Thank you for listening to this sermon from Seven Springs Presbyterian Church. If you want to learn more about us, please find us on Facebook or visit us at sevenspringspresbyterian.com. Great and glorious God, we give you thanks and praise that you have given to us your word that we might be pure. That we would be guarded against according to your promises which you have revealed through your special revelation. That we would seek you with our whole heart and that we would not wander from your word or your commandments. We would seek to be able to glorify you. Help us then, Lord, to be able to store up your word within our hearts that we might not be able to sin. Lord, that we realize that you are the one who is blessed. Teach us then, Lord, to be able to live a life of happiness and be blessed because of what you have taught us and revealed to us. Show us Christ, we pray, through the work of the Spirit. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Hear now the word of the Lord from Exodus chapter 20 verses 22 to 26. This is God's holy, inerrant, and life-giving word. Please take heed how you hear. And the Lord said to Moses, thus you shall say to the people of Israel, you have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. An altar of earth you shall make for me, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you profane it. And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our Lord will stand forever. No frills is a saying that is quite simply that, in the simplest form, this is what we do. No frills, no decoration, no adornment, no embellishment. In Australia, growing up, there was a brand called No Frills. The branding was quite simple, a white packaging with these black and white words in a box, No Frills, and then they just listed what they were selling. They began with three products, peanut butter, honey, and chips. But over time they would grow their services and offer more products. I guess the equivalent today would be a Walmart brand like Great Value. But their model really was straightforward. Let's try and take the thrills, the frills, off all the packaging and make it as simple as possible. Emphasize the product, what they're selling, but also try and keep costs down to make it affordable. And even today, people take this no-frills model and then try and apply it to their lives. They try and live a minimalistic lifestyle, cutting out unnecessary extras to be able to pursue what they find is happiness. For example, Marie Kondo, a well-known advocate for this minimalism, encourages people to ask a simple question about objects in their house. As she goes through to be able to organize things, does this bring you joy? Yet, we find in our lives this tug of war between simplicity, being minimal, no frills, but this constant temptation to be able to add more, add more things, add more things to be able to do. Even those who'd be able to strive for this no-frills lifestyle are bombarded with pressures to be able to accumulate, to be able to adorn, to be able to add. But we find that this tension is not merely something that appeared on packaging nor in recent years with this minimalistic organization, it's not a modern dilemma. It's a timeless struggle. And in Exodus chapter 20, we see this struggle at war with the people of God. Now in Exodus chapter 20, verse 22, is what we begin a new section in the book of Exodus. It's called what is known as the book of the covenant. So it begins in Exodus chapter 20, 22, right after the giving of the Ten Commandments and finishes in Exodus chapter 24. And it begins with the Lord instructing Moses to be able to tell these things to the people. But it all ends in chapter 24. We even read about this just before in Hebrews chapter 9 of the book of the covenant. What we see is now God reveals to Moses, Moses reveals it to the people, and the people are to make a covenant with the Lord. And so all of these sections that follow now fall into this book of the covenant. The first one begins with these altars. And as we'll see, there's various things that unpack what the Ten Commandments is as we continue to go through them. But first we need to be able to understand what this actually section means. What does it mean that this portion is the book of the covenant? What are the implications of this covenant upon God's people? Now we use this terminology a lot, covenant, we use it a lot in Reformed Presbyterian circles, but quite simply, a covenant is an agreement between two parties. In the ancient Near East, covenants were common between what is known as the smaller groups, tribes, or nations, and a larger entity, a larger kingdom, a king, and the smaller parties referred to as vessels, and they would plunge their loyalty, either their goods, we see a pledge of a covenant made with sheep, to be able to provide a certain number of sheep in 2 Kings 3. They might provide services to the larger group. be able to help sign up and have sort of like a draft that if the larger nation goes to war, then they will go to war with them. But then what you see that the larger group, known as the suzerain, would promise something in return. If you promise to be able to give me your loyalty, your service, these goods, whatever it might be, we will promise to be able to protect you. Often this is what it is. That if I go to war, I will call upon you, but if you go to war, I will come and protect you. And so these covenants were made between these two parties. They were often included with a covenant bound in blood. The signature at the bottom of the paper was not good enough. Blood needed to be spilled. But this would have a symbolic gesture. that this is what's gonna happen if you break your side of the covenant. Blood will be shed. There will be a great consequence coming. And so this shaped a lot of personal, political agreements in the ancient Near East, and what we see is the Lord is making a covenant with his people. But it's similar in a way, but it surpasses it in much more. He rescues his people from slavery in Egypt, and he establishes the covenant with them. But unlike ancient Near Eastern covenants, God's covenant is unique because he promises not only to be able to be the suzerain, the greater king, but he also promises to be their