1 Sermon Notes for December 14, 2014 “Please Don’t Miss the Real Meaning of Christmas” Exodus 19:16-25 Hebrews 12:18-24 Introduction A. The SILLINESS Of Christmas. 1. How we in America, have missed the true meaning of Christmas. a. The Neiman Marcus Fantasy Gifts for 2014 1. The World’s Coolest Cocktail Machine - $35,000 2. His And Hers Quad Skis - $50,000 a piece 3. Luxurious Linens - $55,000 4. An Outdoor Golden Peacock Sculpture - $65,000 5. A 100 th Anniversary Maserati Ghibli SG4 - $95,000 6. Custom Locket and Trip to Germany - $100,000 7. The Ultimate Mardi Gras Experience for Six Couples - $125,000 8. The Ultimate Slot Car Rcetrack - $300,000 9. A Vanity Fair Academy Awards Experience - $425,000 10. A Fragrance Journey To Paris - $475,000 b. The National Retail Federation is projecting that Americans will spend some 600 billion dollars this year on Christmas 2. How did we get “so far” from the true meaning of Christmas? 3. E. B. White – The Second Tree From The Corner – “To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult with every year.” 4. My view of the holiday season B. The SERIOUSNESS Of Christmas. 1. Without a doubt, Christmas is a joyous, momentous time for the believer. 2. But Christmas is not an end in itself! a. It was simply the beginning of the journey for the Christ-child. b. For, He would leave the security and peace of the wood of the stable in Bethlehem and eventually be placed upon the wood of the cross of Golgatha. 3. Today, I want to look at the real meaning of Christmas as we look at the Old Testament as well as the New Testament a. If we don’t look at the “cause” for Christmas in the Old Testament b. We will not understand the “celebration” of Christmas in the New Testament 2 I. The Mountain Of JUDGMENT. A. A Mountain Of FEAR. Exodus 19:16-19 (read) 1. The spiritual fear of the mountain. a. The scene was out of fear 1. The Jews have been led out of Egypt by Moses and have arrived at Mount Sinai and are waiting to hear from Moses who has ascended the mountain to talk to God. 2. The scene, as described in Exodus 19:10-19, is ominous. (read) Imagine for just a moment that you are an Israelite living in the fifteenth century B.C. You have spent your entire life in the land of Egypt as a slave. You have existed to do the bidding of your Egyptian taskmaster, and there is a pyramid outside of Rhamses that is a testimony to your labor. But now, a man named Moses has appeared on the scene who is a spokesman for the God of your ancestors. The power of this God named Jehovah has humbled the mighty Egyptian empire, and now for the first time in your life you are free. You have just made a very treacherous journey through the desert of Sinai, and it is obvious that you are being led there by God himself. A pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night is leading you onward. Your life has been spared from the Egyptians at the Red Sea and from hunger and thirst in the desert by the direct intervention of God Himself. And now, you finally stand before the foot of the mountain upon which Moses had first met God some forty years before. Your joy at completing your long journey through the wilderness is short lived, though, because it is replaced by absolute terror . You have witnessed the plagues that brought a proud Pharaoh to his knees; you have seen an entire army drowned in the sea. But you have never seen anything as terrible and frightening and awesome as this . The mountain that rises up before you is covered by a thick cloud , but the darkness is repeatedly pierced by the flashing of lightning. The silence is shattered by the rumbling of thunder . The blasting of a trumpet announces what you already know – that God is on this mountain . You have to struggle to keep your balance because a great earthquake is rumbling, and your knees are just a bit shaky anyway. Moses disappears into the cloud and then he returns to warn you not to approach the mountain or else you will die. He doesn’t really need to tell you that, because you’re not about to take a chance and go near that terrible and holy place. 3 And then the most terrible and awesome thing yet takes place. Through the cracking of the thunder and the rumbling of the earthquake, a voice is heard by all the people, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before me. .” God Himself speaks from the mountain giving you the Decalogue, The Commandments. The experience is so terrifying that you plead with Moses to go and speak to God for you, before you’re convinced that if you hear God speak again that you will die. b. The scene was one of warning. Exodus 19:12 – “Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, 'Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death." 1. The Lord is saying through Moses that the people are not to try to meet with God or they will perish. 2. In fact, they are not even to “touch” the mountain or they will die. 2. The physical fear of the mountain: a. there was smoke and fire. b. the mountain trembled violently. c. a trumpet continued to blast from the mountain. B. A Mountain Of FURY. 1. Later, after being on the mountain with God, Moses would begin his trek down the mountain, only to find that the Israelites had fashioned a golden calf to worship, instead of the one true God. 2. At that point, God makes it very clear about His attitude toward these sinners. a. Exodus 32:9-10 - "I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation." b. There is nothing but wrath, fury and judgment. C. A Mountain Of FAILURE. 1. Do you sense the atmosphere at Mount Sinai? a. It is one of darkness . b. It is one of fire . c. It is one of fury . d. It is one of distance . 1. The people are NOT to approach God. 2. They are not even to “touch” the mountain or they will die. 3. God is saying to KEEP OUT! DON’T COME! 4 2. Do you wonder WHY there is such an atmosphere at Mount Sinai? a. Is this God of Mount Sinai the same God that we understand today? 1. Is this the “God of the Old Testament” 2. While there is a “God of the New Testament”? b. Several points that we need to see: 1. One – This is the EXACT SAME GOD that we know throughout the New Testament. a. God has not changed. b. God will not change. 2. Two – God is EXHIBITING HIS WRATH on Mount Sinai. a. A wrath that is full of fury and judgment against the sin of man. b. Don’t mistake God’s wrath. 1. It is real. 2. It is against sin. 3. Three – God IS STILL WRATHFUL against sin. a. God’s attitude toward sin has not changed. b. God’s fury still burns against sin. c. Jonathan Edwards: Sinners In the Hands of An Angry God – “You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.” c. This picture of God at Mount Sinai should make us stop and think about who God really is and our relationship to Him. 1. We seem to think that somehow God has changed. 2. That He has somehow “become” more gracious, more forgiving and more loving. 3. The God of the Old Testament that is NOT the God that I know today a. “I don’t know of a wrathful God.” b. “All that I know is a God of grace, mercy and forgiveness.” d. Let me show you one more picture of God’s wrath as is seen in the Old Testament – II Samuel 6:6-7 – “When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.” 5 1. The Philistines had captured the Ark of Covenant. 2. When David became King, he along with 30,000 men, went to Philistia, to retrieve the ark. 3. Upon returning with the ark to Jerusalem, one of the Levites who was to help transport the ark, was walking beside the ark as it was being carried on a cart.