Word of Salvation – April 2010

 

NO OTHER GODS, John de Hoog

(Sermon 1 on a series on the Ten Commandments)

 

Text – Exodus 19:9-20:3

Reading – Isaiah 46:5-13

Singing – BOW 170, 161, 515, “God and God alone”, “There is none like you”

 

Sermon on Exodus 19:9-20:3

“No other gods”

 

In the 1980s I worked at the Australian Bureau of Statistics in Canberra. For a while I worked on the Census. The ABS conducts a Census every five years; it's a reasonably accurate way of measuring the population of Australia, and of gaining some basic information about the Australian people. As part of the Census, people are asked to indicate their religion.

 

One of my tasks was to encode the “religion question” on the Census. People could tick a box or otherwise write in an answer, and part of my job was to seek out every possible written answer and allocate it to a category. For example, on previous Censuses people had written “Steam Dead Ahead” on the religion line. What does Steam Dead Ahead mean? Well, it means SDA – Seventh Day Adventist. In those days, if someone wrote “Reformed” on their answer it was coded to “Other religion”. I changed that. Every possible combination of Reformed or Presbyterian – and believe me, there are many possible combinations – I categorised to “Presbyterian and Reformed” rather than to “Other religion”.

 

One of the options under this question is "no religion".

 

But even in a secular country like Australia, most people don’t want to tick the "no religion" box. You're faced with the options of Anglican, Catholic, Uniting, Baptist, or Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu etc, and the average Aussie wants to identify with some group or other. At the last Census in 2006, only 18.7% ticked the "no religion" box, whereas a massive 64% said they were some form of “Christian”.

 

Now let’s presume that if 64% of people say they are Catholic or Anglican or Baptist or Uniting or Pentecostal or even Presbyterian and Reformed, some form of Christian, let’s presume that most of those people would say they believe in God. Even if the numbers have reduced a bit since 2006, we could still say fairly confidently that about 60% of Australians still believe in God.

 

Let’s explore that. In my short experience as a pastor, these have become danger words in my ears. “Oh, I still believe in God!” I have been to visit people who have not been to church for months on end, and we talk about their faith and where they stand with God. “Oh, I still believe in God!” It’s amazing how often that phrase comes up; to me it has become a red flag, a danger signal. “Oh, I still believe in God!” means – “Don’t talk to me about commitment and giving my life to God. I believe in him, and I don’t have to come along to church or be committed to Christian living or pretend to be more holy that I am – I still believe in God.”

 

Actually, just believing in God gives us no particular advantage over the demons! James 2:19 “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder!” “I still believe in God.” It’s a classic line. Yes, but even the demons believe in God, and they shudder.

 

I’d like us to see just two things from this passage today. 1. God is God, a consuming fire; yet he comes for relationship. 2. Just “believing in him” demeans his character and mocks his intention.

 

The people of Israel are gathered at the foot of Mt Sinai. It is the third month since they left Egypt.

The whole account of the Book of Exodus has been moving forward to this point in the story.

 

First the many weeks of turmoil in Egypt as Moses and Aaron challenged Pharaoh to let God’s people go, and as God, through the ten plagues, demonstrated his complete victory over all the so-called gods of Egypt.

 

Then the final, unbelievable release from Egypt, the miraculous rescue at the Red Sea and the utter defeat of Pharaoh’s charioteers!

 

And then, frightening shortages in the desert – no food, no water! And new enemies, the Amalekites, attacking. But the Lord God provides in wonderful ways, and now he has brought his people to himself, here at Mt Sinai. It is a moment of climax, of great expectancy.

 

In this context of great expectation, God declares what he has done for his people and how he expects them to respond. Vs 4 “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

 

God says, “I have saved you; now obey me.” He doesn’t say, “Obey me, then I will save you.” The obedience he requires is for the purpose of relationship. God saves us and then shows us how we can enjoy a relationship with him, precious to him.

 

Vs 8 “The people all responded together, ‘We will do everything the Lord has said.’ So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.”

 

Mt Sinai is the place of God’s presence; here he will come to them. He has given them great and precious promises, and has commanded that they obey his covenant. The people have agreed; they will do everything the Lord has said. Now the stage is set for the coming of God.

 

Almost everything is in place for what is about to happen; it only remains for God’s people to prepare themselves. Vs 9 “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.’”

 

God is going to come to them. Now the people must prepare themselves for this encounter. God’s instructions are in vss 10-15. The moment of God’s coming to his people is at hand. There are four special requirements they are to observe:

 

• They are to wash their clothes.

• For two days they are to contemplate what is about to happen. God will come to them on the third day.

• They are to learn the boundaries of God’s powerful holiness, boundaries that they must not cross, on pain of death. Anyone, even any animal, who sets a foot on the mountain during these days of preparation must die.

• They are to abstain from sexual intercourse.

 

Something amazing is about to happen. The whole Exodus story has been leading up to this point: God is about to meet with his people. God gives his people two days to prepare themselves and to contemplate the supreme significance of what is about to happen. This meeting with God is no ordinary event, something to fit in at 6.00 pm after the news and before the Simpsons starts. God is a holy God, and his people must set themselves apart and be holy.

