The Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy
1 11 said the gospel had been committed to his trust. I don't know of a greater honor
that any man could have than to be entrusted with the glorious
gospel. of the Lord Jesus Christ. To
me, there's no higher honor in the universe than that. So I
need your prayers this morning. I know my last name's kind of
difficult, but Donnie Bell calls me Billy R. That's a lot easier. And so someone hung that nickname
on me 40, 50 years ago when it kind of stuck, so. You can call
me Beliar. I mean, I answer to a lot of
things, to tell you the truth, but Beliar is fine. I live in Clearwater, Florida,
and our church down there is St. Pete Grace Church. It's in St. Petersburg. It's
a brand new work. I've been there six months and
the Lord's blessed and we're having new people come in and
I'm looking forward to what God can do. Somebody asked me the
other day, they said, well, what are you hoping for down there
at that church? I said, I'm hoping that God will
shake that city to the core with the gospel of His glory. That's my hope, and that's my
hope for any church, that the Lord would unclasp His hands
and reveal His glory to this generation. I need your prayers
this morning. If you have your Bible, turn
to Exodus chapter 33 and verse 18. Exodus chapter 33, excuse
me, and verse 18. What we have before us this morning
in this scripture is man by the name of Moses speaking to the Lord, and the
scripture tells us that the Lord spoke to him as a man that speaketh
to his friend. Isn't that a blessed thought?
And in verse 18, we pick up the reading, and he said, I beseech
thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all
my goodness fast before thee, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, 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 passeth by,
that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock, and I will cover
thee with my hand while I pass by, and I will take away my hand,
and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. The title of the message is The
glory of God. The glory of God. The greatest
thing in the universe is for a man to get a glimpse of God's
glory. Moses made the most tremendous
request, excuse me, that a man could ask. He said, I beseech
you, Lord, Show me your glory. Now, I must confess to you that
I come before you this morning not knowing the entirety of this
subject. It's too deep for me. But by
God's grace, if the Holy Spirit will enable me, I wanna preach
to you for a few minutes about five things the Lord Jesus said
to Moses concerning his glory. You know, Moses was a man that
had seen quite a bit in his lifetime. In Exodus chapter three, the
scriptures tell us that while Moses was on the backside of
the desert, he was tending the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law,
and he happened to look, and he looked again, and he saw a
bush on fire, but the bush was not consumed. And as he drew
near to that bush, the voice of God came out of there and
said, Moses, Moses, don't come no closer. Take your shoes off. For the ground wherein you stand
is holy ground. Now that would be enough, Jason,
for a man to talk about for a lifetime. Moses not only saw that, Moses
saw the death angel pass through the camp of the Egyptians. And
every place where the blood wasn't applied, there was death from
the house of Pharaoh down to the servant and down to the cow.
What a sight that must have been to behold that. Moses stood at
the Red Sea and held up his hands and his staff and he said, stand
still. and see the salvation of the
Lord. And the Lord not only let the
children of Israel cross that sea, but a strong east wind blew
all night long. And they walked across that seabed
on dry ground. What a sight that must have been
to behold that. Moses saw manna fall from heaven. Moses saw water come from a rock
but here but here he says lord show me
your glory five points i want to mention are this and then
i want to go through the first thing god said to him is i'll
make all my goodness pass before you Second thing God said is
I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. Third thing
he said, now be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I'll show
mercy on whom I will show mercy. Fourth thing he said was I'll
put thee in a cliff to the rock and I'll cover thee with my hand
while I pass by. Fifth, he said, I will take away
my hand and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall
not be seen. May the Holy Spirit give us ears
to hear this morning and eyes to see. First thing that God
said to him, we find in verse 19, he said, I will make all pass before thee. Paul said in
Romans chapter 2 and verse 4 it's the goodness of God that leadeth
thee to repentance. Oh the goodness of God. If you
would turn with me to Psalm 31 verse 19. I want to read this. I want to show you this Psalm
31 verse 19. Here's what David had to say
about the goodness of God. Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast
wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men. Thou shalt hide them in the secret
of thy presence from the pride of men, and thou shalt keep them
secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be
the Lord, For he hath shown me his marvelous kindness in a strong
city. Paul told the church at Ephesus,
he said, for by grace are you saved through faith, not of yourself,
it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. The grace of God is the goodness
of God. It's the kindness of God. Grace
is unmerited favor. Not only did the Lord tell Moses
that I'll make all my goodness pass before thee, but secondly,
he said, I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. What's in a name? A name identifies
a person as who he is. The very next chapter, in chapter
34, in verse six, we find where God proclaimed his name to Moses. It says this, and the Lord passed
by before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, Jehovah
Yahweh. That's his name. That's his name. Have you ever seen who he is? Do you know who he is? This generation has never seen
who he is. They think he's some long-haired,
mealy-mouthed granddaddy who's up in heaven, leaning over the
banister of heaven, wringing his hands and trying to figure
out why people won't let him have his way. But that's not
the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible declares
the end from the beginning. The God of the Bible says, I
am God and beside me, there is no other. The God of the Bible
says, I will do all my pleasure. God is absolutely sovereign. What do we mean by that preacher?
