Exodus 20, 21, 22 & 23 Bible Study (Laws About Altars, Social Justice) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Exodus twenty eighteen. Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, you speak to us, and we will listen. But do not let God speak to us, lest we die. Moses said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin. The people stood far off while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Let's pray. Father, as we open your word together, we believe that when your word is read, when it is preached, when it is taught, you are speaking to us. And so, lord, we just pray that every other voice in the mind of every person in this place would be muted and that Christ would be heard. And, lord, we also pray that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened by the power of your holy spirit to see Christ, to see his beauty and his worth, that we may surrender to him all the more. And for those who have never surrendered him, that they would today.

It would be the turning point in their lives. For those who have, that they would fall in love with him all over again. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.

If you're joining us for the first time or if you've been with us since August because we began the book of Exodus since last August, we have now officially reached the halfway point in this book. We've crossed that line, and so we finished ten weeks of covering the 10 commandments and what they mean to us as believers. And here we are in verse 18. We all reacted to the 10 commandments every single week, and now we're about to find out how the people of Israel reacted to the 10 commandments. And this is my prayer for those in here that know the Lord and love his word.

This is my desire, is that in the first part of this study, you would truly realize how important it is, how vital it is to develop the discipline of covering the scriptures in your reading day to day, book by book. My desire is that you will realize how many answers will come through what we're about to explore from different books that would not be known lest you take the time to read those books. And so I want us to understand this. When you take the time to go book by book, even the challenging books, there is key revelations in there that will bring greater light to texts just like this one. And so my prayer coming to this Bible study, for the first part at least, is that you would have this appetite to realize I never thought I would find that in Deuteronomy.

I never thought I would find that in Leviticus. That is the beauty of the scriptures that God has so put it together that they are dependent upon one another for greater revelation. And so here we find in verse 18 how the people of Israel reacted to what they saw and what they heard. They saw thunder. They saw flashes of lightning.

They saw the sound they heard the sound of trumpet, the mountain smoking. We don't have to turn there when you go to Deuteronomy four verse eleven and twelve. What they saw was even greater things according to that account. They saw fire coming from the heart of heaven touching that mountain, and it says that they saw no form, but they heard a voice coming from that fire. And so this is something that takes your breath away.

I believe that when they heard the the voice of god speaking, it was surround sound booming, heart pounding effect. It was not some whisper. They felt it in their bones. And so this is what they're reacting to right here. And I wanna start off by a question.

We we saw how they reacted. They were terrified, and rightfully so. But here's my question. Who here believes that this was the reaction that God was looking for from his people? And who here believes that this was not the reaction that God was looking for from his people?

If you believe that this was the reaction that God was looking from his people, lift up your hand. One, two. Who here believes that this was not the reaction that god wanted from his people? Who here doesn't know? And this is where other scriptures come in mind.

I mean, didn't God in Exodus nineteen four, as we learned last week in that verse memorized, say, I bore you on eagles wings to what? Bring you to myself. That's intimate language. That's relationship language. And here, God is desiring to bring him to Himself.

And as He reveals Himself through His word, through His holiness, they're terrified to even come near. Is God working against His desire? They are terrified, and there's good reason for it. And the answer to whether they were supposed to be terrified or not is found in Deuteronomy. Now you gotta open your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 15.

Here's one of the main reasons why God wanted this from them. He did want them to react this way. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. It is to him you shall listen. Just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb, same mountain, on the day of the assembly when you said, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire anymore, lest I die.

Look what it says in verse 17. And the Lord said to me, they are right in what they have spoken. That's right. What they requested is exactly what I wanted them to request. What did they request for?

What did they say to Moses? It's right there in Exodus 20. What did they ask of him? Speak for us. We don't wanna go near.

We're terrified. And it wasn't just the sight, and it wasn't just the sound. I believe it was the revelation of His holiness and the revelation of their lack of holiness, knowing that His brilliance would annihilate them if they heard another command, if they heard another word, if you were to come any closer. And God wanted that reaction. Why?

Because he wanted them to realize that they needed a mediator. And so in Deuteronomy 18, he goes, you asked for the right thing, and Moses is gonna die, but I'm gonna send another prophet greater amongst the brethren. Who's that? Jesus Christ. Here's what we have to learn from that.

Your reaction and mine should be like theirs initially. Why? Because when we understand the 10 commandments, when we understand the standard of the holiness of God, it should cause us to be terrified. Why? Because if we don't fulfill those standards, we will be destroyed.

And it should bring us to a place where we say, I need a mediator. I need somebody to stand in the gap for me. I need somebody to represent me. And who's that for us? Jesus Christ.

How vital it is to understand the law. How vital it is to preach and teach the holiness of God. When you bring forth the holiness of God, and when God's Holy Spirit takes that truth through the word of God and cuts the men's the hearts of men, you know what we'll get? We'll get Isaiah like reactions. Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips and live amongst a people of unclean lips.

I'm undone. That's where you and I need to come to when we understand how holy he is, what his standard is, and how we fail to meet it. And when you and I fail to realize how holy we are and how righteous that you cannot attain your own salvation, You have to come to a place where you cry out like how they did and says, I need a mediator. I needed somebody to step in on my behalf, and that's Christ, the greater Moses. But that's not it.

That's not the only reason why God wanted this reaction. That's the that's the important one, obviously. The second one is just as important for our walk with the Lord. And the answer is found in Deuteronomy five. Deuteronomy five verse 27.

This is what it says. Deuteronomy five twenty seven to 29. Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear it and do it. So he he's recording again what happened. Deuteronomy five is recording the same account in Exodus 20, and they're saying the same thing.

And look what it says here. And the Lord heard your words when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, I have heard the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. Why?

For a mediator? No. Look. Look what look what's in the heart of God. In verse 29.

