Well, it is good to be in the house of God, which is the people of God. I do. Very excited to be here. Very excited to share with you from the word. I do extend grace and peace to you from God, our father and our Lord Jesus Christ, and also from your brothers and sisters at Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church, which is where we normally worship. And although they have never seen you, they love the same Lord that you do. I do want to invite you to open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 19. I'll be reading from the English Standard Version. On the third day, no, on the third moon, after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the day they came into the wilderness of Sinai, they set out from Raphidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai. And they encamped in the wilderness. There, Israel encamped before the mountain. Moses went up to God. The Lord called out of the mountain, saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and to the people of Israel, You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings. and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples. For the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel. So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord God had commanded. And all the people answered together and said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud. that the people may hear when I speak to you and may also believe you forever. When Moses told all these words, when Moses told all the words of the Lord, all the words of the people to the Lord, the Lord, Moses said, Go to the. I'm sorry. The Lord said to Moses, Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And you shall set limits for the people around, saying, Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the mountain. For whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. But he shall be stoned or shot, whether beast or man, he shall not live. When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come to the mountain. So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people, and they washed their garments. And he said to the people, be ready for the third day. Do not go near a woman. On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud on the mountain in a very loud trumpet blast so that 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. This is the word of God. This morning, I want to talk to you about something that may not be readily apparent on this text. This morning, I want to talk to you about the idea of suffering. When you when you think about suffering, you know, you can think, you know, there's some initial thoughts that can come to your mind, something like pain or discomfort or perhaps some type of injustice. When you think about suffering, there's really two broad kinds of suffering. You could experience some type of inward turmoil, something that just kind of has you stopped in your tracks, but it's some type of inward conflict. That's a kind of suffering. There's also another kind of suffering where it's a power that is hindering you. It's a power that's hurting you. It's a power that is stopping you. And you can do nothing about it to overcome it. There's no positive thinking. There's no any kind of inspiration that can help you overcome that kind of suffering. I want you to think about that just for a moment because it's easy to get lost in this idea that suffering is just something we feel emotionally. Whether suffering is just an inward conflict or an external force holding you back or harming you, it still hurts. And it still doesn't feel right. The question we need to ask ourselves when we're suffering, whether it's merely inward turmoil or whether it's some external force that's holding you back, holding you down or hurting you, is how can you cope with suffering in a way that will provide real hope, in a way that will enable you to see, in a way that will enable you to understand your worth in the presence of a holy God? I want to talk to you about this and I want to show you how this passage, how Exodus 19, specifically verses one to seven, actually can provide words of comfort in the midst of suffering. Words of comfort in the midst of suffering. I want to show you that, but before I show you how that works and how we can see that truth in the scripture, let me just walk you a little bit through the words of the scripture. And as I walk you through it, I want to just ask several questions. Number one, I want to ask, when is this happening? In this story that we're looking at, when is this happening? Where is it happening? Who is speaking to whom? And why? Really, that's what I want to ask as we walk through this text. First, I want you to notice it says in verse 1, On the third new moon, after the people had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the third new moon, what's that mean? Well, when they came out of Egypt, the first day they were coming out of Egypt, God said, this is the first month for you. This is the first month of the first year for you. And this is the third moon. This is three months later. According to the lunar time, that's seven weeks. Okay, what we have going on in this passage is seven weeks after the Exodus event. Now, that's significant because later on, God will say that this time is to be the Feast of Weeks, right? This will be Pentecost for them. This is the event that eventually corresponds to what Pentecost is in Acts chapter 2. The giving of the law in Exodus, the giving of the spirit in Acts. So this is Pentecost. This is seven