Bible Study (4) - Count On (4) - GOD'S Promise to Make a Holy Nation - Exodus 19:1-8 - June 23, 2024 Excellent

 

Bible Study (4) – Count On (4) – GOD’S Promise to Make a Holy Nation – June 23, 2024

GOD’S promise to set apart HIS people was conditioned on obedience.

Focus scripture Exodus 19:1-8.

GOD chose the Israelites through whom the second Adam would come. Who is the second Adam? JESUS!

What did JESUS being born of a virgin, coming in the flesh, to be tempted as humans are tempted, yet without sin, giving HIS sinless life by the shedding of HIS blood, do for all who place their faith in JESUS?

JESUS became the perfect, acceptable sacrifice to GOD, to pay for a person’s sin, in full. Salvation comes from one source, faith in JESUS. What does that do for all people who accept JESUS as their Savior?

We read in Galatians 3:28:
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

GOD does not play favorites!!! HE does reward faithfulness and obedience.

Plus, those who accept JESUS as their Savior are Spiritually born into GOD’S Eternal Family, never to be Spiritually unborn. However, there are rewards for using your Spirituals Gift(s) and obedience.

GOD gives each person the gift of the Holy Spirit, WHO is a Spirit-born person’s guarantee of eternal life. Plus, Spiritual Gifts are also given to be used as the Spirit-born person serves, as directed and led by the Holy Spirit.

In the words of Dr. Blackaby, when you see GOD at work that is your invitation to join HIM.

Last week’s lesson revealed that GOD chose the Israelites through whom the Savior of the world would come. GOD gave them the Law, as a place holder, until the law would be fulfilled by the Passion of JESUS, through faith and redemption by the shed blood of JESUS.

When a person accepts JESUS as his or her Savior, GOD gives that person assurance of salvation by the gift of the Holy Spirit and at least one or more gifts manifested by the Holy Spirit, as the Apostle Paul gives in 1 Corinthians 12: Diversity of Spiritual Gifts

12:1: Now concerning spiritual gifts:^[a] brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be unaware. ² You know that when you were pagans, you used to be enticed and led astray by mute idols. ³ Therefore I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴ Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵ There are different ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are different activities, but the same God works all of them in each person. ⁷ A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good: ⁸ to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, ⁹ to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of tongues,^[b] to another, interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ One and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as he wills.

Pay special attention to verse 11. GOD gives to whom HE chooses. A Spirit-born Christian can desire a certain Spiritual Gift, but GOD is the giver according to HIS WILL AND PURPOSE.

Unity Yet Diversity in the Body – Dr. Blackaby uses a graphic design showing a person walking down a railroad track and ahead of the person is the clear sky, when the person’s ears pick up a sound like a train was coming but the eyes so no train was coming because as far as the person could see if was all clear ahead, the feet felt a vibration and again warned the body that something was coming but the eyes told the body that all ahead was clear. Then the person’s feet felt vibration and reported to the eyes that a train was coming but the eyes said it was all clear up ahead. The train was coming from behind. That is why the entire body must be watching for the good of all. Unity in the body is the key. Pay attention and respond to what the Holy Spirit is revealing to you! Speak up!

¹² For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by^[c] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Indeed, the body is not one part but many. ¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted. ¹⁹ And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body. ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable. ²³ And those parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect, ²⁴ which our respectable parts do not need. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater to the less honorable, ²⁵ so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. ²⁶ So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it. ²⁸ And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, leading, various kinds of tongues.^[d] 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles? ³⁰ Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹ But desire the greater gifts. And I will show you an even better way.

So, there are gifts (plural) of the Holy Spirit and then there is the fruit (Singular) of the Holy Spirit as the Apostle Paul gives in Galatians 5: ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.^[g] 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Spirit-born Christians must not consider themselves better than Christians who GOD is still maturing. Those who are striving in their own strength, to walk with JESUS and obey HIS commands. That is Satan’s lie. If you are afraid to commit your life to CHRIST, then confess it and ask JESUS to help you overcome that fear or concern.

Know that you have an enemy, Satan/Devil, who does not want you to obediently follow JESUS. Remember 1 John 4: ⁴ You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you (JESUS) is greater than the one who is in the world (Satan).

