Exodus 32:30-33:23 - 2011 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] welcome to expound our weekly worship and verse by verse study of the Bible our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the Word of God in a way that is interactive enjoyable and congregational we call this a textual community let's rejoice and learn God's Word in an interactive and enjoyable new way Oh Lord we thank you for that rain thank you for that that water how our land needs it how our souls are very spirits need to be watered refreshed by your word as Paul wrote in Ephesians the washing of water by the word wash us tonight Lord rain down upon us Thunder in our myths speak to our spirits may your Holy Spirit bring your truth home to our hearts our lives Lord you know exactly what we have been dealing with privately in our families and our businesses you know about our finances you know about our health you know about our relatives you know our anxieties as David prayed Lord search me know me lead me in the way everlasting in Jesus name Amen how many of you prayed for rain good now I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hands but if you prayed for rain I wonder how many of you brought umbrellas very good because after all if you expect God's gonna answer your prayers you prayed for rain and grab the umbrella turn in your Bibles tonight to Exodus chapter 32 you can see as you turn there that chapter 33 only has 23 verses and we were almost done with chapter 32 just a couple verses shy so we've got like 25 26 verses total it's easy to get through 32 and now why do you laugh at me like that it's cuz you know me it it we by faith it's easy to get through all of chapter 33 tonight and take the Lord's Supper together and see how it segues now when you were young I wonder if you were like me I was taught a prayer when I was a little kid and I know to some people it sounds schmaltzy but for me it's just it was a memory now I lay me down to sleep anybody ever taught that prayer here we're as kids okay like a lot of us were now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep it's a good way to start but hopefully you've graduated from that prayer and your prayers are a little deeper than that and filled with more meaning and and perhaps even more than just praying for yourself you actually pray for other people there's intercession involved not just personal petition as we look here into this prayer of Moses at the end of chapter 32 one of the things that strikes us is how much Moses has grown in his relationship with the Lord in his relationship with his people and in his prayer life I want you to just think back and remember some of the earlier prayers of Moses when God first commissioned him and below told Moses that he was going to be the one to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt with God's strong hand that Moses was going to be the ambassador and if you remember Moses prayers weren't any better than now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep for he said Lord what if they won't listen to me and and what if Pharaoh doesn't like me and Lord sends somebody else please several excuses and he didn't want to do it send someone else now we get a window into his heart and we see how much Moses has grown instead of sends somebody else knowing that he is the one that the Lord has sent he will pray intercede on behalf of his people and I just want to bring to your mind what it says in the book of Hebrews concerning Moses at this point I think it fits more than ever before it says choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin he's in the thick of it he's enduring the affliction even now it was a choice that he made and it's a choice he makes again even though you know what has happened we read it last week while Moses was up on the mountain and didn't come down for a period of 40 days while he was receiving revelation from God the people down below were engaged in revelry partying pagan worship they had made a golden calf and even Aaron got caught up in this idolatry and when Moses came down and confronted Aaron with that he goes look Moses it was really weird but I collected the earrings threw it in the fire and out walked this cow dude it was amazing you had to have been there a lame excuse Moses was angry broke the tablets of the law confronted err ground up the Golden Calf made the people drink water with the dust of the burnings of the Golden Calf as if to say this should make you sick to your stomach idolatry should make you sick it's a very very powerful message then again if you remember God made Moses the same deal he made Abraham he said to Abraham I'm gonna make out of you a great nation and it's as if God said to Moses Moses I'm gonna give you the same deal I'm just gonna wipe everyone out start from scratch with you and I'll make a great nation out of you and Moses has grown so much in his prayer life in his relationship with God and his love for the people down in verse 30 of chapter 32 it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people you have committed a great sin so I will go up to the Lord perhaps I can make atonement literally if you remember a covering for your sin and then Moses returned to the Lord and said oh these people have committed a great sin and have made for themselves a God of gold yet now if you will forgive their sin but if not I pray blot me out of your book which you