Exodus 33:1-11 - I AM Present With You

[Music] our text uh this morning is not going to be terribly long just the first 11 chapters of exodus chapter 33. and i think it deals with something really remarkable it deals with a dynamic that's going to continue this sunday and then the next sunday that we're in the book of exodus dealing with just sort of that question where do you go from here let's remind ourselves the people of israel have just experienced a terrible self-inflicted trauma the self-inflicted trauma was this whole a mess with the golden calf this idol made of gold which they in a very public and demonstrative way praised it as the god that brought them out of egypt and there was following that a some show of repentance on behalf of the people of israel that there was some sense of judgment because there were three thousand hardened defiant uh rebels who who were killed on that day but after all of that after all of that trauma you just sort of left with this question where do we go from here and i don't know if you've ever experienced that i suppose you have in some area or another of your life something bad happens and maybe you've done it to yourself maybe not but then where do you go from here and these next two studies that we do in the book of exodus it's really going to help answer that look at it here verse 1 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 saw 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 the perizzite and the hivite and the jebusite go up to a land flowing with milk and honey for i will not go up in your midst lest i consume you on the way for you are a stiff-necked people that's remarkable isn't it now it's remarkable because first of all it starts out with some good news look at the good news right there in verse one depart and go up from here to the land to your descendants i will give it you see somebody might have had reason to believe that after the sin of the golden calf which was horrible but they might have reason to believe that after the sin of the golden calf god would have taken back his promise to give the land of canaan to the people of israel and who would have blamed him if he would have let that golden calf lead you into the land of canaan uh israel see how that works out for you as for you guys i'm done with you i'm not gonna wipe you out i'm not gonna judge you but i'm done with you i'm finished with you but god said no no the promised land is still yours i haven't fallen back on any of those promises i promise it to abraham i promise it to isaac i promise it to jacob and you are their descendants here this is for you and that's really a show of god's grace okay so one very good thing great the promised land it's still yours secondly verse two and i will send my angel before you and will drive out the canaanite look i'm gonna send some help along with the way i'm going to send an angel there for you you see after the sin of the golden calf god did not deny israel the blessing or the grace of his protection he promised to be with them in some way i will send my angel to fight with them in the promised land now friends right here starting at verse two it gets a little bit complicated and i hope i can explain this well enough as i look down at my bible which by the way is a new king james version bible i don't think it's the only good translation out there but the one that i favor for a few different reasons if you want to know why talk to me afterwards or something like that i'm happy to explain it to you but anyway here we are in verse 2 of my bible when it says and i will send my angel okay i look at those words and my is capitalized you know why my is capital because it's god speaking but by the way i just want to inform you that the ancient manuscripts for both the old testament didn't have capital letters and small letters back then they wrote in something like all capital letters so when we capitalize in the bible you know it's it's the translator helping us okay but it makes sense my angel my capitalized because god is speaking but if you notice then angel in the new king's version that is also capitalized now why would angel be capitalized because sometimes in the bible and previously in the book of exodus when god has described the angel of his presence it seems to be a manifestation of who he is it's god himself with the people if you were to go back and i'm not asking you to turn back there but back in exodus chapter 23 verses 20 through 23 it seems to describe god being with them the angel that has my name in him which is a way of describing god himself there's a passage in isaiah 63 verse 9 that i'll just read it to you it looks back at the exodus and it says this in all their affliction he was afflicted and the angel of his presence saved them okay now so there's an angelic presence that's actually a manifestation of god himself very possibly jesus christ himself before he ever appeared as a baby in bethlehem there with the people of israel but then there's also a such thing as it's kind of a weird phrase to use but i'll use it just sort of a generic angel an angel angel okay i think here in verse 2 it's speaking about just an angel angel why well because if you look at verse 3 look at it there with me it says i will not go up in your midst. in other words god says i'll send an angel there's an angel i'll send with you yeah i'll go across the maybe get some flunky angel off the choirs of heaven or something like that i'll send him with you that's fine i'm not going to leave you without any protection i'm not going to leave you without any you know support from above no you'll have it but me god says i'm not going to go with you no not me there