Now, Father, we come to your word. We ask, Lord, that you would speak once again, and we will listen. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, if you will take your Bibles, please. Let's turn to the book of Exodus. We're continuing our series entitled Wilderness Faith. Wilderness Faith. So we're back in the wilderness with the children of Israel and Moses. Exodus 19. Exodus 19. And this is the chapter where they go through the wilderness of Sinai. And you know what's waiting for them in Sinai is Mount Sinai, where they will arrive at. And they spend a year there. But what's amazing is, Israel stayed in the wilderness of Sinai near the mountain until the book of Numbers chapter 10. that much, 57 chapters of the Scriptures are devoted to what happened to Israel in the year they camped at Mount Sinai. So that's why this is an important aspect of the journey through the wilderness to study and to learn more about what it means to have faith in our wilderness. And so they were tested. So we come, look at verses one and two of Exodus 19 with me. In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt on that very day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai. When they set out, from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness. And there Israel camped in front of the mountain, Mount Sinai. And so here they are, they've come to Sinai. Sinai, as you recall, is the place where Moses met God at the burning bush. So Moses knew all about Sinai, and he was returning with them. And of course, this was God's direction and plan to lead them to Sinai, where God was going to reveal himself to the children of Israel in the midst of their wilderness journey. So then we come to verse three. And when Moses went up to God and the Lord called to him from the mountain saying, thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons 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." So now Moses went up into the mountain and the Lord called him and began to speak to him. And the Lord said to Moses right there, he said, I want you to tell to the sons of Israel that they have seen what I did. to the Egyptians. In other words, remind them of the miracle they saw, Medu, in delivering them from the hands of Egypt, and delivering them, taking them through the Red Sea, and God, as it were, put them like baby eaglets sit on the wings of its mother. And God carried them into the wilderness away from Egypt and towards the promised land. What a beautiful picture here God uses when he says, I bore you up on eagles' wings. Many of you know this about eagles. I know that many of you study eagles. How many of you used to watch the eagles online? They had a nest nearby and people would go online and would watch the Eagle's Nest, and they actually had a live video constantly streaming. I don't know if that Eagle's Nest is still there or not, but when you study the life of an eagle, the mother, of course, when it's time for the babies to fly, she puts them on her back near her wings, and so they're close to either wing, and then she will soar into the sky with the baby eaglets on her wings, as it were, her back and her wings, and she would fly them up there, and then when they were strong enough, they would begin to fly by themselves a little bit, and they started to fall, the mother would swoop under and catch them on her wings and lift them up. And what's interesting is, That's the picture God is giving Israel. I'm the eagle and you are the baby eaglets. And just like the mother carries her young on her wings. And by the way, what's interesting about also the baby eaglets on the mother's wings flying, if anybody, there were any attack from the ground, like an arrow or anything, it would have to go through the mother before it would get to the baby eaglets. It was a place of protection as well. And so God is giving us that beautiful picture. In fact, turn with me to Deuteronomy. I want you to see a little more of this. Book of Deuteronomy chapter 32. Deuteronomy 32 verse seven. 32, and we'll pick it up at verse... Nope, that's... No, it's not that, wait a minute, let me see. Yes, yes, it's down here. If you look down at verse nine, let's pick it up at verse nine. Deuteronomy 32, for the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the allotment of his inheritance. And by the way, this is a song of Moses at the end of his life, and he's about to turn things over to Joshua. He found him in a desert land and in a howling waste of a wilderness. And he's talking again about Egypt and the wilderness that he would take them through. And in the howling wastes of the wilderness, he encircled them. He cared for him. He guarded him as the pupil of his eye. And here it is in verse 11. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread his wings and caught them. He carried them on his pinions. The Lord alone guided him. There was no foreign God with him, speaking of Israel. He made him ride on the high plains of the earth, and he ate the produce of the field, and he made him suck honey from the rock. Here we see again Moses As he sings this song of praise to the Lord in front of the people, he wrote this song for the people of Israel. He mentions in verse 11 that God was like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young and spread its wings and caught them and then carried them. And now turn to Isaiah chapter 40 real quick. If you go over to the book of Isaiah, Prophet Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 28. Very familiar passage that we all know well, but what a comforting passage. Look at this, Isaiah 40, beginning verse 28. