Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-01-29

Golden text: "ThOu shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy strength, and with all
thy mind, Thou shalt love thy neigh
Dor as myself.
Eaink back bit. God had gra-
ciously heard the cry Of His people
and sent out deliverer to them; He
had worked marvelously for them
in the sight of Pharaoh; He had led
them out of bondage into freedom;
He had opened a passage for them;
He had made bitter waters sweet;
He had given them Quails and
mama; He had furnished an album
dance of water for them out of the
rock at Repnid.m. and when their
enemies had fought them He had
fought for them and prevailed. And
this had all been of grace-they
didn't deserve any of it, they had
: done nothing TO merit it, He had not
asked anything of them.
Three months had passed, and
they were now III camp at the foot
of the mountain GEAR which Moses
had seen the burning bush. God had
promised Moses as sign that the
people should encamp at this very
k&unt, and here they were So
pses went up unto God, and Je-
B5vah called to him out of the
mountain saying, tell the children of
Israel: "Ye have seen what l did to
the Egyptians. and how bare you
on eagles 1s~@ss, and brought you
unto Myc-1A Now, therefore, if you
will obey My voice and keep My
commandment then ye shall be a Pc
culiar treasure unto Me above all
people; for all the earth is Mine. And
We shall be unto Me a kingdom of
priests and an holy nation"
All His dealings with them up
to that moment had been of grace.
He had made an unconditional
promise to Abraham, and had con-
1lrmed it to the seed of Abraham.
lie asked no contract with them;
He was simply telling them what
lie wanted to do for them. I won
DER If you can appreciate how
greatly God loved them. He had
borne them on eagles wings and
mad brought them, not to Sinai, but
to Himself. He was now on the
point of making them peculiar
tBasure unto Himself, and a King.
dom Of priests and an holy nation
and all of grace.
A Disastrous Step
But what did this people do?
When Moses brought this gracious
message to them, they answered.
all the people answered-"All that
Jehovah hath spoken we will do"
On, the folly, the self-confidence, the
cocksureness of it! They didn't even
say they would try to do the best
tney could; Gut they would do all
that jehovah had said!
Notice what happened. Moses re-
turned to God with the words from
enese people; and Immediately Gods
attitude was changed completely.
10, come unto thee in a thick
CLOUD that the people may hear when
speak with tlee, and believe thee
forever Underscore these pro-
nouns IN your Bible. "Set bounds
..,. round about" God had brought
the people unto Himself and wanted
TO continue dealing with them as He
mad been dealing with Abraham,
isaac, and Jacob: but they made that
impossible. He could not deal with
tnem in grace when they stood on
the ground of doing something He
SAID. He had to show them the i'm.
tDSC''A%A1tSy VI oQCll ii lining Tor AnV
man. They must learn to know Him
an to know their own hearts. Dark.
ness and cloud became His ,nanifes-
tation. Bounds must be set lest thew
come too near the mountain where
lie was manifested. In their self
nervousness they could not come
near lis holiness.
Three days preparation were re-
CURED, all tending to show them their
incleanness and their unholness. On
the third day in the morning, there
were thunders and lightnings such
as they had never heard before and
thick cloud upon the mount, and
then the voice of a trumpet exceed
ing loud; so that all the people that
We're in the camp trembled. Then
Mt Sinai smoked. What would YOU
think IT Stone Mountain began to
burn and a great smoke went UP
from it Well, Mt. Sinai was a
great mass Of rock. and yet it ap-
peared to be on fire. for Jehovah
descended on it in fire: and the
smoke assembled as the smoke of q
great furnace. and the mountain
auaked greatly. And then the voice
OF. the trumpet (who was blowing
that trumpet0 sounded long and
Waxed louder and louder! The writ
~Rsto the Hebrews says $50 terrible
wax the sight that Moses said. I ex-
ceedingly fear and tremble." Even
Moses shook and trembled
Moses however had not put him
self under the very foolish position
of claiming to do all that God had
commanded, so God could deal with
Him as under grace: therefore God
called Moses up into the mount, and
Moses went up. God is only forbid
ding to those who want to deal with
Him on the basis of their efforts To
these He then spoke Notice that
what we call the Ten Command
ments were spoken first by God
Himself in the hearing of all the
people and to people who had said
"All that the Lord says we will do"
And notice also that after He had
finished telling them what He re-