Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Exodus chapter 33 and reading
from our text verses 14 and 15. And he said, My presence shall go with thee, And I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy
presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. Exodus chapter 33 and verses
14 and 15. Moses asks a question. In verse 13, he desires a token,
he desires that he might know that he had found grace in the
sight of the Lord. Now therefore I pray thee, if
I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way. that I may
know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that
this nation is thy people. There's a lot bound up in this
request. He wants to know the Lord's way. He wants to know the Lord himself,
and that can only be in the Lord's way. And he wants to find that
grace in the sight of the Lord. And the words of our text, the
first verse, is the Lord's answer to this desire that Moses had,
show me now thy way. And the answer is the promise
of his presence. He said, my presence shall go
with thee, and I will give thee rest. I will bring thee to the
promised land, I will bring thee to the place of rest, but really
rest along the way as well. When Moses hears this, he responds,
and he responds in a way that shows how much he valued this. You can almost picture how Urgently
he responds in this way. He said unto him, if thy presence
go not with me, carry us not up hence. Moses was the leader,
the people of God, Israel, and his response shows how much he
valued that promise. I wonder how much we respond.
When the Lord gives us a promise, or whether we read in the Word
of God some sweet promises, that after we have read those promises,
it immediately rises up, this is what we desire, and turns
into prayer, Lord, grant me that promise. We read in Hebrews 11,
of those that saw the promises afar off, and they embraced them. They confess that they are strangers
and pilgrims in the earth, but the promises of God, we read
that they are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus. And this is
what is to be set before us here in these verses this morning,
a promise given and a promise valued, but it is thy presence,
the presence of God. So I want to look at three main
points. Firstly, God's presence. And then secondly, how God is
and can be present with his people. And then thirdly, the blessing
of the Lord's presence and valuing it. But firstly, the Presence. God's presence. Sometimes we might find it a
strange thing in the Word of God where the Lord is speaking
about Him being present and not being present. And we might say,
well, isn't God everywhere? In that sense, He is. In Psalm
139, Psalm of David, David is very, very aware of the Lord's
presence everywhere. He says, Thou knowest my down-sitting,
my not-rising, Thou understandest my thought afar off. And he speaks
of how the Lord knows what is in his mind, what is on his tongue,
and the knowledge of the Lord that is so high that he cannot
attain unto it. He said wherever he goes, if
he ascends into heaven, if he goes to the ends of the earth,
there the Lord will be. Even darkness, that will not
hide from him. Even when he was in the womb
and being formed, the Lord saw him and knew him there. We read
that the Lord sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the
inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers before him. And Solomon said,
The heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee.
The Lord is everywhere. He filleth all things. He is
a spirit. When we see the heavens that
show the glory of God and declare the glory of God and the firmament
his handiwork, And we see how great they are, that we cannot
measure the galaxies, we cannot measure the heavens, we cannot
measure the stars, or the sands of the sea. The Lord is so great,
and yet when we come to the atoms and the smallest things, then
He sees and knows all them, and He has created all of those as
well. and his presence is everywhere. There is no place where we may
go and escape from his presence. So then, how is it that there
is the thought, there is the idea that God sometimes is not
with the people, or his presence is not there? What is meant there? of what it was before the fall
when God created man upon the face of the earth and he saw
all his creation, that it was very good. And the Lord then
had communion with Adam. He walked in the garden and Adam,
he knew the Lord's presence by his voice there. There was really
nothing that would separate between God and His creation. No sin as Adam was created, that
creation was perfect. But then when sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, immediately we find the separation. God had said, in the day that
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And through listening
to Satan, through rebellion and disobedience to God, that sentence
was executed. Spiritual death immediately,
physical death later on, and then after death the judgment,
and then except there be a way of escape found, there should
be eternal death. And how was that manifested?