weeks after the Exodus event. Now, where is this happening? This is happening at the wilderness of Sinai. This is happening at the foot of the mountain in Sinai. Now, why is that significant? It's significant for several reasons. First thing about this. In terms of the amount of history that's covered in the book of the Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses, we have history from the beginning of time all the way until the birth of the nation of Israel in Exodus chapter 1. That's several thousand years. That's many, many years covered in the book starting from Genesis chapter 1 all the way to Exodus chapter 1. And then by the time we get to the exodus event, by the time we get to the nation of Israel standing at Sinai, they're going to stay at Sinai for two years. Okay? And they're going to stay at Sinai, and the amount of text that's devoted to them staying at Sinai starts here at Exodus chapter 19 and goes all the way to Numbers chapter 11. That's a lot of text devoted to a short amount of time in terms of a story. And what's that mean? Why is that significant? Well, that's significant because that's Moses' way of saying, because Moses is the human author that formed this text, that's Moses' way of saying there's something really important happening here at Sinai. So important. I'm going to devote a lot of time in text to whatever is happening here at Sinai. OK, so that's important. And Moses draws other there's other ways. Moses draws attention to the fact that Sinai is important. One of the ways he does that is he has a series of parallel similar stories on either side of the exodus event. For instance, If you've read through the books of Moses, that's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, if you've read through Exodus, you may be familiar with complaining stories, those murmuring stories. Remember, at the beginning of Exodus, chapter 17, Right? Exodus, I'm sorry, I'm trying to read my notes here, 15 and 16, we have stories of them asking for water and quail. Well, all the way in Numbers, on the other side of the Exodus event, where they're leaving Sinai, we have more murmuring stories. We have stories where they're murmuring for quail, more stories where they're murmuring for water. Then we have stories where Mary and Aaron are murmuring against Moses. Then we can't forget the sons of Korah. Dathan, Dathan and Abihu, and we have all those murmuring stories. Then think about this. We also have war stories. We also have war stories. If you remember in Exodus chapter 17, right after they cross the Red Sea and they're crossing on the other side, they go to war with Amalek. They go to war with Amalek. And as they're leaving Sinai, all the way in Numbers, they go to war with Sihon and Og. Right? So we have murmuring stories, we have war stories, and then we also have elders stories. We have stories about elders, right? In Exodus chapter 18, we have the institution of the office of elder, right? We have Jethro and Moses talking about, you know, Jethro giving him advice about how to govern the people of Israel in the office of elders instituted. Well, all the way in Numbers chapter 11, we have the spirit of the Lord coming upon the elders, the seven elders. So, think about what Moses is doing. He's structured the Sinai event in such a way that we have parallel stories happening on either side. And what he's doing there is, number one, these events really did happen, but it's also a way of drawing attention to the fact that there's something very significant happening in this Sinai story at the foot of the mountain. Do notice just in our text how many times the prepositional phrase before the mountain is used. Just look at that in verse 2, and there the Israel camped before the mountain. It says, look in verse 3, Moses went up to God, the Lord called to him out of the mountain. And you can keep going as you go through the chapter. You can see that there's something significant about mountain going on here. And what is significant? Well, let me just say this. When God commissions Moses as a prophet to be the deliverer, to be that mediator for the people, he says what? He says that he's going to bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey. And then there's that long list of names we always trip over. the Hittites, the, you know, blah, blah, blah, you know, that long list of names. What's God saying? Ultimately, what God is doing is He's saying, the goal of my redemption is not to bring you to Sinai, it's to bring you to that land flowing with milk and honey. To bring you to that land of flowing with milk and honey. And what is God doing? He wants to bring them to a new Eden. He wants to bring them, he wants to bring Israel, his people, to a new Eden. That's the goal of God's redemption in Exodus. The goal is not to bring them to the mountain, but it's to bring them to Eden, to the new Eden, to the land flowing with milk and honey. And I wish we had a couple more hours because I would show you all the parallels between between the Garden of Eden and the Promised Land. It is the New Eden. Okay, that's what they're doing. That's the goal. So what does that mean in terms of Sinai? What it means is this. We started, you start reading Exodus and you think their biggest problem is the Egyptians. And it's not. God effortlessly overcomes the Egyptians. Their biggest problem is not the Egyptians, but God himself. God himself is Israel's biggest obstacle to the promised land. That's what's going on. That's why it's so important. That's why they have to consecrate themselves. God in his