Tonight we want to look at yet
another attribute of God, another dimension of the perfect character
of God, and tonight we want to look at the mercy of God. So I invite you to take God's
word and be turning with me to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter
33. And I want to begin reading in
verse 18. The title of this message is,
Show Me Your Glory. Exodus chapter 33, I want to
begin reading in verse 18. The Word of God reads, Then Moses
said, I pray you, show me your glory. And 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 those
to whom I will be gracious and will show compassion on whom
I will show compassion. But he said, God said, you cannot
see my face for no man can see me and live. Then the Lord said,
Behold, there is 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 cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take my hand away,
and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. I began the message this morning
by quoting from A. W. Tozer. I want to do so again
tonight. It was Tozer who said years ago,
quote, God is looking for men in whose hands His glory is safe. Close quote. By this, Tozer meant
that God is looking for men and women who live with the passionate
pursuit of the glory of God and will not seek it for themselves. God's glory is primary. God's
glory is foundational. God's glory is first and foremost. We live for the glory of God
or we do not live at all. We merely exist. The beginning
and end of all things is the glory of God. And whatsoever
we do, whether we eat or drink, we do all to the glory of God.
And from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To
God be the glory forever and ever. Amen. The glory of God
is the sun around which the entire universe of our lives must revolve. And if we fail to live for God's
glory, we will be reduced to living empty, hollow lives. And so this must be our chief
pursuit, our highest aim, our greatest purpose is to live for
the glory of God. That is why I am captivated by
this man, Moses. In this account in Exodus 33,
here is a man living in the passionate pursuit of God's glory. Here is a man sold out to the
glory of God. Here is a man like what I want
to become and what I desire for your life as well. At the very
center of the glory of God is the sovereign saving mercy of
God. And Moses' request to behold
the glory of God was answered by God and specifically for God
to make known His sovereign saving mercy. A mercy that endures forever. Let me set the stage here. Moses
is on Mount Sinai. He has already been to the mountaintop
once to receive God's law. And while he was on the mountaintop
receiving God's law, God's people were in the valley breaking God's
law. And so in righteous indignation,
Moses smashed the two tablets. And leading this people will
be a challenge beyond comprehension. And Moses now, as he prepares
this journey to depart from what will be Mount Sinai and lead
this people to the promised land, a generation that will die in
the wilderness, Moses makes this request. He cannot lead God's
people except God give him a greater understanding and a deeper awareness
of God's glory. That is what we need tonight.
Whatever it is that God has called you to do, whatever challenges
that are before you, whatever mountains that are there for
you yet to climb, whatever opposition you are facing, whatever difficulty
is before you, You need to pray this prayer, God, show me your
glory. And as we behold the glory of
God, it is God who strengthens us by His grace and enables us
to do all that He calls us to do. I want us to look now, beginning
in verse 18, at this passage, and I want you to note first
the daring request. Verse 18, the daring request. Then Moses said, I pray you. Show me your glory. What Moses is requesting is a
greater awareness and a greater understanding of the glory of
God. And let me assure all of us here
tonight, that not a one of us have arrived with God. Not a
one of us have a monopoly on God. Not a one of us have come
to understand the height and the depth and the breadth and
the length and the fullness of all that God is. Every one of
us here tonight need to pray this prayer, God, show me your
glory. Theologians speak of the glory
of God in two ways. There is God's intrinsic glory
and there is ascribed glory. God's intrinsic glory is the
sum and the substance of all that He is. It is the sum total
of all of His attributes, all of His being, all of His character.
And there is nothing that we can do to add to the intrinsic
glory of God. He is the God who was and who
is and who shall be forever. And then there is a scribe glory.