Well, Adam didn't immediately die, but what was immediate was
that he was frightened at the presence of the Lord. Even at
hearing his voice, he had to hide. And then he was cast out
of the garden of Adam, banished from that garden. And from that time, man is not
able to know God of himself. He can know many wonderful things,
he can do many wonderful things, but God has put this as the mark
of the fall, that no man of his own can find out God. God has
decreed the way of knowing God is through, it has pleased God
through the foolishness of preaching. is through His Spirit alone,
and is through the revelation of the Holy Spirit to the Lord
Jesus Christ, that His people are to have that fellowship and
communion with God and to know Him. But we must be very clear
that the Fall has brought separation, it brought banishment on earth,
and unless there be a way of escape, unless there be a provision
It is eternal banishment, that is what hell is. What makes heaven
is the Lord's presence there, and the Lord being with His people
there. Father, I will, that they whom
Thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold
my glory. But hell is where God is not,
where there is no light, where there is darkness. and the various
ways that it is described as a place of torment, a place where
God is not, a place where there is the gnawing of tongues and
conscience with pain. So when we think of the Lord's
presence, filling all things, but we think of the presence
of the Lord with His creation, with those made in His own image,
and what sin has done to bring a bar and a separation. Then we begin to see what is
meant by when the Lord promises His presence and when He makes
His presence known. It is through the Gospel, through
the reconciling work of our Lord Jesus Christ, that sinners are
brought again into fellowship, into union with the Lord. A very different relationship
than what those that are dead in trespasses and sins have. A relationship begun on earth
that shall last for eternity. You might say, well how? How
does the Lord make known his presence then? if he feels all
things and God is a spirit and no man has seen God at any time
and as we read here that no man can see God's face and yet we
read in the same chapter that Moses spoke to God face to face
we have a beautiful type there of the Lord Jesus Christ and
being able to commune in him. But we think of those that knew
the voice of God. We think of Noah, when Noah was
given the command to build the ark. And then, especially when
it was built and God said, come thou and all that thou hast into
the ark. And the Lord's voice come, the
Lord was there in the ark and he made Noah come. And many times
throughout the word of God, You have that beautiful word, come,
come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. You know, come, thou blessed
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. Come, whosoever will, let him
take of the water of life freely, the beautiful comes of scripture,
and is bringing sinners unto Christ. sweet invitations to
sinners unto Christ, and it is His presence. No man, says our
Lord, can come unto me except the Father which sent me draw
him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. And it is that
drawing for the presence of God, to be with God, to know God,
And so with Samuel, we read when he was a child, Samuel did not
yet know the Lord. And the Lord then spoke to him.
And at first he thought it was Eli, but then Eli discerned it
was the Lord. He said to Samuel, when he comes
again, say, speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. And from
that time, Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. We read that the Lord appeared
again unto Samuel by the word of the Lord. It is through the
word of the Lord that the Lord appears and speaks to his people,
speaks to his creation. We think of the children of Israel,
walking through the wilderness here, and what is said of them
by the Apostle Paul, that they drank of the spiritual rock that
followed them, and that rock was Christ. We have the picture
here with the cloudy pillar, fire by night and cloud by day,
that immediately started to follow them as they left Egypt, and
it was then when the Egyptians followed after them, It stood
in between them, separated the two of them, protection for them,
light to the one, darkness to the other. And then here, this
cloud comes and stands over the tabernacle of the congregation. The Lord's presence was known
in this way, and that was a visible way for the people there. Later on, with the sacrifices,
we think of Solomon, the sacrifice, the dedication of the temple
that was lit by fire from heaven. Before that, on Mount Moriah,
David, the Lord answered him with fire from heaven. After the numbering of the people,
Elijah, the Lord answered with fire from heaven. We have these
demonstrations of the Lord's presence that could be seen and
known and the people of God saw and believed. And the Lord has
given the promise, lo, I am with you all the way even unto the
end of the world. The Lord is in heaven, our Lord
Jesus Christ, but by His Spirit and His great mystery, but by
His Spirit and by His grace, He is with us. We will not separate
between the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And the Lord said that when he
went away, he would pray the Father that he would give another
spirit, a comforter that abide with you forever. He shall receive
of mine and shall show it unto you. We read with the disciples
that they went forth working and preaching the word, the Lord
working with them, confirming the word with signs following,
and the Lord was known in that way. God is known by the judgment
that he executes, and the Lord is known by his people. The disciples
asked the Lord, how is it that thou would reveal thyself unto
us but not unto the world? And the Lord said it was because
the world could not see the Holy Spirit of God, but It was because
they had the Spirit revealed to them, and they believed the
Spirit of God, believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So the Lord's
presence is known by His people. They discern it, they see it,
they hear His voice. My sheep, they hear my voice,
they follow me. His presence in heaven, why,
we shall then Know as we are known. The Apostle Paul, desiring
to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better, he says,
now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. We are known now, but then we
shall know him the same as he knows us here. And so right through
the word of God, we have the picture of the separation that
sin has made We have God everywhere, but for His dear people, in God's
plan and God's way, or in our text, thy way, is to have God
and sinners reconciled. Man brought to God, God brought
to man, God's presence with His dear people. And so when we think
of the presence of God, may it be with a personal interest in
it, and a personal desire so that if the Lord answers and
speaks to us in the words of our text with such a promise
as this, my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee
rest, that we'll immediately respond as wanting this, not
just indifference or carelessness, just say, well, that's a nice
promise and nice blessing, but say, that's just what I want.
