There's a hymn in our hymn book,
page 355. The second verse of it says,
there is a place where Jesus sheds the oil of gladness on
our heads. A place that all besides more
sweet, it is the blood-stained mercy seat. That's where I want
to be. That's where I want to be found. In that place of safety, of security,
of perfect acceptance by Holy God. That place where God's wrath
can never take place, that place where for every one of those
found, there'll never be condemnation. Here in Revelation chapter 6
verse 12, John says, I beheld, and when he had opened the sixth
seal, Lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth
of hair, and the moon became as blood. And the stars of the
heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely
figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed
as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain
and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of
the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief
captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every
free man, hid themselves in the dams and in the rocks of the
mountains. They tried to hide from God. Rolf Barnard used to say there
are more people attempting to hide from God in churches than
anywhere else. And I think that's probably true.
Folks think they can hide from God in religion, and so forth. Verse 16, And said to the mountains
and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that
setteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, the
wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath
is come, and who shall be able to stand? Indeed, who shall be
able to stand? when all mankind are ushered
into the presence of God. Not God that I've imagined Him
to be or the God that I would like Him to be, but God as He
truly is. God absolutely holy, absolutely
pure. God that demands nothing less
than or will accept anything less than perfection. That God. It's no wonder in the presence
of that God they ask the question who shall be able to stand? Now look at another picture here
in chapter 7 of Revelation. We have another picture look
at verse 9 of chapter 7. After this John says, After this I beheld,
and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations,
and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne,
and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in
their hands. My soul, they stand in God's
presence, And like the other multitude, they don't cry to
rocks and mountains to fall on them. Hide us from the face of
Him that sets up on the throne. We don't want to face Him. We
don't want to stand before Him. And yet, in this picture, John
says he sees another multitude that can't be numbered, and they
stand before God in the presence of God, in the very presence
of that God that sits upon the throne, and they stand there
without fear. Without fear. Why? How can that
be? How can that be? Who shall be
able to stand? How do these stand in Revelation
7? We have the answer on down in
the chapter, verse 14. And I said unto him, the elder
asked John, who are these, John, who are these? Can you explain
to me this mystery, this marvel? Who are these that are arrayed
in white? Who are these standing before
the throne of God? with palms in their hands. Where
did they come from? And John said, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation. I can't read those
words without commenting upon the fact that this is evidence
of the sufficiency of God's grace. How often every child of God
at times in their life experience a difficulty or a trial and they
think to themselves, they might not express it to anyone, but
they think within themselves, I can't take this. This is it. This is the last straw. This
is going to kill me. And yet, yet, it doesn't happen. They all come out. Thank God,
what a testimony to God's sufficient reigning, abounding, keeping,
preserving grace. He brings them all out, every
one of them, though they may pass through, and they do pass
through, as the psalmist said, I think in Psalm 84, they all
pass through the valley of weeping, they yet all stand before God
in Zion. They all come out. What did the
great shepherd say? My sheep shall never perish.
They're in my hands and no man's gonna pluck them out. They're
all gonna come out to the other side and look back on that battlefield. Satan is defeated, sin has been
slain, all my enemies are gone, but all of those that are in
the land's great army, all of those who follow the captain
of their salvation, they all come out on the other side and
they look back just like the children of Israel when they
pass through the Red Sea and see all their enemies slain and
they stand with the Lamb. But that's not why they're before
the throne of God. No, here's the reason they're
before the throne of God. They washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore That's the reason. No other reason, no other way,
no other explanation. Therefore, are they before the
throne of God. They stand before God without
spot or blemish or any such thing. They stand before God, therefore
are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night
in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them any more,
or any heat. For the land which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto
living fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. Now, let's turn back to Exodus,
Exodus chapter 33. This is where you'll find our
text. I made reference to this last
Sunday in the message, but here in Exodus chapter 33 How can a sinner stand before
God? How can a sinner escape the wrath
of God? How can any sinner be accepted
by God? We have the answer here in Exodus
chapter 33 in our Lord's answer to Moses, verse 21. And the Lord said, Behold, behold. Oh God, give me grace to one
more time behold. To behold that one. that one. Behold there is a place by me
and thou shalt stand upon a rock and it shall come to pass while
my glory passeth by that I will put you in a cleft of the rock
and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. There is a place by me, one place,
only one place Exodus, as you know, means departure. The word means departure. In
Luke chapter 2, we're told about an old man in Jerusalem named
Simeon. And God Almighty had told that
man that he wouldn't die, that he wouldn't leave this world.