will be something lacking in my divine presence with you i'm not going to abandon you completely but neither am i going to give myself to you unreservedly this is almost as if god said this he says i'm not going to get so close to you because i just might wipe you out along the way if you pull one of those golden calf things again i mean really that's what he's saying look at what he says i'll just read it to you guys go up to a land flowing with milk and honey for i will not go up in your midst lest i consume you on the way for you're a stiff-necked people okay so do you notice what god says here after the first three chapters first three verses track along with us okay israel i haven't taken back the promise of the promised land it's all yours go on to canaan and i'll even send an angel along the way to help you out to make sure you get there but i at least in my immediate powerful presence i will not go with you now how does that sound to you how did it sound to israel you could say that this was a challenge to moses and to the people of israel as a whole god told them they could have the promised land but he would not remain with them in a close and personal way now if they said fine god that's great but because all we want is the land because all we want is a little bit of protection along the way as long as you give us that great but i think what god wanted to see from israel right here maybe a bit of a test from the lord not maybe i think it is i think it's a test from the lord to israel saying do you want me do you want me or do you just want the land do you just want the good things i can give you or do you just want a little bit of help along the way friends the the text that we have in front of us this morning it deals with things that are actually deeply spiritual you know sometimes we read the bible and it speaks to us in very practical aspects of our life and we're very happy about that we're happy to receive the practical instruction from the bible on on how we should live our life but there's other times when the bible speaks to us in a very spiritual way and friends i i know that when i look out across this room there's people who are coming from all different sort of spiritual backgrounds and where you're at right now is different places and in what god is doing in your life and what he has done in the past but but i just want to use this as a check as an analysis as a measuring line for your life to say simply do you want the lord in your life or are you happy with just with the good things that he gives you okay god if you give me a nice house if you give me a good job if you give me a happy family life if you give me those things and if you'll be with me a little bit every day great god that's all i want from you that's basically what he offered to israel and god sort of pushed this out on the table israel do you want this israel will you be happy with that arrangement or will there be something that awakens in your soul that says lord unless we have you in the fullest measure all that other stuff is empty god was seeing if israel had any heart for him not just the good things that he gives not just the emblem of his presence but do you want me friends and all those other things a good life we have a good life here in santa barbara don't we we're blessed by god some of you thought it was a weather crisis because it was a little foggy on the on the way to church this morning oh we're so blessed but god has given us so much and we're grateful for it's okay lord we live in such a beautiful place and my family is doing good and the business is going okay and and i i'm just happy in life and i know you're with me that's great friends if that will satisfy your soul i don't think you're reaching deep enough i i think there's something that needs to be awakened in your heart and mind that says jesus i want you and i want you in the fullness i want you in the greatest measure possible you see in truth all those other things that we can have we without the reality of god's presence in our life are gonna come up short in some way you can have canaan you can have your land you can have your freedom you can have your riches you can have all of that but there's a sense in which it's going to come up empty without the reality of god's presence and god was testing israel now to see if they felt that need it's strange i i i've thrown out these words here my heart is behind them and the text explains us to us but these are things that are dif i pray the holy spirit awakens your heart to some of these things right here right now so how were the people going to react i imagine people moving up on the edge of their seat to see how israel's going to react to all this look at it right here verse 4. and when the people heard this bad news they mourned i'm just going to stop right there bad news how could it be bad news to hear that you're going to get canaan how could it be bad news to hear that god's going to send some emissary of his presence with that's good news isn't it no why was it bad news because god said i'm going to keep my distance from you let's start again here verse 4 and when the people heard this bad news they mourned and no one put on his ornaments for the lord had said to moses say to the children of israel you're a stiff-necked people i would have come up to 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 friends it's really remarkable verse 4 says that they mourned and no one put on his ornaments this was a wonderful response to israel they heard this news you can have canaan you can have something of my presence but i'm going to keep distant from you and they said that's bad news because lord what