Lent 2 – The Presence of God

Last Week:-

• We looked at the Promise of God
  • We began in Genesis 12 with the Abrahamic Covenant
    • I will bless you
    • God held his side of the bargain even though Abraham left Egypt with a damaged testimony as a man of God.
      • Went without God’s anointing
      • Lied to Pharoah about his wife Sarai saying she was his sister to protect his bacn
• Core of Abrahamic Covenant / Covenant with Noah, David, Jeremiah is that God will bless us if we respond to His call to “come to him”.
• Ps 67:7 God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Today’s reading from Exodus 24:1-18

• Theme: The Presence of God
  • God will bring his blessing to us and draw us into his blessing (and we will see how that ties in with God’s presence) through two processes (Which constitute two major doctrines:-
    • Redemption
    • Deliverance
    • HOW?

1. WHAT DOES REDEMPTION MEAN FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD

• Let’s go to the Book of Exodus.
• Begins with God’s people in slavery

1. Ends with them on the mountain with the Glory of the Lord, the shekinah glory coming down among them – God’s presence enfolds them!
   1. i.      Results in God’s people worshipping and serving and rejoicing in Him

• So, redemption (in the Biblical sense of the doctrine) means being freed from slavery to worship God in the presence of His glory.

1. You need both those actions
   1. i.      Deliverance from bondage
   2. ii.      Entrance into relationship with God

• Many preachers and teachers today preach a false and cheep Gospel inviting the hearer to simply enter in without their necessary confession of sin – or deliverance from the things that bind them in darkness and separation from God.

1. Their message is sprinkled with promises of acceptance wherever we are and whatever we are up to without the challenge to unbundle and audit our depravity and sin.
   1. i.      Sounds good, doesn’t no pain but lots of gain.
2. This is a natural consequence of denying the authority and inspiration of Holy Scripture (which I will deal with later.)
   1. i.      But redemption is God’s provision from the very beginning after the fall of man (Genesis 3) , through to the gift of Christ (John 3:16) and finally at Revelation 21:3

• But the Bible is clear that God’s purpose is that we should be redeemed, transformed and recreated out of darkness and slavery to the world the flesh and the devil and into a life of holiness and righteousness so that we may enter into the presence of the Lord –WHO CANNOT LOOK ON SIN AND WOULD TOLERATE US BEFORE HIM DARKENED BY THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD!

None of this just happens automatically……

Redemption is a deep work of the Father to bring us to perfection

CLEAN HOUSE – CHANNEL 182

• Houses are selected for their mess, chaos, filth
• They acknowledge that they need help
• Team goes in a jiffy cleans the house and creates a home that is utterly different to what it was at the start of the programme.
• Usually luxurious and elegant.
• BUT the underlying cause of why the house was in a mess in the first place is never dealt with.
• What happens when the team turn their back?
• I tell you, they probably tend back to where they were in the first place – mess, chaos, filth

Exodus teaches.

• God has to fight for us to cleanse up
• Fight against the powers of darkness and the grime of sin
• For Israel he had to defeat those who held them in bondage through the waters of the red sea and the plaques that he poured out upon them.
• He freed them from slavery and brought justice to those who held them captive
  • It is clear, though, that the devil is never happy to give up his conquests (Ex 5:2)
  • So judgement and deliverance have to be partners with salvation.
  • Story of Matthew 25:31-46 Sheep and the Goats remind us that to those who know the Lord comes salvation while to those who live their lives according to the ways of the world, the flesh and the devil there comes judgement.
  • How does he differentiate between us when he judges….?
    • In Exodus he instructs Moses to tell His people to sprinkle the blood of an unblemished Lamb onto their doorposts and when the angel of death comes to bring judgement he will pass over those who have been sprinkled with the blood.
    • The blood of the sacrificial Lamb covers them and protects them. The Lamb is sacrificed on their behalf – substitution doctrine.

What about you and me? How does God cover us today?

• Sin has to be judged.
  • Rom 6:23a “The wages of sin is death”
  • That is all that we deserve – we are in big trouble (Eph 2:1-3)
  • We have to be covered from judgement.
    • Rom 6:23b “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
    • Eph 2:4 Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved.
    • Gospel for today – the sacrificial Lamb is recognized by John  as Jesus goes down to the Jordan and John exclaims “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”
    • Jesus shed his blood – the blood of the sacrificial Lamb to cover our sins and to wash them as white as snow.
    • Eph 2:19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,
    • God’s ultimate aim for every one of us who repent of our sins and enter into his love is that we are protected from judgement and condemnation and we are restored to fellowship with Him.
    • THAT IS REDEMPTION

1. BUT WHY?

• Because God made a promise to Abraham and He will keep it – He wants to pour out blessing upon us  and be our God that we might be His people.
• He says “Come” in verse 1 (7 times in the chapter)
  • They do – vs 11
  • Rev 3:20
  • Real fellowship, real bond, real relationship
  • Ex 29:45-46 THAT IS WHY!

Can you see how important it is that all of this has been meticulously recorded in Holy Scripture.

• Holy scripture inspired by God
  • 24:4,12
  • 31:18
  • 32:16
  • Jesus would often say “It is written…”
  • He argues with the Pharisees in John 5:47
  • We have to understand this deep and profound truth of salvation because it is foolishness to the world – it comes through the sacrifice of the creator of the Universe and is delivered through suffering on a cross.
    • We know the truth through the Word of God
    • 2 Tim 3:16

1. Reflect on the question in your cell groups… HOW DOES GOD REDEEM US.

• BY THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT!
  • Sin covers us
  • Sin separates us
  • The wages of sin is death
  • THE BLOOD OF THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB COVERS OVER OUR SIN AND CLEANSES US
    • Vs 8 – the blood sprinkled over the people of Israel symbolized a blanket of grace and love over God’s people.
    • Blood is a symbol of death – of a life poured out…
    • Jesus, on the night before he died used this graphic imagery
    • Matthew 26:27-29
      • Thereby fulfilling every OT sacrifice Heb 9:12
• Peter puts it so beautifully
  • 1 Peter3:18
  • Hold fast to your redemption for it has been paid for you at great cost.
    • 1 Cor 1:30

WHAT SLAVERY AND BAGGAGE AND GRIME DO YOU NEED TO BR REDEEMED FROM?

This Lent the Word calls you to repent and to receive the Promise of the eternal PRESENCE OF GOD so that you may fellowship with Him forever  Rev 19:7-9

Over the next 2 weeks we will be looking at who Jesus is!