That is what I want. And if we don't have that presence,
then we would not proceed in the next week. We would not move
from one house to another. We would not go on holiday. We
would not go anywhere if we did not have the Lord's presence. In our lifetime off, we've moved
from house to house. And it's always been a very special
time. and the Lord has first come and
granted Israel presence and blessing in a new abode. We've got the
keys, we've moved in, we've got all of our furniture in and everything,
but that's a sacred time when we know the same voice, the same
presence that we have known sometimes from one side of the world to
another while we're in Australia and while here. The Lord is the
same in both places, and those have been sacred times. You know, the Lord's dear people,
we mentioned a couple of them, but one special one is dear Jacob. You know, he left his house,
Esau designing his death, and he goes and he lays on stones
for his pillow that first night, and the Lord appears to him.
gives him a vision, a vision of the ladder set upon earth,
extending into heaven. The angels of God, they are ascending,
descending upon him. And the Lord stood above him. And when he awakes and the Lord
had given these, blessed promise, lo, I am with you, with thee,
in all places whither thou goest. I will not leave thee until I
have done that which I have spoken to thee of." And that he would
bring him again to that land. And when he awoke he said, surely
the Lord is in this place. And I knew it not. That's what
he discerned from that vision and from that blessing. The Lord
was there. He was in that place. We have
it with Hagar as well. Thou God seest me. As she fled
from Abraham from Sarah. May we know as well that presence
of the Lord by his voice, by that which he speaks and know
the difference between a presence that is everywhere but a presence
that is specific and that is known by his people desired by
his people as we have in our text, the promise and the desire
for that to be fulfilled. He said, My presence shall go
with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If
thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. I want to look then secondly
at how God is. and can be present with his people. If sin has separated, if sin
has caused the banishment, and if God is, and he is, a holy
and a just and a faithful God and cannot look upon sin with
utter abhorrence, how is it that he can reverse that sentence. How is it that man can be brought
at last not only to be with him but to be partners of his throne? We need to ask how that blessing
can be. How can this holy and righteous
God bring this about? Well in this passage We have
four things set before us that tell us how this can be set about. Let's put this passage a bit
in context. We spoke in our first point concerning
Adam and the fall when the law was first broken. Now here, the
context is the law of God is first written. We read that death
reigned from Adam until Moses, but where there is no law, sin
is not imputed. So this is why the law was given
at Mount Sinai, and it was given not that men should be able to
fulfil it and obey it, they'd already under the sentence of
death because it's already broken, but it is to be put that all
the world might be brought in guilty before God. In the previous
chapter, Moses had gone up into the mount, God had given him
the two tables of the law, and he'd come down from the mount,
and the people then had been worshipping the golden calf. Moses in anger, he cast down
the two tables of stone and broke them. It is a very vivid description
of how man, how God's people have broken the law of God. The Lord was angry. The Lord
said that he would not go with this people anymore. He would
send an angel with them. They'd still get to Canaan. They
would still drive out the inhabitants, but he would not go with them.
We read that in verse two and three, I will send an angel before
thee. In verse three, I will not go
up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people.
