Marcus Mecum - Breaking Through The Spectating Barrier
Exodus 19:18, "Now mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice. Then the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the Lord said to Moses, 'go down. And the people,'"
This is an interesting idea and this is what I wanna talk to you about. "Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Lord". In other words, there's an indictment against these people that they think that their relationship with God is about gazing. And that's what I want to talk to you about, breaking through the spectating barrier. And so, verse 22, it says, "Also let the priests come near to the Lord and consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out," or break forth, "Against them".
The story here is the account of Moses, of course, we would know, experienced great and mighty things on mount Sinai. This is where God would give him the 10 commandments. It's where God would give him the specifications of the tabernacle. He would lay out the plans, the outer court, the inner court, the holy of holies. God would give him the specific designs of the Ark of the Covenant, all the elements that would go in the Ark of the Covenant. Of course, this is where the blood would be sprinkled. The shekinah glory would be there over the Ark of the Covenant. The tangible presence of God would be there. All of this came from mount Sinai. God spoke to Moses on this mountain. God moved in his life.
Moses would come down from mount Sinai at one point, and the glory of God was so strong on his life, he had spent so much time in the presence of God that the glory of God was shining through him in such a way that God instructed him to put a veil on because the purity and the holiness and the splendor of God would be shining through him in such a way that he would have to cover it because people would not be able to handle it. And the idea here is that Sinai is a place that God would move mightily in Moses's life, and it's where he would begin to speak to the children of Israel in many ways.
In this particular text, God said, "I want you to put a barrier down around the base of the mountain because my fear is that people would break through, and if they would break through, they would just want to watch, they would wanna spectate. They would just want to kind of hang out and be the people that thought the goal of all of this is to sit in a seat and come to church and hear somebody preach, and see people worship. And then, they could check it off their list and go back to their life as normal". But God said, "If they break through just to gaze, then I'll break forth in judgment against them".
I don't believe that God necessarily was wanting to judge them, I believe what he was saying was in life, there are things, there are consequences to living a life of just spectating. There are judgements that you bring on yourself, consequences that you bring on yourself. It's just already worked into how God, the laws of God, that if you just are watching, just hanging out, just filling seats, that God says, "That's not the goal. That's not the ultimate, that's not the high place that I'm calling you for".
So, he says, "Tell them to not break through to gaze. Tell them not to break through, just to watch". That you can only go so far with God with the attitude of a gazer, the attitude of just spectating and watching. So, God says to them, "I want you to warn them because they shouldn't break through if they just wanna watch this". But then he gives us examples like Moses and Aaron and the priests, and they broke through. But the Bible says not, God did not break forth in judgment against them, but God broke forth in splendor, and glory, and majesty, and promise. So, God breaks forth in judgment against the gazer, but that same God breaks forth in deliverance and power to the praiser. So, how God does this, it's interesting. As God said to Moses, "I want you to build an obstacle, build a barrier, build a stopping point".
So, God not only orders our steps, but he orders our stops. This is a place where he said, "I want you to tell them they have to stop". They have to pause. They have to have a moment where they take inventory. "Am I just a gazer? Am I just a watcher"? They have to evaluate their life, examine their life. Be transparent, be honest, be sincere. That if you're gonna break through just to watch, God's saying, "Hey, hey, hey, I wanna warn you. There's more to what I want to do than that".
In 1 Samuel 6:9, the Bible says that, 50,070 looked at the ark, and the blood was not sprinkled, and 50,070 people perished as a result, because they didn't understand the importance of blood or sacrifice or making sure that you're prepared for where God's taking you. And so, many perished as a result. I think about the kingdom at large, I think about all the years that I pastored. I think about all the people that God did a mighty work in their life. He spoke to them profoundly, but they fell into this temptation, this trap of just watching. And it doesn't take long before you just gaze your way further and further, further back before you're more and more on the fringe. That's where this barrier was. It was at the very bottom of the mountain.
And before you know it, they find themselves completely out of the things of God, many times, even critical of the things of God. Because they thought that it was about gazing. And so many of us have to check our hearts at times like this and ask ourselves, "Have we showed up just to gaze? Have we showed up just to watch"? There's a season where God wants you to look. There's a season where God wants you to hang out and experience him. But eventually, God's gonna call you up a little bit higher. And so here, this separation is happening between Moses and Aaron and some of the Levites and the priests versus the people.
In John 12:24, it says it like this, "Unless the seed falls to the ground and dies," it remains the same or, "It remains alone: but if it falls to the ground and dies, then it will produce much grain," or it will have a great harvest. So, for the seed to break forth, it has to get a break through. So, God wants you to break forth, he wants to break forth in our lives, but we first have to break through. The life is inside of the container. The life is inside of the seed. In order for the harvest to break forth, we would know that the seed has to break through the shell.
