Alright, we're in Exodus chapter 19. I titled our message, A Holy God for an Unholy People. Because holiness is not just a theme of the Bible. Holiness is God's defining trait. In Isaiah 6, the angels surround the throne room of God, and what do they cry out over and over and over again? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. Fast forward about 1,500, 2,000 years to the final book of your Bible, the book of the Revelation, and you open it up, and there you see into the throne room of God and what is happening once again. The angels are still there, and they're still singing, holy, holy, holy. The whole earth is full of His glory. God's holiness is not a bug to the system. It is a primary feature of your Bible, the Word of God, and your God. So I've titled our message, A Holy God for an Unholy People. Let's pray. We'll get into the message. Father, I confess, and you know, and your dear people know this already, that unless the Holy Spirit of God grants understanding, gives just a deep conviction of the heart, then your people, we would walk out having checked a religious box, but never really encountering the living God of Mount Sinai. God, wake us from our doldrums, wake us from our lethargy. Spirit of God, we invite you again to use the sword of the Spirit, to cut where you must cut, to heal where you must heal, to bring encouragement and hope where hopelessness resides. And most of all, Lord, in all of this, show us, Christ, that we may be a changed people this morning. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. From the opening pages of the Bible, the divine author picks up his sovereign pen. He dips it into the inkwell of holiness. And he begins to write with striking adjectives, stunning verbs, shocking adverbs, like a novelist who would write with simplicity and complexity, yet always with clarity. The divine author reveals himself in a story. And not just a story, but a multiplicity of stories. God could have revealed himself in axiomatic truth or propositional revelation like perhaps in the epistles, but he does not begin that way. He begins to reveal himself through stories. And so in Genesis chapter three, God expels Adam and Eve from the garden because they ate of the forbidden fruit. In Genesis chapter 6, he sends a universal flood because of mankind's wickedness. In Genesis chapter 11, God confounds the communication of a prideful people trying to build their way up to God. In Genesis 19, God rains fire and brimstone on two cities named Sodom and Gomorrah because of their deviant hospitality or perhaps inhospitality. In Exodus chapter 3, God reveals himself in a burning bush that will not be consumed. And in Exodus chapter 7 through 11, with rapid fire, like a machine gun, rapid fire, God judges His enemies with life-threatening, and in the final case, a life-taking judgments. In Exodus 14, God drowns his enemies, condemns his enemies in a watery grave. And in Exodus 19, the passage that we see here this morning, God shakes Mount Sinai with his presence and the people fear and tremble. Saints, holiness is not just a theme of the Bible, it is God's defining trait. the words of one author, she wrote this, that instead of bulletins or visitor cards with QR codes on them, church ushers instead ought to be equipped with crash helmets, life preservers, signal flares, and seat belts for the people of God as we gather to worship the God of Mount Sinai. And the New Testament states it this way, without holiness, no one will see the Lord. And that's our problem, isn't it? that the Holy One of Israel, the Holy God who has picked up that sovereign pen and dipped it into the inkwell of holiness and describes himself in a variety of different ways, and we're supposed to walk away from all of those stories going, oh my, we're in trouble, there is a holy God on the loose. And no one is safe from his fiery eyes and the smoke of his judgment. We are now, in Exodus 19, we have come to the third month since Israel has exited Egypt. It's been three months. This is the map again that I've been showing you for the last couple weeks now. They started up to the top left of the map in Ramses, and they followed it through Goshen and down to the very tip top of the left-hand finger of the Red Sea. They crossed there in Exodus chapter 14. They come over tomorrow where they take of the water for the first time, and they find out that the water is bitter. They travel down to Elam, and I think there were 70-some palm trees, if I remember correctly, where they found water again. They come to Rephidim, and that's where we were last week in Exodus 18. And now we stand in Exodus 19 at the base of Mount Sinai. Let me correct that. We don't stand at the base of Mount Sinai. We take a couple steps back from Sinai. Because anyone who touches Mount Sinai in just a few moments will be warned that their life will be taken from them because of God's holy presence. That is, before the fire of righteousness and the smoke of holiness are seen, That in verse 3, Moses is going to trek up Mount Sinai. You can see a picture of what Mount Sinai looks like today. Remember, Moses is 80 years old. He'll die at 120 years old. And in this chapter, he's going to climb Mount Sinai three times. Some of us struggle to