The Root of Your Identity Crisis — The untouchable Mount Sinai

Who are you? This is a central question to how you see your relationship with God. Recently I went onto the streets and I asked a bunch of people what they thought about heaven. And most people said something like, well, I've done a lot of good things in life. I love my family, I try my best to provide for them, and I am kind to others. I'm obviously a good person. And so I think I'm going to go to heaven to be with God. And then there are some people who said, I've done some bad things, I'm a bad person, and I'm probably going to hell. But I want you to see something. When God approaches Israel for the first time, something unexpected happens. God doesn't divide them up in this way. There isn't a separation of good people and bad people. Rather, God says, I'm coming down on Mount Sinai, and no one may touch the mountain, and anyone who does will die. This separation that we see between man and God is the world's biggest problem. So what is there to do for me or for you? Let's read ourselves what happened in Exodus 19:4. You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. So God opens up by reminding Israel of how he has drawn near to them and delivered them from. From Egyptian slavery. But then he warns them to not get too close to him. We read in verse 10, the Lord said to Moses, go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And you shall set limits for the people all, all around, saying, take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. As we mentioned, God makes no distinction among men. He doesn't separate good people from bad people, but just says, no one may touch the mountain. Why is this? Because in truth, the people who thought that they were good really weren't. And the people who thought that they were bad, well, they knew the truth. Because our standard of what is good and what it means to be a good person is measured by looking at other people and comparing ourselves to other people. But the standard isn't other people. The standard is God. And all men fell short of God's holy standard, and all men were separated from him. But now, let's be honest, this can sound confusing. Why does God warn them that they will be put to death if they touch the mountain. Some may even say God sounds angry. He doesn't sound loving. Why does he say that? He brought them to Himself, yet now he's warning them of death if they got too close. I want to submit to you that the Father is showing great care and love for the people to not be destroyed by his holiness. You have to understand that God's heart wants intimacy with his people. He wants Israel saved, delivered, healed and near him, just like it was in the Garden of Eden. But God's nature requires righteousness and justice for anyone to enter his presence because he is holy and perfect. You and me, we are among those people who are standing at the base of Mount Sinai. We unable to even touch the mountain of God according to our own deeds or our own thoughts. Even Jesus said in Mark 10:18, no one is good but God alone. And that should humble us. That should place an awe of God inside of your heart and at the same time the joy of the Lord when you realize that you do have something today that Israel didn't have then access. See, to Israel, God was far off and separated. But God always had a plan, a plan to be with his people, just as it was in the garden. We read in Matthew 1:23, behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. Jesus was born into this world and came in the flesh. And immediately it was no longer God on the mountain, but God with us. And this close intimacy of Jesus in the person is him being among the people, touching them and healing them. A people who do not deserve that presence of God, nor the deliverance based on their own works, but rather received it because of the grace of God, because of the love of God, because of the heart of God, to be with his people. But yet we so often determine our value and our identity based off what we've done and whether we deserve something or not. Someone may say, well, I made sacrifices for my children, so my name is Mother. Someone may say, I provide for my family, so my name is provider. Someone may say, I did well at school, so I am an achiever. And if you get your identity in your good works, whatever that may be, you will also inevitably get your identity when you make a mistake. Unless you're dishonest with yourself about your mistakes, of course. And so, conversely, we can find ourselves in a place where we will say things like, well, my child grew up to question God, so now my name is failed parent I lost my job. I cannot provide like I used to. So now my name is unemployed. I didn't do well at my school test, so now my name is loser. And never mind these. What about when sin creeps in, when we start saying things like, I've stolen, so I am a thief, I've lied, so I am a liar. I've committed adultery, so I am an adulterer. This is what I have done, this is who I am. And some of these are indeed evil acts. They bear just consequence and are unrighteous before God. But your Father determines your value and identity not based off what you've done, but based on who you truly are in his eyes. His child by faith made in his image. See, while the world saw a condemned thief hanging on a cross, Christ saw his repentant church child. While the world saw a tax collector, Christ saw a son. While the