As we prepare to hear from God's Word this morning, I'd have you turn in your Psalter hymnals to number 150, number 150. Today, as we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we will take instruction on the covenant meal of the New Testament from Scripture in the Old, because it's recorded for us as well. It's recorded for our instruction. And for the song is appropriate that the children might hear the mighty deeds of God recorded there. So let us stand to sing together both verses of number 150. God bless you. Let us pray. I would have you turning your Bibles this morning. First of all, in the Old Testament to Exodus. The book of Exodus. Chapter 24, which is on most few Bibles on page 78. Exodus chapter 24. And keep your finger there, for that's the text that we will deal with today. And then turn forward into the New Testament to Matthew. Matthew chapter 26. Matthew 26, we will pick up at verse 26. in the middle of the upper room discourse of Jesus. Matthew 26, verse 26. In Matthew 26, Matthew records the institution of the Lord's Supper And there we read, beginning in verse 26, While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take and eat. This is my body. Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and offered it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom. And turn back now to Exodus 24. For when Jesus said, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins. The disciples would have immediately thought of Exodus chapter 24. And you might say, Well, why would they think of Moses and that instead of Moses and the Ten Commandments? Because when we say Moses, That's usually what we think of first. But they would remember what happened after the Lord gave the Ten Commandments on that mountain. And the role that Moses would play with the blood of the covenant that he made with them that day. And so as we look at Exodus chapter 24, we will consider how the old covenant with the nation of Israel was ratified by Moses. So we can better understand how the new covenant with the Israel of God, the one holy Catholic and apostolic church was ratified by the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow along as I read from God's Word from Exodus chapter 24 where we will see how covenant peace with God is bought with blood, sealed with a meal, and ensures entrance into glory. hear now the word of God then he that is the Lord said to Moses come up to the Lord you and Aaron Nadab and Abihu and 70 of the elders of Israel you are to worship at a distance but Moses alone is to approach the Lord the others must not come near and the people may not come up with you when Moses went and told the people all the Lord's words and laws they responded with one voice, Everything the Lord has said we will do. Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young Israelite men and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it to the people. They responded, we will do everything the Lord has said. We will obey. Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, this is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words. Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and the 70 elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites. They saw God and they ate and drank. The Lord said to Moses, come up to me on the mountain and stay here. And I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commands I have written for their instruction. Then Moses set out with Joshua his aid, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. He said to the elders, Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them. When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain, and he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. Here ends the reading of God's Word. Three months to the day after the Lord delivered Israel out of Egypt, the people camped at the foot of Mount Sinai where the Lord had promised He would bring them, where He would gather them to worship Him. The Lord called them to assemble together at the foot of the mountain and we are told that Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended there. He descended there in fire. The people trembled with fear when the Lord spoke the Ten Commandments to them. And they begged Moses to be their mediator, to speak to God for them and to have God speak to them through him. They wanted someone to stand between them and the awful majesty of God. And so Moses alone approached the thick, dark cloud on the mountain where the Lord spoke and gave him the conditions of the covenant that he was making with Israel. And in order for that covenant to become binding, the people would have to agree to the terms. And the covenant would have to be ratified. What we might say, signed, sealed, and delivered. But before Moses was sent back down the mountain where he would have to tell the people, the Lord prepared him for the next time he'd come up. In verses 1 and 2 of our text, it's basically the Lord giving Moses instruction about what to do when he came back up the mountain. And according to these verses, he would come back up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel. So then Moses went back down the mountain and he told the people all the Lord's words and laws. The conditions were set when the people responded in one voice, everything the Lord has said we will do. So Moses took that word of the Lord and he wrote it down. He wrote down everything the Lord said in what verse 7 calls the book of the covenant. And then beginning in verse 4, the ratification ceremony begins. And the first thing we see in verses 4 through 8 is that covenant peace with God is bought with blood. At that time, Moses was the only priest in Israel. The Lord had not yet established Aaron as