EXODUS 33

And Lord, to have time together in fellowship and in prayer and in your word. We just pray, Lord, that you would be exalted in everything that's said and done tonight. Just have your way, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

You are here, moving in our midst. I worship you, I worship you. Working in this place, I worship you, I worship you.

In the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Keep a light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Worship you, worship you, worship you.

Yes, I worship you.

Never stop working.

Lord, that you keep us going every day. Keep your hand upon us. Lord, we know that you can continue to do that in our life.

In the darkness we were waiting, without hope, without light. Till from heaven you came running, there was mercy in your eyes. To fulfill the law and promise, to a virgin came the word. From a throne of endless glory, to a cradle. Amen. On the other side was our salvation, Jesus, for our sake you died. For the price that you paid for our sins, Lord. That we could be here tonight, cleansed and made whole of what you've done for us.

Just be glorified. We thank you in Jesus' name.

Good evening. Glad you can be with us tonight. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Exodus, chapter 33. Exodus 33. As you're turning in your Bibles, I want to remind you, that next week, if you've got kiddos here, all the kids and youth, they'll all be in here with us. Because next week is when Dennis Zeck will be here next Wednesday. So, all the gang will be in here.

It'll be fun. So, Exodus chapter 33. Now, last week we got into Exodus 32. And we said that really chapters 32 through 34 kind of go together because they represent not only the failure of the nation of Israel with them breaking the law with the golden calf. But then in chapters 33 and 34, we see God's restoration of the nation. How God restores them back to his favor.

Because at this point in time, they're not very much in God's favor. So, when the incident happened with the golden calf, just to remind you, bring you back up to speed to where we were. Moses had been up on the mountain for 40 days by now. And when he was up on the mountain for 40 days, the children of Israel started getting a little bit restless down at the base of the mountain.

They said, we really don't know what happened to this Moses guy. Aaron, why don't you make us a God? Because who knows if this guy's even coming? He's coming back. And so Aaron, of course, gave them all the command. He responded by saying, take off your earrings, give them to me. And then he fashioned a golden calf or perhaps a what would have been a young bull.

And it would have been the idol that they would have worshipped. And he said, this is your God who led you out of the nation of Egypt. And they, of course, had this very immoral party that took place at that point in time. And he introduced this aspect of syncretism, which is going to be a problem that the nation of Israel will have. We'll have throughout the rest of their of their time as a nation.

And of course, God tells Moses, hey, here's the deal, Mo. You better get down there because some business is going on and you're gonna have to deal with it. They've already broken the law. And so Moses is on his way down. And Joshua says, Moses, you hear all that going on down in the camp? It sounds like war. And Moses says, it's not war. It's singing. They're having a party.

So Moses, of course, goes down and he's got the tablets in his hand and he sees him, breaks the tablets, destroys the young bull. And is very angry with the people, calls all of those who are on God's side to to come be with him. He says, if you are on the Lord's side, come to me. And all of the Levites gathered to him, he said, strap on your swords. It's time to do business.

And so 3000 of the nation of Israel were killed that day. And so Moses goes and intercedes before the people. And God says, Moses, get out of the way. I'm going to wipe them out. I'll start over with you. And of course, Moses cries out to God and prays, Lord, please don't destroy them. Matter of fact. If you're going to wipe anybody out. Blot my name out of your book.

And God said, no, I'll I'll punish the guilty, said, but I will withhold my wrath from them. I will not destroy them. And so Moses and God are sort of in the in the middle of this discussion about what's going to happen with the people. And so verse thirty five of chapter thirty two ended, the Lord smote the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.

Then chapter thirty three, verse one. So the the the flow continues on there. It says. The Lord spoke to Moses, depart, go up from here and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying to your descendants, I will give it. I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the

Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey, for I will not go up in your midst because you are an obstinate people. And I might destroy you on the way. So God's going to make a change in plans. God had planned to go with her. If you remember in chapter twenty three, God had promised, I'll send my angel before you.

And this angel was going to be particularly special because this angel would bear God's name. It would require the obedience from the people and it would be an angel who who would judge the people. And so I believe that angel was none other than Jesus Christ himself, the angel of the Lord. There in the Old Testament. But this time, when he says an angel is going to go with you, he doesn't have any of those

differentiations for this particular angel. So we're led to believe that this angel that God says is going to go with you is just just an angelic being. And that point continues to be made when he says, because I can't go up with you, I can't go up in the midst of you. And he tells them why he says you're a you're an obstinate people, in other words, you're a stubborn people.