go up to the second flight of stairs a second time, right? Moses is going to climb up Mount Sinai three different times. The very first time he does so is in verse three. That is, before the fire of righteousness and the smoke of holiness are seen, before the thunder of justice is heard, God says, let me paint for you one more picture. That is, God's gentleness is painted. Because whenever holiness is revealed, mercy follows behind quickly. He refers to the nation of Israel as eaglets. God himself as an eagle. You may notice that an eaglet can stay in the nest for up to roughly about 100 days. And then if that eaglet hasn't taken flight yet, mama eaglet will go into the nest, right? Kind of stir up the nest a little bit and say, all right, it's time to go. And once that eaglet leaves the nest and begins to fly, if they struggle, mama eagle will swoop underneath and catch that baby eaglet on her wings. Look at verse three of Exodus chapter 19. 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 eagle's 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. He begins by saying, if you will, obey my voice. The obedience of the voice that he was anticipating or expecting was this, is the very specific instructions of not to approach Mount Sinai as he descended on top of it. When he says, I want you to keep my covenant, What we'll learn is that the nation of Israel was actually camped at the base of Mount Sinai for 40 days. That is from Exodus chapter 19 until chapter 24 or so, they are at the base of Mount Sinai. And they're going to be, as they're at the base, the covenant of God is going to be revealed to them. And the very first part of the covenant that they are supposed to keep is Exodus chapter 20. You and I know that as the Ten Commandments, right? So he says, if you obey my voice, that is, don't approach the mountain and all that goes with it. If you will keep my covenant, what you will be to me is this, you will be a treasured people. You will be a possession for myself that is of all the peoples on the earth, you will be mine. It's kind of like our kids in the nursery right now, right? Some of you have children or perhaps you have grandchildren. They've got like, you know, 71 stuffed animals in their bed, right? But there's one that's their treasured possession. And God says, if you will keep my covenant, yes, all the peoples of the earth are mine, but you will be my treasured possession. And in addition to that, you will be a kingdom of priests. Every one of you will have access to me. You will no longer have a mediator. You won't have to go to Moses anymore. You'll just be able to come directly to me. You'll be a kingdom of priests, each of you having access to God. And the people answer with one voice in verse eight. And all the people answered together and said this, all that the Lord has spoken we will do And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord, 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. And so there are three demands of God's holiness in this passage, and the very first demand of God's holiness is this. God's holiness demands obedience to his word. Question. How did Israel do at obeying God? Really bad, right? Not good. So you're in Exodus 19. Why don't you do this? Flip over to Exodus 32, and we're gonna come right back to it. We won't be there long. Look at Exodus 32, and let me show you how bad they did, right? So just think for a moment. While you're turning there to Exodus 32, You got Exodus 19, the holiness of God, obey my covenant. What do you have in Exodus chapter 20? What's the very first commandment, right? In Exodus chapter 20 verse one, what's the very first commandment, right? This is how we taught our kids. No other gods. Commandment one, no other gods. Right? Now look at Exodus chapter 32 verses 1 through 4. As for this, Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. So Aaron said to them, take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron, and he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool. He made a golden calf. Why would you do that? And they said this, these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. pass or fail? They fail. Miserably, right? But God's holiness is demanding that they obey His words. So, all of a sudden now, we are in a collision between the holiness of God and the unholiness of His people. Now, Did you pick up, I'm back in Exodus 19, did you pick up on the last part of verse nine about why God is gonna come down to Moses? He says, and look at verse nine again, Exodus 19, I'm coming to you in a thick cloud that people may hear when I speak with you, and get this, and may also believe you, and then what's the very last word there? Forever. I want them to hear that I'm speaking with you and I want them to believe you for how long? Forever. Wait a second, Moses is gonna die. Moses has an expiration date, right? He's not God. He's gonna die 40 years later at the age of 120. I would submit to you that this word forever is a direct reference to Jesus. Now let me tie those threads together for a moment, right? He says, I want the people of Israel to believe you forever. So, and I'm saying that's in reference to Jesus. Let me demonstrate this to you now, right? In Deuteronomy chapter 