holiness is the biggest problem. Think about the overarching image that we get in Exodus. God has fire that does not consume a bush. That's an image that's a prophetic image, just a theophonic image that God has given to Moses. And the question is, how can fire dwell among a bush and not consume it? How can a holy God dwell among a bush and not consume it? And the bush is Israel. OK, so how can a holy God not consume Israel? And the answer is we're beginning to see God is beginning to lay out His program. How can a people dwell among, how can a holy God dwell among a sinful people? I want to show you this now. So we've talked about when this is happening. We've talked about where it's happening, which is significant. Now I want to talk about who is speaking to whom. And look at this. Moses went up to God, the Lord called to him out of the mountain saying, that's important. Whenever you see that in the Bible, in the Old Testament, whenever you see two verbal words, said and saying, that's not the author being redundant. It's the author saying the words that follow here are extremely important. They are prominent. So let's look at these words. He says, 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. Let me point out several things first. Look at this. He says, tell the house of Jacob and the people of Israel. Who is speaking? Well, God is speaking. Moses is in this story, but Moses is just a mouthpiece. He's not a primary character. God is speaking through Moses to the house of Israel, to the people of Jacob. And actually, probably a more wooden way to translate that is not the people of Jacob, but the sons of Jacob. The point here is they are a house. They are the house of Jacob. Right. They are a royal dynasty is the idea. Right. They are they have a royal identity. They're a house and they are the sons of Israel. That means what? They have a royal descent. And that's the remarkable point made in Exodus chapter 1, that these people that are not actual direct sons of Israel are called the sons of Israel. Think about how remarkable that is. I mean, your name, your children remember your story, your grandchildren remember your name, and your great-grandchildren don't know who you are, right? Very sobering reality, but it's probably true. How many of us would have great-grandchildren that would still call themselves the sons of Matt, right? Or the sons of Jerry, or the sons of Phil. Like, that's just not going to happen. But think about how remarkable in this text that we have people that are not direct sons or daughters of Jacob. They're called the sons of Jacob. That's important because God has spoken a covenant, a promise to Jacob. So it's important that they're sons of Jacob. It says people, but throughout the entire book of Exodus, whenever it says people of Jacob, people of Israel in your Bible, the better translation is sons. OK, so God is speaking to the house of Jacob that the sons of Israel, What does God say? He says this, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles wings, how I brought you to myself. OK, let's look at that first line. You yourselves have seen what I've done to the Egyptians. Okay, on the face of it, that means God has been what? He's been faithful to show his redemptive action to them. That's a good thing, right? That would be great to see God's redemptive action and how easy it is in our moments of desperation and weakness, how we just long to see God do something, how we long to see it. But what does this mean if we dig a little deeper? Let's look at it. The idea of seeing is not necessarily a good thing here. It's good in the sense that God has shown himself to them. But let's look at what this ultimately means in the story. Look at this. Turn to Exodus chapter 3, verse 5. This is really interesting. In Exodus chapter 3. We have God has appeared to Moses and he's commissioning him. And he says this to Moses, he says, do not come near, take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God." That's good, right? That's good. That's holy reverence in the face of God. I hope if God appeared to you, you would turn away. Now look at this. In the rest of the chapter, let me just briefly say that God is basically saying, I'm going to do something I've never done before. I'm going to reveal my name to you. That's the great contribution of Exodus. God reveals his name to him. Look at this. Moses, chapter one, verse four, Moses says, but behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, the Lord did not appear to you. Then the Lord said to him, what is that in your hand? He said, a staff. And he said, throw it on the ground. So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the Lord said, put your hand out and catch it by the tail. So he put his hand on it and caught it, and because it's staff, and it became a staff in his hand. And look at what God says. There's no even verbal introduction to let you know this is God speaking. It's almost like God's angry here. And God says that they may believe that the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob has appeared to you. The sign is given to condescend to their unbelief. The sign is given to condescend to their unbelief. God's original commission to Moses is just go to them and say, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has appeared to you. And this is his memorial name forever. I am has sent you. What greater authorization could you have than the spoken word of God given to you? But in addition to that, Moses asks for a sign that he may condescend to their unbelief. Now look at this. This