have written we stopped there last week and we asked the question wait a minute is it possible to be blotted out of God's book what does this mean exactly this puzzles us this is a conundrum to us because I thought once we're written in the Lamb's Book of Life you can't have that erased well you're right I believe you can't I believe that once you're written into the Lamb's Book of Life is not like God looks years later go man you know what you're just not really cutting the Christian life thing I'm just going to erase your name so what book is Moses referring to he's referring to the record of the people of Israel remember God told him you're gonna take a census a record of living people all the people who were alive would be the ones recorded in the census a record of those who were alive of the people of Israel as a Crawford cross-reference in Psalm 69 the psalmist speaks of the book of the living the book of the living so you might put it this way when you die physically your name is taken out of the book of the living your no not longer living in this realm on this earth but the book of the living or the book that Moses refers to here probably the record the census that would be taken of the living Israelites is vastly different from what is mentioned in Revelation called the Lamb's Book of Life when you're in that book it's not like God says okay well you're right I'm just going to erase your name you're in it and I believe you're in it permanently and your name won't be erased so this is the record the census of the people of Israel that God told Moses he was was going to take when he got down from the mountain but what a prayer what a change in Moses life at one time saying Lord send somebody else to now saying Lord forgive their sin and if you won't forgive their sin you're gonna kill them then might as well kill me too because I so identify with my people I've chosen to suffer affliction with the people of God you don't have to turn to it I marked it I want to read it to you this sounds very similar to what Paul wrote but Paul was even more profound when in Romans chapter 9 he said I tell the truth in Christ I am not lying my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart for I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren my countrymen according to the flesh speaking of the Israelites like Moses who identified with his people Paul was once a blind Pharisee he knew what it felt like to be blinded as a Jewish Pharisee caught up in trying to keep the law and his heart was grieved that his people wouldn't receive the Messiah and I in identifying with them he announces this back in Exodus 32 the Lord responds in the 33rd verse the Lord said to Moses whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book in other words Moses let me tell you something when I deal with people sin I deal with them individually and personally I don't make you atone for their sin every person is responsible before God for his own deal for his own life so he announces a principle there God deals personally and individually whoever has sinned against me I will blot out his name out of my book now therefore go and lead the people to the place which I have spoken to you so Moses intercession has worked he's prayed for the people he prays that God would lead them to that place behold my angel my messenger we've spent a lot of time in Exodus the touching on that speaking of that shall go before you nevertheless in the day when I visit for punishment I will visit punishment upon them for their sin so the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made so you see two things are at play God's grace and God's government in God's grace he forgave their sin in God's government he punishes their sin or he chastens them that's the better word that's the New Testament word whom the Lord loved he disciplines so in grace God forgives their sin in government God disciplines their deeds he says there's gonna be a payment there's gonna be a reckoning and it says that God made it how he did it we're not told now think back before we get into this next chapter and again it's a short chapter don't worry last week we discovered that man in general has a real problem dealing with an invisible God how do you have a personal relationship when the person you're relating to you can never see it's difficult that is why people have been throughout history driven to make icons images idols something to look at something to relate to and we began last week study where I said finish the sentence in your own mind I picture God as I want to get back to that in closing this chapter and I want to answer that for myself I picture God as and I'll answer that by saying I don't picture God at all I have no image in my mind when I pray that's what God is like and I'm picturing right now that he looks like this and I can see that wispy hair I don't do that because of this principle and of a New Testament principle we walk by faith and not by sight they were driven to cast an image that would remind them of God's strength so they carved out of wood and overlaid with gold a bowl because in Egypt APIs the bowl God was the symbol of strength that was an attribute that they wanted to depict Yahweh as God who is mighty and God who is strong so here's the big deal here's the bottom line here's the main issue the main issue isn't that you can or can't see God so what well I can't see God so the most