That is the glory that we give to God. That is the praise and
the worship that we give to God. And the more we come to understand
His intrinsic glory, the more there will be ascribed glory
given to God. The more we understand the greatness
of our God, His intrinsic glory, the more we will be a people
who will give ascribed worship and glory to God. What Moses
is requesting here is that God make known a greater manifestation
of His intrinsic glory. And God must take the initiative
always. in allowing Himself to be made
known to us. We can only know God to the extent
that God makes Himself known to us and accommodates Himself
to us. For flesh and blood has not revealed
this to us, but our Father who is in heaven. This certainly
tells us that no matter where we are spiritually, there remains
so much more of God for us to know. Even Moses himself prayed
this. Moses, who has been at the burning
bush. Moses, who has seen the pillar
of cloud. Moses, who has seen God part
the Red Sea. Moses, who has seen water come
gushing out of the rock. Moses who has seen the fire fall
on Mount Sinai. Moses who has received the Ten
Commandments. And yet Moses, as he stands here,
wants to know more of God. He wants to grow in the grace
and the knowledge of God. And so that is his passionate
request. Every true servant of God, every
blood-bought child of God, ought to deeply desire to know more
of God's glory and of His grace. And so this is the daring request. And I want to challenge every
one of us here tonight. Whether you're a teenager, whether
you're a single adult, whether you are a newly married, whether
you are a senior adult and have walked with the Lord for many,
many years, every single one of us here tonight still have
so much more of God to learn. I want you to note second, the
divine response. We see in verse 19 that God responds
favorably to Moses' request. Notice verse 19. God says, I
Myself, meaning this will not be delegated to anyone else,
it will not be mediated through the angels, but God Himself will
make all my goodness pass before you." Now, Moses has asked to
see God's glory. God says, you will see my glory,
and He describes His glory as His goodness. Do you see that
in verse 19? I will make all my goodness pass
before you. Now the goodness of God here
in this passage represents the grace of God, the love of God,
the mercy of God, the favor of God, and all of those aspects
of the heart and character of God that inclines Him toward
His people to save us, and to sanctify us, and to preserve
us. And so God says, yes, I will
make Myself known in deeper and greater ways to you. And He will do so in two ways.
Notice verse 19. First, I will make my goodness
pass before you." And that refers to what will be the bright, shining
light of the pure holiness and glory of God. There will be a
radiant illumination and manifestation of the greatness of God in the
form of light that will pass before Moses. And then second,
at the end of verse 19, he says, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord. Not only will God make light,
the light of His holiness pass before Him, but God will assume
the pulpit. And God will preach His own glory. And God will expound and exposit
His own great name. That is what He is saying. Now,
at the end of verse 19, God is tightening the focus. He is tightening
the circle that He will make known His glory. And He says,
I will be gracious, to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion
on whom I will show compassion." It will be God's sovereign choice. It will be God's electing love. It will be God's supreme prerogative
by the free exercise of His will, not dependent upon anything in
the object who will receive His compassion and mercy. the reason
found solely and exclusively in God Himself alone. God will choose whom He will
make His mercy and compassion and graciousness known to." Now,
I want you to turn with me to Romans 9, because the Apostle
Paul will seize upon this text. And in Romans chapter 9, Paul
quotes this very verse. In Romans chapter 9 and in verse
15, Paul integrates this text into this extraordinary chapter
that unfolds the sovereign grace of God and the sovereign mercy
of God. And we read in verse 15, For
he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and
I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. Now remember,
Moses has said, Show me your glory. And God says, I will reveal
my glory to you. And the revelation of the glory
of God to Moses is the particular distinguishing, sovereign, electing
grace and mercy that God freely bestows upon those who are His
chosen ones. I want to begin, if you would,
as we look at this just for a moment. Look with me, if you would, earlier
in chapter 9. Look at verse 10. And not only
this, but there was Rebecca also, when she had conceived twins
by one man, our father Isaac. And though the twins were not
yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose,
according to His choice, would stand, not because of works,
but because of Him who calls, it was sent to her, the older
will serve the younger, just as it is written, Jacob I loved,
but Esau I hated. What this says to us is that
in this household, that before the twins were even born, and
based upon nothing good or bad that was foreseen in them exclusively
by the determinative choice of God, From before the foundation
of the world, God set his heart upon Jacob, whom he foreknew
and foreloved, and passed over Esau. And it is this truth of
the doctrines of grace, the sovereign grace of God, This is the supreme
manifestation of the glory of God to Moses. God preached His
own glory. And God said, I will have compassion
upon whom I have compassion, and I will show mercy toward
whom I will show mercy. And this humbling truth that
God will bestow mercy, not based upon the merit of any sinner,
but exclusively for His own glory, is this great truth of the glory
of God revealed. Look at verse 14. What shall
we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? Meganoito. May it never be. For he says
to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, verse
16, it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who
runs, but on God who has mercy. That's a tall drink of water,
my friend. That is a deep truth. And until one comes to see this,
you have a limited understanding of the glory of God. This is
the continental divide of theology. This is what separates the men
from the boys. This is what grows boys into
men in the kingdom of God and young ladies into full mature
women as they have been humbled by this truth and matured in
this grace that God is the author and perfecter of every aspect
of our salvation. So notice verse 18. So then he has mercy. on whom he desires. and He hardens whom He desires. This mercy, A.W. Pink writes, is the ready inclination
of God to relieve the misery of fallen creatures. God is full
of mercy. God is rich in mercy. God is
abundant in mercy. God is overflowing in saving
mercy. And God bestows it upon those
whom He so pleases, and He passes over the rest. Do not think that
God gives saving mercy to all. God gives it to those whom He
has chosen to save, and they are made the special objects
of His saving mercy. This mercy is His tender compassion. It is God's goodness and love
to those who are in the misery of their sin. Sometimes when
we hear the truth of the sovereignty of God, the false impression
is given that God is harsh, that God is unloving, that God is
unkind, that God is a stoic, that God is simply making moves
in the chessboard of life and showing mercy and not showing
mercy in a way in which his heart and his emotions are not involved.