It's somewhat bent on rebellion. And I'm afraid that if I go with you, I will destroy you. So God gives him this really sad news. He says, I'm not going to go with you because if I go with you, if I'm in the midst of you, I will destroy you because of sin. Now, ultimately, this would be a protection for the people. It would be a protection for them because God knew that he could not dwell amongst that

kind of sin. Because if he did. Because God is so holy. And can't be in the midst of you. And can't be in the presence of sin. He would ultimately end up wiping them out. Now as God makes this change of plans, I think that there's two things that we can learn from how God responds to Moses in the nation of Israel. The first thing that we learn from God's response is just how much sin hurts the heart of God.

I think sometimes we don't always take that into consideration when when when we fall into sin or when we see the sin that takes place around us, it's easy for us to remember the wrath of God. It's easy for us to remember that God hates sin, that he hates sin and it has to show his wrath. But I think what we hear in this statement that God makes to Moses about the children of Israel is actually the statement of a brokenhearted father more than it's the statement of a vengeful God. Because he says, I just can't go with you.

But the reason I can't go with you is because I don't want to end up destroying you because it hurts his heart so much to see sin. I'll never forget a Bible college teacher talking to me about the mature fear of the Lord. When we start off in our walk with God, when we start off getting saved, we have the understanding of the fear of God. And it's truly what we think of as fear because we have the distinct understanding that God judges sin.

And that's what I'm very much guilty of. Therefore, God will have to judge me. And so when I first come to my knowledge of the Lord, it is oftentimes in the immature fear of God, in fear of his wrath and his judgment. But the longer that we walk with Jesus, the longer that we walk with God and understand who he is, we begin to mature into that fear of God that he really wants.

And the fear of God that he really wants us to experience is the fear of hurting the heart of a loving father. I remember when I was a junior in high school, coming home the very last time I ever went to a party and did things Jesus didn't like, at least as far as that was concerned, and having to tell my mom and dad everything that had taken place and everything that I'd been doing. And I remember my dad looking at me and he said, you know, a few weeks ago, I thought that this might be going on, but I trusted you. That hurt me more than anything that they could have ever done to me.

To know that I had, I had hurt the heart of my dad in that way, that I had broken his heart because he trusted that I wouldn't do the things that I was doing. And I remember at that point in time, it wouldn't have matter what punishment they laid on me. I didn't need it because that hurt too bad to hear that come out of his mouth. I think it's the same way.

That's the way that God wants us to be in our walk with him. Not that we would be fearful that he would throw us out. Not that we would be fearful that he would throw us out. Not that we would be fearful that he would throw us out. Not that we would cast judgment upon us, not that we would be fearful of his wrath or his vengeance or any of those kinds of things, but fearful that the God who loved

us enough that he would send his son to die for us, that we would hurt his heart with our sin. And I believe that we see that. We have this revelation of how much sin hurts the heart of God. But not only that, I think the second thing that we learn is that we have an understanding of God's holiness because he can't be in the presence of sin. I had a guy come and talk to me.

He wanted to come and talk to me here not too long ago, and he wanted to talk to me about why hell? Why does God have to do that to sin? And I said, well, it's because sin is so terribly awful. I said, but we don't always understand that because we don't always understand just how holy God is. It's something that our minds can't fully take in because no matter how close we get

to God, we are still tainted by our fleshly minds. We're still tainted by our own view and our own understanding of holiness, and because of that, we don't always have the understanding that God can't be in the presence of sin. God doesn't just hate sin because of what it does to us. He hates sin because of who he is. He hates sin because of how holy he is, and it is literally the exact opposite of everything

he is in character and nature. And because of God's holiness, it's not just that he doesn't want to be in the presence of sin. It's that he can't be in the presence of sin because of his holy nature, and we see that with the children of Israel. He says, I can't go up in the midst of you because if I do. You'll end up being incinerated because I am a holy God, and you are a, remember what

he called them, an obstinate people, a people who are bent on your own way. And so we learn these things about God, first of all, that sin hurts his heart, but second of all, that he's holy and he can't stand to be in the presence of sin. And so Moses has to now go down and tell the people this very sad news because Moses, whose heart is broken himself, probably over what he's seen the people do, but whose heart is also broken because the God who he seems to have gotten to know so well has just said, I can't go up in the midst of you because the people are such an obstinate people. Moses now has to go and deliver this message to the children of Israel.

And I want you to notice how the children of Israel respond. It says in verse four, when the people heard this sad word, they went into mourning and none of them put on his ornaments for the Lord had said to Moses, say to the sons of Israel, you're an obstinate people. Should I go up in your midst for one moment? I would destroy you. Now therefore put off your ornaments from you that I may know what I shall do with you.