Now we said of our text, when Moses heard the promise, my presence
shall go with thee and I'll give thee rest, he responded, With
gladness to that, with wanting that, if thy presence go not
with me, carry us not up hence. And here we have with the people
of God, they respond with dismay. They said in verse four, when
the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned and no man did put
on his garments. Evil tidings, that there should
be a substitute for the Lord's presence. Even an angel, an angel
is not good enough. An angel is no substitute for
God himself. You know, those who say that
the Lord Jesus Christ is not truly God would have no answer
for this passage. Our Lord has not taken on him
the nature of angels, which is just spirit. He hath not taken
on him the nature of beasts, which is just blood, but of the
seed of Abraham, which is body and soul, body and spirit. And he truly is God manifest
in the flesh, not a created angel, but God himself. John tells us
in his epistles, this is the true God and eternal life. So we have the broken law and
then we have all what transpires in this chapter and again what
happens in the next. And so there are four things
in this chapter but then there is something else that is then
followed in the next chapter and that is the writing of the
tables of stone again and putting them this time in the Ark of
the Covenant later when it was made. It wasn't made at this
point. And there they are, the finished
tables, those tables that were fulfilled by a law. The work
of the Lord Jesus Christ is to fulfill the law and make it honourable. And this is one reason why the
Lord can have his presence with his people because of that which
the Lord has done relative to the law of God, fulfilling the
law, fulfilled the law in Christ. He was made under the law, made
of a woman, to redeem them that are under the law. These are
the things that are vital then that the Lord may presence himself
with us. And may we be clear of this,
not by our own works, not by our duties, not by our efforts. What we're reading of in this
chapter is God's provision, what God has done so that he may sovereignly
come and walk with his people and his people with him and at
last be with him for eternity. So we have in verse 7, we have
a type of our Lord Jesus Christ in the tabernacle. Here is Moses
taking this tabernacle, and at this point is a tabernacle of
congregation, this tabernacle where Moses met for the judgment
of the people. This is the one that Moses' father-in-law
Jethro saw all the people gather from morning to night, queuing
up to Him for judgment. This is that tabernacle. It's
not the one of which the pattern was given in the mount. That
is not yet made. But the Lord's presence that
had gone before the mount of Egypt, when that tabernacle was
put outside of the camp, and Moses went after it, and he went
into the tabernacle, And then that cloudy pillar descended
and stood at the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked
with Moses. Here we have the Lord's presence
taken without the camp. And this then is taken up by
the apostle in the Hebrews, and of course it's reaffirmed in
all of the sacrifices of Israel. But in Hebrews 13, we read in
verse 11, for the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought
into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without
the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without
the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto
him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we
no continuing city, but we seek one to come. And so in Exodus
13, we read this, that they also, every man, that they looked After
the tabernacle, it came to verse 7, it came to pass that everyone
which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation
which was without the camp. A very distinct separation. Come ye out from among them,
touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you. A separation. Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered
without the gate, without the camp. Our Lord Jesus Christ is
set forth before us in this respect, the vital need of Him, fulfilling
the types and shadows, He being the great anti-type, crucified
without the gate, suffering without the gate, a sacrifice acceptable
unto God, putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, the
debt paid. And of course we have then the
assurance given unto all men in that God hath raised him from
the dead, sacrifice accepted. But then we have another time
in verse 11 that the Lord spake unto Moses face to face. We read
that then he turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua,
now Joshua is the Name is the same as Jesus, used interchangeably
in Hebrews. The son of Nun, a young man departed
not out of the tabernacle. And then we have Moses saying,
Thou sayest unto me, bring up this people. Thou hast not let
me know whom thou wilt send with me. Well, the one that is sent
before the people of God. and before Moses was our Lord
Jesus Christ. And it was Joshua that was to
bring the children of Israel into the promised land across
Jordan. And so we have, again, this beautiful
type of our Lord that He dwells in the tabernacle. He is in heaven. He is at the Father's right hand. He is there for his people, our
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Joshua
here departed not out of the tabernacle, our Lord is there,
appearing in the presence of God for us, a voice that speaks
for us in heaven's high court for good. The Lord's presence
where he says and prays in John, 17, Father, I will that they
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory. And so we have the type not only
of Christ suffering without the gate, but also ascending and
