Now we come to the Mountain of God.

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.' Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said. And the Lord said to Moses, 'Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live. Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.' After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. Then he said to the people, 'Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations.' 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. 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, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.

-Exodus 19:9-19

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 to death.' The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, 'I am trembling with fear.'

-Hebrews 12:18-21

We are in such deep denial about how bad we really are, and the contrast between us and God!

If getting into the presence of human superlativeness practically decimates you, what must it be like to get into the presence of God?

An impersonal God? We like that well and good. A subjective God of love and goodness inside our heads? Better still. A form-less life force surging through everyone, a vast power which we can tap? Best of all. But God himself, alive, pulling at the end of the cord, approaching at infinite speed, the hunter, the covenant LORD, the husband, that's quite another matter. There comes a moment when people who are dabbling in religion suddenly draw back supposing they had really found Him, who never really meant it to come to that. Worse still? He found us. If there is a God, you are in a sense alone with Him. You cannot put Him off with speculations about your neighbor's hypocrisy or memories of what you have read in books. What will all that chatter and hearsay count when the anaesthetic fog we call the 'real world' fades away and the divine presence in which we have all stood becomes palpable, immediate, and unavoidable.

-C.S. Lewis

Somehow, we say to ourselves: I am a good person. I work very hard. I try to do the right thing. That has to be worth something.

If you were to see what you were actually like—really like, you would die. You would experience a self-quake.

Even the most experienced mature Christians rest their self-regard on their ability to look themselves in the mirror and say to other people, “I am a pretty good person.”

Getting into the presence of God will decimate you.

The Lord said to Moses, 'I am going to come to you in a dense cloud.'

-Exodus 19:9

The presence of God is impossible to bear.

What is God doing in a cloud?

"He is shrouding, not abandoning His glory so that He could accommodate Himself to live among His people. To grace them with His presence which it’s awful holiness would otherwise spell their destruction. Even there He is showing I still want you in my life.”

How does God solve the tension between His Love and His Holiness? A Mediator.

Go down Moses and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish.

-Exodus 19:21

'We will do everything the Lord has said.' So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.

-Exodus 19:8

But we have a better Mediator than Moses.

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. 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, to the spirits of the righteous 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.

-Hebrews 12:18, 22-24

"What have you done? The blood of your brother cries out to me from the ground."

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split. 

-Matthew 27:45,50-51

What was happening to Jesus Christ on the cross?

The depth of God's love is going to overwhelm you!

Man cannot solve the problems of his life without Jesus Christ. There are tremendous marital problems, there are serious physical problems, there are serious financial problems, there are problems of sin, and habits that cannot be solved without the person of Jesus Christ. ... Who will come down?

-Billy Graham

Salvation is the entrance! The Kingdom of God is the Prize!

God solved your greatest issue--Sin and Death. Imagine what he can do with everything else!

MAKE A DECISION