So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward. Now the encouraging thing that we see from the people here is they responded exactly as they should have. God had told Moses that what he needed to do is you need to go down the mountain, you need to go out to the people and you need to tell them that you're an obstinate people. And if I go with you, I don't know what's going to end up happening because you're so bent on sin, because you're so bent on breaking the law.

And so the first step that you have to take is to break off all of the ornaments. Why does he tell them to break off the ornaments? Because if you remember what was the very thing that the nation of Israel had used to make the golden cap? Well, they'd made these ornaments. Now again, I don't believe that this is a teaching against the people, people wearing

jewelry. I think it's a teaching against the thing that causes you to sin. You must cut out of your life. Okay. And so he tells him, you've got to break off the ornaments from you. And I love the way that the people respond because you can imagine how this meeting went, right? A gathering of all of the people after Moses had come down and broken the tablets right

in front of them, after he had crushed the golden calf and after 3000 of their brethren had died and after God had said, I'm going to wipe them out. And no doubt Moses had told them that too. Moses has to tell them that God's not going to go with you. Now I think this speaks to the very heart of the people, because if you remember when the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, do you remember the little commentary that was given to us about why they were removed from the land of Egypt?

They were brought to God himself because we said the entire reason God took them out is so that they could be his own special people so that he could reveal himself to them and they could know him and the very reason why God had told them that he had called them out of Egypt. They could no longer have any more. Their purpose was now destroyed, if you will. There will still be the promised land.

There will still be the benefits of the fact that God had delivered you and made a promise. God would still keep his promise, but the presence of God wouldn't be there any longer. And so the people do exactly what they should have done and they mourn. They hear this message and it literally breaks their hearts and they begin to mourn and they remove their ornaments from themselves.

And they respond exactly. Exactly. As they should have responded. Now from this, from those few verses, I believe that we learn four lessons in repentance and restoration. Number one, we must understand the sinfulness of sin. It's very akin to the lesson we learned from the first few verses and that's that we learn the holiness of God. But once we have understood the holiness of God, we must second of all understand the

absolute sinfulness of sin. You say, Ryan, isn't that a little bit redundant? Yeah, but we're slow. We're slow sheep. If you don't believe me, just look at the fact that it took them 40 days to really screw things up. You see, I think sometimes there's levels of sin in our own minds, right? It takes me back to a conversation I had with a Bible class a few years ago, a couple of

years ago when we were in the book of Romans. And when we were in the book of Romans, we were talking about people who gossip, being in the same list of people that commit murder, adultery, and homosexuality. And this young man raised his hand and said, you mean to tell me that gossip is as much of a sin as all those other things? And I said, that's what the Bible says.

It says it's every bit as much an affront to God as any other sin that you commit. He said, if that were true, every single person in the middle school would be going to hell. And he kind of went, oh. I said, you see, that's the problem. That's why we need Jesus. Because sin is truly sin. Utterly sinful. But isn't it amazing how in the midst of temptation, sin doesn't seem nearly as bad to us.

Sin doesn't seem like nearly as big of a deal when we're in the midst of a place of extreme temptation or when we're around everybody else that's doing it. It all of a sudden doesn't seem nearly as bad. After all, everybody's doing it. You say, Ryan, I'm not in high school. I don't use that excuse anymore. Don't lie. That's a sin. Of course you use that excuse.

Everybody does. Where do you think your kids? Learned it from. We all can do that. We all can give into that. But the closer that we get to God, the more we understand how disgustingly sinful sin is, the more it brings us to a place of repentance and restoration. Because the people weren't thinking about what they were doing being as absolutely bad as it was

until God said, but I won't go with you because your sin is utterly. And so brothers and sisters, if we're to live lives of repentance and restoration, which is exactly the type of lives we're supposed to live as believers in Jesus Christ, we must first understand the utter sinfulness of sin. Number two, number two lesson in repentance and restoration is that we must have a heart of mourning over our sin. There must be in us a heart that mourns over every part of us that still gives in to sin on a consistent basis.

I wonder when the last time. We wept over the fact that I still struggle with temptation. I wonder when the last time I genuinely mourned in my heart that I still struggle with areas of sin. You see, if I understand number one, the utter sinfulness of sin, then number two starts to come really, really naturally to me. I start to mourn over the sin that I see in my own life.

I start to mourn over the sin that I see in other people's lives because that's what it produces inside of me. And as newbies, New Testament believers, that ought to be true of our hearts. Do you know how I know that? Spoiler alert for Sunday when we get into the Beatitudes, because it says that blessed are those who mourn for you shall be comforted. Do you realize that the heart behind that phrase is not just those that mourn over the grief of loss.

