Last Sunday, Pastor Kyle continued in our church’s sermon series through the book of Exodus. He read in Exodus 3:12 that God said to Moses from the burning bush that would not be consumed, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” Moses was coming back to that very same mountain, with the Israelites, to meet God again. God met Moses, God used Moses to deliver the nation of Israel from slavery and sustain them in the wilderness, and God used Moses to win battles with His outstretched arms. At every turn, promise after problem had been fulfilled, but Moses had yet to return to Mt. Horeb to meet God on that mountain again. This defining meeting between Moses and God would codify in writing what it would mean to be “the people of God” for all time.
There is one main difference between Christians today and the Israelites then. That is that we do not need to depend on any human being to be our intercessor because we have Jesus, the Christ, our great High Priest and because of Him we can boldly go before the throne of grace with confidence. Yet, Exodus chapter 19 gives us some things to consider before meeting with God ourselves.
Exodus 19:1-3a “On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 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 trip from Egypt, across the Sinai desert Peninsula, miraculously across the Red Sea, through more desert terrain to Mt. Horeb in Saudi Arabia with over one million Israelites was a monumental feat of faith and logistics in and of itself. The first thing that we need is faith for the future that God (Jehovah Jireh) is going to provide. Moses and the Israelites trusted God to keep His promises, providing for their food and water during the Exodus, which He orchestrated, and get them all there. And when we go to meet God, we need to bring faith for the future with us. Faith for the future doesn’t mean that we act like there are no obstacles in front of us, that we ignore the facts that are on the ground ahead, that we pretend that the problems in our life are not real problems, or that we deny our feelings about life issues. Faith for the future simply means that we have come to an understanding that God is good, God is faithful, and that He will provide for us wherever He guides us.
Exodus 19:3b-4 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.
God told Moses to rebuild the faith of the Israelites. One of the ways to rebuild faith is to recount the faithfulness of God. We need to keep telling ourselves that God did it then and He can do it again. Remember in Exodus 6:7 God told the Israelites, “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. God called Israel into a relationship with Himself, not the other way around. The Israelites had seen and experienced God’s miraculous deliverance, supernatural substance, Divine protection and Heavenly direction. We, today, need to keep telling ourselves that the exact same thing. It’s not our greatness, strength and power, but remember that our journey starts and ends with God Almighty. Romans 5:8 says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The best part of knowing that it is not our power that accomplishes things in our lives, is that God finishes what he starts. Philippians 1:6 tells us, “I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Whatever current situation faces you today, go talk to God about it. We cannot see what is coming around the corner in the future, but we can look back and see God’s hand where He provided for us in the past, knowing that He will be beside us always and forever.
Exodus 19:5-6 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
So, next we need to make a commitment to live out our spiritual identity through obedience. “If/then” statements are a part of our identity as Believers. The Israelite nation would receive a new identity as a kingdom of priests, but they had to be obedient to God. When we repent of our sin, accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and follow Him as His disciples, we are forgiven of our sins, we are adopted into the family of God as sons and daughters, we are given the indwelling Holy Spirit to live the life that God intended and have victory in it, and given eternal life, so that when our time on earth is done, we will go to Heaven to live with Jesus forever.
That new spiritual identity is the sure hope and the eternal perspective we have and walk confidently in that reality. But we forget that this identity comes in an “if/then” statement. If we want to experience the benefits and blessings in our new identity in our relationship with God, it comes with a commitment to continued obedience to God. Christian need to know their identity as Believers, but need to obey the voice of the Lord and Word of God if we want to experience the benefits of it. Coming forward to an invitation, saying a prayer and saying “Yes” to Jesus once is not enough to experience the abundant life that Jesus has promised for us.
Pastor Kyle believes that there is a fresh wave of “pop-culture” suedo-Christianity that subtly strips away the biblical requirements of obedience upon every Believers life. They are trying to live the “good” part of their relationship with God, but there is no “if/then” statement connected to it. The may proclaim that they believe in God, that Jesus Christ is their Savior, that their sins are forgiven and that God love everyone, but they put a period right there. It’s knowing who God is and what He did for us, but leaving out the requirements that God expect from us.
So, what happens in there is the unclear and inaccurate message that says God doesn’t care how I live my life. God doesn’t if I read the Bible or not. It doesn’t matter if I go to church. I don’t need to put into practice anything that is in the Word of God, I just need to know what God has done for me. That sounds like a one-sided relationship and biblical faith doesn’t work that way. The blessings that come with Christianity have a “if/then” statement attached to them. If is a fact that the moment that Believers become a follower of Jesus Christ, they become a royal priest of God, but being a royal priest of God means that there are conditions and expectations from God for us to obey. A commitment to live out our new spiritual identity through the covenant of obedience. I cannot have one without the other.
Let's continue Pastor Kyle's message on meeting God in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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