Oh, that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever. So the first understanding of why God wanted this reaction is he wanted the people to come to a place where they realized they needed a mediator. In light of the holiness of God, they needed somebody to step in on their behalf. And you and I have Christ to approach God in prayer, to approach God in our needs, to approach God for eternity. But secondly, God wanted them to tremble because God wanted them to tremble.

You probably didn't hear about this Jesus growing up because we're shy and afraid of talking about this kind of God, but it is the true and living God. And He wanted to bring the people to a place in which they would fear Him. Do you see verse 29 of Deuteronomy five? It's as though it's the cry of His heart. Why?

So the people can walk in some sense in which they are always fearful and that he's gonna crush them at any moment. No. It's for their good. He goes, oh, that they would fear me, they would be like this all the days of their life. Why?

So that it may be well with them and their descendants. So again, it brings the question. How is it that God wants this intimacy with humanity? He delivered them from Egypt to bring them to a place where they would be near one another and dwelling amongst one another. Yet here we see in Deuteronomy that he intentionally instills this fear in them, this sense of reverence and awe and revelation of his power.

How do those things reconcile? How do those things work together where he wants me to come near, but he wants me to tremble at the same time? Well, the answer is in verse 20 of Exodus 20. Moses said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to test you that the fear of him may be before you that you may not sin. Now before we get into that, I have another question to ask.

Who here believes that Moses was afraid? Because it seems like in this text, the people are afraid, but Moses seems pretty comfortable. Does he not? I mean, he's telling him don't be afraid, and he does what? In verse 21, he goes into the thick darkness.

So from the immediate reading, we go, I think we're supposed to be like Moses, and we're not supposed to be like the people of Israel because God wants us to draw near to him. But we just learned that God wants them to fear, and it seems like Moses doesn't fear. Again, this is why covering the Bible is so important. Who here believes Moses feared? Does anybody know where it says Moses feared?

Yes. Well, I'll give you this hint. It's not in the old testament. It's not in the Old Testament. It's found in Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews chapter 12 verse 19 to 21. Hebrews twelve nineteen to 21. My desire again is for you to see how revelation comes from linking scriptures together, and it makes it so much more full. What does it say? It's it's repainting the scene that we are exploring in Exodus 20.

And the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further message be spoken to them, for they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned. In verse 21, indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. There it is. So we have Moses amongst the people, and they're all reacting the same way, trembling with fear.

Now if that's what God wanted from the Israelites, and that's what God wanted from Moses, and that's what he got, do you think it's any different from you and me? You don't have to turn there if you can put up, Sarah, Isaiah 66 verse two. Isaiah 66 verse two. You can write this down if you want. But look what God says concerning whom he looks to.

Look what the scripture says about who he magnetizes himself to. All these things my hand has made. And so all these things came to be declares the Lord, but this is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles trembles at my word. Now remember, they didn't see God. There was no form.

Deuteronomy four five chapter four, chapter five, the scriptures tell us in theirs, we're not gonna go there, that the reason why it says don't make any image is because you didn't see anything when you came to the mountain. It was the word that made them tremble. Does the word make you tremble? The sight of him, the fire, everything else, that will make you tremble. But his word doesn't make you tremble.

Have you ever come to the point where you realize this is God Almighty speaking to me? This is God's standard. God has set prophetic words of things that will come to pass and things up to the point of Christ's life, his resurrection, all those things have been fulfilled. What makes you think he's gonna be wrong about the end times? One third, approximately one third of the Bible is prophecy.

I mean, he could have filled the word of God with so many different things, but he gives one third of it dedicated to prophecy, the things that were to to come to pass. Have you ever read it and realized these things will happen? I look to those who tremble at my word. And again, we ask that question, how do these things reconcile? Intimacy with God, yet trembling, fearing him, standing in awe of him.

Verse 20 of Exodus 20. Do not fear listen to this. Don't fear. Hey, guys. I see you're trembling.

We're all trembling. Don't fear. What do you do? Well, he has come to test you that the fear of him may be before you, but you just told me not to fear. Yeah.

I'm telling you not to fear because I want a certain type of fear to be in you. So there's two contrasting fears in this. There's one fear. Pay attention. There's one fear that pushes you away from God, and there's another fear that pushes you away from sin.

He wants a second one in your life. That's what he wants. What does it say? Don't fear, but fear. Tremble, but don't tremble.

Tremble, tremble, don't tremble. Tremble the right kind of trembling that will bring you to a place where you will run away, not from me, but from sin. And Moses does tremble according to Hebrews 12, but he still goes into the presence of the Lord. And so this is how we connect it, that according to this verse, in order for us to experience any depth of intimacy and life giving relationship with God, it requires for a certain type of fear to be activated in your heart and mind. That apart from the fear of God, you will not experience the depth of intimacy that God wants you to experience.

The fear of the Lord is totally it's not optional. It is necessary for us to experience that I'm drawing you to myself. Now we're gonna go bullet just look at it on the screen. You can you can write these down, but I wanna just show you this, how this is not isolated to this text. Psalms 25 verse 14.

Psalms 25 verse 14. Look what it says here about it. The friendship of the Lord. Who wants friendship with the Lord? King James in the Hebrew talks about it being also known as the secret council of the Lord.

Meaning, there's this there's this closeness that's available to the Lord is for those who fear him. It's for those who fear him, not like him, not esteem him, fear him. Oh, it's not just there. Psalms one forty five. Psalms one forty five eighteen and nineteen.

Psalms one forty five, 18 to 19. The Lord is near. Look at this. The near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him.

He fulfills the desire of those who fear him. He also hears their cry and saves them. Wow. Psalms one forty seven verse 11. Psalms one forty seven verse 11.