important point is that God can see you David said where can I go from your presence where can I flee from your spirit if I go to heaven you're there if I make my bed in hell you're there if I take and go to the uttermost parts of the sea behold even there your spirit will guide be even there your hand will direct me I can't escape God God is everywhere and God sees me years ago on television there was a televised live circus act I think it was a weekly program you could see the circus live on television from some spot as part of the Act there was a Bengal tiger performance where there was a cage in the middle of the circus ring middle of the floor a large cage several Tigers inside the trainer would go in in the middle of the act the lights would flash onto the cage the door would lock behind him and he would put the Tigers through their paces one evening in the middle of the television show in the middle of the program as it was being filmed all of the lights went out a power failure for the stage lighting so it went out when the trainer had gone through the door and it locked behind him and all those Tigers were inside and the door went cold and for twenty to thirty long agonizingly long seconds that trainer was in there he didn't move he couldn't see those Tigers but he knew they could see him there were cats they can see in the dark no problem they could see him their eyes were on him and then the lights went on eventually and he finished the performance and put those Tigers through their paces no matter where you go no matter where you hang no matter what company you hang out with not the tiger but the lion of the tribe of juda can see he sees whether you see or feel or experience at that moment him or not isn't the big issue he sees you he knows all about you just like at the beginning part of this book God said I have seen their affliction I've heard their cries and and come down to deliver now verse one then the Lord said to Moses depart and go up from here you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt to the land which I swore to Abraham Isaac and Jacob saying to your descendants I will give it and I will send my angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite and the amorite and the hittite and termite know and the perizzite and the hivite and the jebusite six nations are mentioned six ethnic groups that comprise the Canaanite civilization in the land of Canaan also to be known as the State of Israel later on the Land of Israel that God gave to them go up to a land flowing with milk and honey just hold on to that term at another study I'll explain that that term tea it's a great history behind that for I will not go up in your midst notice that I will not go up in your midst lest I consume you on the way for you are a stiff-necked people out I just mentioned something and I want to tie this thought together at the beginning part of this book I think it was chapter 3 the Lord noticed something about the people of Israel he noticed that they were afflicted I have seen their affliction I know their sorrows I've heard their cries now God notices something else about them they are recalcitrant they are stiff neck they are stubborn they dig their heels in what's changed it's the same group of people it's the same God I would say that their heart toward God has changed their heart toward God they were God please deliver us we'll serve you and then they said to Moses Moses go up on the mountain man there's a lot of smoke and lightning and stuff going on we don't want to go but just find out what God wants and we'll do everything everything everything they said it a few times that's why I said it three times Moses didn't even get down the mountain and they're already worshiping a golden calf so God says you know what I did notice that they were afflicted and in my grace I delivered them but I also noticed their stiff necked stubborn rebellious people and so God will act in discipline toward them same principle that we saw previously and when the people heard this bad news they mourned a very strong Hebrew word it means to mourn when somebody you love dies it's that kind of mourning it's a deep-seated grief the people heard this they mourn this is good and no one put on his ornaments ornaments were not just earrings and jewelry they did that they were pagan ornaments they got them from Egypt they were worshiping a golden calf they engaged in a worship of Yahweh that was not what God wanted it was resembling pagan culture those were the kind of earrings associated with it they mourned no one put on his ornaments for the Lord had said to Moses say to the children of Israel you are a stiff-necked people I could come into your midst in one moment and consume you now therefore take off your ornaments that I may know what to do to you so the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb they took off the accoutrements of false worship and they stood humble before the Lord I mentioned this is a good thing this is actually the first indication that there's contrition of heart that they're sorry for what they have done they realize now how bad this idolatry was and the idea of mourning as if somebody died that relationship of intimacy that they craved had died and now the relationship looked like it was going to turn a little bit was it going to be like what they anticipated and so they mourn now God told Moses not only Moses these are a stiff-necked