 

Vs 16 “On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.”

 

Just imagine the scene. In January 2003 we went through the experience of the Canberra bushfires. Thick smoke, darkness in the middle of the afternoon, the only illumination being the reflection of the fires in the smoke in the sky. But this experience at Mt Sinai was way beyond that.

 

Vs 17 “Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder.”

 

And as the sound of the trumpet came to the peak of its loudness, then suddenly God spoke, and all the people of Israel heard God’s voice.

 

All the people of Israel heard God’s voice speak the Ten Commandments. Not just Moses, but the whole nation heard God speak these words. When Moses retells the account in Deuteronomy 5, this becomes very plain. Deuteronomy 5:22 “These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.”

 

Can you imagine the scene? Can you feel the prickly static of the lightning, can you hear the ominous thunderclaps, can you sense the eerie trumpet blast getting louder and louder? And does your hair stand on end as suddenly the voice of God speaks from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness? Here is an absolutely unique experience in the Biblical record. Never before and never again have a whole people, a whole nation, heard God’s voice speak in such a way. Who can imagine the sound of it?

 

“And God spoke all these words:

 

‘I am the Lord

your God,

who brought you out of Egypt,

out of the land of slavery.

 

You shall have no other gods before me.’”

 

God identifies himself. “I am the Lord.” “I am Yahweh.” “I am who I am.” It reminds the people of that classic statement of power and authority in Exodus 6:6-8. God says: “I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I am Yahweh.”

 

Now God speaks out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness. “I am Yahweh.” There can be no doubt. In this awesome experience, in the ears of all Israel, God declares who he is: “I am Yahweh, I am the Lord.” The Lord identifies himself, and no one in Israel can have any doubt.

 

In the remaining words of vs 2, God not only identifies himself, he also identifies Israel, his people. “I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” The people are reminded of who Yahweh is, and also of who they are.

 

God, he is God, he is God of heaven and earth, he is God of the universe. He is the God of all nations. And yet he says specifically to Israel, I am the Lord, your God. I have taken you as my people.

 

He expresses the same thing in Chapter 19:5-6. “Out of all the nations, you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” “Yes, I am God and Ruler and Sovereign over the whole universe, which I have made, I am the One and Only True God. But in a very specific way, in the way of redemption, in the way of saving you from Egypt, I am your God. I have given myself to you in a way that I have not given myself to any other nation.”

 

And the implication of that? “I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”

 

Obeying the First Commandment is much more than simply acknowledging that God alone is God. As I said before, just believing that gives us no particular advantage over the demons! James 2:19 “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder!”

 

And so we come to our second point. 1. God is God, a consuming fire; yet he comes for relationship. 2. Just “believing in him” demeans his character and mocks his intention.

 

We weren’t there at Mt Sinai; we didn’t see this awesome event. So how does it speak to us? One of the most detailed and extensive references to Exodus 19 is found in Hebrews 12:18ff. Listen to these words from Hebrews:

 

“You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."

 

“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”

 

The author is writing to believers who need to be encouraged to be steadfast in the Christian life; we see that from vs 12 on in the passage. He contrasts the position of Christians before God with the position of Israel before Mt Sinai. Point by point he compares the giving of the old covenant with the giving of the new covenant.

 

The old covenant, given at Mt Sinai, represents the terror of meeting with God, so that even Moses shook with fear.

 

The new covenant represents the freedom of the gospel, with Jesus, who is called “the mediator of a new covenant”, as the one who give us free access to this new and unshakeable covenant.

 

It all sounds so marvellous, and it is absolutely wonderful! But notice the point that the author of Hebrews is making here. We go on vs 25.

 

“See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken--that is, created things--so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’”

 

In the new covenant, with all its wonderful blessings, it is the same God who is addressing us! There is a new revelation and there is new access through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. The way God reveals himself has changed, but God has not. He remains a consuming fire! Here is the point! If Israel did not escape judgment when they refused to obey the covenant given and ratified on the earth, how much more terrifying is the thought of disobeying the heavenly warning! Just as God shook Sinai, so one day he will shake the heavens and the earth, the whole universe, so that only the unshakeable, that which is found in Jesus Christ, shall endure.

 

God is a consuming fire; yet he comes for relationship. He comes to be our God and to make us his people. He comes in Jesus Christ, the mediator of a new covenant.

 

How utterly shocking to just shrug your shoulders and say, “Oh, I believe in God.” Just “believing in him” demeans his character and mocks his intention.

 

God gives himself to his people; I am the Lord your God. His requirement of us is this: You shall have no other gods before me.

 

God says, “I have given myself to you, now give yourself to me alone.” Don’t just say, “Oh, I believe in God.” What a mockery of God to “just believe” in him!

 

The invitation of God is gracious and merciful, but it has an edge to it.

 

Jesus says “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

 

Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty… All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ”

 

The invitation is gracious and merciful. But it has an edge to it, for to refuse it is to expose yourself to that day when you will have to deal with the God who is a consuming fire.

 

Don’t “just believe”, come and be his people! Have no other god before him.

 

Amen