Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Exodus 34. Exodus 34. I want to look at a few verses
of scriptures in Exodus 34. And this blessed passage of scripture
is the answer. that the Lord gave to Moses when
Moses asked the Lord in chapter 33 and verse 18 when Moses said,
show me thy glory. Moses had seen a lot of things
by God's good pleasure. He saw the covenant God In the
burning bush, he saw the Lord spoke to him. And he said, take
your shoes off. You're standing on holy ground.
I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses hid his face.
He didn't want to look on God. Moses saw the plagues in Egypt. God sent him to Egypt to tell
Pharaoh to let his people go. He saw God's justice, judgment
against rebellion. He saw God's mercy to spare the
children of Israel. He saw God's power when He took
them out of Egypt. They went out high hand, praising
God. He saw the Lord open up the Red
Sea. He saw Christ, His body broken,
safe passage, dry ground. He saw that water come out of
the rock. He saw that brazen. He saw a
lot of things. But one thing that he asked that
he had not set forth as having seen. He said, Lord, would You
show me Your glory? And God was going to answer that. He said He was going to answer
him. He said, we just sang this song. It says, he hideth my soul
in the cleft of the rock, shadows of dry, thirsty land. Hideth
my life in the depths of his love and covers me with his hand.
Now that's, Fanny Crosby got that out of this passage of scripture
right here. Exodus 33. When Moses said, show me your
glory. I want to know From your mouth, I want to know
who you are. I want to know your name. I want
to know your character. Show me what you think. And the
Lord said, He said in verse 19, I will make all my goodness pass
before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. of which God is jealous. He's
jealous of His name. I'm going to be gracious to whom
I'll be gracious. I'll show mercy on whom I'll
show mercy. Here's what He's saying. You
want to know my glory? I'm God and I do as I will with
whom I will, when I will. He said thou, verse 20, I can't
not see my face. There shall no man see me and
live. And the Lord said, behold, there's a place by me. And I
shall stand upon a rock. It shall come to pass that while
my glory passeth by that I will put thee in the cleft of the
rock. I'm gonna cover thee with my hand while I pass by. Oh,
the mercy of God to shield us from beholding His essence. He's gonna allow us to see Him
in the Messiah, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He hid us, put us
in Him, covered us, kept us, protected us. He said, I'm gonna
take away my hand. I'll see my back part. You're
not gonna see my face. You're gonna see me, but you're
gonna see me in part as you're able. The Lord, in verse 34,
chapter 34, said to Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like
unto the first. I will write upon these two tables
the words that were in the first tables which thou breakest. We
were just talking a moment ago about that's what Moses did in
the last passage. The Lord made those first two
tables. The Lord made those two tables
of stone. And you know what he told Moses
to do? He said, now those that you broke, you make two just
like I did. You make two just like I did.
Moses is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ right here. It's
going to take a man. God's law didn't change. God's
demand for righteousness didn't change. He's going to write the
same law on those two tables, but a man's going to have to
make those two. And Christ alone did it. Christ alone satisfied
God. When I read that passage of scripture,
he said, you make two just like the first two. What man can make
two tables of stone just like God unless he's God? Be ready in the morning. Come
up. Mount Sinai, present thyself there to me on top of the mount.
No man shall come up with thee. Neither let any man be seen throughout
all the mount. neither let thy flocks nor herds
feed before the mount. And he hewed two tables of stone
like unto the first. And Moses rose up early in the
morning and went up into the mount Sinai, as the Lord had
commanded him, and took in his hand two tables of stone. And
the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and
proclaimed the name of the Lord. Now I'm going to just look at
these next few verses. I'm gonna look at verses six
through verse 9. And the Lord is going to preach
a message here. He's going to preach a very short
message to Moses. And He is going to set forth
when Moses asked Him, He said, show me your glory. Show me again, as I said, who
you are. God had told him, He said, I'm
going to proclaim The name of the Lord. That name of which
I said, the Lord is jealous. Jealous. He said in His law,
thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. What does that mean? Now let
me tell you, it doesn't mean, I know people say it's a curse
word. People start off with God and
then they use another word. That's taking the name of the
Lord in vain. Let me tell you what taking the name of the Lord
in vain is if you don't believe exactly what God is getting ready
to say about Himself. Everybody and their brother that's
sitting somewhere in some worship service and somebody's proclaiming
who God is and if they are not saying exactly what God says
concerning His character, who He is, who He says He is. They
are taking the name of the Lord in vain. They're speaking of
it as worthless. Now let's just look for a few
minutes. Who does God say He is? This is the God we worship. Verse 6, 34 verse 6. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed. Here's what God said. The Lord. The Lord God. Here's what He
said, I'm speaking. I am that I am is declaring. Who does the Lord say He is? First thing He says, merciful. Merciful. I am compassionate. I am ready to forgive the sinner
to whom I have chosen to show mercy." We'll never get away
from what he said in verse 19 of chapter 33. Someone might
say, God is merciful. He'll be merciful if a man will
just accept whatever He's offering. That's not what the Lord said.