people but I have a message I want you to tell them tell them that they are a stiff-necked people that be a hard sermon to preach sometimes preachers are sent by God to deliver a hard message and some preachers won't do it they won't really teach what the Bible says they'll just pick and choose what they like that the Bible says so it's all hooray and a hoop law and a hue party every week for the Lord but sometimes and if you do this if you teach through all of the Bible you will get to some very difficult passages that you may not like and you may not want to preach but the Lord sends embassadors to speak to his people Moses I want you to tell them what I told you that there are stiff-necked people it's part of the rebuke so we gave that message it wasn't his favorite message to give he'd much rather go God loves you you're okay no problem let's sing another song I have the worship team come up and we'll just get happy but he said you know what strip off your ornaments Lord's pretty bummed out you're a stiff-necked people and he preached that message no God says my my full presence isn't going to go with you my angel is gonna go he's gonna direct you my messenger but I'm not gonna dwell with you in in my fullness because I'd wipe you out I could wipe you out in a moment in reading this we may be mistaken to think oh this is the wrath of God you see there it is again the god of the Old Testament is a god of Wrath but the god of the New Testament is so gracious and loving that would be a mistake this isn't a display of God's wrath is a display of God's grace he doesn't want them to die he doesn't want them to be consumed that's why he says I can't hang with you in the same way I am so holy you are so sinful that if I were to dwell with that immediate full kind of presence just like wax melts when the Sun bursts upon it these people would be consumed in an instant maybe a better illustration maybe not a better illustration but certainly a more one that comes to my mind is if you remember Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when the Nazi opened the Ark of the Covenant and he melted like wax remember that because of the presence of God I always think back to this when I saw that movie I think wow that sounds like Exodus God says that could happen to you what happened to that Nazi that could happen II of course that wasn't around and so so the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb Mount Horeb it's part of the chain of Mount Sinai it's a smaller mountain right next to Mount Sinai they mourned I said that's a good thing do you know that Jesus said blessed are those who mourn blessed happy there there was years ago a a movement within the church a holy laughter movement where people were laughing falling down on the ground uncontrollably laughing and then blaming it on the Holy Spirit I feel so bad sometimes for the Holy Spirit he gets the bad rap for the stupid things that people do just laughing that's their church service they get together and just laugh it's like oh that's the joy of the Lord I can't help and they just laugh and they laugh it's interesting that in the Beatitudes Jesus ever said blessed are those who laugh said blessed are those who mourn they shall be comforted when we realize the holy nature of God and the sinful nature of man it causes two things to happen the first and second beatitude basically blessed are the poor in spirit I recognize them bankrupt before God and then second blessed are those who mourn they will be comforted I'm mourn over that I go god I'm so sorry for that like these people were mourning for what they had done another passage I marked they want to read to you don't worry I'm mindful of the time we'll make it second Corinthians chapter 7 I'll read it to you Paul wrote a very hard letter sort of like a Moses message it's called first Corinthians sort of a message that says Corinthians are stiff-necked and so he writes 2nd Corinthians he said for even if I made you sorry with my letter I don't regret it though I did regret it for I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry though only for a while now I rejoice not that you were made sorry but that your sorrow led to repentance for you were made sorry in a godly manner that you might suffer loss from us and nothing for godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation not to be regretted but the sorrow of the world produces death the key word there is repentance godly sorrow brings repentance did you know that repentance is a key note in the New Testament I know I know many churches today won't even mention repentance yet how do they read the New Testament the very first message John the Baptist ever gave was repent the first words recorded out of Jesus mouth repent when he came to his public ministry basically there's three responses we can have to our sinful condition response number one we can be like the Pharisee in Luke chapter eighteen who Jesus had prayed thus with himself lord I thank you that I'm not like others especially like that tax collector I give my tithes I fast twice a week and we can start saying you know I'm better than a lot of other people that's one way we can deal with our sinful condition we can say I may be bad but there's a lot a lot of worse people and a lot of church people that are worse than me there are hypocrites number two you can acknowledge your sinful condition and decide I'm gonna fix