GOD was revealing Himself to the Israelites as they journeyed from Egypt to the Promised Land. Often, it takes time to build trust in the leadership of GOD. When we stump our toes, as we walk and journey with GOD, confess it/them and ask GOD to forgive you and to help you to get it right.

GOD was building trust in the Israelites as HE delivered them from Egypt under HIS leadership through Moses. GOD spoke directly to Moses and that is GOD’S desire for all who place their faith in HIM. GOD desires an intimate, one on one relationship with each of those who place their faith in JESUS. That was and is GOD’S desire and redemptive plan through JESUS. When any person places his/her faith in JESUS a miracle takes place. In the twinkling of the eye, when any person places his/her faith in JESUS, he/she is Spiritually born into GOD’S eternal Family.

Let’s read Exodus 19:1-4:

Israel at Sinai

19 In the third month from the very day the Israelites left the land of Egypt, they came to the Sinai Wilderness. ² They traveled from Rephidim, came to the Sinai Wilderness, and camped in the wilderness. Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

Why the third month? In the Jewish culture, the number three is the number for completion.

³ Moses went up the mountain to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain: “This is what you must say to the house of Jacob and explain to the Israelites: ⁴ ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

GOD told Moses to remind the Israelites of where they had been, what they had witnessed while they were waiting for Pharoah to let them go. After Pharoah let them go, they witnessed the parting of the Red Sea and the defeat of the Egyptians. GOD’S visible presence was with them via the cloud by day and pillow of fire by night which led them to the specific place where GOD desired to reveal Himself to the Israelites, Mount Sanai.

Moses was the mediator between GOD and the Israelites as we read on. GOD spoke to Moses and, in, turn Moses spoke to the people.

Let’s read Exodus 19:5-6: (GOD Speaks)

⁵ Now if you will carefully listen to me (GOD) and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, ⁶ and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”

GOD chose Abraham through whom HE would make an eternal covenant and through whom JESUS, the promised Messiah, would come.

GOD desired a personal relationship with those who desired to build the right relationship with HIM. But the Israelites said NO! Why? It was because of fear. So, GOD spoke to them through Moses, Prophets and Priests until JESUS fulfilled the law and broke the sin barrier between GOD and those who desire a personal relationship with HIM through faith in JESUS.

The Israelites became GOD’S representatives to the known world then and to the world today.

JESUS is the Savior of all who place their faith in HIM by asking HIM to forgive them and for HIM to come into their hearts.

Do you recall what JESUS told Nicodemus in John 3?

John 3: Jesus and Nicodemus

3 There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again,^[a] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴ “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water (physically as a human) and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. ⁸ The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So, it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

⁹ “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

¹⁰ “Are you a teacher^[b] of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. ¹¹ “Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven —the Son of Man.^[c]

¹⁴ “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness (symbol of healing), so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in him may^[d] have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God loved the world in this way:^[e] He gave^[f] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. ¹⁹ This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it,^[g] so that his deeds may not be exposed. ²¹ But anyone who lives by^[h] the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

Let’s read Exodus 19:7-8:

⁷ After Moses came back (from meeting with GOD), he summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. ⁸ Then all the people responded together, “We will do all that the Lord has spoken.” So, Moses brought the people’s words back to the Lord. However, in Exodus 20:18-19 we read:

Let’s read Exodus 20: ¹⁸ All the people witnessed^[a] the thunder and lightning, the sound of the ram’s horn, and the mountain surrounded by smoke. When the people saw it^[b] they trembled and stood at a distance. ¹⁹ “You speak to us, and we will listen,” they said to Moses, “but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.”

²⁰ Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear him and will not^[c] sin.” ²¹ And the people remained standing at a distance as Moses approached the total darkness where God was.

Fear can prevent us from having and being in right relationship with GOD, through faith in JESUS. GOD may ask me to ------ and we fill in the blanks. Guess where fear comes from? The adversary of GOD and JESUS, Satan, and his minions.

GOD desires an intimate one on one relationship with HIS Children, those who place their faith in JESUS.

Hebrew 9:24-28:

²⁴ For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model^[f] of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that he might now appear in the presence of God for us. ²⁵ He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another. ²⁶ Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment— ²⁸ so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but^[g] to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Magnificent – The Best is yet to come for those who place their trust and faith in JESUS.

Blessings!!!