The Church is under tremendous pressure in our environment. The forces dividing culture are threatening to fracture the Church as well. How do we remain faithful? How do we represent Christ and advance the gospel in this environment? It is into this kind of moment that Paul drafts this letter to Philippian church. The human perspective might appear bleak. So, look with God’s perspective. Stand firm with joy remembering the powerful advance of the gospel. And so, this morning, I want us to step ten years backwards to remember what the gospel’s power accomplished in Philippi when Paul stepped onto the European Continent for the first time.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul calls the Church in Corinth to hold fast to the hope of the resurrection. Christ is risen! He is preparing a place for us. And He will return for us. When He does, we rise to live with Him forever! Jesus leads us in victory over sin and death! Therefore, be steadfast and immovable, abounding in the LORD’s work.

Ultimately if the dead do not rise, then living a life for Christ is meaningless. But – HE ROSE!!!! Christ’s resurrection is the first fruit or guarantee of our future resurrection from the dead and is, therefore, the foundation of the believer’s hope. Both our soul and body will be resurrected. As Paul wisely points out, if the dead will not rise bodily from the dead, then baptism as a physical act in the body makes no sense. Not only will our bodies be raised, but they will also be transformed. The resurrection of the dead, for believers, entails transformation into immortality and glorification, resembling the current state of Christ Jesus, the human being currently seated at the right hand of the Father. Church, because the resurrection of the dead will in fact take place, we should live ethical lives; we should strive, in the Spirit’s power, to live in obedience to Christ.

1 Corinthians 15 deals with the resurrection. In verses 12-28, Paul confronts the Corinthians about a logical inconsistency. Since you agree that Christ rose, how can some of you say that there’s no resurrection of the dead? If Jesus rose, it’s illogical and inconsistent for you to believe that you and I will not rise from the dead. And listen, IF Christ didn’t rise from the dead then at least five things are true.

God’s grace empowers us to boldly hold fast to the gospel. We won’t be faithful to Jesus if we follow Him in our own strength and wisdom. And we won’t be faithful to Him if we abandon—rather than hold fast to— the gospel. Instead, God’s grace is the fuel in the engine that transforms, empowers, and motivates our commitment to boldly hold fast to the gospel.

Israel stands at the bottom of Mt. Sinai. God prepares to speak His law to them. The mountain is filled with smoke and lighting bolts light up the sky. Thunder and trumpets fill the air like a terrifying, pounding, unrelenting artillery. All this power and magnitude reflect the glory, majesty, and holiness of God. When God finishes speaking, Israel’s heart fills with fear. They know they can’t measure up to God’s law. They feel the unsettling fear of relational separation. So why is God’s law good? Because it pushes us to the sweet air of God’s grace in the gospel!

In our passage, Yahweh, the one true God, summons the people of Israel to Mt. Sinai, “the mountain of God,” where He intends to give them His law and establish a covenant with them. He appears in such a dramatic fashion to highlight their limitations, His holiness, and the need for a suitable mediator. Moses is that mediator who points ahead to the ultimate mediator between God and humanity in Christ Jesus.

Exodus may have been written 1000s of years ago, but the message couldn’t be more timely. God redeemed us so that we represent Him to the world. That’s what we see in Exodus 19:1-8. Church Family, we’ve been redeemed to represent our Redeemer to the world. This text is a summons to the Church—to our church—to represent God’s heart, law, and purposes in the world. We’re not our own. We’ve been bought with a price. We belong to our Redeemer King. And we represent our Redeemer with gospel words and gospel actions.

God stands above every leader. That’s what we will see in three stories from Exodus 17 and 18. Bad leaders fail us regularly. Good leaders will fail us too. We need to look to God who stands above every leader to fulfill His purposes to summon His People from every nation to worship and delight in Him!

Church, we need to know how to make sense of suffering. Israel’s hardship comes in the wilderness between redemption from slavery in Egypt and the Promised Land. Our hardship comes in the wilderness between redemption from sin and death and our eternal home. In this in-between time of wilderness we experience life in a world broken by sin and scandalized by death. And these hardships, and these trials, can tempt us to grumble and complain. So we must ask: what’s God doing in the wilderness? He’s demonstrating that He’s the Rock sustaining us.