myself that's the route of I'll buy a self-help book I'll pull myself up by my books my bootstraps I can do it number three you can go the way that I mentioned that Jesus told us in the Beatitudes blessed are the poor in spirit I acknowledge my condition blessed are those who mourn I repent of my condition Oh Paul said you know what it made you sorry I'm glad because it brought forth repentance a change in you it brought forth the least in the beginning a change in the people of Israel in Exodus 33 then Moses took his tenth verse seven notice his tent and pitched it outside the camp far from the camp as if Moses saying I don't know if I want to be with these folks but I'll explain and he called it that is his tent he called it the tabernacle of meeting now don't get this confused with the tabernacle that hasn't been built yet only the blueprints have been given he called it the tabernacle of meeting and it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp okay the tabernacle itself the structure where the animals would be sacrificed the structure where the high priest would go in once a year the place where the priest would officiate daily that would be built and would occupy a central position in the camp of Israel right to be right in the middle this is different this is a different tent it's called the tent of meeting it's a place where God is going to speak to Moses and so whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle that is his tent which he pitched outside that all the people rose and each man stood in his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle and it came to pass when Moses entered the tabernacle that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle that is Moses tent and the Lord talked with Moses question why did Moses bring this tent his tent and pitch it outside the camp answer I believe because the camp of Israel had been defiled by the golden calf they brought in a false god or they brought in an image to worship the true God in a false manner it defiled the camp they in essence by their idolatry were pushing God out away from them they push God out it was their deal it was their fault I wasn't like God said well I'm out of here I don't want to be with you they said we don't want you and they defiled the camp and God was pushed out now I want to connect a dot with you in Revelation chapter 1 John sees a vision of Jesus Christ you know the story glorious vision but he sees Jesus with seven stars and seven lampstands and the angel says John the mystery of the seven stars is that the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches whereas the lampstands are the churches themselves and she is the one you saw is walking in the midst of his church he's with them he's in fellowship with them when we get into Revelation chapter 2 it says to the angel of the Church of Ephesus write these things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands I know your works your labor your patience you cannot bear those who are evil you've tested those who are say they're apostles and or not you found them to be liars and you have persevered you have patience blah blah blah you get A's in your report card nevertheless I have this against you you have left your first love remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the first works or else or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent I'll remove the lampstand from its place well where's its place well Jesus is walking in the midst of the lampstand so it's places in the presence of Jesus that's the that's the place of God's people in the in the presence of Jesus Jesus is saying I'm gonna remove the lampstand from out of its place in other words I will not be around a church that has pushed me out I won't be in fellowship with them I won't walk any more with them I'll remove the lampstand from its place now all of this that's happening in the Old Testament in the 33rd chapter once again is an act of God's grace at least there is a tent where Moses can go and the people of Israel can go to meet with God until that Tabernacle will be built in the center of the of the camp with its sacrifices etc this is an act of grace and God is saying you know what I'm gonna lead you there my angel is gonna go before you you are gonna get the land God was acting in grace and in government remember both of those things simultaneously but I do see all of this as an act of God's graciousness it says in Romans I love this Romans chapter 5 where sin abounds grace does much more abound here's a better translation when sin reaches the high-water mark grace overflows that is you and I can never erect a barrier a dam of sin so tall that God's grace can't overflow its banks I love this about God back in 1492 just before you know what happened there was a coin in Spain that on one side had printed a a motif a picture of the Straits of Gibraltar the Rock of Gibraltar and the Straits through which boats would enter an exit it was believed that the Straits of Gibraltar was the edge of the world there was nothing more beyond that and so it had a motif of the Straits of Gibraltar and underneath was written these words nay plus ultra no more beyond well as the year progressed 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue and he came back to Spain and he said well boys guess what we've discovered more this isn't the edge of civilization this isn't the end of the world