Why did you Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. If you can get a Bible and follow
along, it would be very helpful. I am preaching this morning upon
this subject, God's description of himself. God describes himself. We'll be looking at Exodus chapter
33 and chapter 34 when God himself describes himself. Now the only
one who knows God completely is God. No man can comprehend
Him. Really all we can know of God
is what He is pleased to make known to us. The only one who
can accurately describe God is God. And in this passage of scripture
we're going to look at God describes himself. How interested I am
in this subject. Now the setting of this is right
after the sin of the Israelites when they made the golden calf
and quickly forgot what all God had done for them. And this is
Moses praying for them at this time. And we begin in Exodus
chapter 33 with these words, and when the people saw that
Moses delayed to come down, this is chapter 32, I'm sorry. When
the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount,
the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said
unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us. For as for
this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
we know not what to become of him. So after 40 days they forgot
God, they forgot Moses and they made a golden calf. And in chapter
33 we have where Moses goes to pray for them and the chapter
begins like this. Depart and go hence thou and
the people which thou has brought up out of the land of Egypt into
the land that I swear unto them to Abraham and Isaac and to Jacob
Saying unto thy seed God give it notice. He doesn't say he
brought him out now. He says go to the people you
brought out and And I will send an angel before thee, and I'll
drive out the Canaanite, and the Amorite, and the Hittite,
and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, unto a land
flowing with milk and honey. For I will not go up in the midst
of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in
the way." God says, I'll send an angel, but I'm not going with
you. Verse 4, Exodus 33, and when
the people heard of these evil tidings, they mourned, and no
man put on his ornaments. For the Lord had said unto Moses,
saying to the children of Israel, You're a stiff-necked people.
I'll come up into the midst of thee in a moment and consume
thee. Therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may
know what to do unto thee. And the children of Israel stripped
themselves of their ornaments upon Mount Horeb. Now, if we
ever hear from God, we'll strip off the ornaments that we think
make us look good, our supposed good works, and we'll come to
God in the nakedness of our sin and our sins. He says, strip
off those ornaments. Now, let's go on reading, verse
7. And Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp
afar off from the camp and called it the tabernacle of the congregation.
And it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord... Now, this is what a believer
does. Above all other things, he seeks the Lord. Every believer, would that describe
you? Someone who seeks the Lord. Well, everyone who sought the
Lord, look what they did. And it came to pass that everyone
which sought the Lord went out into the tabernacle of the congregation
which is without the cap. And it came to pass when Moses
went out into the tabernacle that all the people rose up and
stood every man at his tent door and looked into Moses until he
had gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass as Moses
entered the tabernacle the cloudy pillar descended and stood at
the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked with Moses. Picture this in your mind, the
cloudy pillar coming down that represented the glory of God,
filling the tabernacle with Moses in it, and the Lord spake with
Moses. Verse 10, And all the people
saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door, and all
the people rose up and worshiped. every man in his tent door. They
saw the presence of the Lord and the only thing for them to
do was worship. You'll only worship a sovereign,
one who's in complete control, that you have no control over.
You fall down and worship and the Lord spake unto Moses face
to face as a man speaketh unto his friend. Now do you want that
kind of relationship with the Lord that Moses had where you're
his friend? He speaks to you face to face
through the gospel. through Christ. The Lord spake
to Moses face-to-face as a man speaks with his friend. Now let's
go on reading about what Moses says to the Lord at this time.
Remember, he's praying for the Lord's presence. The Lord said,
I'm not going with you. You're a stiff-necked people.
I'll send an angel to bring you into the promised land, but I'm
not going. And here is Moses' reply, verse 12. And Moses said
unto the Lord, see, Thou sayest unto me, bring up this people,
and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me,
yet hast thou said, I know thee by name, and you found grace
in my sight. And you know, that's true of
every believer. If I'm a believer, he knows me by name. And he's
extended his favor and his grace toward me. That's true of every
believer. Now, Moses reminds the Lord, you said this. You
said you know my name and that I found grace in your sight.
Now, therefore, verse 13, I pray thee, if I have found grace in
thy sight, show me now thy way that I might know thee, that
I might find grace in thy sight and consider that this nation
is thy people. Now, I want you to show me your way. The way
of acceptance. The way of salvation. Show me
now thy way. Christ said, I am the way. Show
me thy way for these three reasons. Number one, that I might know
thee. I want to not simply know about God. I want to know Him.