So, breakthroughs happen under the soil. They happen where people can't see, in the unseen places, in the dark places, in the lonely places. That's where the seed under the soil has to begin to wrestle with different things, wrestle against the shell, wrestle against the limitations. But if the seed breaks through the shell, then what happens is everyone gets to enjoy the harvest and the much grain that comes from that breakthrough. The Bible says that God's word is a seed, that it goes into our heart. And as God's word goes into our heart, if it's rocky there, if it's stubborn, if it's proud, if it's hardened, then the seed stays in the shell.
We come to church and we watch, and we listen, and we hear, and we wonder, "Where's the harvest at? Why isn't God moving in a mighty way in my life"? And nothing changes. And we never see the harvest because the seed has to break through the shell. Many animals in our world have to break through the shell to live. You've got birds of the air, you've got the little turtles that you see around, you've got the alligators and others that they're all alive because they broke through the shell. Our problem is we don't wanna break through the shell. But the little birdie begins to work its way through the shell, maybe its little beak pokes its way out, and it's working against the shell.
But if you see the little birdie you say, "Oh, cute little birdie, I don't want you to have to do all that by yourself. I don't want you to have to work against the shell like that. So, I'm gonna help you and I'm gonna crack the shell here, and crack the shell there, and make it easy on you because I want you to have an easy life. I don't want you to struggle. I don't want you to have pain. I don't want you to have any of that". And the problem is, we would know the second someone helps the birdie avoid the difficulty of the shell, then once it comes out, it doesn't have the strength on the inside to handle the environment that it's now in, right?
So, God uses the shell so the bird can have the strength on the inside to handle the environment on the outside. And many times, our whole life, we've been limited by the shell and we want someone else to break us out of the shell, and we want someone else to help us. But the problem is, if you break through, or someone else helps you break through, then what, and you just think, "Oh, that's what it's all about. It's about easy, and watching, and spectating, and glancing, and 'look at what they do. And look at what they do'. But you know me, I'm just here hoping someone else will do it all for me".
The consequence of that or the judgment of that is you actually end up limiting your own future. So, God says, "Don't do that for them, Moses. Don't do that for them". Moses and Aaron are on their way up. The Levites are on their way up because God had prepared their heart. They had been sanctified, consecrated, separated from the world. They weren't satisfied with watching. They weren't satisfied with gazing. They wanted more than that.
And so, they had a breakthrough because they said, "I'm not going to live my life spectating any longer". "And I stand," God said, "At the place of the breakthrough. And there at the place of the breakthrough, I'll break forth in their life. I'll break forth in a supernatural way. I'll break forth in promise like they've never seen. But they have to be willing to do what it takes to break through". The word breakthrough means to pierce into the enemy's territory. What areas has the enemy begin to attack your life, attack your home, attack your family, attack your mind, attack your well being, your confidence, your career, your future, your dream?
What areas has the enemy, a breakthrough enables you to pierce through to enemy's territory. The word breakthrough means a major advancement in solving a problem. What problems are you up against? What stubborn areas you just can't seem to find a way to fix or find a solution? A breakthrough gives you advancements in solving those problems. Breakthrough means to reach a goal through varied obstacles. What goals have you had that you've given up on, or you just believe maybe will never happen, or you've just settled because of the obstacles and the walls that have been built? A breakthrough will help you get through those obstacles.
Now, it's easy for me to preach a sermon like this and think to myself, "Oh, the church is going to no longer like me". Because as a pastor, I want you to like me. That's what I want. I really do. I want you to come, and I want us to encourage one another, and every, you look at me and I say, you say I'm amazing, and I look at you and I say, "You're amazing too. And aren't we just all incredible together"? And we can, you know, pat each other on the back. But like that, we never break through the spectating level.
So, we tell each other how great we are all the time, and we encourage each other. I'm not saying we live our life beating each other up, but at the same time, you have to ask yourself, "Are you tired of that tune? Are you tired of that song? Do you want to stay where you're at just watching, or do you want to break through so God can break forth"? Well, I don't think it happens because you spectate, I think it happens 'cause you take an intentional step into a process, "I'm gonna open up my heart and be transparent and honest and sincere and say, 'I'm not read, I don't wanna stay where I'm at any longer. I want to go up the mountain to all that you have for me'".