redeemer. What we see in these covenants is these bonds of blood is that God actually fulfills both parties. That of the lower vessel who will shed their blood if they don't fulfill it, but also that greater suzerain. And so we see this understanding in the book of the covenant. Now there's this scholarly debate What type of covenant is it? In the Bible, we see two major covenants, the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. The covenant of works says, like in the Garden of Eden, you need to do this. Do not eat the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or you will die. And so Adam and Eve failed to be able to do this. As the representative head of all people, all mankind, Adam fell into sin, and the covenant of works was ruined. Adam had a chance to be able to fulfill God's Word, but he failed. That is what is known as a covenant of works. Salvation comes following the works completed. The other covenant that we see in the Bible is the covenant of grace. And that is quite different. We see this clearly in Abraham. God promises to be able to make a covenant with Abraham, But the covenant is fulfilled because God is the one who carries it both out. God is the one who bears the punishment, and Abraham is the one who receives the reward. Abraham does not need to carry out works to be able to receive this covenant, thus it's a covenant of grace. They get what is undeserved. It's not works and salvation, it's salvation that leads to good works. All of those find their fulfillment in Christ. So what is this covenant that we see in Exodus? Again, large theological debate has occurred over this. Some have said that this is a republication of the covenant of works. That this is a covenant that was given to Adam in the garden and therefore it's republicated and that's what they're called to do. Do these works and you will be saved. Now we can get into large debates about this. But I think that what we see, it is truly a covenant of grace. That the people of God are standing before the Lord because they're already saved by grace. That this is God calling his people. But also, as we read even Hebrews chapter nine prior, is in Hebrews chapter nine, the Lord is pointing out that these earthly and temporal things are merely signs and shadows of what is to come. That these signs and shadows point towards Christ And so salvation never comes, even through the Old Testament, through works. If it was through works, no one would be able to be saved. But we see the covenant of grace at work in God's people, that they're not saved for keeping the law. They're saved as they look towards the shadows of Christ through faith. The covenant obligations are not fulfilled by those who keep the law, their covenant are fulfilled by Christ who kept the law. So we see in this book of the covenant in Exodus chapter 20 to 24, the emphasis of God's relationship with his people. The sprinkling of blood which points towards Christ We see a sacrificial death as he establishes that of the new covenant. And so we see this is a great revelation of God's revealed plan for redemption. We see God's holiness, his expectations for his people, his provision for relationship, rooted within this historical covenant found in the ancient Near East. If you want to read further about this, the OPC, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, has a great published paper about the republication and how the Mosaic Law fits into it and its theological significance. But as we go through these sections found in the Book of the Covenant, we will see that they point towards Christ. If we saw them merely as the covenant of works, then what would need to be ended is it would not finish with, now look towards Christ. It would be, go and do these things. Carry them out. So what does this particular section about laws of altars reveal about God? First we see in verse 22 that God reveals himself for worship. That God reveals himself for worship. that as we saw last week, the people met with God and they immediately said, we need a mediator, we need Moses. And so we see this carried out now. Moses is now the mediator who stands between God and his people. The Lord speaks to Moses and Moses then relays the message to God's people. We also see the Lord remind us of this important principle, that here they witnessed his presence on the mountain, But when we see, when they say, you saw me on the mountain, his focus is not what he looked like, the focus is on what he said. It's not about seeing the Lord directly, because they didn't see him directly, because he was within this cloud, this theophany, this manifestation of God through the smoke, thunder, and lightning found on the mountain. The focus is on what God said. This is true in all of Scripture. often we don't find out what they look like. Even the transfiguration of Christ on top of the mountain, there's not an excessive amount of detail of what Christ looked like when he went through that transfiguration. The Bible doesn't dwell on extensively on the physical appearance of these theophanies. Often they're described with these vague or symbolic terms. For instance, the Holy Spirit, as he descends from heaven and rests upon Christ, all the gospel accounts give us is, it was like a dove. It doesn't say it was a dove, it says it was like a dove. Again, in the Gospel of John, as he begins to be able to describe Christ descending, putting on flesh, and he says, this is the Christ who manifested himself, But John doesn't then look at his physical appearance. He goes that this is Christ full of grace and truth. But we notice that when God does reveal himself to people, he does it for a specific purpose. What we see is revealed that they might worship him. We see in creation that it declares the power, the majesty, compelling us that we should give glory and thanks to God. Look unto the skies, as we see in Psalm 19. Let the skies rejoice and worship, or Romans chapter 1. We look out creation and see that the Creator needs worship. But more specifically, we see that God reveals Himself to His people that they might be able to worship Him not merely as Creator, but also their Savior and Redeemer. that we're able to be able to look in creation, the light of nature, to be able to see God, His