What does it mean to say that God is sovereign? To say that
God is sovereign is this. God has the independent and absolute
right to do with his creatures, which includes mankind, as it
pleases him. Amen. That's what we mean by
the sovereignty of God. Now that message offends the
flesh, let me tell you. You don't know what a joy it
is, I gotta say this while I'm passing through this. You don't
know what a joy it is to come to a place where the gospels
believed and preached and upheld. Most of my ministry's been in
hostile territory where they didn't wanna hear what I had
to say and they eventually waved goodbye. Let me tell you something,
folks, it doesn't make any difference. People say, there's an old saying,
I first heard it back in the 70s, God said it and I believe
it and that settles it. But no, it's settled whether
anybody believes it or not. What God says will stand and
there's not enough devils in hell that can change the eternal
purpose of God Almighty. That's so, that's so. I will
proclaim the name before thee. Here in Exodus 34, six, the Lord,
the Lord God, he's Jehovah Yahweh. He's the great I am. He's the lily of the valley.
He's the bright and morning star. He's the fairest of 10,000. To my soul, amen. That's who he is. That's who
he is. You know, the scriptures tell
us when the name of God is proclaimed, it tells who he is. His name
not only declares who he is, but it also declares what he's
about. When you describe any man, And
you say, well, do you know so-and-so? And when you speak that name,
if that man is known, he's identified by who he is. He's identified
by who his character is. What's his character like? Same
way with our God. John 6, 44, Jesus told the Pharisees
this. He said, no man, can come unto
me except the father which sent me draw him and i'll raise him
up at the last day verse 45 said it is written in the prophets
they shall all be taught of god every man that hath heard and
hath learned of the father cometh unto me. Who is this great God
of glory? What's his character like? First thing you ever learn about
his character is this, is God's holy. He's holy. He's thrice holy. Scripture says he's angry with
the wicked every day. Scripture says that now in Psalm
917, the wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that
forget God. God has eyes so holy that he
cannot look on iniquity. You want to find out how holy
God is, you need look no further than Calvary. When his son was
made an offering for sin, God the Father turned his back on
his son. Why'd he do it? Because God's
holy. When God took the sword of justice
and took that sword and laid the lash on his blessed son and
turned his back, his son cried the most forsaken cry that any
man could ever cry. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? That's what God thinks about
you. That's how holy God is. Oh yeah, God's holy. Isaiah found
out how holy God is. He found out who the God of the
Bible was. Isaiah chapter 6 Isaiah said
verse 1 in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord what
did he look like Isaiah Isaiah said he was sitting on the throne high and holy lifted up his train
now the word train means his skirts filled And there were
six seraphims there, and they covered their faces. And they
cried, holy, holy, holy. The whole earth is full of his
glory. And when Isaiah saw that, he
laid prostrate on the ground. What's the matter with you, Isaiah?
What's got into you, Isaiah? What's happened to you? Isaiah
said, I've seen the king. I've seen the king. Oh, I've seen the king. In the
previous chapter in chapter five, Isaiah was giving everybody down
the road. Woe to this city, woe to that
city, woe to this man. Woe to that man. But oh, when
Isaiah saw who he is, he said, woe is me. Not woe to the other
fellow. Not woe to the other city. But
woe is me. Woe is me. I'm a man of unclean
lips. And I dwell among a people of
unclean lips. Let me tell you this. when you
see who he is you will see who you are there is no way that
you can ever see who he is and not see who you are i said isaiah
said oh it's me You find out you're nothing.
You find out that all of your righteousness are as filthy rags. The best deed you've ever done
stinks in the very nostrils of God Almighty. Oh yeah. Paul said, for by one
man, and that's Adam. for by one man sin entered into
this world and death by sin and death passed upon all men because
all have sinned in Adam all die but in Christ shall all be men
alive first Corinthians 15 22 man's deceitful By nature, David
said in Psalm 51, verse five, behold, I was shapen in iniquity.
That's me, that's you, that's everybody. And in sin did my
mother conceive me. Psalm 58, three, said the wicked
are estranged from the womb as soon as they be born. Speaking lies. Did you know you
don't have to teach a child how to lie? He already knows how. You know why? It's that nature. It's that nature. If you don't
believe that, tell your child not to do something and he'll
find 500 different ways to disobey you. You tell him not to do something
and he'll find 500 more ways not to. It's that nature. Every
man's a rebel. No, that's right. You say, preacher,
I don't care too much for this guy to preach him. Ain't much
you can do about it. The word of God's crystal clear.