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the heavens of the earth, does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might, he increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly and fall, yet those who wait for the Lord, or upon the Lord, will renew their strength. He will mount up with wings. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get weary. They will walk and not become faint. Here is that beautiful picture of what God does for those who wait upon him. And that's what he wants of you and me, is when things are We're going through the wilderness journey of our own life. And there are the times where we're bewildered and we don't understand what God is doing and which way do we go. And Lord, Sometimes we pray and we don't get an answer and we wonder, Lord, do you hear me? He's saying, continue to look to me, wait upon me, which means to trust the Lord, wait for his timing, wait upon the Lord. And as I wait upon the Lord, something wonderful happens. The Lord renews my strength by his spirit so that I can be like an eagle that begins to fly off the mountain and begins to soar, so that others around me may be falling and breaking apart and coming apart, but if I'm waiting on the Lord, He promises that He will renew my strength. He will renew your strength, dear Christian, tonight. In your trials and in your suffering, He will carry you through and He will lift you up like a wing. Not only will He make you strong like an eagle to be able to fly, but I love again that picture that He carries us like an eagle carries His babies. So it's beautiful to, have this metaphor in our minds as we think of our wilderness journey. And God wanted Israel to remember that he was like the eagle carrying the babies. So turn back with me to Exodus chapter nine, and look again at the end of verse four real quick. End of verse four, he said again in verse four, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle's wings. But then look at the next part. He says, and brought you to myself. And brought you to myself. God's deliverance wasn't so Israel could be delivered and then go live on their own and say, God would say, well, hey, it was good to know you. I'm glad you prayed. I heard your cry. I delivered you. No, God delivered them for a reason, and that was that they would be brought to him, that he would be their God, that they would be a holy nation, his chosen people. And so here again, we see that he's reminding them through Moses, remember, I brought you to myself. I brought you so that you might know who I am. And then look at now in verses five and six. Now then, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant. Notice, remember, they don't have the law yet, okay? But they're gonna get it when Moses gets it on Mount Sinai. But right now, what do they have? they have the covenant of God. God made a covenant with David and a covenant with Abraham. I'm sorry, not David, covenant with Abraham. And those who bless you, I will bless. And if you obey me, I will bless you. But if you disobey me, you can't have my blessing. And so he's saying, and he gave a covenant of the land. But he wants, he says, if you and I obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel. These are the words that you will speak to the sons of Israel. When God says here to Moses to tell the people, and you shall be to me as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, does that ring a bell, that phrase somewhere? in the Scriptures, yes. We've seen it in the New Testament, and Peter wrote about it. So if you turn to the book of 1 Peter, let's go over to 1 Peter chapter two, because we wanna see how does this relate to me? We're not just reading history here, but God has something for us to learn today, to apply to our own lives, 1 Peter chapter two, And look at verse 9, 1 Peter 2, 9. Paul writes to the churches. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, there it is, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Peter is actually using, as he writes here, he's pulling it out of what Moses wrote in Exodus 19, and what God said to Moses in 19. But now, what is Peter doing? He's saying that not only relates to Israel, but dear church, you and I are chosen by God, and what are we chosen to be? We are chosen to be a royal priesthood in Christ, a holy nation in Christ. And the King James Version says, a peculiar people. If you have a King James Version, it says a peculiar people, a people for God's own possession. And once we realize that, we as the spiritually royal priesthood and a holy nation, He wants us to be holy, for this purpose, the rest of verse nine, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of the darkness into his marvelous light. And that darkness for Israel was Egypt. Verse 10, for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. How beautiful that is. And my friends, let's remember who we are in Christ tonight. that you are chosen in him and that you and I are part of the royal priesthood of Christ and we are gonna reign with him one day forever and ever. Remember