But the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him. The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. So there's friendship with the Lord. I mean, there's a type of intimacy that's available with the Lord. He grants the desires of the hearts of those who fear him.

He hears their cry. He saves them, and he takes pleasure in those who stand in awe of who he is. So then the next question is, how do I know if I fear him? How do I make the distinction between being terrified of who he is and not wanting to do anything with him because and I know at any moment he'll strike me down, and this fear that invites me to know him more. It simply comes down to this, recognizing his authority, recognizing his power, recognizing his holiness to a place in which your heart reveres, esteems, and stands in awe of him.

You're not flipping towards him. You're not casual towards him. You don't take his word lightly. You realize how brilliant he is. You realize that he is who he says he is.

He did what he said he did. And that should cause you to be paralyzed sometimes with this sense of how awesome he is, yet I can still call him father. How do I know if I fear God? There's hints in the scripture. One of them is in Genesis 22.

Genesis 22 verse 12. Genesis 22 is that famous chapter where God calls Abraham to give up Isaac. He doesn't hesitate. He wakes up early. He says, let's do it.

Hebrews tells us that he had faith that even if he were to die, that God would raise him from the dead. He comes to the place where he lays down his son, takes up that knife, ready to kill his son. The angel of the Lord steps in and look what he says. He said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God. Now I know that you fear God, Abraham, seeing you've not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

You know what's amazing is that when you compare that to the beginning of Genesis 22, when he calls him initially, he says, I'm calling you to, I'm paraphrasing, give up your son, your only son, whom you love. And then when he repeats himself, he excludes the fact that he says whom you love. Why? Because you realize Abraham loved God more than Isaac. Read it carefully in your Bibles.

What is the fear of the Lord? When you love God more than anything. And you rather give up the greatest thing in your life than to displease God. That's how you know you fear Him. That if you were to ask Him for anything, even the very thing that He promised you your whole life, and you finally have received it, and He says the next day, give it up.

You're willing to do it. Why? Because you love him and you rather be in a in a sense missing out on what he even promised for the sake of pleasing him, even if he requested it. That's the fear of God, wanting to please God no matter what. Wanting to please him because ultimately the fear of the Lord comes to this.

I don't wanna do this so I don't displease him. The same way if you have a father who has provided who has provided security, who loved you your whole life, you have this natural reverence towards him. I hope so because in this day and age, we like it so much. And you don't wanna disobey him because you love him and you fear him and you realize, I don't wanna displease him. That's what it's like with the Lord.

How else do I know if I fear God? Proverbs eight thirteen. Proverbs eight thirteen. The fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil. So the fear of God in me is not just loving God, and it's not just loving what God loves.

It's also hating what God hates. We kind of exclude that part. I fear God, and that's proven because, yes, I love the things that he loves, but I also hate the things that he you know what's amazing? Christians entertain themselves with things that God hates. You don't fear God.

If you don't come to a place where you have this hatred, I'm not saying you won't experience temptation, but you know. And one of the the forces that holds you back from going into that very thing that you're tempted with, even if it's silly entertainment that defiles the character of God and blasphemes his name, you are halted by the truth that God hates this and I love God so I hate it too. You fear God. You fear God if you hate evil. Not dislike it.

Not have an opinion about it. You hate it. You love righteousness, and you hate wickedness. That's the evidence of a man who fears God. Oh, there's so much more that can be said about this, but we won't go into it.

This is my question to you in this bible study. Have you ever even once in your prayer life asked God for the fear of God? Because ultimately, it comes down to that in Psalms eighty six eleven. Unite my heart to fear your name because my heart is inclined not to fear your name. My heart is inclined to take you casually, god.

My heart is inclined to take your word lightly, god. My heart is inclined to the things that you do hate, but I'm asking you to infuse my heart with the truth of who you are in a way that every time it beats, it beats the fear of the lord. That's what you can do. And people say, well, I've asked for the fear of the Lord, and I don't have it. You haven't asked desperately enough because it doesn't come with one request.

So great is the fear of the Lord, so great are the treasures that stem from it that it requires something greater than some emotional response at the end of a Bible study. It requires what? It requires Proverbs two three to five. Proverbs two three to five. This is what it requires for somebody to attain the fear of the Lord.

Doesn't come from an altar call. It comes from this. If you call up for insight and cry life for understanding, if you look for us for silver and search for us for hidden treasure, then what? Then you understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Have you ever lost something valuable to you?

Did were you frantic in trying to look for it? Did you flip your house upside down because you lost that gold necklace? I don't know much about treasure hunting, but I know one thing. When a treasure hunt is on, the person that is involved with it does not give up after a night. If it's raining, they're putting on a helmet, they're putting on a raincoat, they're lighting that up at night, and they're looking for it.

It. If it's beating blazing hot, they're gonna look for it and they're gonna dig up that entire place until they find that treasure. And if you realize the value of the fear of God, if you if you realize the the availability of intimacy, the protection, and the glories that come, when you realize your heart is united and in your mind, you know this is God and he deserves specific approach and reverence, and my heart is so against it, and If you look for it with that much desperation, it will come to you. I'm telling you. You'll find it.

It will click. It will register, but you got to be desperate. You got to be desperate for this. I wonder why that's why so many people like it because they haven't looked for it. They haven't searched for it.

They haven't sought God for it. So my question to you in this Bible study tonight is, do you have the fear of the Lord? If not, have you even asked once for it? Even once. Bless me.

You want blessing? Fear God. Protect me. You want protection? Fear God.

Guide me. You want guidance? Fear God. Ask for the fear of the Lord. This is what we have to understand.

Moses comes. In verse 21, he hears a request to be the mediator, and what does he do? He goes into the thick darkness where God was. Why? Now we're gonna realize from chapter 21, 22, and 23 that there are these random laws given.