goodness, wisdom, power, that any man is inexcusable, but as the Westminster Confession of Faith says, you're not sufficient to give the knowledge of God or of His will, which is necessary unto salvation. We can look at creation, but we're not driven to be able to know who God is in all of His fullness, or His will, or how we are to be saved. And so, as the Israelites are reminded right now in this passage, that God revealed himself at Sinai. And the emphasis and the response should be worship of who he is, not who they imagine him to be. God graciously reveals himself more fully through his word, how he, this special revelation. not only to be able to see God as Creator, but also as their Redeemer. It is only through the Scripture that we start to be able to understand who this God Creator is, His holiness, His justice, His goodness, His mercy, His grace. And each of these attributes provide grounds for us to be driven to worship, for they reveal who God is. Not only God's word reveals who he is, but it also tells us how we are to worship him. In spirit and truth, as Jesus tells the woman at the well in John chapter four, it is through scripture that we understand his redemptive work in Christ, the ultimate revelation of God's glory and grace. This revelation calls us to be able to worship him in our hearts with awe and gratitude and joy. And so we see this manifestation, this revelation of God, calling then the people of God to be able to worship Him. That God reveals Himself that we might worship Him. The next thing that we see is God commands simplicity in worship. See this in the middle verses in 23 and 25. Not only did God reveal Himself to the people, through this theophany, through this manifestation, visible manifestation of who he is, he also then commands them how he needs and wants to be worshiped. I think there's something that is lost, particularly in a world filled with individualism, consumerism in the West, in the modern world. We think worship is about a personal experience. Worship is how we feel at the end. conferences and events where you feel like you've participated in something amazing. But reality is not often focused on God and His glory, on who He is and giving glory to Him. It's focused on us. that many people can go to worship service, and it can be the equivalent of going to see a live show. The emotions, the atmosphere. Modern evangelical church services designed to be able to make these feelings be evoked in the people who attend. This began early on, but Charles Finney was one of those chief architects in the Great Awakening. Were these service centered on this emotional atmosphere led by trying to convict people of their sin and conviction? Conviction of sin and repentance? But he used music as a way to be able to use this strategically, beginning with energetic hymns to stir excitement, and then he would shift to more slower, reflective song, fostering this introspection. His most notable invention was that of the anxious bench, where peoples were under conviction publicly, displayed their desire to repent. This created in the room, well, why aren't you there? Peer pressure, this accountability, this urgency, but also his preaching. merely trying to really bring people to this conscience conviction, sin and judgment, direct personal appeals, to make an immediate decision. Also extending meeting times. There's many things that he did, but often what we see is all these things driven to be able to see true fruit actually don't create true fruit at all. The seeds sown in shallow ground will burst forth, but when trials and tribulations of the world appear, they will wither away. Or these seeds birth forth, surrounded by thorns and thistles, and they grow, but they're choked by that of the world. But all of this springs from this faulty foundation of what worship is. Because the focus shifted about God and what God wants to what we want. Either to be able to see our good intentions, the shift goes from God to our emotions, our affections. Again, this is nothing new in the last centuries. This is one of the issues that arose in the Reformation. Worship had become adorned with human traditions and imaginations of these human devices. But what we see time and time again through Scripture is God wants to be worshipped and God tells us how he wants to be worshipped. And in this passage he repeats the second commandment. We need to be able to see it's forbidding us to be able to make these images. But we also are reminded why we're driven to be able to make these images. Do we make these images of gold for ourselves? Again, that shift of what we want in worship becomes about us, how we feel, how we want our affections and our experience, our emotions to be paramount. But also we need to be able to note that this passage not merely forbids them from doing something, it shows how God actually wants to be worshiped. He's not just sitting there saying, I don't like it that way. No, I don't like it that way. You keep going, keep trying to figure it out. He specifically tells them how he is to be worshipped. And he says that I don't want to be worshipped in these other altars like other nations are making to their false gods. We see here he requires offerings, burnt offerings and peace offerings. Now we could go more into depth there, but let's notice two things. That God commands and allows for two types of altars that are applicable. The first is earth. Quite simply, it's simple, unordained, it's accessible to everyone. You have a place of earth, you can make a sacrifice to me. The second is that of a stone altar. Now, this is very common in the ancient Near East at this time, but what they would do is they would hewn a stone and make it ornate and elaborate, high on a pedestal that everyone would be able to see. And the Lord says, no, not like that. Don't get focused on worshiping that which is found in creation. Focus on that which is unordained, simple. Focus on who you are worshiping, not the objects in which you are worshiping that false god through. It would make them with human hands. But God specifically says, do not let a tool touch it, because as soon as a tool touches it, you profane it. The other thing is that the altar shouldn't be elevated. Here again we see