a high priest, nor had he set aside the Levites to offer sacrifice. Moses was the only mediator. Therefore, Moses himself got up early the next morning and he built an altar at the foot of the mountain and he set up 12 stone pillars. The pillars, we're told, represented the tribes of Israel, the people of Israel. And the altar represented the Lord, for that is the means by which he granted his people access to him through sacrifice on an altar. Therefore, Moses sent young Israelite men and they, on his authority, offered burnt offerings. And fellowship offerings of young bulls to the Lord. Now, as the mediator appointed by God for the people of Israel, Moses knew the details of these sacrifices. He knew the meaning of these sacrifices. He wouldn't set them down until later in the book of Leviticus when finally there were priests that he had to instruct. But what we read there, and we will appeal to today a few times, are things that He knew now as the priest for Israel. Now we know from Hebrews 9 this simple truth that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. That has always been true in the history of redemption. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Without the forgiveness of sins there can be no peace with God. Therefore the blood of the animals was shed and their bodies were burned on the fire for the forgiveness of sins. and then in verse 6 it continues that Moses took half the blood of these offerings and he put it in bowls and the other half he sprinkled on the altar now according to Leviticus this sprinkling was a dashing of blood so the blood spattered everywhere the altar was covered in blood and in verse 8 we read that Moses then took the blood that was in the bowls and he sprinkled it on the people and he said this is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words now like the blood on the altar this was not a tidy scene it's what our baptism pictures but it is much cleaner here than there for Moses dipped branches of hyssops in that blood and he sprayed it all over the people and he sprayed it on the book of the covenant. They were literally covered with the blood of the sacrifice. And sandwiched between the splashing of blood on the altar and the splashing of blood on the people, the covenant is announced and affirmed one more time. In verse 7, Moses took the book of the covenant and read it to the people and they responded, We will do everything the Lord has said. We will obey. The covenant was sealed. It had been purchased with blood. Now these sacrifices offered by Moses on behalf of the people and all the sacrifices that would follow in the Old Covenant did not in themselves remove the sins of the people or appease the wrath of God. They were but shadowy pictures, vivid though they were, about the sacrifice of the Messiah who was yet to come. he would suffer the fullness of God's wrath and he would satisfy all righteousness that the people could not offer. Now we know that the old covenant ratified on that day on the mountain through Moses was broken by the people of Israel over and over again. See, fallen man is not able to keep any, let alone all of the covenant that God set before them that day. but the Messiah to which he pointed has since come. Jesus Christ, our Lord, concluded his life of perfect obedience to the will of his Father, completely satisfied every detail of the old covenant. He sealed that in his final act on the cross where he shed his blood for the new covenant. But before he went to the cross, he announced to his disciples the conditions of this new covenant very briefly in Matthew, Mark and Luke much more extensively in the Gospel of John but it boils down to this that the condition of the new covenant is this a new command I give to you, he said love one another a command so simple that we can't forget it and yet so profound it encompasses the fullness of God's will for his people The fullness that Jesus condensed into the two great commandments. The second of which is love your neighbor as yourself. Paul explains in Romans 13 that he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. The commandments do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet. And whatever other commandments there may be are summed up in this one rule, Paul says. Love your neighbor as yourself. But we know that obedience to this command is only possible for those who also obey the first and the greatest command, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. But this obedience is now possible. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 8, The man who loves God, the man who loves God, is known by God. Meaning that the man who loves God can do so because he is already known by God. He's already brought into relationship with Him. Our God, through Jesus Christ, knows His people completely. He knows us truly. And because He does, we can love Him truly. Although not yet completely in this world. You see, on the cross, Jesus abolished the law of the Old Covenant. Yet He did not leave His people lawless. He freed us from the condemnation of that law in order that we might be free to obey that law out of gratitude and in the strength of His Spirit. John says in 1 John chapter 4 that we love because He first loved us. And He says, This is how God showed His love among us. He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. Covenant peace with God can only be bought with blood. The blood of Jesus Christ. The sprinkling of water in baptism signifies that His people are sprinkled with this blood. And in the Lord's Supper, we remember where this blood was shed on the cross of Calvary. And in the sacrament this morning, we are reminded of the atoning, the purifying and covenant-making power of