there's much more beyond this so they recast the coin and it said plus ultra mmm there's more beyond when it comes to God's grace and our sin there's more beyond you how but I failed there's more grace beyond yeah but I blew it there's more grace beyond and God doesn't give up on his people verse 8 chapter 33 so it was whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle keep in mind this is the tent now though just the his tent pitched outside the camp that all the people rose and each man stood in the tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle why because it was a sight to behold that that pillar of cloud that directed them so far went over to where Moses was and came down and stood at the entranceway and Moses was there in the presence of that cloud that depicted the very presence of God that must have been a sight hey look at the clouds moving Moses must be hanging out in his tent let's go see came to pass when Moses entered the tabernacle that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked with Moses and the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door and all the people rose and worship literally in Hebrew rose and bowed down they looked at it and then they bowed any as if to bow toward that cloud which to them represented God and the Lord one of my favorite verses in the Bible the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend and he would return to the camp but his servant Joshua the son of nun a young man did not depart from the tabernacle when it says the Lord spoke to Moses face to face it's a figure of speech in Hebrew it's literally spoke to him mouth to mouth that is plainly in conversational tone not in a riddle not in an enigma not with a dark saying just plain speech like hey Moses how you doing something he could understand mouth to mouth like a man speaks to his friend hey what's up what's going on what are you doing in numbers chapter 12 God said if there is a prophet among you I will speak to him in a dream or in a vision but not so with my servant Moses for he is faithful in all my house with him I speak plainly not in dark sayings just plain conversation I love to just talk to the Lord Lord how you doing here's what's on my heart and just honestly openly plainly in a normal conversation I don't feel the need to suck wind when I talk to God I don't feel I have to go oh god I just figured God's my friend and I won't buy any points if I got all emotional I can just oh Lord here's the deal the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend how do you speak to the Lord like a friend a lot of people speak to God like like they speak to a doctor I'll be more specific they speak to God like when they talked to an emergency room doctor it's a crisis it's an emergency am I gonna live I'm gonna be alright what's that blood how deep is it and some people only come to God in a crisis they don't talk to God as a friend they talk to him like an emergency room doctor other people don't talk to God as a friend they talked to God like they would talk to a mother-in-law I'm just I'm just saying I'm just using a very common you all get it I have a wonderful relationship with my mother-in-law but some don't many don't and so they talked to their mothers-in-law begrudgingly other people will talk to God like they talked to a police officer they put on a little bit of a show they'll explain to the officer why it's really not my fault I didn't do anything wrong a lot of people talk to God that way better to talk to God plainly and have the Lord talked to you because he will plainly hear like a man speaks to his friend and Moses said to the Lord see you say to me bring up this people but you have not let me know whom you will send with me yet you have said I know you by name and I and you have found grace in my sight now therefore I pray if I have found grace in your sight show me now your way that I may know you and that I may find grace in your sight and consider that this nation is your people he prays for three things as I see it number one he prays for relationship excuse me leadership he prays for leadership notice that he says I pray show me now your way here's the deal okay Lord you told us to go from here I need your guidance I need your direction for my life I need your direction for these people as leaders I think all leaders should ask God for direction I love it when a leader of a nation a leader of a city a leader of a state ask God for direction I had a fun lunch today I got to have lunch with our mayor the mayor of Albuquerque and speak about his life in his relationship with the Lord and how much he loves Bible study he said and how he says he often Tunes in Wednesday night to hear our the Bible study so shout out to the mayor if he's listening but there you go but as I was listening I thought would to God that all public leaders would say love Bible study love getting into the word always need guidance from the Lord because I've discovered God wants to direct our lives he wants to provide guidance but James put it this way you have not because you ask not I think God's kind of sitting over there going boy I have a lot of Direction I'd like to give you but you never ask or James put it this way or you ask a Miss that you might consume it upon your own lusts you asked for the wrong motives my first car was a 1967 Plymouth I was a Christian I thought that the Lord could do better than that for me