There are more instructions for the people of Israel. And Moses is about to receive. Now here's what's interesting. These laws are very specific to specific situations. And when you read them, like many portions of the Old Testament, you might feel yourself distant because you don't realize how this relates to you as a New Testament believer.

You don't see how these laws and these instructions have any benefit to your walk with the Lord. But if you really saturate yourself with the New Testament perspective and you bring that with you to the Old Testament and you take the time to meditate on these truths and see how they link with your Christian walk, you will see you will see how they do relate to you. And if there's one question you should ask yourself when you come to any text in the Old Testament, especially with laws and instructions, it should be this. God, what's your heart behind this? Why are you giving this instruction?

Because you will come out with a certain truth about who he is. I might not be able I'm not I may not be bound to that law because I'm free in Christ, but what does that say about your heart? And when you ask those questions, when you talk to the text, you'll realize, oh wow. There is something for me. And so Moses goes in, and we're not gonna cover every line here.

We're gonna, we're gonna jump to different portions and and highlight certain things and see together how awesome and how relevant these things are. So he goes in and God gives instructions. Verse 22, here's the first one. Now these are laws about altars. And we go, what's that have to do with me?

What does it say? Verse 22. And the Lord said to Moses, thus you shall say to the people of Israel, you have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven, and you shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. Now look at this. He's instructed them how they ought to worship him, and he says it this way, you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings.

He said in the the first part, I want you to build an altar of earth. So dirt. I want it to be dirt. I want it to be made be made out of earth, and you're gonna be able to put sacrifice on that to me. Burnt offering and peace offerings and your sheep and your oxen.

In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. So stop there. Here's the first instruction about the laws of the altar. What's an altar? It's an elevated structure with a flat surface for the purpose of laying on a a dead animal as an act of worship to the lord.

And here's the first instruction. I want you to make that altar, but it has to be made out of earth. He doesn't want it to be made out of gold. He doesn't want it to be made out of silver. He wants it to be made out of dirt.

Question, why? Why? Now remember, we're about to come in a few weeks to the instructions and the construction of the tabernacle where God would come and dwell, and he's gonna give specific instruction. And one of those pieces of furniture are what? A brazen altar.

It would be the main place where the people would come and offer their sacrifices for the forgiveness of their sins. It would be the gathering place for the assembly to come and meet, but that's not what he's talking about here. And so some would say, well, this is the altar for temporary use until the tabernacle was made. But if you really study the word carefully, there are even people after the tabernacle that build altars individually. Gideon, Judges chapter six.

Samson's parents, Judges chapter 13. Samuel and first Samuel, they build these altars even after the tabernacle. So there is some instruction here about personal worship. But why making it out of earth? In what way?

Like here, if you read that 25, it's a stone because God does not want the carver to get people to mount the people. Okay. So that's the hue stones, but why the dirt? Why dirt? Now put yourself as a as an Israelite walking through the wilderness.

Partly, there's something there, not necessarily, but practically. Why dirt? And think of yourself as an Israelite journeying through the wilderness. Because of its availability, because of its abundance, because you can worship God anywhere at any time. And that's what God wants from us as well.

He wants us to be a people that know how to worship him at any time and at any place. Now here's what's important. He does not use this as an instruction for people to neglect the sanctuary that they're about to build. Right? And so there are people that say, well, I don't need to go to church.

Why? Well, I have my own personal relationship with God, and I worship him. I have church in my house. God gives no room for somebody to neglect the general assembly for personal worship. He wants both.

And this is the heart of God. I'm not I'm not making this complicated for you Israelites. I'm not asking you to build a shrine that's gonna take two weeks to make because I want a specific design on that altar. You can worship me at any place at any time. You can worship God on your way to work.

You can worship God while you're doing groceries. You can stop and worship God at school. This is God's heart. You are able to do that, and I'm giving you permission to do that. And this way, it didn't matter if you were rich.

It didn't matter if you were poor. All you needed was dirt to build an altar, to come before God and saying, Lord, I'm just stopping on my journey to saying I love you, and I worship you. You are amazing. You are holy. You are wonderful.

That's the first instruction about the altar of earth. But then the second one, it says this, if you make me an altar of stone so there is an alternative. Why? The same reason why, because there's a bunch of stone in the wilderness. If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones.

For if you wield a tool on it, you profane it. So he says, okay. The earth, it's available. It's in abundance. You can do it any place, anytime.

That's my heart for you. I want you to be able to worship me wherever. And then here's the beauty thing about the earth. It's a prophetic picture because we are, this goes back to Genesis. Right?

Dust. We're dust. We were created. Adam was created in dust. God breathed into him.

And here we are in the same truth. We are made out of dust, so to speak, and we are that altar that can worship at any place at any time. But this is about stones. And he goes, if you wanna make it out of stones, don't touch it. I don't want you to chisel the stone.

I don't want you to shave the stone. I don't want you to carve on the stone. I want you to leave the stone as it is, natural. Why? Because if you touch it, you're gonna profane it.

Yes. There's nothing to do. Does anybody have an idea why? Yes, Spirit. That's one application absolutely.

Wanting to worship God our way. But I would even add to to that, God is not interested in flashy, showy, look at me, look what I can do, look at who I am, type of worship. He's not in it at all. He doesn't want anything to do with that. He wants it just like those hue those stones that weren't hewn.

He wants it natural. He wants it pure. He wants it the way he instructed it to be. Don't touch it. Don't.

Anybody that aspires to be on the worship team, anybody that aspires to be in any public type of ministry, don't put on a show when you worship. I want nothing to do with that. Be who you are. Worship the way I called you to worship. Be natural just like those stones.

The moment you start playing with it and carving it so people can see the way it looks, it's profaned. It's profaned. And now we find that type of worship all the time, trying to put on a show for people to see how spiritual they are and how awesome they can sing. And God says, it's profane. It's I don't want nothing to do with it.