It's those who mourn over the grief of sin. He said, blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. You see, if I'm to have a true heart of repentance, then my heart needs to learn to mourn over the sin that I see in my own life and the sin that I see in the lives of others. Number three, we must understand that the true consequence of sin is separation from God.

The true consequence of sin is separation from God. We hear about it all the time, right? Somebody in a high place, whether it be a politician, a pastor, you name it, a CEO of a company when they fall when they fall into some sort of sin we can all see displayed the consequences of that sin in their life and we can say oh man what a bummer because I just saw the consequences of that sin but here's the fact of the matter as believers in Jesus Christ when we sin there are consequences that come about in our lives a wise man once said you can choose your sin but you cannot choose your consequences but no matter what other consequences come with sin the greatest one that I face is that now there is a severing of my relationship with God.

There's a severing of my relationship with Jesus Christ there's a severing of my relationship with God and until that relationship is mended through repentance confession and restoration not necessarily in that order until my relationship is mended by those things there's an aspect of separation that I have from God am I still saved yeah as a believer I'm still saved just like the children of Israel still had the promise of the promised land that they had looking forward that they were looking forward to.

But you see the presence of God wouldn't go with them and while the presence of God will never actually leave me as a believer because the Holy Spirit won't be taken from me my relationship with God can definitely be sacrificed on the altar of sin and all of a sudden that close walk with God that I had at one point in time it's no longer there because after all what made the promised land the promised land was the fact that God would be there.

And so if I am truly to have a heart of repentance and then restoration towards God I must understand that the true consequences of sin is separation from God and then number four the key that I have in my life if I am to repent and be restored is to take action is to take action notice what the people did they took off their ornaments as a matter of fact we're told in at the end of verse excuse me in verse six it says so the sons of Israel stripped themselves of the ornaments.

From Mount Horeb onward in other words they didn't put these ornaments back on now again why because the ornaments represented they're giving in to sin that was if you will their stumbling block it was their stumbling point and in order to prove that that was never going to be a problem for them again they got rid of the ornaments Jesus put it this way in the New Testament he said if your right hand causes you to sin cut it off because it would be much better to go into heaven making

your name than to go into hell with all of your members and so those areas that cause us to sin we have to cut them off we have to break off the ornaments we have to take action because if we've given into a golden calf in our lives then don't keep the things that allow us to make another golden calf when I was teaching the Bible class about temptation in the book of Genesis with with Adam and Eve I said listen the first step to overcoming temptation the first step to overcoming sin the first step to repentance is to take action because if we've given in to a golden calf in our lives then don't keep the things that allow us to make another golden calf.

stay away from the tree they said Mr. Nichols are you saying trees aren't the answer like not in this situation they're not we have to get rid of the things that cause us to sin we take that action you see without that action there's no true repentance you see without that action I don't ever really ever walk away from sin I feel bad about it today but then I'll give into it again tomorrow because I never took that swift action and so we see some little things that allow us to make another golden calf in our lives that allow us to make another golden calf in our lives that allow us to make another golden calf in our lives that allow us to make another golden calf in our lives

lessons in repentance and restoration from the children of Israel so they mourn over this situation of course Moses isn't done he's not going to give up until God goes with them and so we move into chapter 7 and talk about this tent of meeting in verse 7 it says now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp a good distance from the camp and he called it the tent of meeting and everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp And it came about whenever Moses went out to the tent that all the people would arise and stand each at the entrance of his tent and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent.

Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent and the Lord would speak with Moses. When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship each at the entrance of his tent. Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

We're almost given this little parenthetical statement right here in verses 7 through 11. And I've struggled a little bit, and this is the second time I've taught through this. I've struggled a little bit to understand exactly the intention of this. Hopefully I've arrived at something this time. Because in this translation, it's given in the past tense. Now, Moses used to put this tent outside of the camp.

If you were to read the New King James or the King James or Christian Standard Bible or several other ones like that, it puts it in the present tense. Now Moses pitched a tent outside of the camp. Well, if it's in the present. If it's in the past tense, then Moses did this strictly because the children of Israel had sinned against God. And though this tent is not the tabernacle, because he's just now received the instructions for the tabernacle, and it hasn't been constructed yet.

Even though this tent's not the tabernacle, he pitched it outside of the camp because it couldn't be in the presence of the people. Because God, in the pillar of cloud, could not dwell in the presence of the people if it's in the present tense. If it's in the past tense, I absolutely mean no pun in that whatsoever. By the way, I just realized I said present tense and past tense when talking about a tent.

