The following sermon is from the Westminster Pulpit, extending the worship ministry of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We are a local congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America. Please contact us for permission before reproducing this message in any format. Tonight we're returning to our series in the book of Exodus. We began this back in the fall. We've taken a brief break in the series of Advent, but we're stepping back into Israel's journey from Egypt to now we arrive at the foot of Mount Sinai. And last we were together, oh, a good month, six weeks ago, we saw a series of episodes that featured unbelieving Israel grumbling about God's perceived lack of care for them. Their perceived, their real lack of food and water as Israel accused God and his servant Moses of leading them out in the wilderness to die. But in the face of their grumbling, God's mercy and goodness rained down bread and meat and flooded the desert with streams of water as God wooed his people to his goodness and mercy. And tonight we're coming to Exodus chapter 19. We arrive at Mount Sinai. We're going to behold the awe-striking majesty of the King of Kings. Now, I want to read the whole chapter of chapter 19. Pastor Kiefer actually covered the first six or seven verses of this chapter way back in September. Most of us probably don't even remember all that was happening back in September, but he covered those verses in introduction to the book of Exodus. So I'll be focusing on verses 7 to 25, but I think the early verses are important for the context. Follow with me and let's read together Exodus chapter 19. On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out from the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. And they set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain 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 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 peoples. For all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And these are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel." So Moses came, and he called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. 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 with you and may also believe you forever. When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, 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 all around saying, take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch him, 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 up 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 and do not go near a woman. On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings, 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. And Moses said to the Lord, the people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, set limits around the mountain 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. Let's pray. God, this is your word. in which you tell us how you came down to meet your people. I thank you for it and we pray that tonight you would meet with us and encourage our hearts with this vision of your majesty. We pray this in Christ's name, amen. If you think about the modern world that we live in, so much of modern technology and innovation has sought to give us control over life so that we can feel like we are in control, we are safe, we can eliminate insecurity in the unknown. We've traveled to the moon. We have the Hubble telescope that can reach with pictures into deep space so that even the limits of the universe, it seems, are not unreached by us. We've conquered land and sea and sky. It's sort of an irony if you think about it that we feel safe in an airplane up thousands of feet above the earth, but here our modern technology has sought to conquer limits and eliminate insecurity. We have information on almost anything at our fingertips with our smartphones. We have insurance and a variety of services to sort of hedge and offer protection against danger. We have all these things that give us the feeling of being in control and that we know what we need to know. The unknown things beyond us are minimized. But I think even if we're honest in our modern world, there are those moments when we suddenly realize how very small we actually are and how not in control we actually are. How Utterly out of control exposed at risk and overwhelmed. We are as human beings I as I was thinking about this I had a vision of being in Glacier National Park if you've ever been out west in the Rockies and You drive along through the National Park on the road They've built there and the road winds along the mountains it winds around the mountains so that I'm On one side, just over the guardrail, the cliffs plunge thousands of feet straight down. And on the other side, the mountains are still rising thousands of feet. And here you are driving around knowing if I, you know, there's immensity and death on this side, there's immensity on this side. And I remember driving into a cloud. because you're high enough that you can drive into the clouds. And I drive into this cloud, and all you can see is about 100 feet of road in front of you. And you realize there's cliffs on one side, mountains on another. I'm in a cloud, and you feel so small, so small. And it's emphasized. Some of you probably have moments where that's been the case. I remember another time. When I was at the ocean, at the beach, and I was body surfing waves, and what seemed like a fairly insignificant five-foot wave suddenly just rolled me up in the surf, and I couldn't get my foot under me, I was tumbling, I couldn't get breath, and it was probably 10 seconds, I