standing, sitting at the right hand of God, standing to receive
his people as he did with Stephen when he was martyred. But then we have another illustration
of our Lord, and this is in verse 21. We read verse 20, Thou canst
not see my face, there shall no man see me and live. The Lord
said, Behold, there is a place by me, thou shalt stand upon
a rock. Upon this rock I'll build my
church, the gates of hell shall not withstand against it. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
rock of ages. He is the chief foundation stone. He is the one upon all the building
is founded upon, the foundation stone, the top stone as well,
built up in Him, a beautiful type of the tabernacle, the temple,
literally, the foundation laid, then all the stones laid in the
middle, And then the top stone brought forth with crying, grace,
grace unto it. The stone which the builders
rejected, the same is made the head of the corner. Their friend,
now in glory, he explained to me about that. He said, you know,
on the tops of those buildings, the tops on the wall, they fashioned
that top stone with a lip so that when the rain came, instead
of dripping and falling and running right down the wall it had to
go down that lip and then it would turn back up again so the
water would have to go up but instead of going up it just dropped
well clear of the wall but that thin part of the rock carving
that made the water drop clear of the wall It had to be with
the grain running the correct way, otherwise it would just
break off. But what happened when it came
to the corner of the wall? Because the corner, part of it,
the grain would have to go one way and part have to go the other
way. So the designers of the temple,
following the Lord's design, chose out a special stone with
a grain that was so fine that it could take that lip both ways. And the builders, when they saw
it, they said, their grain's not running the right way. Rejected
it. But that was designed to be the
chief cornerstone, the top stone. And that was our Lord. And the
scribes, the Pharisees, they rejected him. But we have this
place by the Lord. This is a sacred thing, the Lord
Jesus Christ, close unto the Father, next unto the Father,
by Him, and this is the rock, this is the foundation, this
is the hope of the people of God. This is why He can presence
Himself with them, accepted in the Beloved, accepted in Christ,
other foundation can no man lay than that is lay which is Jesus
Christ and him crucified. Then we have another illustration
of the reason why God can presence himself with his people though
they are sinners and that provision is shown in verse 22 It shall
come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee
in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while
I pass by. We think of the beautiful hymn,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. The Lord Jesus Christ, with a
spear they pierced his side, forthwith there came out water
and blood. Her blood only, but water and
blood. It is to atone for our sins. It is to cleanse and wash us
from our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. A beautiful
promise, 1 John 1.9. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. And this is found in the riven
side of our Lord. It is found in the clefts of
his side. That blood that flowed there,
that flowed at Calvary, that beautiful antitype of what flowed,
what was shed on the day that the children of Israel, the night
that the children of Israel came out of Egypt, the Passover, when
I see the blood, I will pass over you. These are the reasons
why God can be with men, why He can dwell with them in the
person of His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not
in you and I. It is not in our works. It is not in what we have done.
It's in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is
in that provision that's set forth in this chapter that begins
with no presence of the Lord and it ends with the presence
of the Lord. It begins with the broken law. It ends with the fulfilled law. It begins with the people that
are mourning over evil tidings. And then it ends with a people
that have the Lord's presence promised, and with them, and
the firm scriptural reasons why his presence can be with them. Satan can have nothing to say
against this. It is the honour and glory of
God that he himself should bear the sin of many, that he himself
should make a way that God and sinners be reconciled. He said, My presence shall go
with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If
thy presence go not with me, carry us, not up hence. And may that be a real desire
of every pastor, of every leader of the people of God, to desire
the presence with themselves. and that as they lead their people
and guide their flocks, that the Lord will be with them. How
vital that that is, and how vital we know how the Lord's presence
is known amongst us, and that we also know how it can be known
amongst us. To want to look with the Lord's
help, lastly, at the blessing of the Lord's presence. and valuing
it. Where these truths that we've
looked at this morning are precious to us, and where the Holy Spirit
does make the Word of God read and preached precious, thy words
were found and I did eat them, They were to the joy and rejoicing
of my soul. Where we know the presence of
the Lord in that way, it is a token of finding grace
in the sight of the Lord. This is what Moses had said. The Lord had said that he had
found grace in his sight. Now therefore I pray thee, if
I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way. And the
Lord did. He showed him his way. Has he
shown us his way? Has he shown us the way of salvation,
the way of reconciliation, the way of his presence with his
people? Do we know those things that