I want it holy. I want it pure. I don't want your hands on it. Keep it the way it is. So he says, I'm not impressed by glamour.

Look at the heart of God. I'm not impressed by the show. I want pure worship. You look at these other deities and they want this shrine and they want that shrine and they want gold and they want jewels. He goes, just be you.

Be true. I'm more concerned about your heart than anything else. And so the moment you start worshiping God, whether in a prayer meeting, whether in worship, wherever it may be, and the moment you try to even for a moment, even when you hint to put on a show, it's profanity. It's defiled. Jesus talks about this kind of stuff in Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount.

When you pray just to put on a show so people can hear how long you pray, I'm mute to it. Oh, how our hearts love to touch the altar. How our hearts want to put some of our glory on it. How we want people to say, look at what you did. Look at how you said it.

Look how powerful that was. God says, I want nothing to do with that. Stay pure. Stay true. Stay holy.

Keep your eyes on me. I just want your heart to be holy before me when you worship. It's powerful. Worship in what? John four twenty four.

Spirit and truth. That's the standard. Doesn't stop there. What does he say in verse 26? And you shall not go up by steps to my altar and that your nakedness be not exposed on it.

So here's the third rule for the altar. The first one was make it out of dirt. You have the right to worship me wherever you are at any time. We should develop that practice. We should respond to that invitation.

Secondly, don't touch it. Don't defile it. You know what the Holy Spirit loves to do? He loves to glorify Jesus. That's what he wants to do.

And the moment you and I begin to wanting to glorify self, you have abandoned the ministry of the Holy Spirit upon your ministry because he was not sent to glorify you or me. He was sent to glorify Christ. So if you want the Holy Spirit's life on, his life on your ministry, his breath on it, examine your heart saying, Lord, no carves, no images, no show on me, no spotlight on me. Let it be on you. Hide me.

Hide me to the greatest depths of humility as you can. I wanna see God at work. No steps. I don't want steps to the altar lest your nakedness be exposed. So the idea there practically is that if there's steps and the way they were dressed at the time is that their legs would be exposed and people can look up what they were wearing, and then there's shame involved with that.

There's defilement involved with that. And we know that goes back to Genesis. Right? The shame of nakedness is a result of what? The fall.

Before that, there is purity. They were like children. They didn't see anything impure about that. But after the fall, there is revelation of wickedness, of evil, and they realized their nakedness. And God says, there is shame involved with nakedness.

I don't want you to to be exposed when you worship. I don't want you to walk up, and when you walk in your own effort, your flesh is shown. And so what does he require of the worshiper that he be covered? Even when you fast forward with the priest, when it comes to the tabernacle, when we we're gonna examine the garments. The garments one of the garments was undergarments, that their nakedness would not be exposed.

What's the idea is that we cannot come in the flesh before God. You can approach God based on your own righteousness. You can approach God based on your own good works. What do you need? The same thing Adam and Eve need and the same thing that he's asking here, covering.

You need Christ to cover you. You need to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ does not cover you, you and I cannot approach God, plain and simple. He is the only mediator. His grace covers you.

His grace makes your worship acceptable. Not the intensity of it, not how long you've been holy. No. That's all flesh. It the flesh needs to be covered by his grace and mercy so that you and I can come to that altar and give something that he will accept.

Here are the rules of worship. This is what God desired for them, but look at the principles for the Christian. It doesn't end there. There's laws about slaves in chapter 21. Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.

When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh, he shall go out free for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single. If he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out free, then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door of the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

Now I'm not here to talk about how slavery was different back then than the idea that we have today, but I'll tell you this much. When you owned a slave, you could not do whatever you wanted with that slave. That's later on here. That if you hit your slave and he breaks a tooth or he loses an eye, bye bye, you've lost your slave. You can't just treat a slave how you wanted back in this day.

There is different things. In fact, many people who became slaves were once who did not have a home of their own, who did not have a job, they could not provide, and so somebody would take them in and provide for them, provide for their family. There was something of benefit involved with that. That's not the point. We can't interpret this too literally unless we fall into weird ideas.

Remember, you you have to interpret the Bible with the rest of the Bible. But there's amazing imagery here because Jesus is what? Lord. What does lord mean? Master.

And this is what the Lord longs to do for you and me. He longs to bring you in and for you to be his servant, And he longs to do it at any point in your life. If you're single, he longs to call you in. If you're married, just like here, he longs to call you in. Why?

Because he has something for you to do. He has a purpose for you. He has a calling for you. He has something for you to accomplish no matter what season of life you're in. But here's the reality.

I love this. That though that is his desire, he has even a greater desire than that desire. And that is this, that you would make that choice for yourself to be his servant. He could not keep the servant. The servant had to come to a place in which he made a choice for himself that I love my master, and I will give myself to him for the rest of my life.

See, I I can guess pretty strongly that a majority of the people in here grew up in the church. Right? And so you were kinda thrown into a household in which Jesus was lord of the house. You went to church. You did your thing.

You went through the routine. And so you might have been like the slave. You were kinda just thrown into it. Right? But listen.

Even if you were thrown into it, you have to come to a place in your life in which you yourself make a decision. I love my master. I'm giving him my life. And Christ is waiting that response from you, person who grew up in the church, that you have to just come to terms with yourself and realize, okay. I'm just kinda floating around here, and I'm just doing the bare minimum, but he wants me to make a choice.

And that's why I believe that God, when he created man, created him with free will. God does not want robots. God wants you to make a choice like the slave. What did this slave have to come to terms with? How did he respond?

How was he supposed to respond? I guess I should. I guess it's better. I don't wanna go to hell. No.