don't know, but it seemed like forever, and I was never gonna get my feet under me, I was never gonna get my breath, and in those moments, we feel utterly out of control, utterly at risk and exposed. We're talking about a mountain, we're talking about a cloud, we're talking about a wave. These are just elements of God's creation. Here in Exodus 19, Israel is introduced to God himself, the creator of mountains and clouds and waves and storms and galaxies. And how much more does Israel and should we feel our smallness compared to this God? You know, up to this point in the story of Exodus, God has saved Israel from Egypt. He's opened the Red Sea. He's caused bread to fall from heaven. But up to this point, Moses has done the talking. There's not a tabernacle yet where God has come and dwelt among Israel in that sense. Israel has not been in God's presence in the same sense that they are here at Mount Sinai. And so here in Exodus 19, the Lord initiates covenant with Israel and invites them into his presence. To come into the presence of the majesty of heaven to get a glimpse of the glory of the Lord is to see our smallness at a new level. It is to be undone, I think. I think C.S. Lewis uses that word to be undone. And I think that's a word, if I use it several times tonight, it is a word, if any word, that came to my mind over and over as I read this chapter this week. It brought to mind the words of Isaiah. You remember Isaiah in Isaiah chapter six when he has the vision of the Lord and he says, woe is me for I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." That's the Lord who calls his people into his presence here in Exodus 19. If you'd follow the text with me, I want to notice three things about Israel's invitation into the presence of the Holy One tonight. The first thing I want to notice is the context, the context for God's visit. In verse 7, Moses comes to the people of Israel, he calls the elders of the people, and he sets before them all the words that the Lord had commanded him. Well, what were these words that the Lord had spoken? Well, they're the words we read in verses one through six. And I think if you look at these words, there's a few things that we need to hear. In verses three through six, God calls Moses up to Mount Sinai while the people are below, and he gives Moses this invitation to Israel to enter covenant relationship with him. You hear him say that in verse five. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, You shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine. They will be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, if they will obey his voice." Now again, Pastor Kieffer covered the details of those verses, but I think there's two important things we need to hear that are the context for this visit on Mount Sinai. On the one hand, we need to see how these verses demonstrate God's faithfulness so thoroughly. Everything about this invitation that God issues just breathes God's goodness and faithfulness. Think back to things that have already happened in the story of God's people. You might remember that God had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, remember what he said, I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations to be God to you and to your offspring after you. It's Genesis 17, seven. And as God comes down to this people at Sinai, he's fulfilling this promise. He's continuing to fulfill these words to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when he says, If you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you will be my treasured people. This invitation is a faithfulness, a fulfillment of his promise to Abraham. God's also, however, being faithful to Moses. Maybe you remember, it's been three months or so back in September. I'm sure none of our sermons were so riveting that you remember all of those words, but Back in Exodus chapter three, you remember the scene where Moses is sort of protesting to God? God is calling him, go to Pharaoh, call my people out, and Moses is blubbering his responses back. And what does God say? God says to him, I will be with you, and this shall be a sign for you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. Well, what mountain was that? That was the mountain here at Sinai. This is a fulfillment of God's faithfulness to Moses as well. And so God's invitation into his presence, his offer of his blessings and faithfulness and love all come as signs of his faithfulness, complete, total, true faithfulness that spans 600 years from Abraham to now and many promises in between. But on the other hand, we also need to see that being in God's presence demands Israel's promise to obey and keep covenant with God. You see what God said there in verse five. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples. God is issuing this covenant. But before God invites Israel into his presence, Moses has to go down the mountain and hear the people's response. Do you see how many times, it's an interesting exercise to count how many times Moses goes down and comes back up in this passage. I'm sure that he'd probably be in pretty good shape if he'd hiked out of Egypt and through a sea and across a desert, but I'm pretty sure that CrossFit training has nothing on Moses who's hiking up and down the mountains in this passage. But I think it's really a great picture of what a mediator is though. Moses is the mediator between God and his people and we see that as he goes up and down the mountain to take God's words to his people and then the people's response back to God. But what does he do? He brings God's word to God's people. And