is really, it's a really subtle detail. Turn to Exodus chapter 4 and look at verse 30. At this point, Moses and Aaron now are coming to the people, are about to report everything that God has said. Verse 30, Aaron spoke all the words of the Lord he had spoken. spoken to Moses and what look at this detail and did the signs in the sight of all the people and the people believed and when they heard heard that the Lord had visited his people and that the Lord had seen their affliction they bowed their heads and worshiped Now, what's wrong about that verse right there? Their faith is out of order, right? If this story had gone right from the beginning, it would just simply say, all they did was go to the people and say, this is what the Lord said, and they would believe right there. That's what should have happened. But instead, they believe, and there's that subtle detail, and they did the signs. Then the people believe. Their faith is out of order. They need to see the sign. Their faith is out of order. Now look at this. This is really cool. If you look at Exodus chapter 19, in Exodus chapter 19, we have the crossing of the Red Sea. And if you look at, where is this? Oh, wait, Exodus, yeah, oh, I'm, got this backwards. Exodus chapter 15. 15 or 16. Exodus chapter 14. Starting in verse 10. When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes. And behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, is it because there is no graves in Egypt that you have taken us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us and bringing us out of Egypt? Is it not that we, is this not what we said to you in Egypt, leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." Several things to notice if you look at that. Right there in verse 10 when it says, the people lifted up their eyes, it could have just said the people looked. But instead, Moses draws it out. using several words and he makes sure that it says lifted up their eyes. He wants to draw attention to the fact that what's going on here is their eyes. Their eyes see the danger, their eyes perceive the danger and therefore they register it in terms of unbelief. Right? When they see the danger, what's the first thing that comes to mind? They call into question the very purposes of God. Why did you bring us out here? Why did he bring them out there? Because God commissioned them. God commissioned Moses to bring them out here. Why? So that they could worship God on the mountains, so that they could obtain, they could enter into the new promised land, the new Eden. They call into question the purposes of God on the very basis of what they see with their eyes. They lift it up their eyes. Okay, now look at this. Just in case you missed it, Moses makes sure that we know exactly where their faith is. Look at verse 31. God has, of course, redeemed them. He's killed the Egyptians in one fell swoop, drowning them in the sea. Look in verse 31. He says, Israel saw the great power that the Lord had used against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and his servant Moses. So look at the order of faith there. They see what God's done. Then they believe. Their faith is topsy-turvy. It's out of order. They're seeing the great power of God than they believe. What's completely wrong with that? Well, God has just shown them his great power over and over again by unleashing a world of chaos against their enemies, Egypt. Their faith is out of order. This is very important to notice because it's very easy to read the book of Exodus kind of thinking, oh, poor, pious Israel, enslaved. If only they could be freed from their external circumstances. What we're seeing here in Exodus chapter 14 already is they've been freed from their external circumstances, but now their hearts are revealed as still captive hearts. They still have hearts of slavery. They're still bound to, they still have hearts that are desiring to serve, to build up the kingdom of Pharaoh, not the kingdom of Christ, not the kingdom of God. Their faith is out of order. OK, let's look back at Exodus chapter 19. So God says. God says, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles wings, how I bore you on eagles wings. What does that mean? Well, This is what it means. Think about it this way. In Genesis chapter one, verse two, we get the first image of God as a bird, right? The spirit of the Lord is hovering over the waters. What's that mean? There's before the created order, there is chaos and the presence, the life giving presence of God has not entered into. The created order. There is no life without the presence of God. Without the spirit of God, there is no life giving. There is no life in the created order. That's the first image in the Bible where we see God is depicted as a bird. Now, I want you to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 32. Oh, yes, thank you. Deuteronomy chapter 32. I love that feedback. I feel like I'm teaching Sunday school again. No, no, please. I prefer that. Deuteronomy chapter 32. What we have here is the song of Moses. It is worth memorizing in its entirety. So look at Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 11. God speaking through Moses says this. like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions. Sounds like Isaiah, doesn't it? The Lord alone guided him. No foreign God was with him. He made him ride on high in the places of the land and he ate the produce of the field and he suckled Him with honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock. And it goes on. And what is God saying here? God is basically saying throughout