because I had prayed for a car I needed transportation I needed transportation didn't have money bought a 67 Plymouth for $37 even then it was like you're kidding UVA gave it to you but the reason I got a cheap the guy didn't want it was my brother okay he didn't want it it was primer gray bondo all over the sides of the car had no muffler and was missing second gear so you'd go from first to third and I got it and I thought hard that's not really what I had in mind I knew what I wanted the Lord knew what I needed I got around I drove around I made it it transported me wasn't what I wanted but I discovered what I wanted is I prayed that I might consume it on my own lust because I wanted I wanted some show not just go I wanted to show there was no show in this car it was completely an act of humility to drive it anywhere and humiliation but he prays for God's guidance show me your way second thing he prays for his relationship notice that I might know you I don't want to just know your guidance I don't want to just know the direction I want to know you Lord I want to know you who does that sound like anybody come to mind that I might know you Paul the Apostle book of Philippians he said all of the things that were gained in to me I counted loss and I do count them loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I might gain him and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the law but the righteousness which is of faith in Jesus Christ that I might know him and the power of his resurrection and the Fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable even unto his death here's the startling thing about Paul's prayer he had walked with the Lord for thirty years when he said that I may might know him that's humbling you Paul you've walked with the Lord 30 years you've established churches all over the world miracles have been done by your hand and you're still praying that you want to know God deeper more yep you never stop you never plateau he prays for leadership he prays for a relationship I want to know your way I want to know you personally the third thing he prays for his partnership Bree says and that I might find grace in your sight and consider that this nation is your people Lord I want to know that with you the channels are always open and that is the mediator of this covenant that you're the director still that your hand is directing us me that I know you and that the channels are always open that this is an ongoing process partnership and he said my presence will go with you and I will give you rest by the way that's in the singular if I wanted to translate it quite literally I would say it's this way my presence will go with you Moses and I will give you Moses rest not necessarily all of the people experienced the rest that Moses will experience on this long journey and he said to him this is Moses now speaking if your presence does not go with us do not bring us from here well what a good prayer okay lord thank you for that because you know what if you're not going with us why even bother taking taking us we'll just die right here because if you're not going with us I don't want to go anywhere I'd rather be right here where you are then go anywhere without you and that's true that's a true principle anywhere you go in the will of God is better than the best place on earth out of the will of God for how then will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight except you go with us so we will be separate your people and I from all the people who are upon the face of the earth so the Lord said to Moses I will also do this thing that you have spoken for you have found grace in my sight and I know you by name next verse I'm thinking but I'm looking at the time and then he said please show me your glory okay Moses I'm going with you no problem Lord wait wait wait before you go here's my big request here's the please show me your glory stop and think about this think of all that Moses in his lifetime has seen with his own eyes he has seen a bush burning and yet not be consumed have you ever seen one of those I never have he saw with his eyes plagues torment Egypt unmistakeably miraculously have you ever seen that I never have he saw a body of water the Red Sea opened up and dry land appear have you ever seen that I never have he saw with his own eyes a pillar of cloud descend whenever he talked to God and he heard God's voice have you ever seen or heard that I haven't you'd think that a guy who's seen all that and heard all that would be like satisfied and say God just for the record I'm really happy just as things are I really don't need any further revelation of you I don't he goes not enough not enough I've seen all that really cool next show me your glory show me your glory and then he said I will make my goodness pass before you I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion let me ring a bell Paul quotes this in Romans chapter 9 as well but he said you cannot see my face for no one shall see me and live no matter how sophisticated we become or theologically well-informed we are at our very core we want something that we will not get until we get to heaven and that is we all want to see God we want that we want to see we want to see with our eyes God we won't be satisfied until we see God Psalm 17 verse 15 I will be satisfied when I awake in your likeness or as the New Living Translation puts it I will be satisfied