then the people in verse eight, the people say, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do. And so Moses heads back up the mountain to report the people's response to God. And it's at that point that God says, behold, I am coming to you. Consecrate the people and get them ready to come into my presence. In other words, If Israel rejects God's covenant, they reject God's presence. God's presence comes with his covenant. And from Exodus 19 through the end of Malachi, this is the story of Israel. It's a long variation on this theme. God offers his presence, he is with his people. But if his people reject God and turn away from him, they lose his presence. And we see that again and again in the story of the Old Testament. We know here the people say, yes, all that the Lord says we will do, but of course that doesn't last, does it? God's people don't keep all that he says. And so how will God respond? And I want us to see that this moment here in Exodus 19 sets up the central tension of scripture. God offers his presence to his people, his covenant to his people, and faithfulness to what he's promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He's shown his faithfulness. And yet, what if Abraham's offspring don't keep covenant? What if they break covenant and disobey God and reject his word? What will God do? How will God resolve this tension? Faithfulness to his promises, yet a people who reject his covenant. And this is the story of scripture. It's set up right here at Exodus 19 with this invitation to God's presence. And of course, we've just come off Christmas, and so we should know in our minds that this tension is resolved with the baby in the manger. But I want us to see that tension that's set up here in the text and realize that that's what's driving the story of God's word as we continue to follow it. So God's invitation demonstrates his faithfulness but demands Israel's obedience. That's the context for Israel's summons into God's presence. Second thing I want us to notice from the text are the details of Israel's preparation to meet God. And here we find out why Israel's obedience to God is so important. Because God himself is a blazing purity, blazing holiness, perfect glory. That is who God is. And the perfect purity and holiness and glory of God cannot abide with sin or uncleanness or common and unconsecrated things. Look at verses 10 through 15. This is where we see the preparations that God instructs Moses to go through. You'll see that, first of all, Moses is instructed to consecrate Israel today and tomorrow in order to be ready for the third day. We have a three-day consecration process here. The text doesn't actually tell us what it meant to consecrate the people. It doesn't tell us how that was done. If you look elsewhere in Exodus, consecration is usually done by sacrifice. The oldest child is consecrated to the Lord by a sacrifice. Many commentators would assume that Moses is offering a sacrifice on behalf of his people, of Israel's people, Israel, but we're not sure exactly. We just know that Moses is instructed today and tomorrow to consecrate the people in preparation to meet the Lord. Meanwhile, the Israelites are to wash all of their clothes. They're to wash their garments. And certainly part of this would be the natural issue of cleanliness. To come into the presence of the Almighty God with dirt and sweat is not fitting for the presence of Her Majesty. There's a reason our mothers perhaps make a shower on Saturday nights. I don't know if your mothers always did this, but Saturday nights, there's church tomorrow, you gotta shower. Well, certainly part of that's the social grace of being kind to those around us. But you think also, here the people are washing their garments as part of the natural cleanliness of coming into the presence of God. But probably more importantly than just natural cleanliness, God is about to declare his law to Israel. And as we read God's law, we'll see that washing of your body and your clothes are part of the process of becoming clean, ceremonial clean, to participate in the worship of God. Washing one is not only something you do to be physically clean, it's also a symbol and a sign of being clean spiritually, clean in our hearts, minds, and souls as we come into the presence of God. And so here they wash their garments, physically cleaning, but also as a sign of cleansing their hearts and lives as they prepare to come into the presence of the Holy God. Moses also tells Israel to abstain sexually for these days. Not, of course, because that's a sin, but because of holiness, this set-apartness. And again, Leviticus 15 and the law, we're going to hear that sexual activity makes one ceremonially unclean for that day. And so this three-day process of being consecrated to the Lord, we are set apart, and all of this is part of that. So here we have these preparations, but probably the most dramatic, if we look at verse 12 and following, the most dramatic of the details of this preparation is that Moses is supposed to set a limit around Mount Sinai, set a boundary. And you can imagine, what sort of limit is this? Is he drawing a line in the sand all around the mountain? Is he setting up sticks? We don't know exactly what this limit is, but he's setting a limit so that the people of Israel will not come too close to the mountain where God's presence is. Maybe you think back in other places in scripture like Moses himself at the burning bush where he's told, take off your shoes, you are on holy ground, the presence of the Lord is here. Here at the mountain of the Lord, where the holy God is gonna