good is cain and if you're not there with us in a close way what what good is to have a little bit of angelic bodyguard along the way if you're not going to be there with us in a beautiful and powerful way you see they mourned the potential loss of god's close presence there's anything just sort of aching in my heart i just think that i i just wish i long i pray that this would be reawakened in the church today honestly lives of compromise that christians live where they love the lord they look they they're saved they're going to heaven but their lives are lived at a low compromising level there's no real passion for jesus christ now why well look i got to say one of the great things and i'm not going to say it's the only thing but one of the great things involved there's probably not much passion for god's presence because those things those those dozen little compromises that we wink out in our life don't you think they push out any great close sense of the presence of the lord in our life but if there's no mourning of that loss it's like well whatever man i got my house i got canaan i got whatever you see there's something not fitting right in the way god wants us to live so what do they do is beautiful take off the ornaments this isn't time for business as usual no no no um we we can't go on as if everything is the same they mourned here their mourning was evidence of repentance and not just mourning it wasn't just feel bad i i i think it would be funny if the text said something like this and they mourned but kept their ornaments you know sometimes we're just content to feel bad in our heart but not do anything with our life and the expression that they had was to say you know what i can't go on living this decorated life as before i go to acknowledge something's wrong something's missing something's failing this ornament this one thing that sparkled so nice that i thought was so wonderful forget it i don't need it i don't want it in some strange way it might be getting in the way between me and the lord and if it does cast it off lord i just want your presence they needed this because as god says in verse five you're a stiff-necked people you're stubborn you're like that donkey or ox you know god's spoken agricultural metaphors to israel you're like that donkey or ox that won't bend its neck to my work you got a stiff neck and they responded verse 6 says so the children of israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by mount horeb the people displayed their repentance and their mourning by not wearing their ornaments they knew it was no time for decorating the external things it was a time for bringing the heart right with god that's a beautiful thing friends i see two huge things that israel has already done number one they there was an evidence of their need lord we want you lord it's bad news to us if we get canaan if we get some emblem of your presence but we don't get you that's bad news to us it's not good news that's one they mourned then secondly they they repented get rid of the ornaments let me read you a quote from martin lloyd jones he says the people who are concerned about revival in a true sense are not just out for a little bit of excitement or interest or some happiness or phenomena or coming with an attitude of something marvelous is going to happen and now we're going to have a great good time that is now how they think about it at all that is not how they think about it at all and if you my dear friends are simply thinking about meetings and excitement and something wonderful you have not begun to understand this matter why do i share that quote from lloyd jones because to me it speaks me something very pointedly about the true nature of revival and what it is for people to get right with god it's not just excitement it's not just a rush of yahoo now that's involved in it i don't want to ask is let's have revival and everybody be depressed as absolutely possible but what i'm just saying is so often the gateway to true revival is repentance it's a mourning and saying lord it stinks the way it's been god would you move in my heart and the hearts of others to just change this i'm not just looking for an excitement i'm looking for you now by the way exodus chapter 35 later on will show how the ornaments that they strip themselves of they were used in the building of the tabernacle god said i'll take these things these things that you thought were in the way i'm gonna use them on the way for my work for you verse seven moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp far from the camp and 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 wasn't that beautiful in the midst of this really wonderful news in israel friends i don't know how many days maybe it was a couple of weeks i can't tell you for sure but in some fairly short time from the golden calf to this it's been a remarkable transformation i think that's wonderful i'll say this if you were dancing around a golden calf last night this morning you can have your heart awakened to god don't think that god has to put you on some probationary period right now you can have it changed right now your life can be transformed right now you can say yes jesus forget about that stuff i want what you have for me and you see it awakening here in verse seven where moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp and he called it a tabernacle of meeting you see they hadn't built the tabernacle yet they hadn't made that tent that's later on in the book of exodus they hadn't built it yet so you know what moses says because i'm going to make my tent a tabernacle of meeting it's almost like this they say well we haven't built the church