world saw a prostitute, Christ saw His daughter. That's how he could die for them and for us, while we were still sinners, his love looked deeper than our works. Romans 5:8 says, But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And this love is almost offensive. It's almost offensive to some of us that he could do such a thing for such undeserving sinners, for unworthy people, people who hurt other people. But let us be humble and say, yes, it is radical, especially because he did it for me. Galatians 4:6 and because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, abba, Father, so you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God Israel were taken from slaves to sons, not because of what they'd done at Mount Sinai, and not because of what they done and at the appearance of the Messiah, but because of who they are in the eyes of their Father. His blood, the blood of Yeshua Jesus cleanses us of all unrighteousness. And Jesus has come to tear the veil between heaven and earth, so that you can touch the mountain, so that you can step over the limits into the love and likeness of God. Romans 5:9 tells us, since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. So we have now established that our identity does not come from our works, but come from our faith in him and us, being a child of God, who He loves and whom he has chosen to reconcile back to Him. But this also now calls us to a higher calling, the call to repent of our sins and and live a life of repentance. What happens next at Mount Sinai is that Israel receives the Holy Commandments from God. From a mountain that they could not touch, they received commandments that they would fail to keep. Ezekiel 20:13 says, but the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not walk in my statutes, but rejected my rules. For the same reason that Israel could not approach the mountain, they could not keep the commandments. They needed the one who gave the commandments to keep the commandments, because in of themselves they did not have the power to change themselves. And I mean, let's be real, if they could, what need would there have been for a Holy Spirit? But even Moses in that time and age understood the need for the Holy Spirit to be poured upon Israel, whereby he said in numbers 1129, with that all of the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them. Moses knew this was their only hope. And this is also what we read. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. John 16:13 man cannot obey God's law alone, and the Holy Spirit must empower us. Ezekiel talks about this new covenant and says, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Ezekiel 36. This gift of the Holy Spirit that God brings to us allows us to be a people. Not only that can now touch the mountain of God, because we have been cleansed by the Lamb of God, but we can now be filled with the Spirit of God. I mean, think about it. This is not just about us approaching the mountain where the Spirit of God is, but it is the Spirit of God entering our mountain, entering us as the temple of God. Because remember Yeshua said, not on this mountain or that mountain will the people go to worship, but they will worship in spirit and truth. Not at this temple or that temple, but they will worship in spirit and truth. And we are that temple of the Spirit. Think for a moment just how radical that is, how amazing that is in light of what we just read about what happened in the Exodus, that the presence of of the Creator comes and makes home in my temple, in me. This is something I cannot grasp. Can you grasp it? Because if you think you can grasp it, you don't understand it. And I know I don't understand it because I cannot grasp it. Because it is so big, it is so amazing, it is so wonderful. I am so grateful, and you should be too. Because the love of God comes, makes home in us. And because he is so powerful we are, we could never be the same again. And he, as Ezekiel said, he causes us to do something. He causes us to be struck with a deep repentance of our evil deeds, to recognize the seriousness of our current and past transgressions, and to cause us to obey his law. And so now let's read some of those laws as he gave them. In Exodus 21 we read and God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. In the giving of this first commandment, God comes and reveals something that many people have misunderstood for millennia. The purpose of the law. The law has been very misunderstood at times in both ancient and modern times. But yet it is made clear in the very context that it is given. Israel is receiving the law of God, having been just delivered from slavery. And this is what is reiterated in the law itself, where God says, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. They are receiving this law as a result of being saved from slavery in Egypt, not in order to be saved from slavery in Egypt. The law was given to people saved from slavery as a call for them unto holiness. The law was not given to Israel. And then said, if you keep these commandments, then I will tell Pharaoh to let my people go. No. God comes and he shows Israel love and grace. Not because they deserved it, not because they were good, but because of his promise. And because they are the children of Israel and the children of God. And so he brought them through all of these plagues to the splitting of the sea, delivered them, and then he brought them to the