come down, the people are not to get too close because of the burning holiness of God. They're told that they should not touch the mountain lest they die. And we can't miss here the unbridgeable distance between the utter holiness and glory and purity of God and our creaturely imperfection and dependence that is ours apart from a mediator. We must have a mediator because the holiness of God and creaturely humanness cannot dwell together. Phil Reichen in his commentary put it this way, he said, God is so perfectly and supremely holy that it is not safe to barge into his presence. On occasion, sinners have been destroyed by the sheer holiness of God. Maybe this brings to mind, say, the story of Uzzah, you remember as the Ark of God, which was the mercy seat where God's presence dwelt, as it was carried on a cart, and the cart shook, and Uzzah reached out his hand and touched the Ark, and he fell down dead. Why? The utter holiness of God, we dare not come too close to touch the things that mark the presence of our holy God. Here we hear these verses, I think, describe a thorough, repeated, three-day process of cleansing body, heart, soul, and life. Why? Why all these details? Why go through all these motions? because they're meant to emphasize physically, emotionally, spiritually, who this God is that Israel is about to draw near to. Israel would feel it in their bodies, they would feel it in their minds, their hearts and souls. Every one of these preparations speaks of the utter glory and majesty of this God. He is high, He is mighty, He is holy. His glory, again, is enough to unmake us. That is who He is, and no human dare draw near unless they are invited into such a presence, and unless they come consecrated, cleansed, and set apart according to His instructions. And so that's what these details of preparation tell us about the person of our God. Well, thirdly, if the details of preparation didn't tell us enough in verses 16 to 25 were ushered into the presence of God himself. And so notice thirdly, the awe of God's presence. And I want you to notice as you go through these verses, notice how each of our senses are engaged as God communicates who he is. There's sight, fire, lightning, a thick cloud covers the mountain because God's presence is there. There's sound, thunder booms in a trumpet blast that gets louder and louder until the voice of God speaks. There's smell as smoke pours from the mountain like a kiln. You know how the smell of smoke communicates something to us if you've camped or been around a campfire. The smell of the smoke communicates something about your presence. If you've had a house fire, the smell of smoke is something that's very tangible and physical that communicates what's happened. I think if you're Israel, you're seeing this, you're hearing this, you're smelling this. And of course, of course there's touch and feel because the whole mountain is trembling underneath you. The most solid rock of creation is unable to bear the weight of the presence of God without shaking. And then there's the threat of death if you but touch the mountain of God. We know that this command not to touch the mountain of God's presence has to be important because God repeats it three times in this text. And I think if you sort of read carefully, you can hear Moses sort of bewildering and sort of protesting. God gives the command in verses 12 and 13, set a boundary, let no one come near. And then in verse 21 and 22, Moses has come up to God and God says, go down again and tell the people, don't come onto the mountain. And you see Moses say in verse 23, you can hear him kind of protesting, well, the people can't come onto Mount Sinai. God, you yourself warned us not to come. And God says, go down and tell them lest they break through. It's a three time repeated command. I don't know if God says this three times because Israel hasn't set a very good track record of remembering to this point, or if perhaps this is a three-fold telling of the weight and the importance of this command. But here is God, warning his people in sight, sound, smell, touch, not to come too close until they are invited, and only in the way that they are invited, on the pain of death. As I read this passage, I, I don't think there's anything that, that compares to what Israel experienced on the mountain and in our experience, but I'm reminded of a painting. Maybe some of you have seen this painting. It's by JMW Turner and he titles it snow storm. And the subtitle is Hannibal in the Alps. And maybe you guys remember, uh, in your history, uh, however long ago that may be Hannibal. was a Carthaginian warrior who led an entire army over the Alps and into Italy. He brought elephants and soldiers with him in one of the most harrowing journeys in all of history. And the painter Turner combined that with his own experience in the Alps of getting caught in a snowstorm. And he put these two scenes together in a painting to try to emphasize what he felt like up on these mountains in the middle of a snowstorm. And there's two things that are amazing about the painting. He uses light and dark in tremendous ways. And so you see the blackness of the storm reaching over and he's painted the snowstorm to almost look like a wave that's curling down to break on the heads of the army and sort of utter terror. But the other thing is you see an army with elephants and you think elephants are the largest animal you can imagine and they look so tiny. and so frightened and so insignificant in the face of the massive expanse in the painting. The bottom row is the elephants and soldiers and the whole rest of the