Anyway, no pun intended in that whatsoever. If it was in the past, then this means this was always Moses' practice. That even from the time that they had come out of Egypt, Moses would set up this tent outside of the camp so that he had a place to meet with God where he would intercede for the people. Which one is it? I don't know. So let's just go with what it says.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. What we're given here is we're given a little bit of a picture into Moses' ministry for the people, whether it was after the sin of the golden calf or before the sin of the golden calf, we're given a little picture into Moses' relationship with God. And so it says, Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, notice what it says here, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting.

Again, we know this is not the tabernacle yet because he has just been given the instructions for the tabernacle, and they haven't had a chance to make that. Because that was a pretty elaborate process. This was actually probably either his own personal or just a temporary meeting place that he would set up. And what he would do is he would go outside of the camp, and when he would go outside of the camp, all of the people would see that Moses was heading out a good distance from the camp.

And I think it's kind of interesting. They would all stand at their door. It's like they'd all watch him and go because they're watching him go outside the camp. Now, this is kind of interesting because remember what we said last week? What was the first issue? That the children of Israel faced when they gave in to temptation? The fact that they had become content to receive a secondhand message from God.

Meanwhile, Moses was not content to receive a secondhand message from God. He wanted to hear it for himself. And so they would all watch because they knew if they wanted to hear what God had to say, they needed to pay attention to Moses because he was receiving it firsthand because they had decided secondhand messages were good enough for them. And so Moses goes outside the camp.

And he comes to the tent, and God would prove that he was at the tent. Notice what it says. Whenever Moses entered, verse 9, the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. And when they saw the pillar of cloud at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance of his own tent.

And so Moses would go in there, and this is where he would meet with God. This is where he would get messages from God to bring to the people. And now was. No different, because now what we're going to see is one of those specific times that Moses went into this tent to meet with God to intercede for the people. But before we get to this meeting, we're given a little commentary into Moses's relationship with the Lord.

And I love this little commentary that's given to us because in verse 11, it says this. Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. I love that commentary. I love that commentary on Moses and his relationship with God, because it's what the children of Israel could have had, but they decided they didn't want. And so Moses, it says, had this face-to-face relationship with God.

Now, we have to understand that this is a little bit of a euphemism for the way that Moses communicated with God, because we're going to see here in just a few minutes that Moses could not see God's face, because in the moment that he saw God's face, he would surely die. What we're instead given is an understanding of the close relationship. Personal relationship that Moses had with God. The idea of face-to-face literally means in the presence of or an openness with.

That's the idea of that phrase face-to-face. And so Moses would go into the presence of God and have an open relationship with the Lord. He would hear from God, and then God would hear from him. We're going to be given a little snapshot of this in just a moment when Moses actually has a conversation with the Lord. Now, what I think is cool about this is that when you get into the New Testament,

I want to remind you of something that Jesus told his disciples right before he went to the cross. He said, I no longer call you my servants, I call you my friends. A master doesn't tell his servants what he's about to do, but I am going to tell you everything that's coming, because no longer do I call you my servants, I call you my friends. And in that same way, you and I can have that face-to-face relationship with God.

Because we're told in the book of Hebrews that because of the blood of Jesus Christ, we can now go boldly to the throne of grace to seek mercy and grace to help us in our time of need. Because we can have that face-to-face conversation with God. We can have that friendship relationship with God. And may I say, having the understanding that Jesus died so that I could have that kind of relationship with him should make it seem that much more important to us.

We should not take that for granted. And so, we're given this picture of this relationship that Moses had with the Father, had with God, that was a face-to-face sort of relationship. And it says, When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man would not depart from the tent. Now, as we move into verse 12, we're going to see Moses once again intercede for the people.

Now, for the third time, he'll intercede before God for the people. It says, Then Moses said to the Lord, See, you say to me, bring up this people, but you yourself have not let me know whom you will send with me. Moreover, you have said, I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight. Now, therefore, I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, let me know your ways that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight.

Consider, too, that this nation is your people. And he said, My presence shall go with you. And I will give you rest. Now, in these verses, what we're going to take note of is that there's going to be three things that Moses intercedes or asks God for. The first thing that he's going to ask God for is for something for himself as the mediator for God's people.

Notice what he says. He says, You said, bring up this people, but you haven't told me who's going with me. I don't know anything about who's going with me. And you've already said, I know you by name. And I have. I've found favor in your sight. Well, if that's the case, then this is what I want to know. Verse 13. Now, therefore, I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, let me know your ways so that I may know you.

Now, I appreciate this prayer. It's a twofold prayer that he makes of God. He calls on the favor that he has found in God's eyes. He says, if you know my name, and if, which means since as is the case, I have found favor in your eyes, then, first of all, I want to know your ways. That word ways literally means your paths. In other words, I want to know what you have for me.