God wouldn't allow it. God wouldn't allow him to die
until he had seen the Lord's Christ, and that's what he lived
for. And one day he was directed by the Spirit of God into the
temple. And it just so happened, by chance, oh no, no, no, no. God worked it all things after
the counsel of his own will. And God had directed that Joseph
and Mary bring their young son to the temple. to do after the
matter of the law because he came to fulfill, not to destroy
the law. And they bring him in and God
whispers into that old man's ear, there he is, there's the
promised Messiah. That babe, that little dark-skinned
Jewish male baby in the arms of its young mother, that's God's
salvation. And Simeon goes up to him, do
you mind? Do you mind? Can I hold him? Can I touch him? Can I hold him? And Simeon said, Lord, now let
me exit. Now let me exit. Let me depart,
Lord. I can depart in peace now. I'm not afraid to die. I'm not
afraid to stand before God Almighty. I have a good hope. Why? Because
I've seen thy salvation until a sinner sees Christ by the eyes
of faith. Until God Almighty opens his
eyes and grants him the precious gift of his faith, he's not ready
to meet God. He will meet God, but he won't
be ready to meet God unless he can say like Simeon, I've seen
thy salvation, look unto me. Look unto me, God says. Why do
you pray to a God who cannot save? Look unto me and be ye
saved. I am God. And there is none else. There's only one place, God said.
There's a place. One place by me. Paul, sitting
in that Roman prison, in that dungeon, says, Timothy, I'm ready
to be offered. My exodus is at hand. departure. My departure is at
hand. But just like old Simeon in Jerusalem,
Paul doesn't seem alarmed by it. He seems to be at perfect
ease about it, doesn't he? Someone said Paul answered the
knock of death just as easily as if he were standing and walking
across the room to answer a knock at the door. He said, Timothy,
I'm ready. I'm ready. Why? How can that
be? Because they were both standing
in that one place that God accepts. They were both, Simeon as well
as Paul, were standing in Christ Jesus. As God told Moses, there's
a place by me. How precious a place. A place
where sinners find a sure refuge. a place where they find real
forgiveness. not pretense, real forgiveness
from a real Savior where they find acceptance and that place
is in God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, rock of ages cleft
for me. Christ was, after he had by himself
perched our sins, exalted by God himself and sits at his own
right hand in the heavenly places. Christ is there as the one mediator
There's only one mediator between God and man and it's not Mother
Mary or Saint Paul or Saint Peter or some so-called priest or pope
or preacher. No, there's one mediator between
God and man. There's only one mediator that
God Almighty recognizes, that God Almighty will hear, that
God Almighty will accept, and accept all those that come unto
God by Him, and that is the man Christ Jesus. He is that one
in whom sinners are accepted by the Holy God. And Christ says
to every one of His people, they are built upon Him, and being
on Christ that rock, they are forever safe and will never be
condemned. There is therefore now I don't
know where now finds you. I don't know where now finds
you. I don't know if right now you're hurting and suffering
and going through a difficult time. I don't know where now
might find you, but I know as a child of God, right now, now
finds you here. There is now therefore, now,
no condemnation and never will be to everyone that's in Christ
Jesus. Oh, blessed rock of ages. There is a place by me. Just as old Simeon said, the
reason he said, I'm ready to depart and to face God. I'm not afraid to die. I'm ready
to lay down tonight and let it be my last night here. Why, Simeon? Because I've seen him. I've seen him. This place is
a picture of that person, the Lord Jesus Christ. I've seen
him. I've touched him. I've embraced
him in the arms of faith. I've beheld God's salvation. And Paul said the same thing
in different words. There is laid up for me a crown
of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give
me in that day and not to me only. not to me only, but to
all those, all those called by grace, all those that love His
appearing. Yes, Simeon, Paul, every believing
sinner stands before God in that place of perfect acceptance,
in that place of no condemnation. They stand before God robed in
that perfect righteousness in which God says, mm-mm-mm, I'm
well pleased. I'm well pleased because he sees
us accepted in his son. I like what old John Bunyan said.
He said, he wrote, that I saw it was not my good frame, feelings
of heart, that made my righteousness better, nor my bad frame that
made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus
Christ himself. And he never changes. He never
changes. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. Therefore, my acceptance by God
being in Christ, it must be the same. It doesn't change. Feelings
come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. Oh, but my hope
is in the Word of God. None else is worth believing. Turn, if you will, to Luke chapter
9. Here our Lord speaks of his own departure, his own exodus. Here in Acts, or I'm sorry, Luke
chapter 9, our Lord is on the Mount of Transfiguration,
as it's come to be known. And He's taken with Him, as He
sometimes did, just three of the twelve, Peter and John and
James. And while He prays, He's transfigured
before them. What a sight! Verse 28 of Luke
9, and it came to pass about eight days after these sayings
he took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to
pray and as he prayed the fashion of his countenance was altered
and his raiment was white and glistering and behold there talked
with him two men which were Moses and Elias Elijah man imagine
that Moses and Elijah Peter and John saw them In heaven we shall
be known even as we are known. They never met Elijah or Moses,
but they knew who they were. I wondered what they taught.