Nothing could be further from the truth. This is the great
testimony of the mercy of God that He has chosen to have compassion
upon those whom He chose for Himself in eternity past. This mercy takes in God's tenderness,
God's pity upon those who have been ruined by the fall, those
who have been devastated by sin in their own lives. This is the
mercy of God. We'll come back, if you would,
to Exodus chapter 33. Time does not permit us to spend
more time in Romans chapter 9, but I hope you see the direct
connection between Exodus 33 verse 19 and the very heart of
Romans 9. And it is impossible to understand
God's mercy apart from it being sovereign electing mercy. And God choosing to have compassion
upon whom He will have compassion. Well, I want you to note now
third, the definite restrictions. Beginning in verse 20, God set
restrictions upon Moses' request to see and to behold His glory. He says in verse 20, But he said,
you cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live. It would be too much. It would
be too awesome. It would be too blinding. It
would be too overpowering. For any unglorified saint living
upon this earth to look face to face, squarely, into the eyes
and the face of glorified God in the fullness of His holiness. So he said, you cannot see my
face, for no one can see me and live. That is what Isaiah said
when we looked at Isaiah 6 this morning. Allow me to remind you,
Isaiah 6, verse 5. Isaiah said, I am ruined. For
my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." And so graciously,
God sets up buffer layers, if you will, between God and Moses
so that it will not be so overwhelming that it would consume Moses. So beginning in verse 21, we
see these layers of shielding Moses from the full
revelation of who God is. It's too much for Moses to take
in. And so in verse 21, then the
Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me. You shall stand there
on the rock. And literally Moses was to stand
in the rock so that the rock would be like a wall of defense
between God and Moses so that what Moses saw of God would be
but a partial manifestation of the fullness of His grace. Verse
22, It will come about while my glory is passing by, that
I will put you in the cleft or the rock." That is to provide
some shield between God and Moses and God's glory and Moses' eyes. And then He says, "...and cover
you with My hand until I have passed by." And so Moses will
be shielded by the rock. Then God will put His hand before
Moses' face, lest there be too potent and too full of a revelation
of God's mercy and God's grace made known to him. Look at verse
23, "...then I will take My hand away, and you shall see my back."
It would be too much for Moses to see the face of God. What
Moses will be allowed to see is merely the backside of God,
if you will. He will be permitted to see the
afterglow, if you will, of God. For no unglorified man upon this
earth can look upon God in the face, in the front, and live
through the experience. So, he says in verse 23, you
will see my back, but my face shall not be seen. Why? Because Moses would burn
up like a cinder if he was to behold the holy, glorious, almighty
face of God. And so he says, my face shall
not be seen. What he is saying to us in anthropomorphic
terms is that there will be a limited knowledge of God given to Moses. Greater than what he presently
has, but not a full portion. Not while you're on this earth.
