine, bold I approach the eternal throne. You may be down and discouraged today. I want you to know you can go to Jesus and you can find solace. See, it's not about how strong our faith is. It's not about how righteous we are. It's about who Jesus is. We can always go to Him as our Savior and our Mediator. If you're here today though and you've never come to Him in faith and repentance and you're still standing afar off, I want you to know today that you can draw near through Jesus. You can have forgiveness. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for our great Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful for the sacrifice that he made on Calvary, the only one who could do so. We're thankful for the penalty that was paid, Lord, so that we can come before your throne of grace, Lord, with boldness. In other words, with confidence and with openness as a son to a father. Because we have been regenerated, we have been adopted into your family. with full rights and privileges, not because of who we are, but because of what Jesus has done for us. Lord, I pray that if there's one here today who has not accepted Him, that they would do so. I pray for us as your people. Lord, there is a time for interceding with one another. We understand that we can't save anyone, but Lord, we also need to come alongside and help our brethren. There may be some struggling here this morning. Lord, we pray that you would give them that confidence to come before Jesus. Lord, when life is full of trouble and difficulty, and know that Jesus cares for their every need and that he loves them. Father, we are so thankful that you did not leave us standing afar off, but that through Jesus, you brought us near to yourself. One day we will be in heaven with you forever. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. As always, if there is anyone who would like to talk further about anything that we've mentioned in this sermon today,