the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, the second thing we learn from our passage today in verses 9 through 11 is that covenant peace with God is sealed with a meal. Now in preparation for that day on the mountain, the Lord told Moses in chapter 19 to put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. God is holy and His people are sinners. Yet we read in verse 9 that Moses and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu and the 70 elders of Israel went up the mountain. Why didn't they have to die? Did God ignore their sin and let them by with a wink and a nod? I don't think so. In fact, I know not. Their guilt would be paid for. And their death they deserved would be suffered, but not by them. by another. They came up that mountain that day covered, remember, with the blood of the covenant. And for the sake of that blood, the way was open for these leaders of Israel to come up into the presence of God. Moses, their mediator. Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu who would one day become the high priest who would offer sacrifices on their behalf. And 70 elders who would one day help Moses administer the covenant. All these leaders in the blood of the covenant came into the presence of God and there they pictured for the people the ultimate mediator, the final mediator, the Messiah who was yet to come. But not only did they go up on the mountain and not die, according to verses 10 and 11, they saw God. They saw the God of Israel. And under His feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against them. The cloud and the smoke of the fire on that mountain that day was an awful and a terrible sight. But the glory of the Lord that was hidden by it is much more fearsome. From out of that cloud, the Lord revealed himself to these men. Exactly what they saw is not clear from our text. But what is clear is that they were given some glimpse of the glory of God. More than the people that remained below for all they saw at the top of that mountain was a cloud that looked like a consuming fire. And it was less than Moses would see for the Lord would hold him in the collectible rock and pass by and show him the backside of his glory. Now over and over in Scripture, God declares that no one can see Him and live. Again, the penalty of death is raised before us and yet these men did not die. They did not see Him in His fullness. They did not see Him without His mercy. And He did not raise His hand against them. And according to the end of verse 11, these men not only survived on God's holy mountain and saw something of His glory without dying, But they saw God and they ate and they drank. Now children, this was not because it had been a long hike and they needed a snack. This is a very particular eating and drinking. The covenant peace with God that had purchased with blood was now to be sealed with a meal. They were covered by the blood of these offerings. And now they were going to feast on the body of the fellowship offering that had been offered on the altar. As Moses would record in Leviticus chapter 19 about this fellowship offering, he says, When you sacrifice the fellowship offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it, or on the day after. In other words, sacrifice it in such a way that you completely burn up the portion that is set aside to the Lord, that it will ascend to Him as a sweet-smelling offering. And then stick around, you and your family, in the presence of the Lord and feast on the portion that He has provided for you. Table fellowship. Intimate fellowship. Complete fellowship. Now, throughout the Old Covenant, fellowship offerings were made in order to continually seal the peace of God that was sealed on this day on the mountain, over and over, to be reminded and reminded. But in time, the peace of God, given in the Old Covenant, would be taken away. For that covenant was broken through the disobedience of God's people. They broke fellowship. And the Lord withdrew His presence from them. But the peace of the new covenant cannot be broken. For it was secured by the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ in the place of his people. And it was purchased by his blood. The covenant meal that seals the new covenant to the saints is the Lord's Supper. And by this supper, Christ provides for us not only a remembrance, but also a participation in His body and blood given for us on the cross of Calvary. We are to celebrate the Lord's Supper in remembrance of Him. And we are to remember His once-for-all sacrifice on the cross that atoned for the sins of you and for me. And we're to remember that His shed blood has purchased peace with God that lasts forever. And we are to remember that the Lord's Supper is more than merely a remembrance. Moses and the leaders of Israel really partook of that fellowship offering as they ate and drank before the Lord. And likewise, but in a different manner, the people of God really partake of the Lord Jesus Christ when we eat and drink the Lord's Supper. Paul reminds us of this by way of questions in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. verse 16, he says, is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation of the body of Christ? Indeed it is. Jesus made it clear when he said, this is my body. This is my blood of the covenant. Now we ought not be confused by this mystery. we must remember that in the fullness of His resurrected humanity, Christ is now enthroned in the heavenly realms at the right hand of His Father, where He will remain until He comes again in glory to bring us to Himself. We must remember that Christ is resurrected bodily, fully God and fully man. And therefore, there is no way that He is brought down to us today in this sacrament so that the bread and the