See this, this, this message offends the flesh. This message
makes religious people so mad they can't hardly stand it, but
it's God's word. You'll find out who he is, you'll
find out who you are. Not only were you in Adam, and
when Adam sinned, so did his whole posterity. You say, preacher,
I heard a lady tell me one time, you said, preacher, I shouldn't
have to go to hell because Adam sinned. I said, don't worry,
you won't. You were there. You say, Preacher,
that ain't fair. I wasn't born when Adam said,
yeah, well, you wasn't there when Christ died either, was
you? So don't give me that. Accept responsibility. Come clean! Because you'll never
know the saving grace of God unless you come clean with who
you are. Then your heart's deceitful,
it's deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, and who
can know it? From within and out of the heart
proceedeth evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, blasphemousness,
pride, foolishness, all these evil things come where? From
within. And defile the man. The heart is the harbor. where all of the vileness and
wickedness and rebellion and hostility flows. And if that's not enough, your
mind's hostile toward God. Romans 8, 7, the carnal mind
is enmity. The word enmity means
hostility. The carnal mind is hostility.
against God. It hates holiness, hates everything
high and holy. Why? It's not subject to the
law of God. Neither indeed can it be. So
then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. And if that's not enough, Paul said in Romans 3.10 and
following, there's none righteous, no number one. There's none that
understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God. All we like
sheep have gone astray and every man is turned into his own way. That's right. That's me, that's
you. Here's the way it is, folks.
I'm a sinner. You'll find out who Jesus is. You'll find out who he is. You'll
find out that he's holy and you'll find out that you're not. Jesus said this in John 6, 48,
this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which
seeth, he's not talking about these everyone which seeth the
Son spiritually a supernatural work of God Almighty he that
everyone that seeth the Son and believeth on him has everlasting
life now raise him up at the last day I don't want to point
out This to you. The scriptures are crystal clear
as to who God is and to who you are. But the scriptures are crystal
clear that there's only one savior, just one. Peter said in Acts
4, 12, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. When you find out who God is,
you find out he's holy, and you find out you're not. And when
you find out who he is, you find out who his son is. salvation is of the lord the
scriptures tell us back to our text he said i'll make all my
goodness pass before thee i will proclaim the name of the lord
before thee and then he told moses and will be gracious to
whom and will show mercy on whom I
will show mercy. What does that mean, preacher?
Well, it certainly means this. You can't save yourself. God'll have to do it. This world
thinks that God is obligated to save people. This world thinks
that they've got a claim on God. This world thinks that God can't
do anything without man's approval. This world thinks that God is
at our beck and call. Let me tell you something, folks. God's going to save whom he Before there was anything, before
there was me, before there was you, before there was anybody,
God, in his infinite, unsearchable love, picked out a people for
himself. You say, preacher, that ain't
fair. Well, there's only two things you can do. Number one,
you can get you a club and try to knock God off the throne.
Good luck with that. Or second, you can bow to it
and get in the dust and bow to it and say, Lord, you can do
with me as you will. I'll have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. God chose a people not based
on foreseen faith, He didn't look down through the telescope
of time and saw that you'd believe the gospel. And therefore he
chose you. No. Romans nine, we find these
words of the apostle Paul. He said, it was told Rebecca,
there's two nations in your womb. The elder is going to serve the
younger. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. for the children having not done
good or evil that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Now that's right. That's right. God chose a people for himself.
You know, he could have passed me by. He could have passed you
by. Now you let that soak in. He
could have passed you by. Oh, what... Oh, what wondrous mercy. What
wondrous love. What grace that God would Look on an insignificant,
lost, religious, hereticism, who dotted every I and crossed
every T, and thought my works was sufficient, and I thought
I was better than everybody else, but one day, I found out who
he was. And when I found out who he was,
It destroyed me. It unhorsed me. It cut the crops out from under
me. And you know what? I haven't been the same since. I haven't been the same since.
I haven't got over it that God would look on me with favor. and choose me because he wanted
to. Show his love to me because he
wanted to, because it pleased him. I'll have mercy on whom
I will have mercy. Let me say this, don't want to
be so long-winded. Mercy is not something that's
owed to man. It's not something you can demand
of God. If it is, it's no longer mercy. Mercy, saving mercy, is given Paul said, thanks be unto God
for his unspeakable, unsearchable gift. It's a gift. It's a gift, yes. You know, told
Moses here, he said, Moses, you know, he said, Moses said, Lord,
let me see your glory. And the Lord said to him, all
right, Moses, I will. But let me tell you this. You
can't see my face, for there shall no man see me and live. You say, Richard, why'd you say
that? He'd kill you. He couldn't behold the full glory
of God. If he'd have seen God's face,
he'd have killed him. He said, you can't see my face.