when I see you face to face friend of mine is a surge in a general surgeon goes to Africa quite a bit doctor dick Furman he said every day after his surgery rounds when he was working in Africa he would go through the cemetery he'd love to read gravestones and he would write them down if there were scriptures and go home and look him up at night there was nothing else to do so he would look up gravestone scriptures at night get ready for surgery the next day one day he walked through a graveyard not knowing what it was and saw on a gravestone the word satisfied and underneath Psalm 17 15 when home looked it up and it dawned on him the psalmist said I'll be satisfied when I see your face to face and on that gravestone it was written satisfied now I'm satisfied all my life I've been longing for this and now finally at death I'm in God's presence I'm satisfied Moses said Lord show me your glory can I just add a quick note to that you know when Moses prayer was answered Luke chapter 9 Jesus is transfigured before his disciples with Moses and Elijah the full glory of God revealed on that mountain and the person of Jesus Christ took a long time but the perverse answer verse 20 he said you can see you can't see my face no one shall see me and live and the Lord said here is a place by me and you shall stand on the rock no Paul does tell us in first Timothy chapter 6 that God dwells in unapproachable light whom no man has seen nor will see John writes in his Gospel John chapter one no man has seen God at any time and then again in first John no man has seen God at any time so what do we do with scriptures like Genesis chapter 32 or Jacob wrestled with the angel and called the name of the place God's face penny el for he said I have seen God's face and I haven't been destroyed or Isaiah chapter 6 in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord High and lifted up or all of those other instances in the Old Testament where people said they saw the Lord the way to reconcile that is to discover in those passages what is told to us explained to us in the New Testament in those passages often is a reference to the angel of the Lord meeting with somebody and then the person says I've seen God face to face I believe it's a pre incarnate representation it's a pre incarnate appearance of Christ in the Old Covenant a theophany theologians call that a christophany some are more precise Colossians chapter 1 Paul says Jesus is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of all creation who ever seen me has seen the father verse 22 it shall be while my glory passes by and I get this this is this is a trip and we're closing the chapter my glory passes by so I'm gonna hide you in a rock so be when my glory passes by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and will cover you with my hand while I pass by and then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back but my face shall not be seen whatever it was it was some limited revelation not the full revelation of God's glory because like the Nazi in the movie Moses too would melt you can't do that Moses no MIT nobody can handle it it's just like if you were to stare at the Sun with your eyes you damage your eyes your whole being would melt in my glorious presence so I'm gonna pass by and after I pass while I'm taking my hand away you're gonna see my back now in Hebrew commentaries they will use the word and I've seen it before you will see my afterglow as if God's passing with some fiery demonstration some bright fiery glow like the lightning and thunder and fire on Mount Sinai that Moses had a glimpse of somehow and God said okay I'm gonna pass by but you're gonna see the afterglow and I'm gonna proclaim my name as I go so he saw his Africa it's sort of like for me this is the best way I can acknowledge it if you're on a surfboard you're sitting in the ocean you're waiting for a wave and it's flat there's like no ways but a big old boat can zoom by you don't really see it it's a loom just wait a moment just wait a moment and the wake of the boat that will create little waves ripples and lifts you up not enough to stand up on and do anything with but you'll feel the effect of it the result of it the wake the afterglow of God is he passed by you shall see my back but my face shall not be seen so here's the principle God is known by the results he leaves behind I'm gonna proclaim my name in chapter 34 we will have that name declared in just a moment we're gonna take the elements of the Lord's Supper as we do I want to propose something to you that we just mentioned Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit blessed are those who mourn the word blessed macario's means oh how happy now that sounds like a contradiction happy are those who are sad happy are those who mourn happy are those who recognize their poverty of spirit joy is found in sorrow when the sorrow is I evaluate my life before the Lord I'm genuinely sorry contritely sorry for my sin and I am ever so grateful for the sacrifice on the cross the blood that was shed the body that was broken that allows me to experience the afterglow and eventually full face-to-face fellowship with God

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 6,038

Rating: 4.9047618 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Jesus, Exodus, Sermon

Id: JPZKt-qRZdk

Length: 58min 7sec (3487 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 19 2018