their time, throughout my time with them in the wilderness, I have been faithful to them. as the divine bird. I have been faithful to them in terms of revealing myself, my redemptive acts to them before their very eyes, condescending to their faithlessness. I have been faithful as a divine bird watching over them. They are my new creation. That's why he says he's carried them on eagle's wings. They are the new creation. The old creation, of course, has fallen. It's cursed. Israel is now the new creation that God has been hovering over. They are the new creation. Finally, what else does God say? God says that, and I have brought you to myself. I have brought you to myself. What's that mean? Well, what did God say to Moses? What did God say to Moses? If you look at this, if you look back, I don't have the reference right in front of me, but if you look right back in Exodus chapter 3, God says, I will bring you to this mountain that you may worship me at this mountain. So what is God saying here in Exodus chapter 19? I've brought you to this mountain. I've been completely consistent with every promise I've made to you. I promised you when Moses was at this mountain that I'd bring you to this mountain. Here you are at this mountain. Here you are at this mountain. So what do we have in these three lines? These three lines, I have shown you, right? I have born you on eagle's wings and I have brought you to this mountain. What we have here is a history of God's faithfulness. God's utter faithfulness to Israel summed up in three lines. He's the divine eagle. He's shown them everything. And he's been completely consistent with everything he's promised to them. Now, let's look at what follows. Verse 5. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all the 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 Israel. Several things to note. He says, Now, therefore. What does he mean? Basically he means, in light of my utter faithfulness to you, in light of the fact that I've condescended to your faithlessness, I have watched over you as a bird, you are my new creation, in light of the fact that I have been consistent with all my promises, I've spoken to you, now therefore, meaning what? What follows, the command that follows, you are to obey, not on the basis of your own power, but on the basis of my faithfulness to you. The basis for their obedience must be based on God's history of faithfulness to them. That's the way it's got to work. And he says, if you will indeed obey my voice, we've already seen in the book of Exodus that Israel has has a history of non obedience. Right. Well, when they complained for food, God gave them manna from heaven and he gave them a simple command that they gather six days. And on the seventh, they rest. They gather extra for the seventh. They don't even obey that. They already have a history of faithlessness and disobedience. But God says, now, therefore, now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, if you will keep my covenant, then what? You will be my treasured possession among all peoples for the earth is mine. You will be my treasured possession. What does that mean? Okay, on the face of it, it simply means you're going to be extremely valuable. You are extremely valuable. But more than that, it has a royal connotation. They are royal treasury. And not just treasury that God shows off, but treasury that could be used for battle, right? When they are a royal possession, when they are a treasured possession, that doesn't just mean they're valuable. They're valuable with a purpose. They're valuable because God is doing something with Israel. They are his new creation. Let me just show you this. Look at, or not just, but another thing let me show you. Turn to Genesis chapter 1. And by the way, when I first heard Matt speak here about a year ago, I was so excited because he made you guys turn the Bible all over the place, which is great because there's this unspoken rule among preachers that you're not supposed to have people turn the Bible more than once or twice, which I'm so glad your pastor violates. And I feel the freedom. I feel the freedom to do the same. Look at this. Genesis chapter 1, verse 28. And God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. OK. Very simple verse. We probably passed it. It's important. But how is it important? Basically what we have there is what you could call a commission. God has commissioned Adam to do something, to exercise a royal identity. That's what it means when he's created in the image of God. The image of God refers to the idea of royal office. And what is he to do? He's to he's to exercise dominion. He's to be fruitful and multiply. He's to subdue. Right. He's to make war on chaos. He's to subdue. And he's to have dominion. And we know Adam failed. And sometimes we can think in moments of desperation or doubt, why did Adam fail? Why couldn't we have had more people there? And the reality is God did do that. He did it again with Israel. That's what he's doing in Exodus chapter 19. He's creating a new Adam. He's commissioning a new Adam. They are his treasured possession. They are the new Adam. It's very easy to read Exodus and kind of think this is a story about Israel. This is a story about Israel. And it's true. It's a story about Israel. But it's not just a local tribal legend. When God commissions Israel to say, if you will indeed obey my voice, if you will keep my covenant, then you'll be a treasured possession. You'll be my treasured possession. You will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. What's