That I might find grace in your sight. Now if you ever seek the
Lord, the one thing that you're going to want is His grace. You
don't want to deal with him on the basis of your works, but
it's simply on the basis of his grace. I want to find grace in
your sight and consider that this nation that you said you're
not going to go with and you said, they're my people. No,
consider them your people. This bunch of sinful misfits,
take them to yourself and consider them your people. Now, he's praying
for Israel at this time. And then God gives this glorious
promise in verse 14. And he said, My presence shall
go with thee. I'm not just going to send an
angel. I will go with thee, and I'll give thee rest. Now, God's
presence, when you have God's presence, that means you're not
left to yourself. If you're left to yourself, that's
the worst thing that could possibly happen to you, for God to just
leave you alone. But if you've got his presence,
that means you've not been left to yourself. That means you've
got his grace. And he said, I will give thee
rest. That's talking about the rest of the Sabbath, ceasing
from your own works and resting in what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done. That's what the Sabbath day is all about. It's ceasing
from your own works, not working, resting in Christ. Verse fifteen,
Moses replies to God, and I love the way he says this, and he
said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not
up hence. I don't want to have anything
to do with that. For wherein shall it be known that I and
thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not in that
thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and
thy people, from all the people of the faces of the earth. Now
God's people are a separated people. God's separated them
from Everyone who is not one of his people. I love that scripture
in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 when Paul said to the Corinthians,
who maketh thee to differ from another? Now, if you're a believer,
you do differ. You do differ. You believe things,
you understand things, you know things, you glory in things that
the unbeliever has no idea why. But who made you to differ? It
wasn't your works. He made you to differ. Who makes
you to differ from another? What do you have that you didn't
receive? Now, verse 17, here's the Lord's
reply to him. And the Lord said unto Moses,
I'll do this thing also that thou hast spoken. For thou hast
found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. Now the
Lord told Moses, you've got my presence, and I'm going to give
you rest. Moses, is there anything else you want? Yes, there is.
And then he asks for the most stupendous thing we ever see
in all the Word of God. In verse 18, he said, and he
said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. Now think about what
all Moses had seen. He had seen the ten plagues level
against Egypt. He had seen the manna fall down
from heaven. He'd seen the parting of the
Red Sea. He'd seen water come out of the
smitten rock. He'd seen the finger of God write
the law on Mount Sinai. He'd seen the law, God's law,
and he said, in seeing all this, I've not yet seen your glory. I want you to show me what you
consider glorious, your own glory. Now, this is God's describing
himself. What he says is his glory. Now,
here's God's answer to Moses when he said, I beseech thee,
show me thy glory. And he said, I'll make all my
goodness. to pass before thee and I will
proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious and I will show mercy to whom I will
show mercy that is how God describes his glory. Now let me ask you
a question what is the difference between Moses saying I beseech
thee show me thy glory and saying, I beseech thee, show me Christ.
Because Christ is the glory of God. The Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. The glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Paul
said in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, in the face of Jesus Christ. Now God's glory is seen in the
Lord Jesus Christ. All God has for the sinner is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when God describes his
glory to Moses, he says, I'll make all my goodness pass before
you. God's goodness is His capacity
to save someone as rebellious as the children of Israel, and
His goodness is seen in that He'll save someone as sinful
and helpless as me. God is good. Everything about
Him is good. When we argue and complain with
God's providence, we're arguing against His goodness because
everything He does is good. What about all the pain and suffering
in the world? God's in control of everything and he's going
to bring good out of evil. He always does. God is good and
his goodness is seen in his salvation. Now he says I'm going to make
all my goodness pass before thee and I'm going to proclaim the
name of the Lord before thee And we're going to look at that
when he does that in Exodus chapter 34, but that's when he tells
Moses what he's like. He tells him of his attributes,
of his characteristics, all the most excellent attributes of
God, his holiness, his sovereignty, his justice, his mercy, his omnipotence,
his omniscience, his omnipresence, his immutability. You could go
on and on talking about the glorious attributes of God. That's what
happens when he proclaims his name. then he says I will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will show mercy on whom
I will show mercy now this is part of his glory first he said
I will be gracious I will show mercy that's because of who he
is he's gracious and is merciful but notice he shows mercy to
whom he will show mercy and he gives grace to whom he will give
grace this is sovereign mercy this is electing mercy Paul quoted
this in that great chapter in Romans chapter 9. Let me read
that passage of Scripture to you in Romans chapter 9 beginning
in verse 11. For the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, but the purpose
of God according to election might stand. Not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it's written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated. Oh, what shall we say then? Is
there unrighteousness with God? Is God unfair? God forbid, for
he saith to Moses, he quotes Moses here in Exodus 33, I'll
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
You see, mercy is always sovereign. It's always, it's not like anybody
can obligate God to give it. He gives it simply to whom he
will, when he will, as he will, for Christ's sake. Now, you can't
believe, you can't preach, you can't rely on Christ. You can't
preach the gospel and not preach his sovereign grace. God calls
it his glory. You know, people look at election
and predestination and things of that nature and they just
kind of pass them on by, yet God says it's his glory. And
a believer's not gonna do that. This is his glory. And then he said in verse 20
of this same chapter, and he said, thou canst not see my face.