the reminder that here mankind is sinful. The reason is that you would expose yourself to nakedness. You go up on the pedestal and you know it's a bit breezy and and then your nakedness is exposed. We see this is a reminder that of the fall of the consequences of sin. Now we could spend some time trying to unpack all of these commandments, understanding the warning of the human heart condition, making ourselves idols and practices and worship. We could see the central focus of worshiping God and not creation, this pull and drive that we are constantly moved towards, this error which Paul unpacks in Romans chapter 1. We could see the need for blood and atonement for sin, that as we begin to be able to approach God, the only way that we can approach God is through the shedding of blood, that here the holy God requires a sacrifice to be able to satisfy His wrath, to be able to atone for our sins. We could unpack the different types of offerings, the difference between a burnt offering, a peace offerings. But for now, let's look at why this happens. Why does God want us to be able to worship Him? What do all these laws and commandments drive? What's the final point that we're driven to? What's the end result? The most important thing is at the end, the people have God's presence and His blessing. It's what we see at the end of verse 24 quite clearly. that God promises in every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and I will bless you. Worship then has a specific purpose and drive towards it. That God's presence would come and his blessings would flow. That God would meet his people and God would bless his people. It's the purpose of why man is made. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism begins, what's the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God, but also to be able to enjoy Him forever. That as man-made worship creeps in, it centers on human desires, what we want. But the changed heart of the Christian says, I know what I want. I want God. I want His presence. I want His blessing. And that is enough for me. I worship the Lord in spirit and truth. And in such worship, we anticipate this future reality of the promise of what God has given to us in life to come. the promise of heaven, not merely about the things that we want in this world that we miss, the lack of sin and sorrow, but the presence of God. There's eternal blessings found in our inheritance in Christ. John Calvin writes, knowledge of God ought not only to arouse us to worship God, but also to awaken and encourage us to the hope of the future life. That when we meet with God in worship, we want more. A mere hour is not enough. I want your presence and your blessing every single day. I want it for all eternity, and I long for that. Or similarly, Francis Turretin affirms the promise of the covenant is not merely the forgiveness of sins. Not merely does God forgive our sins, atone for our sins, but also the covenant, the dwelling of God with his people is the ultimate good. So all of these laws, commandment, point us to why this happens. Worship is that we might be able to meet God. Be with Him, and He with us, that we would receive those blessings that He promises. And if a man's chief end is to be able to glorify and enjoy God forever, then this should be our true sense of what we are driven to do, where we find our true blessedness. that a posthole digger, if it had affections, was made to be able to dig holes for posts. And it would strive and love and desire to be able to dig holes, because it fulfills what it is made to be able to do in the same way. When God's people gather together to be able to worship him in spirit and in truth, they're moved and long that they might receive God's blessing, they might see God's presence, that they long for that in all eternity. but they get glimpses of it now in this present day. As we have this experience every single Lord's Day, we begin with a call to worship where God calls His creatures to be able to worship, but we pray in our prayer of invocation that God would come and dwell with His people. His Spirit would empower us and enable us, that Christ would not leave us as He has promised. as we give our worship to God in spirit and in truth, and as we leave with the benediction that God places His benediction upon His people saying, go and be blessed. It is not me giving you the blessing, I am merely a vessel transposing the blessing God has promised to be able to leave His people. This simplicity, that He has commanded, that we would not begin with these adornments of human traditions or imaginations, that we'd worship God in simplicity in spirit and truth, that we might be able to receive that which He has promised, that He would meet with us, that He would bless us as we depart with this blessing, that we would see that God's face would shine upon us, His countenance be before us, And all of this is only possible because God has revealed Himself to us and made a way for His people to be able to commune with Him. Through the mediator of Christ Jesus. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Let's pray. O gracious and most merciful Father, we are so thankful that your word reveals who you are, that we might be driven to be able to worship you truly, honestly, in spirit and in truth. But also, Lord, drive us to that end goal, that we might be able to see and feel your presence, that we might be blessed by you, found in the riches only in Christ Jesus, Lord, help us to be able to see these great and glorious truths in even these passages that we read today. Change our hearts that we might be able to be driven to this, long for this. We would see your presence, feel your presence, but also know of your blessings which you have bestowed upon your people. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Thank you for listening to this sermon from Seven Springs Presbyterian Church. If you want to learn more about us, please find us on Facebook or visit us at sevenspringspresbyterian.com. Seven Springs Presbyterian Church began in 1874 and is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America located in Glade Spring, Virginia. Please join us for worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. for His glory and His gospel.