Look how he responds. I love my master. A revelation of how awesome he is, and disagree with me if you like, the fact that if he had a wife, he could leave with a wife. His wife went before he came in. If he was single, he left single, but there is another option here that when you came in and he gives you a wife and he gives you children and you want to leave, he keeps those things back.

And I think there's a principle, and and the and and this is it. I believe the principle is that in Christ, as him being master, he has specific blessings that are reserved just for you, but will not be available to you unless you come and submit fully to him. He has something for your life. He has something reserved. He has a plan.

He has a purpose. He has a journey for you, but it it has to only come when you unite with the master. I love my master. I I love the promises that he has for me. I see what it will be like to be united with him.

See, every person in here, and I I and this is this is really where I wanna stress it before we close. You have to make a choice. You have to come to a place where you say to yourself, either I'm gonna be the master of my life. See, the slave could make that choice. He could move on with his life and be the lord of his own life.

The master is giving him that freedom. Go and do what you want if you want. I'm giving you the choice. Or you can come to a place where you say, he's better. He's better even than the freedom that I think I have living for myself.

Because even when you think you're free, you're actually a slave. You're a slave to sin, aren't you? You're a slave to your desires, aren't you? The Bible clearly makes that distinction. You are either a slave to sin or you're a slave to righteousness.

You're either a child of the devil or you're a child of God. Which one are you? Have you ever, ever come to a place person who grew up in the church who thinks is saved? You're not saved. If you haven't made that choice.

Have you ever made that choice for yourself where you came to terms with the reality of an awesome Jesus is, what he has done for you, the benefits that are in him. And you say, I love him. And because I love him, what? I'm gonna commit to him to six years. I'm gonna commit myself to him twenty years.

There's no such option in this text. The only option in which you can be united with the master is a lifelong commitment. You understand that. Right? So many Christians today treat their relationship with Jesus Christ like a gym membership.

They get excited about the idea of commitment. It's conference time. Right? And so what do you do? You sign up.

Right? I'm all in. You pay it. Even though it's $100, you get the outfits. You get all the new stuff.

Right? The new Bible. You get all the new commentaries, you get all the equipment. Right? You're ready to do this.

And a few weeks go in, and a few months come in, and you get kind of you lose your motivation. And you you start pulling back a bit more, and you get a little distracted. And what happens? That time of the year comes, January, and you get all excited again. You commit again.

You sign up again. Right? Is that not the sad commentary of the devotion of this generation and their love for Christ? Christ is not looking for that. What does he say?

If you wanna commit to me, give me your ear, put it against the doorpost, and I will nail it as a sign of lifelong commitment to me. And what happens? What happens when that ear lobe is there and that all pierces through? What happens to the person? The mark of the master is upon him.

And so many people say, oh, I I just want I want I want people to see Christ in me. I want people to know that I belong to him. That's impossible. You haven't given everything yet. You will live in this frustrating cycle of wanting to be used by God, of wanting to know the glories of God, but not because you have not said yes.

You have not put your ear to the doorpost yet and allow him to nail it with his mark. Because the reality is when a person gives everything, when a servant comes to terms and says, I want him to be master, there is a mark on your life and people will notice it. The same way somebody would notice that I have a birthmark here. I believe it's this year. One of them.

And it looks like my ear was pierced, but it's not. It's just a birthmark. And it's there. It's permanent. And when you cross that line, young person, and you make that choice, and you sell it within yourself that I can either have the world, I can have Sodom and Gomorrah like Lot said.

I can go for that or I can choose to live for this master until you make that turnaround and you put your ear and you allow him to slay you with his spirit on your heart and circumcise it. You will not experience the glories of being marked by God. And people noticing that there's something about you, you're a different kind of person, you're a different breed, aren't you? Yes. I am a bondservant to Jesus Christ.

That's who I am. Do you notice the language that these apostles use in the New Testament? I'm a bondservant to Jesus Christ. You know what that means? It means this, that no matter what the master calls me to do, I'm gonna do it.

Uncomfortable. I feel like it. My stomach hurts. I'm tired. It doesn't matter.

He is Lord. He is my master, and I love him. I am so sick and tired of seeing the lack of commitment to the lordship of Jesus Christ. When you say yes, mean it. Jesus said, let your yes be yes and your no be no.

How many altar calls would be responded to if you said, come and pick up a cross? How many altar calls would be responded to if we said, do you wanna give your life? Get up on the cross and let Jesus nail you on it. I love what one preacher said. How many times does a man get crucified?

Once. Just make that commitment and stay with it. And the moment you do that in your heart, you will realize something. His mark is on your life, and people see it. Jacob, they saw a limp.

The servant, they saw an earlobe pierced. It only comes when you jump off that cliff and stop flirting with the idea and just go for it. I'm tempted to go on. Exodus twenty one twenty two, laws for retaliation. When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman so that her children come out but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine.

But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. Here's the idea. That sounds kind of cruel, doesn't it? But this is how wicked the men the hearts of men are, is that if something is done to us, we'll not only retaliate, but we'll do way more than what they did to us. And so God sets the playing field to be leveled here.

Is this promoting personal retaliation? Is it promoting personal vengeance that if something happens to me, I can do it right back to them? No. This is government law. Have you ever seen this language before?

Have we heard these terms before in the New Testament? Yeah. Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter five in the sermon on the mount verse thirty eight and thirty nine. Jesus points to this text actually to teach something.

It says, you've heard it was said, an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. What is Jesus saying here? Is Jesus abolishing the law?

How do we reconcile this? What is he trying to say? He's trying to realign the thinking of, I believe, the thinking of people who thought that they could interpret that for personal retaliation. So that's why he says when somebody slaps you, don't take personal vengeance. Leave it up to the government.