18, the verses will be on the screen behind me. In Deuteronomy chapter 18, who's writing the book of Deuteronomy, by the way? He writes the first five books of your Old Testament. Moses does. So Moses is writing this and he says this, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you from your brothers. It is to him you shall listen. just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire anymore lest I die. And the Lord said to me, they are right in what they have spoken. I will raise, so God says now, I will raise up for them a prophet like you Moses from among their brothers and I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to My words that he shall speak in My name, I'm going to require it of him." Deuteronomy 18, regardless of what your Muslim friends may say, because I've had a Muslim friend of mine say that's in reference to the final prophet Muhammad in the Quran, Deuteronomy 18 is a direct prediction of the coming final prophet, not Muhammad, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. How do you know that? Well, I know that because in Exodus chapter 7 we see, here's the second reference in that's going to pull this together. In Acts chapter 7, that's that long passage where Stephen is about ready to get stoned. You remember that? It's like this, he just goes through the history of Israel on and on and on, but in the middle of there, there are some nuggets that point us back to Deuteronomy 18 and then in Exodus chapter 19. Exodus chapter 7 verse 37, Stephen says this, this is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. He's quoting Moses. This is the one, Moses, who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Sinai and with our fathers. Moses received living oracles to give to us. Our fathers refused to obey him, right? But thrust Moses aside and in their heart turns back to Egypt. Then Stephen flips it and says, it's not just the fathers who disobeyed Moses. He then looks at him and says, you stiff-necked Pharisees, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one. And then Stephen turns on a dime and he says this, whom you have now betrayed and murdered. Moses says, God is going to raise up a prophet. I will put all my words into him to speak. You will listen to him. If you don't, I will be the judge to that. Stephen then comes alongside and says, you know, our fathers didn't obey Moses. They didn't obey the prophets. And oh, by the way, in addition to killing them, they killed the righteous one, and then flips it on and says, whom you have now betrayed and murdered. That is, when God is saying to Moses that I'm going to come down and speak with you, that they may know that you are speaking to me, that also they may believe you forever, it is this, I want them to believe the final prophet, the son of the living God, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And so we're confronted with this idea that the holiness of God demands that we obey his word completely. And just like the nation of Israel, We don't fashion gods of goats and things like that made out of our jewelry, but we fashion other gods. And so we're coming to this collision course that God's holiness demands that we keep all the words that come from his prophets, but specifically Jesus the Christ. In fact, when Peter is at the Mount of Transfiguration, do you remember this story? You've got Peter, you've got Moses, and you've got Elijah. Peter's like, Jesus, let's do this. I will build three tents. Let's build one for Jesus, let's build one for you, let's build one for Moses, and let's build one for Elijah. And what comes from the heavens? Another thundering voice comes from the heavens and says this, this is my son, hear him. Hear Jesus, the one whom I have given the living oracles. The first demand that God's holiness requires is that we obey his word completely. Here's the second demand, that God's holiness demands holiness from his people. In verses nine through 15, the text reads that God came down to the mount. God always has to come down to us, doesn't He? He always has to come down to us. And while He will reveal Himself there on the mountain, He will still conceal Himself. because he comes down in a cloud. Psalm 97, the psalmist writes it this way, cloud and thick darkness surround him. The prophet Isaiah, when he walks into the throne room in Isaiah chapter six, when the angels are singing, holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of his glory. In addition to that, as he walks into the throne room, he says that the throne room of God is filled with smoke. And then also in Matthew 17, at the Mount of Transfiguration, the story I just spoke about, at the Transfiguration, what is Jesus surrounded by? He's surrounded by a bright cloud. That is, while God will reveal himself, because of his blazing holiness, there is a sense in which he still must conceal himself. And Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel are warned, they are warned to make sure that no one approaches Mount Sinai. So, perhaps in Hebrew they put up one sign over here that says, warning, no entrance allowed. Perhaps here they set up another one that said, authorized access only. Perhaps another sign said, make sure that all your animals are leashed. No one is going