yet my house is the church come on over let's worship god i'm going to seek the lord most as long as i'm concerned my home my tent is a sacred place to god let's seek him there together and it's beautiful it's a powerful thing and it's not something that moses organized or planned or strategized he sought god moses said i'm going to seek god i'm going to make my home like a tabernacle or a church and he sought god radically and spontaneously and when he did that other people noticed and they followed so they would follow moses out moses says you know what just to get a little bit of space a little bit of separation i'm gonna go i'm gonna leave out of the camp i don't know where you guys are at but my heart's hungering after the lord let's set that tempt up out there and i'm gonna go and seek the lord out there that's what it says in verse seven everyone who sought the lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp now look there's another reason why moses set that tabernacle outside the camp because he wanted to make a clear dividing line for those who were willing to separate and come and join in this you see it meant that everyone who wanted to seek the lord had to separate in some sense and you can assume that not everybody wanted to do this some people refuse they never separate they say listen if if seeking the lord means going all the way out to moses 10 i'm not interested i don't want to separate from anybody else in any other way but friends i just have to say that when god's spirit begins to deal in the heart of a man or a woman and they're really awakened to seeking god and to receiving from him in a deeper way they're saying lord canaan isn't enough an emblem of your presence is enough i need you there's going to be some element of separation in that and i can't describe what that element is going to look like i really can't but i'll just say there's going to be some element of separation because not everybody around you is going to be into that not everybody around is going to go hey great that's wonderful you're seeking the lord like you never have before hey isn't it great you're dissatisfied with just the blessings of god and you want god himself that's not going to sound like such a sweet tune to everybody and if you're absolutely unwilling to have any element of separation there's only so far you can go with the lord let me say that again if you're absolutely unwilling to have any element of separation there's only so far that you can go with the lord man this this is difficult for many people is it not i know at times it's difficult for me i hope i'm not the only one in the room that's like this you you don't want to separate yourself or make yourself feel well i'm spiritual and you guys well okay the answer to that is don't do it in a stupid holier than thou start speaking king james english or being weird kind of thing you know a vast awayeth from me you sinner you know that or you know that's kind of old generational weirdness how about our modern genera you don't have to be weird about it but you just have to be true about it i'm seeking the lord in a special way i'd be delighted if others came with me but i'm going no matter what because the lord is more precious to me sometimes i just find this dynamic in me and i don't know maybe sometimes it's in other people too you almost feel like you're in junior high all over again and it's like please won't everybody like me he said we're grown-ups aren't we haven't we gotten over that haven't we realized that seeking the lord means in some way in some sense that there just may be some separation between us and other people or other things but it's worth it look at it here in verse 8. so it was whenever moses went out to the tabernacle that all the people rose and each man stood at 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 and the lord talked with moses and all the people saw the pillar of clouds standing on the tabernacle door and all the people rose and worshiped each man in his tent door isn't that amazing you know god is moving among the congregation of israel even after the disaster of the golden idol the golden idol's gone it's crushed they drank it it was powdered in their drink it's gone it's finished the people now the lord we want you we just don't want your blessings we just don't want to emblem of your presence we want you and then the next step moses says okay great i'm going to set my tent outside of the camp and i'm going to worship there moses does that and as he says god has such a blessing upon it that it says that whenever moses went out to the tabernacle all the people rose can you imagine that i was like well i'm going to go out to the tabernacle worship the lord he starts walking that way everybody starts standing around him now i don't believe they're standing just primarily in reverence to moses because notice what it says here in verse 8 or excuse me verse 9 it says the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle do you remember what we're talking about with the pillar of cloud i wish i knew what it's what it meant what what it really described the uh hebrew there supposedly i mean look i'm no hebrew scholar i can't read hebrew i just read books from guys who can but but according to some hebrew scholars the the idea of of the pillar there just means a standing thing we don't know exactly what it looked like but imagine some kind of pillar some kind of standing thing right there arising from moses it's the emblem of the presence of god the glorious presence of god the the pillar of cloud9 and there's this thing that just manifests god's presence his glory his his magnificence right there standing right