I want to know how you want to work in the nation and how you want to work in me. I want to know your ways. But why does he say he wants to know his ways? So that I may know you. Now, one of the things you're going to take note of in all three of these requests that, that Moses makes is that the heart of each one of them is his desire to know God. Because why does Moses want to know who's going with him?

Why does he want to know the ways of God? It's not just so that he can be a good leader for the people, but that's going to be a wonderful benefit. It's not just so that he can maintain his head and have some sort of peace in going forward, although that's another wonderful side benefit. The reason why he wants to know his ways is so that he can know God. You see, Moses is,

understanding the purpose that God did not call him to be a leader so that he could be a leader. God called him to be a leader so that he could know God. Because God didn't call the nation of Israel out of the land of Egypt just to give them a promised land. God called the nation of Israel out of Egypt so that they could be his own special people so that they could know him and make him known to all of the nations of the world.

He says, show me your ways. That I may know you. And then I love what he reminds him of. He says, remember, these are your people. That's been an argument between he and God. And notice how God responds. He says, my presence shall go with you and I will give you rest. God responds in the affirmative and says, OK, I promise I'll go with you and I will give you rest.

Now, I didn't pick up on this. Until I read our Ken Hughes. He's a little sharper than I am. And he picked up on it. He said, did you take note of the fact that God used a singular pronoun there? He didn't use a plural one. That's what God uses. He says, I will go with you. Well, Moses is going to pick up on this. And Moses is not going to be content just with the fact that God is going to go with him personally.

It's wonderful because that's going to excite Moses. Praise God, you're going to go with me. But notice what he says next. He says, next he's going to make an intercession for the people. He says, verse 15, then he said to him, may I point out just really quickly that this is exactly what it meant when it said that Moses, God spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend.

Because Moses is actually having a dialogue with God at this point in time. I find that to be somewhat fascinating. And so Moses says to him, if your presence does not go with us, then do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that I have found favor in your sight? I and your people. Is it not by your going with us so that we, I and your people,

may be distinguished from all the other people who are on the face of the earth? And the Lord said, I will also do this thing of which you have spoken. For you have found favor in my sight. And I have known you by name and love the persistence that Moses uses. He could have been incredibly content to say, thank you that you're going to go with me. Thank you that your presence will be with me.

But he's not content with that. He says, Lord, if you don't go with us, if you don't lead us, I don't want to go. Lord, I want you to be with all of us. I want your presence to go amongst us as a nation. Why? Because otherwise, what's the point? He says, how can it then be known that I have found favor in your sight? I and your people. How is grace going to look if you're not with us?

Because the very purpose of grace is that we can be with God. Is that God's presence will be with us. He says, how can we show that we have found favor in your sight if your presence is not with us? As a matter of fact, that's going to be the thing that will distinguish us from all other people. I found that to be kind of interesting. I found that to be interesting as well, because you know what you can always tell when you go to a church where God is in the midst.

You can always tell when God is in the midst. I was having a conversation with somebody yesterday, and we were talking about the fact that some churches just plain don't teach the Bible. And we didn't grow up that way. I didn't grow up in a church where nobody taught Scripture. And I remember the first time I ever went to a church where they didn't actually teach the Bible.

And I was like, A, the Bible wasn't there. B, I don't think Jesus. I don't think Jesus was either. Because when you left, you felt empty is the only way I knew to put it. I remember being so sad. He read this wonderful portion of Scripture. And after he read this wonderful portion of Scripture out of the book of Ephesians, like the first chapter in Ephesians, right?

It's like you can fall off a log and get something out of that and not know very much about the Bible because it's just so rich, right? He reads this portion out of Ephesians, and he goes, you know. It's kind of like a great big ice cream sundae. You can never take it all in. And since you can't take it all in, why would we even try? And then he started talking about their summer program.

And I was like, but let's try. Put me in, coach. I'll try. I mean, if it's a sundae too big for me to eat, at least I can get 10 or 15 bites in, right? I'll glut myself on the thing. That's fine. But let's at least try. And I left feeling empty. And you know what got me the most is that somebody stood up afterwards. And said, wasn't that a great message that pastor gave?

And all I could think was, when was the met? Did I, was it before church? Did it happen before I got here? Because there was no message there. And you go, where's God? Because the thing that distinguishes the people of God from every other social meeting on the face of the earth is when the presence of God is there with us. And he says, That's what will distinguish us.

From every other people who are on the face of the earth. And I love the way that the Lord responds. I will also do. I love that he doesn't have to ask more than once. He says, I will also do this thing which you have spoken for. You have found favor in my sight, and I have known you by name. He doesn't have to convince him. He doesn't have to keep pleading with him.