wine either become His flesh and blood or are somehow combined with His flesh and blood so that we would partake of Him through our mouths. Not at all. Instead, as members of His body, we are lifted up by the power of the Holy Spirit to Him in heaven where we partake of Him truly by faith. This is what we confess in Article 35 of the Belgic Confession where we read as certainly as we receive and hold this sacrament in our hands and drink the same with our mouths, eat and drink the same with our mouths, as certainly as we do that physical action, we also do as certainly receive by faith the true body and blood of Christ, our only Savior in our soul. For faith is truly the hand and the mouth of our soul. so we've seen that covenant peace with God is purchased with blood it's sealed with a meal and lastly in verses 12 to 18 we see that covenant peace ensures our entrance into glory now there is much to be gleaned from these last verses but I want to focus on one thread after covenant peace with God was purchased and sealed the Lord calls his appointed mediator up to himself in glory picking up at verse 12 the Lord said to Moses come up to me on the mountain and stay here and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and the commands I have written for their instruction skipping down to verse 15 when Moses went up on the mountain the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai for six days the cloud covered the mountain and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud and then according to verse 18 And Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. See, having ratified the old covenant, Moses ascended the mountain into the glory cloud and was hidden from sight. This is the first time in Moses' interaction with the Lord that he entered into this cloud. But neither the covenant he mediated nor the glory that he enjoyed was complete or lasting. For after 40 days and 40 nights, he left behind the glory of God and came back down the mountain to his people who were worshipping a golden calf. The beginning of the end of the Old Covenant, we might say. Now it's true that throughout his life, Moses met face to face with the God of glory so that his face would shine. But it never lasted. And neither did the sacrifice on the mountain that day. Therefore, the Lord established a priesthood that worked in Israel that day after day and year after year. They were reminded that it was incomplete, that they awaited a better mediator. They awaited a better covenant. They awaited a better sacrifice that would forever establish peace with God. And then when Christ came to mediate the new covenant, he did so as the sinless high priest who offered himself as the once for all perfect sacrifice for the sins of his people. He secured peace with God that lasts forever. He mediated a better covenant. The new covenant in his blood. And after covenant peace with God was sealed with his meal in the upper room and after it was purchased by his blood on the cross he not only rose again the third day but he ascended into glory and as we read the account of his ascension in Acts chapter 1 we should bear in mind the glory cloud of Mount Sinai and not the cotton puff clouds of a sunny day he entered into the glory of his father Luke reports that he was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hit Him from their sight. In His resurrected humanity, He ascended into the glory that was His in His divinity from before the foundation of the world. And there He remains, continuing to mediate for us until the day when He comes back to bring us to Himself in glory. And as we wait for His return, He continually seals Himself to us in this meal the Lord's Supper strengthening our faith to believe that even now he continues to intercede at the right hand of the Father in heaven and to work in us by his Holy Spirit here on earth as he brings us ever closer to himself covenant peace with God has been purchased by the blood of Christ it is sealed to us anew today in this sacramental meal and it ensures entrance into glory for all who are joined to Him through faith. So if our elders know you to be a member of this local congregation or another true church of Christ who believes in your heart that God raised Christ from the dead and before God in this church has publicly confessed with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, then you are invited to come to the Lord's table today. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for the types and the shadows that You set forth with the people of Israel that pointed forward to the coming of Christ our Savior that illumine our minds and our understandings of the work that He came to do. So much of what he said was in parable. So much of what he said was hard to understand apart from your spirit and in particular apart from your word you have revealed from the beginning and through your apostles. We thank you, Father, for sending the Lord Jesus Christ that you loved your people enough to send him to live and to die to be raised and ascended for his people. We thank you and praise you that with his blood he has purchased peace with God. We thank you that he has sealed himself to us in this meal of which we partake today. And we look forward with hope and confidence, Father, to the glory that will be ours in him one day. For he has already entered in. And we, as members of his body, already enjoy every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms and wait only for our bodies to be resurrected. Thank you, Father, for your goodness to us, that you have fulfilled all the demands of your covenant, and that you give us all the blessings for the sake of Christ through faith in Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.