free. Another one, do not enter. Violators, according to Exodus 19, were to be executed on sight. And then God says, after they're executed, you're not even allowed to touch their body because they have touched the mountain of holiness. This is the sobriety that God is bringing to His people, that My holiness demands your holiness. Israel was to clean themselves physically, kind of a ceremonial, symbolic cleaning. Husbands and wives were to refrain from sex, not because of that somehow marital intimacy is unholy, but as kind of a form of fasting, if you will, to meet with God. And at the end of the three days, once they hear the sound of the trumpet blast, the people could now approach the holy mountain, Sinai. If God is going to go to such great pains to reveal himself to his covenant people, why keep them at a distance? That would be like you, grandma or grandpa, saying to your grandkids, let me tell you a story, but stay three rooms away. That doesn't make sense. How would God do this? These precautions are intended to show the distinctive nature of God. Saints, you can't dilute holiness and still have God. If you try to tamper and dilute holiness so that somehow mankind can enter into his presence, you no longer have God. He's altogether different with no beginning and no ending. Not one time has he acted unrighteously. Not one time has he acted selfishly. Not one time has he acted arrogantly. He's always acting and keeping with his holy and just nature. If you want a synonym for what does holy mean? That's such a kind of a religious word. What does holy mean? Matthew 5, 48, Jesus says it this way. You must be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. That's what holiness means. Holiness demands I obey God's word completely. I've gotta obey his word completely, meaning perfectly? Holiness demands that I be holy, like I've gotta be perfect? You might as well tell me when pigs fly. Right, there's no way I can do that. The God's holiness is perfection. So David writes it this way in Psalm 24, who can ascend to the hill of our Lord? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. You know anyone like that? Like even the most righteous and upstanding moral citizen doesn't have clean God-like hands or a moral God-like heart. In fact, the prophet Isaiah will write it this way, that even all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags. I don't know about you, in our house we have a part of our closet that has where all the rags are kept. And it seems like every time I open the door there's even more of them coming out at me. I don't know what you use your rags for, we use our rags to clean the bathroom. The sink is dirty, right? It's got all the toothpaste and all that stuff. But we also use those rags to clean the toilets. It's gross. It's disgusting. God's not trying to be funny, but he says, you know all those righteous deeds that you do? It's like rags that have been used to clean toilets. and yet God's holiness is demanding my holiness? So Moses comes down the mountain now a second time, and then he does something, he consecrates Israel. Look at verse 14. I'm sorry, Exodus 19, look at verse 14. So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people. Now, if this were the only time consecrated was used, I really wouldn't know what's going on here. But this is not the first time the word consecrated is used in the book of Exodus. In Exodus chapter 14, the night of the Passover, what does Moses do for the people of God? He consecrates them. What does every Jewish man do for his home. He consecrates their home. They sacrifice a lamb, they place blood on the doorpost, right, and on the lintel above, on the frame of the house. They're consecrating, and by doing so, the death angel passes over them, that they're free from the judgment that God was going to bring. But that's not the only time the word consecrated is used. In Exodus chapter 29, another sacrifice is offered to God, and the priests are now consecrated. The text doesn't say this, but I would like to submit to you this morning that when it says that Moses consecrated the people, I would like to suggest to you that what he did was he killed a lamb on their behalf so that they could stand before the holy presence of God. That is, a lamb's blood was shed as a picture of the covering and the forgiveness of unholiness. Get this, that one day the Lamb, picturing that one day the Lamb of God, the Lamb, capital L, would shed his own blood for his unholy people. This is why the author of Hebrews writes it this way in Hebrews chapter 10. We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. Or, to use Moses-like language, we have been consecrated through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. God's holiness demands our holiness. But again, like the people of Israel, like obey Him completely? Obey Him completely, I have to have perfect holiness like God has perfect holiness? I'm in trouble, and so are you. So the final demand from Exodus 19, it even gets worse. The final demand is this, is that God's holiness demands justice against unholiness. Demands justice. You know what justice is, right? I just got a summons in my mailbox at the end of March. I have to go down to the federal or county, I'm not