Now, notice, the barrier was set because of their flesh. What did their flesh say? That if you see it, if you talk about it, that that's all you have to do. But what God is saying, "I don't want you to see it, I don't want you to say it, I want you to seize it". And so, at some point you gotta go from talk and looking and observing to actually saying, "Okay, I'm going to grab hold of what God has for me". And so, God said, "I want you to set a boundary". And the boundary was designed, and this is what he said, "Because I want the people, the priests to be sanctified. I don't want them to spectate, I want them to be sanctified".
I'm gonna get theological for just a few minutes. Is that okay? It'll be simple. But for those of you who like it a little complicated, this will help you. The word sanctified means a process of being purified or perfected. It's separating from the impurities. It's a process that God intends to help you separate from the things in your life, the mindsets, the attitudes, the issues in your life, and that process is designed to purify you. Another word for that would be holiness. When God instructed them to go up to the mountain, he said, "I'm calling you up to the holy mountain". This is a holy place in your life. Now, holiness is the very perSon of God. Holiness is God. Holiness is Jesus. Holiness, listen to this. God said, "Because I'm holy, I want you to be holy, or you to be holy as I am holy".
So, there's something about holiness that we need to discuss for just a minute. Now, if you were to take the word breakthrough, the keyword there is break. Something has to break. Something that you're attached to has to be broken for you to get through. So, you can't get through until there's a breaking. Remember, Jesus took the bread, and he broke it, and he blessed it. It was just bread before he broke it. But once he broke it, he could bless it, and it went from bread to communion that represents his body and his blood, by which when we partake, we get healing and strength and forgiveness, and we remember his death.
The normal became holy. The everyday, regular thing became sanctified for the master's use. And so, when we get sanctified, we're not speaking about cosmetics, we're not talking about morality, or conduct, or the things that you can do and can't do. We're speaking deeper than that about the cosmetics on the soul, the things on the inside, the idolatry in our heart, our attitudes, our mindsets, our strongholds. And this is where we have to say, "Okay, God is a God of grace. God is a God of mercy. And because of that, he calls us to holiness".
Now, people in the church today love to talk about grace and mercy and love, but they don't like to talk about holiness. But the goal is not that you experience the love of God and the mercy of God and stay the same. The goal is that you experience the love of God and the mercy of God because as you do, God can then draw you up to a higher place where you separate from the impurities and you become pure.
Let me give you an example. My grandson is 10 months old. And when I look into my grandson's pure eyes, when they're little like that, they're still little rascals, but, but it's as pure as you can get on the planet. Anybody agree with that? And when I look into those pure little eyes, it challenges me to be a better man, a better grandpa. I know that I need to be the thing and the man that he needs me to be, and so I can't settle when I look into those pure eyes. Something about those eyes say, "Don't you dare quit. Don't you dare back up. Don't you dare give up. Don't you dare settle. Don't you dare. Don't you dare".
You gotta keep pushing because you're setting the stage for him. Yes, his dad's going to do that. Yes, his mom's going to, I'm saying, when I look in his pure eyes, it makes me want to separate from the things that are really, in many ways, less than what I know he needs me to be. And if his eyes can call me up higher, then how much more can the pure and holy, and majestic eyes of God want to make me be a better person, bring me to a place where I say:
God, whatever happens, never allow me to be an embarrassment to Calvary? But you died and you bled, not so I could just stay stuck at this level, but you died and you bled so I could experience that great love, so I could go up higher, so I could become holy. Not in my own ability, but because you've called me to be like Jesus, who is holy.
Holiness is when his nature comes into your soul and it makes you like him. If you're going to be holy, you have to abandon some things. You have to add some other things. And then you have to alter the rest. The three A's or the triple A's. What do you have to abandon? What things are you holding onto that you need to let go of? What areas of your life do you need to add? It's called the law of displacement. You don't just tell the darkness to go, you don't get rid of the darkness, light enters and darkness has to flee.
So, it's not good enough to abandon one thing, you have to add another thing. Displace that thing that you know is not honoring God and add something that is honoring God. It's sanctification. It's the process of being perfected. And then you alter the rest. You abandon, you add, and then you alter. And this is where God's holiness begins to be living on the inside of you. This is where you begin to desire what he desires. It's more than morality. It's greater than conduct. It's greater than you do this or you don't do that. It's you saying:
God, turn the light on in my soul. Turn the light on in the areas of ignorance, the dark rooms that exist, the dark closets, the dark places that are in my soul. God, I invite you even into those places, and I'm asking you to turn the light on and not let me stay the same in those areas. I'm sanctifying, I'm consecrating, I'm in a process. I want to break through, but before I can break through, I've got to sanctify, consecrate, separate myself for a season to say, "God, I know you're calling me to a new place, but the work starts on the inside, and then it breaks forth on the outside."