I mean, Elijah represents the prophets. Did they talk about
that encounter that Elijah had on the mount that day with those
400 false prophets of Baal? When he prayed, Lord, if you
be God, answer by prayer, he told the people. Let he who answers
by prayer, or rather by fire, let him be God. And the fire
fell from heaven, answering Elijah's prayer. Did they talk about that? They didn't mention it John,
wasn't a mention made of it. Well surely Moses, Moses must
have talked about all the wonders he saw and performed by the power
of God in the land of Egypt. About the crossing of the Red
Sea, about the Passover before that, surely they must have talked
about those wonders. Oh no, they talked about the
greater wonder. They talked about the greater
miracle. that one which all those other
typified and pictured and were just shadows of. Look in verse
30 or 31 rather, who appeared in glory and spake of his decease,
the word is exodus, spake of his exodus, his departure which
he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Accomplish? They talked about
the death of Christ. They talked about him laying
down his life for his people. His death. Death an accomplishment? His was. The death of the Lord
Jesus Christ was an accomplishment. In this same Gospel of Luke,
chapter 18, that's what he calls it, in verse 31 of Luke 18, and
he took unto him the twelve and said to them, Behold, we go up
to Jerusalem. And all things that are written
by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. Shall be accomplished. Not some
of them, all of them. He shall be delivered unto the
Gentiles and he shall be mocked and spitefully entreated and
spitted on. And they shall scourge him and
put him to death. And the third day he shall rise
again. The day we observe the Lord's
Supper. And it's a celebration. It's
a celebration. Oh, let's do it respectfully. Let's do it by God's grace with
our heart. Let's do it reverently. But let's
do it with joy. Because we're observing, we're
remembering what the Lord accomplished for His people. We're remembering
that He by Himself purged our sins. We're remembering that
he entered one time into the holy place and there, then and
there, once for all, he obtained, he didn't make a stab at it,
he didn't try to do it, he obtained eternal redemption for us. That's exactly what he said after
he laid down his life for his people. Remember, you know the
passage very well. In John chapter 19, What did
he say? In John 19, we read these words. Verse 28, Jesus hangs up on the
cross. He's done passed through that
darkness. He's done been made sin. He's done brought in an
everlasting righteousness. He's already purged all the sins
of all of his people. And he says after this, after
this, Jesus knowing that all things were now what? accomplished
done said I thirst that the scripture might be fulfilled saith I thirst. Now there was said a vessel of
vinegar and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it up on
his and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar he said it is almost finished. Oh no. Our great substitute. The Lamb of God said it is accomplished. It's done. In heaven that's what
they sing about. That's what they rejoice in.
The same thing we rejoice in here below. The church above
and the church below sing the praises of the Lamb who loved
them and redeemed them from all their sins by His own blood. Christ paid it all. One hymn writer put it like this.
He said, bold shall I stand in that great day, for who ought
to my charge shall lay. While through thy blood absorbed
I am from sin and fear and guilt and shame, this spotless robe
the same appears. It never changes. When ruined
in nature sinks in years, no age can change as glorious you. The robe of Christ is ever new. Jesus be endless praise to thee.
whose balanced mercy hath for me, for me a full atonement made,
an everlasting ransom paid. Oh, thank God there is a place
by me, a place singular. There's only one. Is that not
so? There's only one place. The place
where sinners find salvation is in the Savior. He is all their
salvation. That's what David said on his
deathbed, didn't he? David looked back and said, although
my house be not so with God, oh my soul. The sword, God said,
will never leave your house, David. And though my house be
not so with God, yet, yet, yet, nevertheless, but God, but God,
but grace, David said, yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, sure, made between
the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that covenant
of grace. There is a place where sinners
find salvation. Christ is made unto them wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Christ is all
that to his people. They stand complete in him. What
a wonderful place to be. What a wonderful place to be.
Accept it in to be loved. This is the only place a sinner
finds a good hope of grace now and glory hereafter. This is
the same place God looks for satisfaction and he finds it. And so will every sinner who
truly trusts his son. The promise is still the same.