that mean? Why is that important? Why is it important that they are a kingdom of priests? As the new Adam, they are going to mediate life and forgiveness to the nations. If Israel fails, there is no hope for you. If Israel fails here in Exodus chapter 19, at this point, if nothing else new happens, there is no hope for anybody. They are the new Adam. And so when God commissions them, he says, if you will indeed obey my voice, what's at stake is the very Life, the very existence, the very everything of life and the world, the nations. God has chosen them from among the nations. Why? So that they can be a blessing to the nations. That's what they were to do as the new Adam, to be a blessing to the nations. Now, another thing I want to point out to you. from Exodus chapter 19 is the centrality of words. Notice how it's words that God commissions to Moses, that he speaks to them, words that Moses delivers to them, and words that Moses puts before them. And they say, what is the response? All that God has spoken, we will do. Oh, that's not good. That is horrible. That's not what they should have said. What they're saying at that point is, OK, we still trust our own power. We still trust our own power. It's scary when they say all that you said we'll do because they get to do a single thing that God has told them to do. And this means very bad news for all of us. So if the text stops here, we are in trouble in a bad way. We are in trouble in a bad way. And we know we're in trouble in a bad way because we know if you're familiar with the story, you know it doesn't end good. Let me show you a couple of things from Exodus to show you it just really does not end good. Remember earlier when God appeared to Moses and when he appeared to Moses, Moses turned his eyes away. So he turned his eyes away. He covered himself. That's good. That's a reverence. Well, This morning when I read a good portion of this chapter, God commanded Moses to say, make sure you set limits on the mountain and they don't come near. Okay. And then when God appears on the mountain, right, there's smoke, there's lightning, there's fire, and there's trumpet. The people tremble. Well, that's the same thing they did at the presence of the Egyptians. They trembled. They were fearful. Okay, so we've got to go, are they doing anything different? Now, it's good to tremble in the presence of a holy God, right? It's good. And in fact, in Hebrews, the author of Hebrews expand, it puts a comment on this saying that even Moses trembled. So when it says all Israel trembled, Moses trembled. But what's the difference? Look at this. Look at verse 21. This is in Exodus chapter 19, verse 21. 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, but 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 the mountain. For you yourself have warned us, saying, set limits around the mountain and consecrate it. What's going on there? It's kind of odd because God did just command that. What he's doing is look at the change. The difference is God saying, warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord and look. God is protecting himself at that moment. They are trying to look into the presence of God. God is saying, yes, I know I commanded this, but these people are trying to come in and look. They have an opposite of reverence, right? When God appeared to Moses, he turned his face away. Israel here is trying to look into the divine glory. So we know already here from Exodus chapter 19 that their eyes are out of order, right? Their eyes, they're basing their faith on what they've seen, and now out of lack of reference, they want to look into the divine glory. Now, let me show you this. Exodus chapter 32, which is the golden calf incident. I just want to show you the first line, because this is the story where they worship the golden calf when God and Moses are not visibly present to them. Look at this, verse 1. Right there, when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, thus begins it. That's look at that verb. They saw when they when there is no visible presence for them, they had nothing to base their faith on. Their faith is out of order in their voyeuristic. They wanted to look into the presence of God himself. Now. What I want to draw your attention to is this idea that what God promised to Israel would be that they would be a treasured possession. They would be a treasured possession, that they would be a kingdom of priests, that they'd be a holy nation. That would have been really good for them. If they were a treasured possession, if they would have actually obtained that and earned that, because there would have been hope for the nations. They could have dispensed blessing to the nations. But they failed. They failed, and they fail over and over again. And you'll see that expression, treasured possession, applied to them over and over again. And they always fail to understand it, to live up to it, to obtain it. Now I want to come back to this idea of suffering. Because so far, it seems like we haven't really touched upon suffering. But what's really interesting about this passage Exodus chapter 19 is, at least the two times I've found it quoted or cited in the New Testament, it's used in contexts that either Peter or the Apostle John are trying to encourage those who are suffering, to help those bear up in the face of suffering. Let me show you this, because I think this is life-giving words. Turn to 1 Peter. And the remarkable thing about First Peter is this. Peter is writing to Gentiles. He's writing to those who are not ethnically Jewish. And I love the way he begins his letter. 