Leave it up to the law. Leave it up for the enforcement to come in and to determine that. And so we are not to be a people in light of the New Testament. We are not called to be a people who take personal vengeance on others. And we can talk about different scenarios and all that, but Jesus uses this text to say, listen, Be a people that does not take vengeance on others even if they harm you.

Leave that up to the government. Leave that up to the law. Leave that up for others to take care of. Go to Exodus 22 with me, please. Verse 21.

And these are again just highlights of different truths. Exodus 22 verse 21. You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

Now turn to verse nine of Exodus 23. You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. So this is laws concerning social justice. And we could talk about all the other ones, but let's just focus on this one because I believe it speaks so amazingly of the heart of God.

He goes, listen. When a sojourner comes into your land, people of Israel, in the land of Canaan, don't oppress them, don't mistreat them, them because you were a sojourn at one point in Egypt. And so what God is asking of his people is to develop the ability to know how to meet with people in their present circumstance. That's unfortunate. God wants us to develop the ability to be able to put ourselves in other people's shoes.

And so therefore, look at them, pray for them, and meet their needs where they are at. And not only that, he says, you were a sojourner at one time. You know the pain of what it's like to be a sojourner. You've had experiences of what it's like to be a slave. And because of that, I want you to use the pain from your past to minister to people in the present.

How glorious is that? And so sometimes we look at our past and we don't understand why things happen. And I'm not here to say that God did it or whatever. What I am trying to say is this is that whatever you've gone through the past, even hurtful experiences, you know how God looks at them? God looks at them as opportunities for you to minister to other people.

God looks at them as as as you being able to say, hey. Listen. I've been through that. I've experienced that. And to use that to channel compassion and understanding to others.

So even if right now you're going through something and you have no idea why you're going through and it's painful, God has in mind that that pain has a purpose in the future. God has in mind that even in the times where you were in Egypt and you experienced certain things, that He would use that for future relationships or future encounters with others in which you can dispense mercy, advice, counsel, and love. And even it says here in the same chapter 22 verse 25 at the end of it, sorry, Verse 27. And if he cries me, I will hear for I am compassionate. This is the heart of God in the Old Testament.

I'm compassionate. And whatever you went through, I want you to use that. That's something so exciting. The love that I've shown you when you were in Egypt and delivered you. When you were a slave, do you remember how I rescued you?

Do you remember how patient I was with you? Now be patient with others the same way. Now show mercy to others the same way. This is the God of the Old Testament. And people are shocked by this because they cherry picked the verses to suit their own argument against the God of the Bible, but here's another verse in Exodus 23 verse four.

Look what it says about the enemies of the people. If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. This is your enemy. Bring it back to him. Right?

If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, You shall refrain from leaving him with it. You shall rescue it with him. So when you see these verses, you go, Lord, we're not, we're not serving a different God in the Old Testament and a different God in the New Testament. It's the same God. It's the same God.

God had more grace in the New Testament. God is gracious in the Old Testament too. Yes. Is is grace magnified in the New Testament through Christ? Absolutely.

But we're not serving a schizophrenic God as some would criticize. I like that Jesus in the New Testament. Guess what? Sorry to burst your bubble. Same God in the Old Testament.

And if you just take the time to even see these scriptures and see how compassionate and what he even requires from his people, you would realize you would realize that. There's so many things to highlight here. I'm gonna stop here for the sake of time. But I want us to understand this. So many truths.

We're not gonna take too much time in this either. We're gonna worship in a moment. But just in your own heart, I wanna focus on there's some people here that I've never seen before. I don't know where you're at with the Lord. But for the believer to ask yourself if I've ever asked God for the fear of God in my life, Have I even inquired and not just inquired once when you heard a message on the fear of the Lord.

I'm talking have you desperately sought it out until your heart was rewired into its realities? Have you found it? How do you know when you find it? It's an internal reality. You know you have a lens on life that you did not have before.

Other people who don't fear God don't see the same things you do. They see things. That's harmless, man. What are you talking about? Come on.

You go, man. I don't know. I fear God. I don't wanna touch that thing. I fear God.

I don't wanna put that in my ears. I fear God. I don't wanna be involved with those type of people. Something happens in a man when he searches for it like treasure and finally finds it. And it's not a treasure that's external, it's internal treasure.

Oh, I love that picture where that ear is placed on that doorpost. That the only way in which you could be joined with him, there is no package other than one package. There is no six year membership. There is no twelve year membership. If you signed up for the Lord, guess what?

You're in it for the long haul. You're in it until you see the Lord. When you said yes, I hope he pierced you. That's the only way. That's the only exception.

But my question is tonight, on this random night that you found yourself here, perhaps invited or you stumbled here, have you made that choice? Have you made that choice in which you have said, you know, I see Jesus. I see what he's done for me. I see the sacrifice. I see his love.

I love my master. I'm gonna commit myself to him. And no matter what the world offers, no matter where the world turns to or how the world becomes, that does not mean my friends abandon me, my family abandons me. You've made it up in your mind. That's it.

I'm committing myself. And you let Him mark you. And only when you commit yourself will that true mark come. It can't come if you give 90%. It can't come if you come up to the master and say, master, just give me one weekend of the year off.

No, no, no, no, no. Every day, every hour, every second belongs to him. That's what he's waiting for, but he is so loving. He is so gracious. He goes, go.

I'm not going to force you to be my servant. You can be your own master. You can be your own Lord. You can dictate your own life. Go for it.

How is that turning out for you? I'm very curious. Can I can I testify for two seconds? I've tried it, and I realize that I'm a terrible master over my own life. Doesn't matter how smart you are or what resources you have.

Do you realize how people are in their sin? Do you realize that even the richest people destroy themselves because they were not intended to be lord of their lives? Do you think that's by accident that people are so elevated to a place in their celebrity status that a majority of them crumble and go crazy because they were not created to be worshiped by man? They can't handle that worship. They can't handle that attention.