Christ is able. Oh dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never, never, never lose its power to all the ransomed
church of God. Be saved of sin. no more. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come unto God by Him. Oh my soul! John saw them, we
read of them there in Revelation 7. What a multitude of sinners
He's purchased with His own blood. Oh what, what grace! What a great
God and Savior that's able to bring them all to glory. Yes,
In Acts chapter 1, while the disciples stood on Mount Olivet,
having followed the Lamb, the Great Shepherd, for the last
time, while he speaks to them, we're told, he begins to ascend. He's taken up. He's taken up. You know why? He was exalted,
Peter said, by God the Father, because God had accepted his
sacrifice. God said, When Jesus Christ on
the cross said, it is finished, God said, yes, that is enough. I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. I can demand no more. Paul says
God had highly exalted Christ and given him a name above every
name. At the name of Jesus, every knee
shall bow and every tongue confess that he is the Lord to the glory
of God the Father. The stone, David said, which
the builders refused. Psalm 118. And our Lord quoted
that very scripture to the people that it was speaking of. The
stone which you leaders, you teachers, have refused, God has
made the headstone of the corner, the chief cornerstone, This is
the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes. Again, God says,
there is a place by me. Remember, God told Moses, I'll
put you in this place. I'll put you in this rock. And God puts His people in Christ
Jesus. This is exactly what the scriptures
teach. Paul in Ephesians 1 says, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
according as He has chosen us in Him. He put us in Christ. John, you quoted that this morning.
Thou art my first elect, God said, and then chose us in Christ
our head, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him. Yes, God had made him to be unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. By God's sovereign grace united
to his Son eternally, I can never be divided from my covenant surety. God's free love from everlasting
made me one with His dear Son. Blessed union, strong, unchanging,
I am with my Savior one. Concerning this union, concerning
this marriage between Christ and His church, God says what
I've joined together, none can put asunder. And bless God, that
blessed union can never be put asunder. Let me read you a verse
in Joshua, Joshua chapter 20, concerning the cities of refuge.
This is what the Lord told Joshua. Chapter 20 verse 4. And when
he that is those who have unintentionally slain someone, when he that doth
flee unto one of those cities, one of those designated cities
of refuge, shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city,
and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that
city, they shall take him into the city. They shall take him
in. unto them and give him a place. Give him a place that he may
dwell among them. May give them a place where the
avenger of blood can't touch him. Oh, bless God, there is
a place of no condemnation. Turn, if you will, to Hebrews
chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. I think John is well referred
to this in his lesson this morning. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 24. Oh,
I like this. Look what it says. Verse 24,
For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands,
which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself,
into the very presence of God himself, now to appear in the
presence of God for us. Talk about being well represented. He's for us. This is my beloved
Son, God said, in whom I am well pleased. And every one of those
who are in Christ Jesus, God likewise is well pleased. My standing, and I'm so thankful
for this, my standing before God doesn't depend on me. It doesn't depend on me. I'm
not responsible to keep myself. I'm not responsible to present
myself before God. It depends on Christ. His acceptance
by God is my acceptance because He represents me. He represents
me before God. His worth, His merit, His righteousness
is why God receives this sinner. Christ intercedes for me. He
ever liveth to make intercession for me. And when I sin, not if
I sin. It's not a question of if. I
sin. I sin. What happens when a believer
sins? We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and God forgives us for Christ's
sake. Now you can curl up in that.
You can snuggle up in that. For Christ's sake, what will
God Almighty not do for Christ's sake? If God be for us, he that
delivered up his own son for us, how shall he not also freely
with him give us all things? God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
us. Christ answered all the demands
of God's law. He gave a full payment to all
the claims of justice, and he alone can speak peace to a troubled
conscience. Top lady said concerning that
old hymn, Rock of Ages, there is a place by me. While I draw
this fleeting breath, when my eyes shall close in death, when
I soar the world's unknown and behold thee on thy throne, rock
of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee." In Christ
Jesus, we are as secure as God's purpose and Christ's purchase
can make us. That's pretty safe. God has laid
in Zion this sure stone, this chief cornerstone, for a foundation,
and those who believe on Him, that is Christ, need not fear
of ever being removed. Christ will keep all those the
Father entrusted into His hands and present them all back to
God, having lost none. Glory to His name. And whither
should we flee for aid when tempted, desolate, dismayed, or how the
host of hell defeat had suffering saints No mercy seat. Thanks be unto God. Thanks be
unto God for his unspeakable gift. A place by me in Christ
Jesus. What a marvelous place. God bless
you. Thank you for your attention.