mountain where the law was given. Let us remember that when we speak about the righteousness and holiness of God, we have to speak with the understanding that the Spirit of God must first meet that person. And this is what Jesus did in his ministry. He came and saved the blind, the lame, the poor rich, the tax collectors, and the adulterous women from stoning. And then after saving them and delivering them from these things, he said, go and sin no more. The Spirit has been sent to convict the world of sin. Righteousness and judgment. And he does so by loving the world enough to do so, not by coming to condemn the world. Just as the Messiah said, I have not come to condemn the world. And so, just as Yeshua said, go and sin no more. Those are my words to you today. But what do they mean? As John said, everyone who makes a practice of sinning practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. Let us now conclude this teaching by reading through the commandments. I'm not going to give commentary. I just want you to really listen and take these in and allow the Spirit of God to work on your heart. We read in Exodus 23, you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work. But on the seventh day, as a Sabbath to the Lord your God on it, you shall not do any work. You, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God has given you. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbour's house. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife or his male servant, female servant, ox, donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. Now, when all the people saw the thunder, 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 they said to Moses, you speak to us, and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, lest we die. You cannot keep the commandments of God on your own. Rather they must point you to Christ. For you to throw yourself completely on him and dependent upon him, telling him, lord, I. I cannot do anything unless you pour out your spirit upon me and empower me. You are my only hope. I want to ask you, where do you place your identity in? Is it in Christ or in your own abilities? See, the world puts their identity in their own works, but this brings an identity crisis. The world is in one of two places. They've either closed their eyes to their own transgressions leading to a boasting in this false identity, saying, well, I'm a good person and I'm good enough to come and get to heaven on my own accord and face off with God on my own. Just like the Pharisees in the first century, the religious men who thought that they were keeping the Commandments good enough while being blinded from their own pride and sins, or as many in the world does. They open their eyes and they recognize their sin and their evil and they live in condemnation and they even give in to their sin living in this false identity that Satan has sold them of being a lawless one. This is who I am. I cannot change. I cannot. I'm just. Just made this way. I was born this way. This is just how it is. I have a life of lawlessness and I love it. But there is a solution, and it's not found in the world. It's only found in your true identity in Christ. By recognizing the love and the grace of Christ and to throw your faith in him for salvation, that brings peace and then obedience. It is important. Jesus expects it of us and he empowers it in us. And yet, when we make a mistake as believers and we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And now we see that that just God that was on the mountain comes in grace, forgives us and cleanses us so that we can walk with Him. That's where you get your value. That's where you get who you are. And don't let anyone in this world or Satan tell you otherwise. Father, I thank you, Lord, that you have come and made a way for us to be reconciled back to you. I thank you, Lord, that you have chosen us as your mountain, your dwelling place. Help us, Lord, to comprehend what that life of ours should now look like and the grace as well, that you come and measure to us. Father, I pray, Lord, for those who have not put their faith in you, who have not been receiving their identity in you. Father, those who have trusted in themselves or who have given in to their own sins. Father, I ask right now, anyone in that who desires to give their life to you, I ask right now that you would come into their hearts and change and deliver them just as you did Israel and Egypt. That you would show up and show them by your spirit that you are the only one who can save them from the bondages of this world. I ask, Lord, that you would help us to be a sanctified people. Help us to love like you did, giving your life for us. Help us to lay our life down for one another. Help us, Father, to show grace to other people and see people the way you did. Jesus, when you walked, you saw not sinners, but children who are lost and who you loved. And so I ask, Father, that you would help us to when we look at people, not just look into their sin, but look into who they are in you. Someone made by the Creator, someone who is a child that you are calling home. Jesus, thank you for everything. Help us grow in revelation of your salvation. Pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you so much for joining me today. I can't wait to hear what you think about this in the comments. Subscribe to this channel if you're new here and I'll see you guys in the next one. Sa.