Not until we are glorified in heaven will we be able to behold
this God. So look at verse 1 of chapter
34. Now the Lord said to Moses, cut
for yourselves two stone tablets like the former ones. And I will
write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets
which you smashed. And what God is doing is reissuing
the Ten Commandments. And by the way, this too is a
revelation of the glory of God. For God makes Himself known to
us primarily through His written Word. And as God reissues the
Ten Commandments, this is the ordinary means of grace by which
God makes His glory and His character and His attributes known to us. Verse 2, So be ready by morning,
and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself
there to Me on the top of the mountain. Now, verse 3, He goes
back to more restrictions. No man is to come up with you. Why? It would be too much for
anyone else to come up and to behold what I'm about to make
known to you. Nor let any man be seen anywhere
on the mountain. Even the flocks, the herds may
not graze in front of that mountain." This would be a personal experience
for Moses. This would be a very unique experience
for Moses to come to a deeper understanding of God's glory
in His sovereign grace. So verse 4, so he, Moses, cut
out two stone tablets like the former ones And Moses rose up
early in the morning and went to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had
commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand. And what will be made known to
Moses on the mountaintop that next day will be the answer to
his prayer, show me your glory. And when he gets to the mountaintop,
as we will see, what God will make known to him is his mercy,
his grace, his love, his favor, and his forgiveness. Moses is
headed up the mountain, as it were, to fulfill a divine appointment. So I want you to note now fourth,
in verse 5, the detailed revelation. God will reveal Himself to Moses. The initiative belongs with God. And there will be a very detailed
revelation of God to Moses, and I pray that tonight, God to each
one of us as we gather in this service. So verse 5, God descended
in the cloud. Can you imagine anything more
dramatic than this? As God literally comes descending
down out of heaven? and stood there with him as he
called upon the name of the Lord." This cloud is the very same cloud
that guided Moses out of Egypt. It is this very same cloud that
had stood between Moses and Pharaoh's hordes at the Red Sea. It is
this very same cloud that has already appeared on the mountaintop
in the first giving of the law. And in this cloud, There is the
blazing light of God's manifested presence that would come shining
out of this cloud for Moses to see. So look at verse 6. Then the Lord passed by in front
of him. This was a terrifying experience
for Moses. Moses has asked for far more
than what he ever realized. And as the Lord passed by in
front of him, and the light of His glorious holiness is shining
forth like the noonday sun, and as Moses is hiding in the rock,
and as God's hand is over his face, and as he sees only the
backside of God, there is now this greater revelation that
God gives to Moses, and we read the word, and proclaimed. God begins to preach, and God
begins to expound, and God begins to exposit, and God begins to
proclaim His own glory. Can you imagine this sermon?
There are two parts to this sermon. It is a two-part sermon. God
preaches His own name, and God preaches His own nature. No one can preach like God. No
one can preach God like God can preach His own glory. And that
is what Moses, who is a congregation of one, now steps into as God
holds church with Moses. Now notice the two names in verse
6. This is the first main point
of God's sermon to Moses. The Lord the Lord God. This is the only place in the
Old Testament where these two names are joined together. This is a very unique revelation
that God is giving to Moses. The first name, the Lord, is
Jehovah, is Yahweh. And this is the name that God
has already given to Moses in Exodus chapter 3, at the burning
bush, when God revealed Himself by saying, I am who I am. And that is a revelation of God's
self-existence, God's self-sufficiency, God's eternal being, that God
is without beginning, He is without end, He is without change, He
is forever the same, He is never increasing, He is never decreasing,
He is independent of His creatures, He is autonomous in all of His
ways, that He is dependent upon no one, and that everyone is
dependent upon Him, that He is acting, He is living, He is life-giving,
and He is the sustainer of all that He has made. All of that
is revealed through this name, Jehovah. I am who I am. Not, I am who I once was. Not,
I am who I one day will become. but eternally the same, from
everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God." And then the second
name. Notice he says, the Lord. The
Lord God. And this name for God is El. E-L. And this means the strong
one. The infinitely powerful one. The all-powerful One. The Almighty. The One who has all power to
create everything out of nothing. The One who is all-powerful.
Who has all creation in His hands. Who has the whole world in His
hands. Who has every life in His hands.
Who controls Satan. Who controls the demons. Who
controls everything. God preaches His own name to
Moses. The Lord, the Lord God. Then second, He preaches His
nature. And all of this is in response
to Moses' request, show me your glory. And now as he makes known
His nature, This is a fuller exposition that God gives of
His own character, of His mercy, of His compassion, of His sovereign
grace. Now, what follows in verses 6
and 7 are ten distinctives of the mercy of God. Ten points
that God expounds ten character qualities of God's mercy that
He will have mercy upon whom He will have mercy. Notice the first. We see His
tender mercy. He says, I am compassionate. That God is compassionate means
that He is full of tender affection towards those whom He has chosen
in eternity past. That He is full of warm devotion. What a contrast this is with
the gods of Egypt and the gods of Babylon and the gods of Assyria. who were harsh gods, who demanded
babies to be cast into the fire to worship them and to appease
them. They were gods without feelings.