For there shall no man see me and live. You see, Moses is just
a man. No man has seen God at any time.
The only begotten, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath
declared it. Christ dwells in the light that no man can approach
to. No man has seen God at any time. And he said to Moses, Thou
canst not see my face. For there shall no man see me
and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me,
and thou shalt stand upon a rock. and it shall come to pass while
my glory passes by that I'll put thee in a cliff of the rock
and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by and I'll take
away my hand and thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall
not be seen. Now this is where we get that
wonderful hymn, Rock of Ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself
in thee, let the water and the blood from thy riven side which
flowed be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. Now if God says to Moses, I'm
going to show myself to you, but I'm going to put you in a
cleft of the rock. I'm going to put my hand over
you, and I'm going to pass by proclaiming my name. And we're
going to read about it in Exodus chapter 34 in just a moment.
I'm going to pass by proclaiming my name, letting you know who
I am, but I'm going to cover you with my hand, and you're
going to see my back parts. is spirit. He doesn't have hands
and feet and eyes and ears. He's spirit. He's everywhere
at once, altogether glorious, incapable of being seen. All
we'll ever see of God is Jesus Christ. And when God passed by
and covered him up, he showed him his back parts. Now, what
I believe that means is God is known by his works. His back
parts are his works, what he does, his works of grace. Now,
while Moses is in the cliff to the rock, this is what he hears. Chapter 34, verse 1, and the
Lord said unto Moses, You thee two tables of stone like unto
the first, and I'll write upon these tables the words that were
in the first tables, which thou breakest, and be ready in the
morning, and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai, and present
thyself there to me in the top of the mount. And no man shall
come with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the
mountain, neither let the flocks nor the herds feed before the
mount. And he ewed two tables of stone like unto the first.
And Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto the
mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his
hand the two tables of stone. And the Lord descended in the
cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the
Lord." Now this is what Moses heard. when he was in the cleft
of the rock and God proclaimed his name. Now this is God's description
of himself. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering
and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no
means clear the guilty Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children and upon the children's children unto the third and the
fourth generation The Lord now that's his name Jehovah it means
the self-existent one the Independent one he has no needs He's Jehovah
He said, the cattle on a thousand hills were mine. If I were hungry,
I wouldn't tell you about it. He has no needs. He's utterly independent. Now, I want you to think of that
in contrast to how dependent we are. We're dependent upon
him for the next breath we take, and yet he's utterly, completely
independent. He has no needs. He said, I am
that I am. He never says, I was, would be,
could be, should be, want to be, will be. I am that I am,
the self-existent one. Oh, I love to think of Him in
that light. He says, the Lord, the Lord God, Jehovah God or
El or the Almighty One. This is talking about His might. Now, He is all-powerful. That means whatever He wants,
He has the power to make it come to pass. The Lord God Omnipotent
reigneth. Now listen to me. We're talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. This is His disclosure of Himself.
He tells us first, I'm independent. I'm the self-existent One. I
have no needs because of who I am, and I'm almighty. The Lord Jesus Christ is almighty.
Now, he's all we're ever going to see of God, and he has all
power. You know, he demonstrated that
when he walked upon the earth, when he brought matter into existence
that was not there before. He fed 5,000 people with two
sardines and five small loaves of bread, and what happened?