we talked about it this morning that we are spiritually speaking already seated in the heavenlies with him. But then one day we are going to truly reign with him physically when he returns to earth and we shall be part of his glorious kingdom on earth. But what a thought that you and I are Chosen, we're a royal priesthood, and we are to be a holy nation. And this is what God desired as he began to work with the Israelites, the children of Israel. He wanted a holy people. He wanted them to obey his commandments. And so it is, the Lord desires us to be holy people, to obey his word. So with that in mind, let's go back to Exodus 19. If you go back with me to Exodus 19, And we'll pick it up at verse 7. So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words which the Lord had commanded him. And all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord has spoken, we will do. And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord. Moses brought this message from the Lord and the people here in voice said, yes, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do. Well, God, that's what he wanted. God wanted to hear it from them that they will heed and obey the Lord and all that he has asked. And so we come to verse nine. And the Lord said to Moses, behold, I shall come to you in a thick cloud in order that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever. Believe in you, believe in, he's talking about I want the people to believe in you, Moses. Why would God want them to believe in Moses? to believe that Moses was God's man, that God put Moses in charge as their deliverer and leader, and therefore, when God would speak, Moses is gonna be present, and Moses would tell the people before God would ever speak from the mountain to the people, he wanted them to know that this is a sign that God chose me. I didn't put myself here. Moses didn't choose to be the leader. He says, oh yeah, I'm going to be the leader of Israel. I'm going to deliver. No, God came to Moses and found him. And what did Moses want to do? Oh Lord, you got the wrong guy. Not me, I can't deliver these people. I can't talk, I can't do anything. And God was looking for the humility in Moses. But here we see that now God is going to reveal himself to the nation now that they've arrived at God's mountain, Mount Sinai. And he's gonna come in a thick cloud. Then Moses, the end of verse nine, then Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. And then the Lord also said to Moses, go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments and let them 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. So he's telling them to get ready. God is coming down on Mount Sinai. Verse 12, And you shall set boundaries for the people all around, saying, Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain will surely be put to death. No hand shall touch him, But he shall surely be, in other words, nobody's gonna kill him by their hand, by hands, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through, whether beast or man, he shall not live. And then when the ram's horn sounds a long blast, they shall come to the mountain. So a horn's gonna blow. This is gonna be a heavenly trumpet, and it's gonna blow, and it's gonna tell the people, Moses is saying, people, when you hear the trumpet, you all come close to the mountain, but there's a border. You only come this far and no farther. And Sinai was a picture of God's holiness, and that man could come only so far in his sinful state, but he couldn't come any farther. And so God is going to reveal himself now to the children of Israel. But again, he's saying, I am holy, and I choose the ones that I, those only ones, Moses, to be able to come to me. And so verse 14, 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, Verse 15, and do not go near a woman. Poor women. Yeah, sorry, they weren't supposed to go near you. But of course, this speaks of physical relations of a man. God wanted, even though there was nothing wrong with that in a marriage, he was looking for the people to consecrate themselves, to set themselves apart for the day they would meet God. the day they would hear his voice. And then that day came in verse 16. So it came about on the third day when it was morning. Now just try and picture this. Here you are an Israelite and you're looking up at Mount Sinai. There was thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the entire mountain. and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. And they stood at the foot of the mountain." Can you picture this? What terror, fear they must have had of God, because God was showing himself through this. He told God, this is my mountain, and I'm gonna come down, and I'm gonna speak from that mountain. And suddenly there's this giant cloud over this mountain. Suddenly there's fire and lightning, and not only that, but an earthquake. Suddenly the mountain was trembling. It was quaking. God was sending a message to the people that I am God, and I want you now to know who I am, that I'm all powerful, I'm all holy, And so he now is gonna present himself. Verse 18, let's read 18 through 25. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, God's trumpet, heavenly trumpet, was blowing louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder. And 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. So God just suddenly revealed himself through this, telling the people, by the way, this is my mountain, I'm on the mountain now, and who do I want coming up to speak with me? The man I put in charge of you, Moses. Moses, come up here. And so Moses was called by God to have an intimate relationship with him on the mountain that Moses and God could speak together again. And so he went up. And then verse 21, then the Lord spoke to Moses, go down, warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. He's talking about that border that was put up. Don't go in, come there, but no farther, no closer to the mountain. And 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 thou didst warn us, saying, set boundaries about the mountain and consecrate it. Then the Lord said to him, go down and come up again, you and Aaron with you. This time, next time, bring Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break forth unto them. So Moses went down to the people and told them. What is this a picture of? It's a picture of God's holiness, and that God is saying to Israel, I need those who are consecrated. to be able to come to me. And that was Moses and Aaron at this point. And this would take us in closing to Hebrews chapter 12. So if you'll turn with me to Hebrews 12, we will see how this relates to you and me tonight. Mount Sinai. Hebrews chapter 12, and we'll pick it up at verse 18. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way, because now we are on the other side of Mount Sinai. We are not under the old covenant anymore. We are not under the law anymore. And therefore, we don't need to come to Mount Sinai like Israel did. But here's something wonderful. Because we are now royal priesthoods of Christ, and we are a holy nation. Look at verse 18. For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness, and gloom, and a whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet, and the sounds of words, which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word should be spoken to them. It was God's voice in the thunder. See, the writer of Hebrews is bringing back Mount Sinai, what took place with the children of Israel. He said, but he's talking to the church now. He's saying, you have not come to the mountain, Mount Sinai, like they did in the Old Testament, that God did with Israel. Verse 20, for they could not bear the command. If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned. So terrible was the sight that Moses said, I am full of fear and trembling. But I love this, verse 22. But you, speaking to the believer, you have come to Mount Zion. This is the heavenly mountain. to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. You're in his books in heaven. And remember, we studied this morning, we are seated in the heavenlies with Christ. So now he's talking about that, that we've gone, spiritually speaking, to the Mount Zion in heaven, the heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly city, to the General Assembly, where the church is, and myriads of angels, and to God, and the judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect there in heaven, and so we will be there one day, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks better than the blood of Abel. What is he saying here? He's saying now you and I can approach the throne of God without fear. that you and I can approach God in prayer and walk daily close to Him, abide with Him, and knowing He hears my prayers, because Jesus Christ came, shed His blood on the cross and rose from the dead, and He has become my mediator, my intercessor, sitting at the right hand of God the Father. And so, because of his blood, I can enter into the holy of holies in heaven through my prayer life. And I need not fear God as he was on Mount Sinai, but grace has been given, and I have been robed in the righteousness of Christ, and I have become a holy priesthood, and I've become a holy nation, and you and I have access to the throne of God every day, every moment. How wonderful is that? that the grace of God has allowed us to no longer stand in fear like Mount Sinai, but we have gone, because we accepted Christ as Savior, spiritually we have gone into the heavenlies, and when we pray, we can come to the Father, He will hear us, and He will abide with us, and we with Him, because Jesus Christ made a way. How wonderful, how wonderful. Through my wilderness experience on life, Jesus said, I will never leave you nor forsake you, and therefore I can walk close to the Lord and know that he will always give me strength and lead me and guide me and carry me on his wings. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much, Lord, for the lessons we learned, Lord, from your people, that you guided through the wilderness. Father, as you taught them, Lord, that day was yet to come when Jesus would be born in a manger in Bethlehem and grow to go to the cross and become our sacrifice. That no longer do we need to have fear because our faith has saved us by your grace, we've been saved through faith, that we can now come boldly before thy throne and not fear. Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to call you Father, and encourage us, Lord, as we continue. Lord, help us to remain faithful, Lord, and to keep our eyes upon you in our wilderness journey. We ask all this now in Jesus' name, amen, amen.