1 Peter 1, verse 1, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles in the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, all non-Jewish cities, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and the sanctification of the Spirit, for the obedience of Jesus Christ, for the sprinkling of his blood. But notice, look at that, how he referred to them, to the elect exiles, to the elect exiles. He's talking to people that are non-ethnically Jewish and calls them elect exiles. That's what you would call a Jewish person, right? When you're not living in Jerusalem, you are a chosen exile. But he's calling non-Jews elect exiles. And if there's anything That's great about first Peter is more than any other book in the New Testament. He focuses on this idea of suffering and what it means to suffer in the face of all kinds of conflict. Right. Persecution. Bad workplace. Right. If you're working for a master, that is unfair and unjust. If you're living in a marriage that is not equally yoked. Right. Where where where you may be the believing spouse and your spouse cares nothing for Jesus or his words. Maybe some of you this morning, this may be the only place where your spouse allows you any freedom. But maybe the rest of the week, you're locked up in your house. Maybe you live in such a marriage. Maybe you live in such, maybe you have such a bad workplace circumstance. where where people slander you, they bad mouth you, they look to trip you up and get you fired. This is this is the kind of thing that Peter is talking about. Notice one of the chief ways Peter identifies them as elect exiles. But now look at the words he's going to use for them. He says, look at this in chapter two. Chapter two, verse seven. He's encouraging him and he gives them he uses he reminds them of their identity. He says, but you are a chosen race. It's echoing Isaiah right there. A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. Look at that, he's just quoted Exodus chapter 19. He's using Exodus chapter 19 to help us with suffering. Now, why are those in Christ, why are we to have this identity? Look at what he says, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not my people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." Echoing the words of Hosea. That's awesome. He's applying what one preacher has said, Israel's favorite words to Gentiles. A holy nation. a kingdom of priests. If you are in Christ, you are a kingdom of priests. Your job as you suffer, and that's part of your job. Your job, as you suffer, is to be a kingdom of priests. What does Peter say? What are the few things we do when we suffer? We entrust ourselves to a faithful creator while doing good. Two things, that's all you got to do. While you suffer, entrust yourself to a faithful creator while doing good. And all of that is done not on your own power, not on what you see with your eyes, Put on your faith. And what is the organ of faith but hearing? The Word rightly proclaimed and divided for you. The Word read and believed and trusted. Look at this. This is really cool. And I think Peter has echoed a theme from Exodus. Look at 1 Peter 1, starting in verse 8. Though you have not seen him, That's awesome. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and you rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Though you have not seen Him, dear brothers and sisters, may you believe in Him. If you base your faith on what you see, You have no strength. You will feel worthless. You will not be able to see. You will not see. And that's so true when you are suffering, that's that's precisely the things you feel worthless, blind. And you have no clue where to go. But thanks be to God that he has spoken to us his proclaimed word, that we can believe on the basis of what he's proclaimed to us, spoken to us clearly, words that we can meditate upon, think about, memorize and proclaim. We are a royal priesthood. We are a treasured possession. That means what? When we're suffering, there's meaning. When something threatens to overcome us and we feel powerless and worthless and blind, we have power, we have sight, we have an identity. We are treasured possessions. That means what? That means what? When we suffer, we are suffering treasurers. When we suffer right now, we are treasures. Yes, keep that in mind, because that is going to be your power, your resource, your orientation, your worth, everything. You are in Christ. If you are in Christ, you are a treasure. But right now you're suffering, and acknowledge that. God wants you to bring and acknowledge your suffering to Him, because why? He suffered. It's that simple. When he suffered, he acknowledged it. He said, what? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? A raw, blunt acknowledgement of pain, discomfort and injustice. Though you have not seen him, may you love him. Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your words that you have revealed to us in Scripture. We do thank you that we can read them, that we can meditate upon them, that we can think about them, that we can proclaim the excellencies of him who has brought us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. We do thank you that although we suffer right now, We can have comfort, we can have power, we can have worth in you. I do pray that you'd use these words to strengthen and encourage and transform these dear brothers and sisters here this morning, that we would not leave this room unchanged. We do pray all these things in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.