But he said, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do, Moses. He said,
there's a rock over here beside me. Look here in verse 21. Behold, there is a place by me,
and thou shalt stand upon a rock. What's the significance of that
rock? That rock's the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's more than that. He said,
Moses, you're gonna stand upon a rock. That rock is Christ.
The scriptures tell us that he's the chief cornerstone. To the disobedient, he's a rock
of offense and a stone of stumbling. He said, Moses, you're gonna
stand upon a rock. And then I want you to notice
what he says here. He says, and it shall come to
pass while my Glory passes by. I'm just stumbling for words
here. I'm talking about the greatest
thing in the universe. I'm talking about the greatest
thing that anybody could ever have happen to them in a lifetime. Is to behold, He said, Moses, you're gonna
stand upon the rock. And he said, it shall come to
pass, when my glory passes by, that I'll put you in a, you see
that word, cliffed, in a cliff to the rock. What's a cliff? A cliff is a crevice. A crevice
inside that rock. Christ Jesus is the rock. And
you know where we are? We're in the cliff of that rock,
in the crevice of that rock, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said in Colossians 2.10,
he's the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We're complete in him. If any man beware in Christ,
he is a new Christ. Whole things have passed away.
All things have become new. First Corinthians 1.30, but of
him that is of God are ye made in Christ Jesus. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. Why is it? The next verse says,
because that is written, he that glorious, let him The only way that any of us could
have ever beheld the glory of God was for it to be revealed
in a man. And that's why John said in John
1 14, the word was made flesh and dwelled among men. What else,
John? We beheld his glory. We beheld His glory, full of
grace, full of truth. Hebrews 1 tells us, God who at
sundry times in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by His dear
Son. And verse 4 says, who being the
brightness of what? His glory. and the express image
of his person. When he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down, sat down on the right hand of God. Glory,
glory, glory, hallelujah. Let me show you this. Turn to
John 17, please. John chapter 17. This'll help you go along with
what I've been talking to you about, about the glory of God. John chapter 17, verse 20 says
this. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.
Now here it is. that they all may be one as thou
father art in me and i in thee that they also may be one in
us you see that the world may believe that thou hast sent me
and the glory which thou gavest me i have given them that they
may be one, even as we are one. And look at verse 23. Here's
where it sums it up, right here. I in them, thou in me, that they
may be made, what? Perfect in one. That the world may know that
thou hast sent me. Thou hast loved them as thou
hast Love me, let's go back to the text here quickly. Jesus
said, I put you in a cliff to the rock, and I'm gonna cover
you with my hand. You see it? Jesus told the Pharisees,
John chapter 10. He said, I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Neither is any man able to pluck
them out of my hand, Verse 30, he said, I and my father are
one. And no man, no man is able to
pluck them out of my father's hand. Do you know this God? You ever seen his glory? You
ever seen his redemptive glory? Folks, I'll tell you. If you don't, if you've never
seen his glory, you don't know it. You don't know it. You say, preacher, I accepted
Jesus as my personal savior. You're going to hell, my friend.
Salvation's not a head decision. Salvation is not believing verses
of scripture. It's not believing the historical
facts of Jesus Christ. Salvation is meeting a person. John 17, three, Jesus said, this
is life eternal that men might know thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou Then lastly, I just want to cover
this a little bit. Look in chapter 34 in verse 8.
After God had passed by and showed Moses his glory, look what Moses
did in chapter 34 in verse 8. Moses made hay. and he worshiped. You ever see the glory of God? You'll do like Moses. You'll
fall down on your face and you'll worship. One other thing I'm gonna tell
you. The Apostle John in Revelation chapter one said this. I saw a man walking in the midst
of the candlestick. What'd he look like, John? Tell
us, John. What'd this man look like, John?
He said, his hairs were white like wool. His face was as the
sun shineth in its strength. He was girded about the paps
with a golden girdle. His feet were locked onto fine
brass as if they'd burned in a furnace. Anything else, John? Yeah. Sharp
two-edged sword went out of his mouth. John said, when I saw him, when
I saw him, I, John said he laid his right hand
on me, said, fear not John, I'm the first and the last. I am
he that was dead and behold I'm alive forevermore and I got the
keys of hell and of death. Let me conclude this with three
questions. Do you know who he is? Do you? Have you ever seen who you are? Have you ever seen God's redemptive
glory? May God be pleased to reveal
himself to you. Let's pray. Our Father, as we come before
you, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.