we have set forth? that Christ has done to bring
it about, and do we know how it is? Would we recognize His
presence? Do we know and feel His absence? Do we say with one, be not silent
unto me, lest if thou be silent unto me, I become like them that
go down into the pit. That is what is the difference,
isn't it? David in Psalm 51, restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. The dear disciples, when the
Lord was crucified and rose again, how sad they were before they
saw him. But when they saw him at last,
when they were fully persuaded, they said, the Lord is risen
indeed and hath appeared. And then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. Those 40 days, those 40 testing
days from the time He rose to the time He ascended into heaven,
He only appeared to His dear disciples. Only those that were
His people saw Him, not the world at large, not those that were
not His. And still it remains, and still
it was in Moses' day, a beautiful token of finding grace in the
eyes of the Lord. The Lord has shown us such things
as these. Tamsin's parents, when they saw
the Lord before he came in the flesh, it came in a vision to
them, there in the form of an angel. Manoah said, we have seen
God, and therefore will we die. But his wife said, no, no, why
would he have shown us such things as these? Why at this time would
He have told us such things as these if He had pleased Him to
kill us? Good reasoning. And so it is
here, a true token. Why would the Lord make these
things precious? Why would He speak to us through
His Word if we were not His, if we had not found grace in
His sight? Another thing is that sweet communion. I trust we know what it is to
feed upon the word of God, to hunger for it. Man shall not
live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God, but to have the Lord's words found and to eat them as
Jeremiah did, and then find that they were the joy and rejoicing
of my soul. So the blessing of the Lord's
presence is when we feel it and have that communion and fellowship. The two on the way to Emmaus,
they did not know who that stranger was at first, but when he spoke
to them, they said afterwards, did not our heart burn within
us while he taught with us by the way and opened to us the
scriptures? And may we know that same heart
burning, that same blessing, Also it is a foretaste of rest. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
rest of his people. All the while we are looking
to salvation by works or looking to some efforts of our own. There
is no rest. There is labour, there is toil.
The Jews in Christ's day, laden men with burdens too heavy to
be borne, added to the commandments of God, made the commandments
of God of none fact by their tradition. But the Lord said,
Come unto me, all ye that labour, and I have elated. A clear knowledge,
a receiving by faith of Christ's finished work. And then we can
fully rest and trust and lean upon what he has done. Not having
in the back of our minds all the time, I've sinned myself
out of the covenant. My works are not good enough.
I am not accepted with the Lord. One moment in, one moment out,
one moment saved, one moment not. The clearer we have of the
Lord's plan, ordered in all things and sure. Dear David said, although
my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And this is all my
salvation and all my desire. He had a clear view of it. And I hope it's so with us, I
hope it's so with me and with you, a clear views of the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is also that earnest of rest
above, a desired haven. We toil here, we have Satan opposing
us, we have a wicked, evil, deceitful heart. We walk in the path that
Paul did. The good that I would, I do not,
the evil that I would not, that I do, O wretched man that I am. But he's able to answer that
question. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ,
my Lord. And it is he who has set forth
here. And when we know this promise
and we know the Lord's presence with us, and we value that, Make
a join with the hymn writer, I could from all things parted
be, but never, never, Lord, from thee. With another hymn writer,
but can I bear the piercing thought, what if my name should be left
out when thou for them shalt call? You know the world that
knows not God, they don't have any concern they'll be left out.
They don't have any concern. They won't forever see God. They don't want Him here. They
wouldn't enjoy Him here after. But with God's dear people, they
covet His presence here. They desire it. They look for
it. They're happy in His presence.
And their long thought, they shall not have it, fills them
with sorrow. And they want to gain those fresh
tokens and again to see clearly what the Lord has done. Go show
John again, our Lord said to the disciples of John the Baptist,
when he said, art thou he that should come, or look we for another? It may be one of you this morning,
and you need this. Go show John again. Go show my
disciples again, my way, my plan, my beloved son, my presence. the tokens of it, the earnest
of him. Sometimes the Lord hides his
face, but sometimes even in that hiding, there's a proving of
what the Lord is to us. And we might say with dear Job,
oh that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even
unto his seat. Or we might say with Jonah, in
the depths of the sea, yet will I look again. toward thy holy
temple. Salvation is of the Lord. And that is what is before us
here. May we know the Lord's presence today in the week we've
entered upon in our lives. Bless the Lord if we have known
it. May we covet it earnestly and
be able to read so clearly the tokens that are bound up within
and have that blessed prospect of being at love together with
the Lord. Amen.