They were gods without emotions. They were gods who were stone-hearted. They were Stoics. But God, in
total contrast, reveals Himself to Moses and to us as a God who
is full of compassion, that when He sees us in our distress, when
He sees us in our difficulty, when He sees us in the trials
and in the storms of life, and when He once saw us drowning
in our sin, God's heart was drawn to us by His own sovereign choice. And God felt deeply within Him
toward us. In the New Testament, this word
compassionate comes from the same word for bowels, meaning
down in the depth of one's being. To feel something down in the
pit of one's being. That down in the depths of the
heart of God, there is tender compassion and there is tender
mercy toward us. And then second, gracious mercy. Notice, and gracious, that God's
dealings with us as His chosen ones will be marked by kindness
and graciousness. In fact, this word for gracious
is a Hebrew word that means to bend or to stoop down. We always think of us bowing
down before God, and rightly so. This word, gracious, speaks
of God from the heights of heaven, reaching down and bending down
toward us, that He might give us grace, that He might give
us provision, that He might give us all that we need. And then
third, a patient mercy. Notice that God is, and this
is God preaching, this is God's own spiritual self-disclosure. This is God expounding His own
heart and His own character to us. He describes Himself as slow
to anger. That is to say that God is long-suffering
with us, that God is patient with us, He is forbearing with
us, that God is not in a hurry to discipline us, that He gives
us time for repentance. that He gives us time to confess
our sin, that He is a God of a second chance for the most
part. And He gives extended time to
us because in His mercy, He is slow to anger and desires extended
time for us to come back to Him. Then, fifth, Notice His loving
mercy. He is abounding in loving kindness. This word, loving kindness, is
the most used word in the Old Testament to describe the love
of God. It is the Old Testament counterpart
of agape, or agapeolove in the New Testament. It is the Hebrew
word chesed, and it speaks of the loyalty and the allegiance
of God's unconditional mercy towards us. that God is unfailing
in His love. He is unwavering in His devotion
toward us. He is abounding in lovingkindness. And this word lovingkindness
is used interchangeably for the word mercy in many passages of
our English Bible. And it speaks of the love, the
unconditional mercy of God. toward us who are the objects
of His saving grace. And then sixth, we see His reliable
mercy. Notice, and truth. This word
conveys the idea that God is reliable, that God is truthful,
that God is faithful, that God is firm, that God is dependable
in all that He says, that God will never speak out of both
sides of His mouth to us, that all of His promises are yea and
amen. that God is truthful to us is
an aspect of His mercy that He chooses to bestow upon us. And then seventh, it is eternal
mercy. Notice, who keeps loving kindness
for thousands. Now, for thousands can refer
either for thousands of people or for thousands of ages. It is probably the latter. This
refers to the extent of His mercy. The duration of His mercy. That there will never be an end
to the mercy of God and the tenderness and the kindness and the compassion
and the love that God will demonstrate toward us. There will be no end
to our experience of the mercy of God toward us. He will never
pull out of relationship with us. He has bound Himself by covenant
love to be eternally a God of mercy to us. And then eighth,
it is a forgiving mercy. Included in God's mercy is His
forgiveness. Notice. who forgives iniquity,
transgression, and sin. These three words all describe
different nuances and aspects of our sin, and they serve to
underscore the enormity of our sin, the multifacetedness of
our sin. Iniquity is turning away from
a narrow path. Transgression is rebellion against
a higher authority. Sin is a missing the mark. But
because God is merciful, God delights in bestowing forgiveness
upon us. This word forgiveness, as we
said this morning, speaks of God blotting out our transgression. That God cancels out our iniquities. And it is by His favor and His
sovereign mercy that God chooses in Christ to forgive us. For sin does abound, grace does
much more abound. And then ninth, it is undeserved
mercy. Notice, as he goes on to say
in verse 7, yet, he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. You say, what does that have
to do with mercy? Well, this aspect of mercy reminds
us that all mercy is undeserved. We deserve judgment. We deserve
God's wrath. We deserve to be punished. But God's mercy, as James tells
us, has triumphed over God's justice. And He will by no means
leave the guilty unpunished and that would be you and me except
for His mercy. And then finally, protecting
mercy at the end of verse 7. Visiting the iniquity of fathers
on the children and the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. What this is saying is, is that