Creation took place at that time. Only God can bring something
from nothing. Only God can create. And His
power is seen in providence in that He controls everything. Everything that happens is His
will being done. He controls the wind and the
sea. He controls every event that takes place. That's why
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them that are called according to His purpose, because He's
almighty and He can control everything. The disciples said, what manner
of man is this that even the winds and the sea do obey Him?
He's the Almighty One and His might is seen in salvation. As
the Father raises the dead and quickens them, even so the Son
gives life, quickens whom He will. Your salvation is totally
up to Him. You have no control in this thing.
He has all control and that's why we ask Him for mercy and
ask Him to do something for us because He's the only One who
can. He has all power and look what He says next, the Lord,
the Lord God, merciful and gracious this is his nature he's merciful
now mercy is God not giving you what you deserve grace is God
giving you what you do not deserve now what do I deserve I deserve
to be sent to hell that's what I deserve I'm a sinner you are
too whether you know it or not and that's what we deserve we
deserve to be cut off from God's presence But when He gives you
mercy, you don't get what you deserve. You get what you don't
deserve. That's grace. I get the forgiveness
of sins. I get redemption. I get justification. I'm called. I'm given life, all
the blessings of His grace. 2 Timothy 1.9 says, He saved
us and He called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace which were
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Now, this one
who is independent, this one who is almighty, is also gracious
and merciful. He delights to save sinners. If you're a sinner, he delights
in saving you. Now, if you think you're a good
person, he'll pass you by. But if you're a sinner needing
mercy and needing grace, you'll have it. He says, the Lord, the
Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering. Oh, how long-suffering
God is. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promises. Some men count slackness, but
is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. He's not willing for anybody
who trusts Christ to perish, but that they're all going to
come to repentance. He's so long-suffering toward
us, so patient and abundant in goodness and truth. Oh, overflowing
in goodness. And that word truth could also
be faithfulness. He's always faithful. He's faithful
to who he is. He's always faithful to his people.
He never lets them down. Never. Verse 7 says, keeping
mercy for thousands. Now, thousands is a lot. It's
not everybody, but it's a whole lot. Keeping mercy for thousands. He doesn't go back on it. Forgiving
iniquity and transgression and sin. Oh, thank God for the forgiveness
of sins. And look what it says next, that
will by no means clear the guilty. Under no circumstance will he
ever clear someone who's guilty before him. Now if you're a believer,
your sin was punished. It was punished in Christ. That's
what Christ was doing on Calvary's tree. It was punished in Christ. He's never going to clear a guilty
man. And in Christ, every believer
is not guilty, justified before God. What a glorious God he is. This is his description of himself,
independent, almighty, merciful and gracious, abundant in goodness
and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sins, and will by no means clear the guilty
under no circumstance whatsoever. That's where the gospel comes
in, the gospel of Christ redeeming love. Now, what happened when
Moses heard this? And Moses made haste and bowed
his head toward the earth and worshiped. The only response
to the revelation of God is to hit the dirt and worship. I hear people speak of casual
worship. That's the greatest oxymoron that there ever was.
There's no such thing. You can have casual worship if
you've got a casual God. But this is the God Almighty,
God Omnipotent. the God of Glory Moses hit the
dirt and worshiped and like I said you'll only worship a sovereign
one who is in absolute control that you can't manipulate or
get him to do anything the way you want you'll only worship
one in whose hands you are and he can do with you whatever he's
pleased to do. Moses made haste and worshiped
and look what he had to say and he said If now I have found grace
in thy sight. Now, if you ever see who God
is, if I ever see who God is, one thing we're going to be concerned
about is finding grace in his sight. And Moses demonstrates
that after this God's revelation of himself. He said, if now I
found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go
among us. We have to have your presence.
Don't leave us to ourselves. Don't leave me to myself. For
it's a stiff neck people. We're a wicked rebellious people. That's why we need your presence.
and pardon our iniquity and our sin oh put it away pardon it
and take us for thine inheritance notice he doesn't say we're going
to accept you as our personal savior no it's a take us please
take us don't leave us to ourselves take us for your inheritance
now this is what happens when God makes himself no now I would
urge you to go back and read exodus chapters thirty two thirty
three and thirty four where god describes himself and we have
this message on dvd and cd if you call the church write or
email we'll send you a copy this is todd knyber praying that god
will be pleased to make himself known to you that's our prayer
amen To request a copy of the sermon
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