sure I remember which one right now. I have to go down to the federal courthouse, I believe, right, to be asked if I'm gonna be on a jury or not. You're supposed to be impartial. But what happens as you begin to hear the case and as the facts of the story are laid out before you? And all of a sudden you see that this individual actually defrauded or broke the law in some capacity. The law demands that justice be given to this individual. And so, this is the justice that God's holiness demands justice against unholiness. Look at verse 16 and let's read it without interruption. Exodus 19 verse 16. On the morning of the third day, there were thunders and lightning, 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. That is, you break through to the Lord, I will break out against you. Verse 23, and Moses said to the Lord, the people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, set limits around the mountains 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. What a beautiful but horrific sight combined together. My mind's eye, I can see like Mordor, and I'm not trying to be funny, I'm just saying you see smoke and fire. And only a mediator could go up there. Twice God says, if you come up, I will break out against you. Right, if I'm Moses, I'm thinking, what happened to the eaglet's God? What happened to the God who provides, what happens to the God who provides quail? And what happens to the God who, happened to the God who provided manna and the one who busted open the Red Sea and led us with a pillar of fire by night and a cloudy pillar by day? Where's that merciful God? But God is trying to communicate to his people here and to his people here that God's holiness demands justice against unholiness. This entire scene displays the glory of God. Yes, I understand that God's glory is on display in the heavens, right, with streets of gold and lakes of crystal and the various kind of bejeweled gates of the heaven, of heaven itself. But here, God's glory is on display in a horrific way. The thunder and earthquake are signs of God's ultimate power. The dark clouds are a sign of God's mystery. The fire is a sign of God's holiness. The trumpet is a sign of authority. It is announcing the coming of the king. Moses and Aaron can go up to God because they are the mediators between God and Israel. But what will happen? Where's the God of love? Where's the God of grace? Holiness demands justice. So I have a question. How can God maintain his holiness satisfy His justice and allow a disobedient, unholy people into His presence? How can God do that? If God is loving and gracious and He allows us into His presence, then does somehow He lose His holiness and His justice because we're sinners? Because you don't want a God that's all love and no holiness. You don't want a God that's all grace and no justice. So how do these ingredients come together perfectly to describe the glory of God? I'm glad you asked. You're in Exodus 19. Take your Bible and turn to Hebrews 12. And if you have a phone or a tablet, you will find it a lot faster than the rest of us. Hebrews chapter 12, you're gonna go through the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. You're gonna go through all those epistles written by Paul primarily. You know, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. When you start hitting the Ts, Titus, or Timothy, Thessalonians, and then you hit Titus, you got one more book, the book of Philemon, and then you get Hebrews, all right? So find Hebrews. Chapter 12, and we'll be there the rest of the time. Hebrews chapter 12, and look at verse 18. The author of Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 18. I'll wait just a little bit longer to make sure everyone gets it. Writes this way, for you Hebrew Christians, for you have not come to what may be touched a blazing fire, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest. You've not come to the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountains, it shall be stoned. Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. Look at that next word in verse 22. The first two words in verse 22, those Those are like dew early in the morning. That's like taking a drink of water on a hot Houston, humid day after having mowed the lawn. Look at those two words, but you, you, grace life, you, Christian, you, child of God, you have come to Mount Zion. and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, oh, and by the way, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. You see that, he's like, hey, you're coming to Zion, to the city of the living God, and let me just kind of, almost like you would a telescope, he's just gonna pull it out a little bit more, and a little bit more, and a little bit more. You've come, and you've come here, and you've come here, and this is to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. And look at verse 25. See this, that you do not refuse him who is speaking. Why? Because your holiness is contingent on whether or not you refuse it or not. See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking, for if they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, that is Jesus, much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns from heaven. Drop down to verse 28. Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe." What kind of acceptable worship? Well, not worship of a golden calf where it pops out and everyone goes, these are the gods that brought us out of Egypt. Not worship like that, but acceptable worship, reverential and awe of the God who saves from Egypt. That is, Mount Sinai is the old covenant. Mount Zion is the new covenant. Mount Sinai, mediated by Moses. Mount Zion, mediated by Jesus. You have the blood of a lamb, and you have the blood of the lamb. You have a mountain that shakes. You have an unshakable kingdom over here. You have a mountain that is forbidding, and here you have a mountain that is inviting. You have fear and danger, and here you have peace and safety. That is, come to Mount Zion. Or maybe a word that you know a little bit better. Come to Mount Calvary. Like we sang this morning. Come to that mountain. And that, the God over, the God over Mount Sinai, is still the God over Mount Zion according to Hebrews chapter 12. You say, Moshe, what am I supposed to do with this? Mount Sinai? Mount Zion? I'm like 17 years old, man. I'm thinking about lunch, I'm thinking about my video game, I'm thinking about having my day off from school. I'm 17, what am I supposed to do with this? Or you're a mom, you gotta get up for work tomorrow. What are you supposed to do with this information? Mount Sinai and Mount Zion? Or you're a dad just trying to figure out how you're gonna pay the bills. What exactly are you supposed to do with this type of information? Folks, let me be very specific and blunt. The only way that Mount Zion is possible is because the Holy Son of God was placed on a cross and there the Father, God the Father, creator of the world, placed the sins of mankind on Jesus. Jesus bore every unholiness that you've ever committed. Any time that you've used God's name to curse someone else, to damn somebody else, every time that you broke one of God's 10 commandments in Exodus 20 that we'll learn about next week, God poured out, God the Father poured out His wrath on His Son. Jesus, the Son of God, absorbed that wrath. It's called propitiation. He absorbed that wrath in your place, on your behalf, in your stead, so that you, if you will place your faith in Jesus and in Jesus alone. What are you supposed to do with this? Here's what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to place your faith in the mediator of the new covenant. You're supposed to trust Jesus and Jesus alone as your only source of righteousness. And some, some Christians have the audacity, have the gall, have somehow, I don't know what other words I can use right now, some Christians have the audacity to say then that after you become a follower of Jesus, now let me tell you what holiness looks like. that holiness does this, this, and this. Let me be very clear that holiness only comes from God, by God, through His Son, Jesus. And that if you're wondering, I've been a Christian now for like, I don't know, 17 years, and it just seems like, it just seems like every time I come in, it's just like, it's Christianity, following Jesus is just hard, it's hard. One reason, one possibility amongst many, one possibility is that what has been laid upon your shoulders is that your holiness is dependent upon you, and let me say this clearly, that has the stench of the sulfuric smell of hell upon it. because our only holiness that we have is through Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Saints, what should you do with this? Oh, if you have not trusted Jesus alone, then place your dependence upon him and receive his holiness. Do you see, Grace Life, do you understand then that what I just preached about what does it mean to receive Jesus and the righteousness that comes, that's a whole lot more than just simply, well, I ask Jesus into my heart. You see that? That is so much more beautiful and picturesque, and our understanding of the gospel has grown immensely when we move from, I didn't just ask Jesus into my heart, that Jesus, the Son of God, absorbed the wrath of God. I placed my trust on Jesus, and I received the righteousness of Jesus, and now I can come to God the Father. That's so much more beautiful. It's so much more meaningful, and it actually fuels our worship. It fuels our obedience to God. Mount Sinai, Grace Life, reveals this. It reveals we have a holiness of God problem. It reveals that we have a sin disease problem. It reveals we have a separation from God problem. Mount Calvary, Mount Zion. Mount Calvary reveals we have a holiness of God's solution, Jesus. Mount Zion reveals that we have a sin-diseased solution. Not a problem, but a solution. Mount Zion reveals that we have a separation from God solution, Jesus the righteous. And this is why Peter concludes his letter. To the saints in Cappadocia, he says this, and he's picking up from Moses' words, he says, you are a chosen race. A people, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Of all the peoples on the earth, you, saint, are a holy race, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness and into light. This is the good news of the gospel. Thank God for Sinai because it shows us our need. But praise God for Mount Zion, Mount Calvary, that shows us how we can be born again.