painting is the blackness of the storm coming over. And that painting is the closest visual I think I have seen and is in my mind when I think of the utter terror of storm and mountain and lightning that perhaps maybe is a picture of something that Israel saw. Though again, here they have the sound and the smell and the touch as well. Even in our own houses, built with all of our modern technology, we still tremble in a fierce thunderstorm or an earthquake. How much more would we feel naked and exposed if we walked up to this mountain with the presence of God? And so we're not surprised to hear that the people in the camp tremble. This is not a trembling of unbelieving fear. This is a trembling that's the proper response of coming into the presence, the total holiness and power and glory of God. So where do you and I stand before this God? What is this passage, this passage that communicates utter bigness, hugeness, glory, majesty, holiness, and purity, where do we stand? As I was preparing to preach this passage this week, the question that just continued to run through my mind was, how does the coming of Christ impact how we stand in the presence of this God? How do you and I read this passage? Does anything change? Do some things change? Does everything change? And I wanna think about that as I think about application. I wanna think about where we stand in light of Christ. And fortunately, scripture really answers this for us, I think, in Hebrews chapter 12. Maybe you'd wanna turn over to Hebrews chapter 12 with me. Because I wanna just sit here in Hebrews 12 as we think about application of this passage. And I think there's three things, three things that we learn by way of application here tonight. The first is this, when Jesus Christ comes and dies and rises again and sits at the right hand of the throne of God, Christ makes the weight of our response to God's invitation greater, not less, than the weight that Israel felt at the foot of Mount Sinai. Read with me, I wanna just read Hebrews chapter 12, starting in verse 18. And if you're with me, follow along. Here's what Hebrews says, for you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. Does that sound familiar? He's describing Exodus 19 and 20 here. You have not come to this, Hebrews says. For they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned. Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. Hebrews says, we have not come to this, but you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, to 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, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 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, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. And do you hear what the author of Hebrews is saying? It was a weighty matter of life and death to respond to the almighty majesty of heaven in Exodus 19. But when Christ comes and now brings us to the very throne of heaven, how much more is it a matter of life and death? It is more pressing in its call. I don't know where each one of us stands before God tonight. Perhaps there are some here, some of us here who have known about God but feel that religion is our choice to make based on what helps me or meets my needs. Perhaps some of us bristle at the idea that God would assert authority over us. Perhaps some of us feel that God's word is out of date and doesn't make sense with what we know about scripture's commands in light of our world today. Maybe some of us assume that we know God but we're living lives largely in line with the world. and we just haven't thought too seriously about it. Will you hear the words of Scripture? Scripture calls us to take the blazing purity and power of God seriously as a matter of life and death. And the glory of it, the good news of it, is that this God stands ready to offer us life, the fullness of joy and life eternal that come from listening to the voice of God and coming to him through the blood of Jesus Christ. but we dare not refuse his voice. This is not just a matter of what works for me and what works for you. We dare not refuse his voice, for that comes with certain death. Well, that's the first application. I think second, second application, for those who do know Christ, Hebrews here calls us to gratitude, to offering acceptable worship, and to diligent obedience to this God. We read through verse 25 here of Hebrews 12, but if you just look down to verse 28, verse 28 offers us the therefore, it's a great sign that application is coming when you hear therefore. What does verse 28 say? Therefore, 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 for our God is a consuming fire. A vision of God's holiness, I think the author of Hebrews is saying, a vision of God's holiness should fill us with uncontainable gratitude and thanksgiving for the salvation, the invitation into God's presence that God has extended to us in Christ. Think of who this God is. Think of the life and death matter of coming into his presence. How impossible is it? We can't even touch the mountain without being struck dead. How could we come fully into God's presence? And yet that's exactly what Jesus offers us, being ushered into his presence. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. This mountain Sinai was shaking and trembling, but the author of Hebrews says we're offered a kingdom that cannot be shaken. in the presence of God himself. Gratitude, thanksgiving should be our response. And that gratitude and thanksgiving should be added to with reverence and awe. We're told that our God is a consuming fire, so let us worship, offer acceptable worship with reverence and awe. Acceptable worship is a matter of obedience and praise. This is what acceptable worship is. I don't think it's an accident we're gonna continue in Exodus 20 in the next week. What is Exodus 20 through 23? They're God's law. It's no accident that before God gives us his law, he gives us this vision of his majesty. Reverence and awe leads us to obedience and worship. What do we get after Exodus 19? Law and tabernacle, obedience and worship. A proper understanding of God, a proper fear of the God that we serve, leads us to obedience and worship. You know, I think it's so easy for us to forget this character of God. And I think if you think of All that Christ has done in bringing us into the presence of God, it is so easy for us to take for granted God's presence. It's so easy for us to hear Jesus say, you are now my friend, which is true, and start to think of God as our pal. We start to think of God as an equal because we are fellow sons and daughters with Christ. We think and emphasize, well, we can be with him. He's our friend, he's our pal, or maybe someone we can get to who will give us things. And we forget that Hebrews here is writing to us as believers, as Christians who have brought into God's presence by Christ, and he still says, we worship with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire. You know, I think you have probably heard the phrase totally awesome. It's common parlance in our elementary school classrooms to talk about things that are totally awesome. And totally awesome can refer to anything from a really good firework or a particularly large frog or anything else that's just really exciting. But totally awesome means utterly awe-striking, and that's the God that we serve. And so part of the question for you and I is when we wake up on Tuesday morning and we're ready to live our life on a normal Thursday afternoon, will we remember the totally awesome God and offer acceptable worship of obedience and praise that comes before this God? Some of you have probably read works by the Pulitzer winning American author Annie Dillard. I don't know that Annie Dillard is a profound theologian necessarily, but she did say this, and I thought this was so well said. She said, on the whole, I do not find Christians sufficiently sensible of the conditions. She said, does anyone have the foggiest idea of what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church. We should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares. They should lash us to our pews. Do we realize the power we're coming into the presence of when we come to worship God? How well said. Only a literary great could use language like that. But as we come thinking about our day-to-day, anything other than gratitude for salvation, diligent obedience, and eager worship out of the fear of the Lord fails to recognize the God of Exodus 19. But finally and very briefly, trembling is not the final word. Reverence, yes. but trembling no. If you flip back your Bibles, probably for most of you it's just one page, maybe two or three, to Hebrews chapter 10. Same author, same author says this in Hebrews chapter 10, starting in verse 19. Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, Let us draw near. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Do you hear his language? We have confidence. Let us draw near, full assurance. Yes, this is a God of majesty, but trembling, but trembling No, we have confidence, full assurance, and an invitation to draw near. Why? Because of the blood of Jesus shed on our behalf. If we've placed our trust in Jesus Christ, if we've been united to him by faith and dependence on him alone for salvation, there is no more barrier blocking the mountain of God. There is no more limit keeping us from his presence. I like how 1 John 4 puts it, the perfect love of God in Christ casts out fear because fear comes from judgment. We come into the presence of a majestic God, but the fear of judgment is gone. Why? Because of the blood of Christ. This is unexpectedly glorious language, but I think it heightens the wonder of our salvation because we're being encouraged to draw near with confidence, but nothing has changed in the majesty and glory of God. Reagan probably puts it best when he says, God still possesses this same glory as in Exodus 19 at this very moment. And yet we're told, let us draw near in full assurance. This heightens the wonder of our salvation and the glory of our position in Christ because we approach this Exodus 19 God with the security of this Exodus 19 God's love because of Christ. And that's amazing. So in the end, brothers and sisters, when I read Exodus 19, I'm given a true and weighty vision of the person and power and character of God. And it's in the holiness and glory of that vision that we find not only the summons to worship and obey with reverence and diligence, but also the full depths of what Christ has done. because he has opened the way and reconciled us to this blazingly holy God. Let's pray. God, how can we even speak to you and address you? We're tempted when we read this vision to respond the way Israel did and said, Moses, you speak to God. We are afraid to speak with him lest we die. And yet, gloriously and amazingly, we know none of that fear. because Christ Jesus has come and united us to himself by shedding his blood to cleanse our imperfection, to draw us into himself and bring us with him into your presence. We now draw near with confidence and full assurance and joy and we speak to you. What seems like an imposition is your open arms of welcome thanks to Christ. Hallelujah, what a Savior.