It's almost like God was just waiting for him to say something like that. And he's like, OK, good. Let's go. All right, I'll go with you guys. Fine. It'll be good. It'll be good. Because you have found favor in my sight. And I do know you by name. I was just taking my high school Bible class through the genealogy there in Genesis chapter five. And I love telling them this is the most boring thing you'll ever read unless you pay attention to a couple of things.

One of them is that this teaches us that God knows us by name because he does. He knows us all by name. And we have found favor in his sight. You know, I know that because God's dwelling. Among us. I see it in the hearts of people as the word of God is doing its work in their life, just like it's been doing here for the past 40 years, 45 years, however long this church

has been around. And so he says, I will go with you. And may I say, I believe this is a point that John Corson made in his commentary. They didn't find God didn't find favor in the people because of who they were. He found favor in the people because of their mediator. That's the only reason why God was going to show favor to the nation of Israel is because there was a man who would stand in the gap for them.

You know why that brings me a great deal of comfort, because, you know, who's making who is our mediator, who is making intercession for us? It's none other than Jesus Christ. And we have favor in his eyes because of who our mediator is. Well, there's one more request that he's going to make, and this one goes back to who Moses is as a child of God. Who he is.

Who he is as a follower of God. Notice what it says in verse 18. Then Moses said, I pray you, show me your glory. He said, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. But he said, you can't see my face for no man can see me and live.

Then the Lord said, behold, there's a place by me. And you shall stand there on the rock and it will come about while my glory is passing by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take my hand away and you will see my back, but my face shall not be seen. I love this next request of Moses because Moses is feeling really bold right now.

As Moses has interceded, first of all, for himself as the mediator, Lord, go with me. He says, I'll go with you. And then he intercedes for the people. It says, Lord, you got to go with us. Otherwise, what's the point of even going? And God says, OK, I'll go with you. And he's like, one more thing. He says, show me your glory. You know, I love about Moses at this point in time.

Remember, Moses was the one who was not content to hear a secondhand message from God. He wanted to hear it for himself. And if you will, Moses had seen so much of the glory of God up to this point in time. Right from the moment God called him there in the burning bush where the. From the burning bush, a voice came and said, take off your shoes because this is holy ground.

And then he saw the glory of God and all the things that happened there in the nation of Egypt to the to the Egyptians into Pharaoh. And he saw the glory of God in the Passover. And he saw the glory of God in the parting of the waters. And he saw the glory of God when he had that dinner with the 70 elders where God was right there with him. And they all ate together on the mountain.

And he saw the glory of God while he was up on the mountain as God gave him the instructions for worship in the tabernacle. And the high priesthood and the actual finger of God writing the Ten Commandments there on those tablets. He had seen the glory of God. But now, as Moses is interceding for the people, what's the last thing he says? Lord, show me your glory.

I love the discontented nature of Moses when it comes to his relationship with God, because it can never be enough. He wants to see more. I'd like for you to turn one place with me real quick. I want you to go over to the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, Hebrews, chapter 11.

And once you look down at verse six, it says in Hebrews, chapter 11, verse six. And without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. I believe that Moses would fit the category of those whom God would reward. Because Moses was not content until he could take in as much of God as God would allow him to take in.

Because even though Moses had seen so much of the glory of God, even though Moses knew so much about God, even though Moses was the one who God spoke to face to face as a man speaks to his friend, Moses said, but that's not enough. Lord, show me your glory. And may I say, fellow believers in Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters, I think that we could really stand to have some believers in Jesus Christ that believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. And I appreciate the New King James on this because it says those who diligently seek him.

Because I think that's what God is looking for. I think God right now in the world that we're living in is looking for the hearts of believers in Jesus Christ to turn so fully towards him that they will find themselves saying, Lord, I want to turn away from the things of the world that have so helped me down because I guarantee things of the world. The world are holding us down. Lord, I turn away from all the distractions of the world that would keep me from knowing you.

Lord, show me your glory. It reminds me of that line in the book Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer, where he said, God is looking for the heart of the one who will go into his prayer closet with no one else around, get down on his knees and say, Lord, show me more of you. God will always answer that prayer. And he'll do so happily. Notice how God. God responds. God's not like, whoa, no, let's get a little too close here, Moses.

No, look what he says. He says, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you. And I will proclaim my name, the name of the Lord before you. And I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious and I'll show compassion on whom I will show compassion. Notice those two things that God says he'll do for Moses. First of all, he says, I will allow all my goodness to pass before you.

I love that when Moses asks. You see the glory of God. God doesn't tell him he'll show him thunder and he'll show him lightning and earthquakes and all those different kinds of things. What does God tell him he'll have passed before him? All of my goodness. Because the goodness of God truly is one of the most glorious things about who he is. If you don't understand that, then it's time for you to dive deeper into grace.