there at the door of moses's tent can you imagine what a thrill moses must have felt to see that there the glory of god has come upon my house the glory of god is evident and that's where the people stood they stood because they saw the pillar of clouds standing right there god actually came there to meet moses and it was demonstrated by the pillar of cloud that pillar of cloud kind of became like the flag of royalty look i don't know much about royal customs but isn't that the palace that if the king or somebody's there that they fly a special flag something like that i remember being down at coronado island with my sister and we were going to take the uh the the ferry just over from in the and there's a big admiral's house there and she was explaining to me oh yeah they fly this particular i asked her what's up with that flag on top of that house because it looked a little unusual she said well they fly that flag when the admiral's there it's it's to indicate that he's present right there well this pillar of cloud was like that kind of flag that kind of ammo god's here everybody knows it i want to mark out my presence and everyone saw this pillar of cloud and they came to the tent of moses they knew that moses worshiped and met god there they knew god had not abandoned them in his special presence verse 9 says that the lord talked with moses now i don't know all that he said some of it's in the biblical text but i'm sure a lot of it was just strength and comfort and fellowship with god don't think that it was all business okay like business meeting with moses okay god says moses okay you got to do this and this and this here's the agenda go back and get it done and report back to me i'm sure there was some aspect of what to do and how to do it but don't you think a lot of it was just the sweetness of fellowship and communion with god the the sweetness of being in the presence of god do you ever be around people that you just like to be around them you don't even have to say a whole lot even though the conversation you have is wonderful but there's just something wonderful about being around that person being in the very presence do you know god is like that if you only knew him that well if you knew god well and if you say i just like being around you i just like focusing my mind and my heart to be in your particular presence and when the people saw that verse 10 says that all the people rose and worshiped there was something about what moses had that made other people want to worship god all right let's finish it up here verse 11. so 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 the lord spoke to moses face to face just like a man speaks to his friend now friends nobody should get stumbled by this hebraic uh phrase this this figure of speech face to face what that simply means is clear and plain and unhindered communication uh god spoke to other people in dreams or in visions or in shadows so to speak not to moses clear isabel it doesn't mean that moses actually saw the face of god the father because the bible tells us that no man has seen god at any time speaking of the glory of god the father no no that's not it at all but i tell you moses was going to see as much of the presence of the lord as a man could possibly see and that's for the next time that we're in the book of jenna uh genesis of exodus now friends here's kind of the deal you know next week is palm sunday i can't wait to talk about received and then we got restored you know easter sunday that's great so it's going to be what about three weeks or something four weeks you do the math it's going to be a few weeks until we're back here in the book but when we get back in exodus it's going to be so wonderful to see this but the camera kind of pans back and we're very encouraged are we not we're very encouraged to see what god is doing among israel we see that israel israel had a recognition of their need for god they wanted his presence secondly they were willing to repent in whatever way god told them to do for them it involved laying down the ornaments they repented and then number three they sought after god as he revealed himself the good news i have for you is that we don't have for an example this morning moses i mean moses is an example but he's not the best example it's jesus himself what jesus did for us is so far greater than what moses could ever do or think for us that we say jesus would you be that one greater than moses for us and would you connect us to the very presence of god i hope your heart awakens for that and that you're willing to lay aside anything that would hinder you any ornaments so to speak and that you would just worship him you would enjoy something of his presence father that's my prayer i thank you for these people lord how how they do love you lord and how each one of us needs this good this good and strong truth from your word so we simply ask lord that however you have wanted to stir our hearts that you would cement it i pray god you'd show each individual some some ornament so to speak that they need to lay aside that you'd awaken a greater hunger for you so much greater than their blessings that you'd give us truly lord a spirit of worship before you receive it lord and just just move transform our lives we pray this in jesus name amen

Channel: David Guzik

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Keywords: david guzik, guzik, enduring word, calvary chapel, calvary chapel santa barbara, Exodus 33:1-11, I AM Present With You, exodus 33, old testament, israel, tabernacle, repentance, moses, sin, repent

Id: EsLHzKw45PQ

Length: 32min 24sec (1944 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 13 2021