there is an influence that comes from a father to children. And
it is such a strong and great influence that when a father
is sinful, except by God's mercy and grace, There can be the perpetuation
of patterns of sin and habits of sin. This is not saying that
a father's sin is charged to the account of a child. It's
not saying that at all. What it is saying is that there
is an influence that is perpetuated except by God's mercy. and that God is so protective
of His chosen ones that even when there has been an ungodly
father or mother or unchristian home in which they have lived,
God by His sovereign mercy gives them a new start and gives them
new protection. This is the sermon that God preached. This is the mercy that God proclaimed. This is the truth that God unveiled
to Moses. And it is the truth that we must
embrace. That His mercy is so great, it
is greater than we can even comprehend how tender and compassionate
and forgiving He is. toward us. Well, there can only
be one response and it's our final verse. I want you to see
the devoted reverence in verse 8. Because Moses' heart is melted
down as a result of this sermon. Never has Moses heard an exposition
like this. Never has Moses heard the truth
about God made known to him like this. Moses could not yawn and
just walk out of church. Moses could not just scurry his
own way and try to go back to whatever was going on in his
life. We know this had a direct impact upon Moses' life just
as it must have on us tonight. May God give us ears to hear
and eyes to see this glorious truth. Notice his response. Moses made haste. That means
without hesitation, without deliberation. Nothing else was more important
in Moses' life than to rightly respond to God as He will. Moses
made haste. to bow low. In utter submission, in total
surrender, in complete yieldedness of his life, Moses is brought
into a posture of lowliness before God because of the enormity of
the ocean of mercy that he is realizing now in an even greater
capacity that has come upon His own life. That beginning in eternity
past this mercy, He was chosen for this mercy. Within time,
He has been sovereignly called by God to receive this mercy. And one day at Calvary's cross,
the Lord Jesus Christ would lay down His life and purchase a
merciful salvation for Moses. Moses made haste to bow down
toward the earth and worshipped. Theology always leads to doxology. Revelation of God always leads
to the adoration of God. And Moses, as he has now come
to understand in greater ways, in fuller measure, the divine
glory in His mercy towards Moses. Moses becomes a worshiper of
God in a fuller and greater extent. This is what every one of us
must experience tonight. This must be our prayer tonight. May all of us say, show me your
glory. Do you need to know God's will
for your life? Is there an important decision
for you to make? Then pray to God, show me your
glory. Is your heart spiritually sluggish
tonight? Do you find yourself lukewarm? Do you want your heart to be
on fire for God yet again as it has been in the past? Then
pray this prayer, God, show me Your glory, and you will be ignited
with passion for God. Do you need peace? Do you need
joy? Do you need encouragement in
your heart tonight? Then pray to God, show me Your
glory. And as God makes Himself known
to us, through His Word, by His Spirit, of His mercy and grace
and forgiveness and long-suffering and patience towards us, there
is strength and power and joy and fellowship with the Lord. May all of us tonight dare to
pray what Moses prayed I pray you, show me your glory, and
may God make known to you that He will have mercy upon whom
He will have mercy, that He will have compassion upon whom He
will have compassion, and that He has chosen by His grace to
make you the special object of His amazing mercy. in saving you. Let us pray. Father, we thank you that Moses
stood there that day at Mount Sinai and dared to pray, show
me your glory. Father, we are so impressed with
how willing you are to make yourself known to us in yet greater and
fuller ways. And how you revealed your very heart of mercy to Moses. How you revealed to him that
you will have compassion upon whom you will have compassion.
And then you descended from heaven. And you began to proclaim your
name. And you proclaimed your nature
to Moses. Oh God, give us ears to hear
this sermon. that you preach to Moses now
3,400 years later. May it ring true in our hearts.
May it come with great force into our own soul tonight. May every one of us here gladly
receive this sermon that you preach to Moses as we hear yet
again that you are compassionate, that you are gracious, that you
are slow to anger, that you are abounding in loving kindness,
that you are full of truth, that you have abounding loving kindness
for thousands, that you forgive sin and iniquity and transgression. Oh God, bring this truth home
to our hearts tonight. Open our eyes that we might behold
Your glory and Your saving mercy in our own lives. We pray this
in Jesus' name. Amen.