You may need to understand a little bit more the sinfulness of sin so that you can understand the depth of his goodness. Because as you do, you realize that's the. Greatest glory of who God is, he says, I'll allow my goodness to pass before you. And he says, and I will declare the name of the Lord to you. Why does he say, I'll declare the name of the Lord? If I wanted to learn more about you, I wouldn't ask you your name already know your name, right?

It's because we don't understand names in the Hebrew because his name was his character. You see, people are given names based on their character. And so when he says, I will declare the name of the Lord to you, he says, I will declare my character to you. I will allow my goodness to pass by and I will give you a greater understanding. Of my character, because that is my glory, the character of who I am.

He says, I'll allow my name to pass before you. He says, because I'll be gracious to whoever I choose and I'll show compassion to ever I choose. But you can't see my face. Because no one can see my face and live. This is how we know that when it says that Moses knew God face to face, he didn't actually see the face of God. Because though Moses, his heart was very much right with the Lord, he still wore a body of flesh.

That was. Very much given to sin, says no one can see my face and live. It says, but here's what I'm going to do for you. Now, Moses is still not up on the mountain yet. This is an instruction for the next day. We're going to see at the beginning of Chapter 34 that that's when God calls them back up on the mountain. Right now, Moses is still in the tent that he has set up outside of the camp and having this face to face conversation with God.

He says there's going to be a place in the mountain in a rock that I'll show you. And what I want you to do is I want you to get into the crevice of that rock. And to the cleft of that rock, and I will cover you with my hand. I love the physical nature that's used here because it reminds me of the physical nature that was used with us in creation. When it says that God formed man, fashioned him with his own hands as a potter, which would sculpt clay.

That's the idea. Same thing here. He says, I'll cover you with my hand. I love that the hand of protection that God uses is the hand that he will pull back so that Moses can then see the back of God's glory. Amen. I know I've shared this before, but my favorite way that I've ever heard this described was by the pastor that I've served under in Johnson County, Rick Jardine.

He always said God pulled his hand back and allowed Moses to see the afterburners of God's glory. Because that's kind of the idea that's given to us. Basically, when he says you'll see the back of my glory, the idea is the trail of it. So it's the afterburners of God's glory, which we're going to find are going to be so amazing. And as Moses dives deeper in his relationship with God, God answers by protecting him and preserving him, but also by revealing himself in a deeper way.

Brothers and sisters, I don't know where any of us are at tonight. Perhaps you're in a place where those lessons of repentance and restoration are what you needed to hear, because it's time to get back to that heart of understanding the sinfulness of sin and understanding that the true consequences of sin are not going to be the same. The next best thing we can do is truly take action. Perhaps like Moses, you have found yourself wanting to have a face-to-face relationship with God.

I'm no longer content with secondhand messages. I'm no longer content just to hear what somebody else has to say about God's word or who God is. I want to know it for myself. Perhaps you've been living a life that's not content with secondhand messages, but now it's time to dive even deeper into who God is. Dive even deeper. Dive even deeper. Dive even deeper.

even deeper into a relationship with Him. Wherever you are, just keep going. Paul said, this one thing that I do, forgetting what's behind, I press on. I was talking to somebody right before church, and they were talking about the things that are going on in the world and how near the coming of Jesus is. And I believe that this purifying effect that God is having on the church

and on the world right now is because He wants us to be ready for the coming of His glory. And what better way to be ready for the coming of His glory than to already be seeking everything that we can of the character and the nature of God because He loves us so much that it's His desire and His delight to reveal Himself to us. Amen. Father, we come before You.

And Lord, I thank You for the time that we've had in Your Word. Lord, I thank You for this example of the Lord. Of the nation of Israel, Lord. Father, as it tells us in 1 Corinthians 10, these things were written for our example. Lord, for our instruction. And so, Lord, as we see the example last week of what not to do, and we see the instruction this week of what to do,

I pray that we would have the follow-through that we're going to see next time in chapter 34. Lord, that we would not just be inspired, that we would not just be moved, but Lord, that as we are inspired, as we are moved, that we would then take action. Father, purify Your body. Purify us in You. Make us more like You. And I pray, God, that in the heart of everybody that's in this room,

in the heart of anybody that would be watching online, in the heart of everyone that is a true seeker of You, that You would create a hunger. Lord, a hunger that cannot be satisfied in any other way than close fellowship with You. Amen. Can't be satisfied in any other way by getting down on our knees and praying, Lord, show me Your glory. Do that work in our hearts

and prepare us for what You have for us. And we just thank You, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.