That only belongs to God. And when you fail, even if you're in that place, whether ministry or any sphere of life, if you fail to realize that that praise and that recognition is supposed to bounce off of you and bounce back to the god who gave you the very town that brought you to the place that you're at, you will crumble as well. You and I can't handle the weight of being lord of our own life. I mean, you can. Sure.

But wait for the disaster. Wait for the depression. Wait for the sadness. Wait for the loneliness. Wait for that sense of emptiness that will come in eventually because your soul was created for the one who created it.

So I'm asking you tonight even if it's one person because one person matters to god. That tonight, what's holding you back from placing your ear and saying, you know what, lord? I'm gonna do it tonight. I haven't made that decision. I was kinda thrown into this thing, but this master demands a choice from you.

Individually. Individually. You gotta make that choice as an individual, that servant singular had to come up to the master himself and make that choice. And can I tell you something? He's a wonderful master.

He's a wonderful master. He's not an evil task master. He doesn't give you what you can't handle. He it's unbelievable what kind of a master he is. He doesn't tell you to bend down so he can put his feet and and cross him over your back.

No. He says, come and sit with me in heavenly places. He doesn't give you commands and say, I can't wait till you fail so I can whip you like you've never been whipped before. He goes, here's some commands. I want you to represent me well.

Not only that, here's the power to do it. He invites you, yes, as a servant, but also as a son, as a daughter, co heir. You receive an inheritance. It's mind boggling. If we only limit ourselves to the understanding of him being master and servant and we being servants, we fail to see the whole scope of what our relationship is like.

But in light of this text, there is an element of our relationship with Christ where you do come to a place where you say he is Lord. So that flipping one month off and four months off and I'm fired up, you fail to realize the commitment that he's asking of you. Determinate within yourself tonight, whether in this place, and I hope that you do it in this place, whether you find a room in this place or you get in your car right away and you go home and you say, lord, I'm placing my ear on the doorpost. Touch me. I'm forever yours.

And only then will you enter into what he wants you to enter into. Only then. All those other things that you've made up in your mind doesn't exist. It's a fraud. It's hollow.

It's vain. You've deceived yourself. There's only one way, only one type of commitment he's looking for, and that's everything. Everything. He gives an abundant life to a surrendered life.

Doesn't work if you don't surrender. It does not work. Give yourself to him. What are you waiting for? Let's pray.

Just sit in your own chair before we worship in song. You know what part of this bible study touched you. Maybe it was the fear of the Lord. Maybe it was the last part where you feel like, you know, I'm going through something and I have a history and I don't understand why that history is my history, But I'm gonna trust that God will use my history to minister to other people, and you're gonna take confidence in that tonight. Maybe it's the part where you wanna take personal retaliation and vengeance.

And Lord says, no. That's not that's not your job. Maybe it's that servant, and you're on the brink. Like, you you see the world, and you feel the pull. You're like, man, I know that he's a good master.

I know that I'm supposed to fully surrender, but I've yet to give myself to him because I'm really attracted to what the world has to offer. Just make the choice tonight. The the master is waiting, and he has the all in his hand and he's waiting for you to just be still enough for him to pierce it. Whatever part is for you, we don't want to rush this. We're not gonna take too long, but just in your own heart saying, Lord, where am I?

And God, I wanna respond in this manner. God, I thank you that you want me to be called to yourself, but I know that I need the element of the fear of the Lord to even come close. So, look, put the fear of God in me. Help me recognize your authority. Help me recognize your power and may it produce this healthy fear in me mingled with this truth that you want to be intimate with me.

Or maybe you're like the Israelites. You got a revelation of the holiness of God and your cry is, God, I need a mediator. That's found in Jesus Christ who fulfilled the law on your behalf, who lived the life that you could not live and died the death that you deserve, and is awaiting for you to call upon him so that he could be the one who stands before God as your representative by faith in the gospel. If you have never made that choice, it's in line with the fact that you also pierce your ear with him. You you repent and you believe that Christ is the savior of your soul.

Do it tonight. What's holding you back? Give your life to him. Father, we come before you tonight in light of your holy word seeing how even these random commands relate to us as believers. And, lord, we ask that you would show us.

Show us, lord, how awesome of a master you are. We see it tonight. We do see it. We don't fail to see it. And lord, we gladly gladly give our lives to you with joy.

We like that servant says, I love my master. We love you tonight, lord. We give you praise and glory. Forever you will be the lamb upon the throne, and I'll gladly bend my knee and worship you alone. Lord, thank you that you desire from us to enter into relationship with you, with love for you.

And, Lord, help us even see, like, this master who awaits the servant to make that choice, that you wait for that one person tonight who hasn't made that choice yet, and you are eager to pierce them. You are eager to seal them with the Holy Spirit. You are eager to transform their lives. You are eager to put your mark on them so that wherever they go, people will know that you have purchased them and that they are your possession. Thank you that you're a merciful master.

Thank you for the invitation, Lord, to serve you. It is a privilege and an honor to be under your lordship. And, Lord, we just pray that if somebody in here has not made that commitment, that they would see that the kindness of God leads us to repentance. And they would gladly again say, Lord, here's my heart. Here's my life.

Brand it. Brand it with your name. I surrender. Lord, tonight we worship you in light of the fact that you are good. And we choose to fear you because you deserve it.

But we're not afraid of you nor do you call us to be afraid of you. You just want us to recognize who you are, and that alone should naturally produce in us this trembling. If it does not, Lord, help us seek it like treasure. Help us pray until our hearts agree with the truth of his word. Oh, that we may glean the benefits of the fear of God and realize that perhaps it's an attack on this generation that it is so little spoken of because there are so many glorious things that await us when we take hold of it.

In Jesus' name we pray.