I am merciful. to whom I will be merciful."
God is sovereign. He has a heart that sets forth
here to relieve the needy by mercy. That is, He sets forth
this concerning Himself. I have been pleased to not give
the people of my choosing what they deserve. That's mercy. David said, Psalm 103, I'll read
this to you. Psalm 103, verse 10 and 11. He has not dealt with
us after our sins. Oh, what a word. He has not dealt
with us after our sins, nor rewarded us after our iniquities. Did
we deserve it? Did we deserve it? The Scripture
says, for as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is
His mercy toward them that fear Him. This is the hope of a sinner. This is the hope of one that
is guilty. This is the hope of one who actually
knows what he is. The Lord is merciful. I'll read
this again, 2 Samuel chapter 24. David had numbered the people. You remember that? David decided
one day he was going to number the people. And the Scripture
says when he did that, God was displeased. Scripture says in
2 Samuel 24 verse 10, David's heart smote him. After that,
he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord,
I have sinned greatly, and that I have done. And now I beseech
Thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of my servant. For I have done
very foolishly. When David was up in the morning,
the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer,
saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer
thee three things. Choose thee one of them, that
I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David and told
him and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto
thee in thy land? Or wilt thou flee secondly three
months before thine enemies while they pursue thee? or that there
be three days pestilence in the land. Now you advise and see
what answer I shall return to him that sent me. And David said
unto Gad, here's what the Lord sent him word. He said, David,
I'm going to let you choose. What do you want? You want pestilence? You want to be chased by your
enemies? You want three days? David said
unto Gad, I'm in a great strait. Let us fall now into the hand
of the Lord. for His mercies are great, and let me not fall
into the hand of man. I don't want to choose. Can you
imagine if Almighty God would ask one of us, what do you want
me to do to you? I don't want to choose. I don't
want to choose. Lord, you're a God of mercy. Lord, have mercy on me. I deserve
whatever you give me. I deserve more because you're
merciful. He said secondly, verse 6, the
Lord is gracious. Almighty God is gracious. He's
kind. Ready to bestow undeserved benefits
upon the objects of His kindness. is when He does not give us what
we deserve. Mercy. Mercy is when we don't
get what we deserve. Grace is when He gives us what
we don't deserve. Let me ask you something. Which hell-deserving sinner in
this congregation this morning ever merited God's electing,
redeeming, regenerating, keeping grace. Which one of us here deserved
the imputation of Christ's righteousness? Which one of us deserved? Which
one of us here this morning merited being married to Him, being chosen
betrothed to Him in righteousness and justice and mercy. All of
our guilt put away. Which one of us here deserves
to be an heir of God? And a joint heir with Christ?
Which one? Lord, show me Your glory. Here's
my glory. Merciful. Gracious. Long-suffering. What does that
mean? He's patient. He defers when
it comes to his justice. He defers. Wisely, wisely. 2 Peter 3, 9, The Lord is not
slack concerning his promise, that is, to take vengeance on
rebellion. As some men count slackness.
God is unmindful of that promise, but he's long-suffering. Long-suffering
to us, to his people. Not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. Now we know who's going to come
to the Lord. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. But oh, how longsuffering, how
patient to the vessels of His mercy. I've made a statement
or two every once in a while about me, me, back years ago. Back when I was growing up, high
school, especially college, Gary went with me back to Louisiana,
just got a hint of it, just from a few statements, didn't you
Gary? He did. Just a few people that got around
me. My mama could write volumes on this. And I think to myself,
oh, the longsuffering of God that kept me from myself. that kept me. Oh, and the long
suffering of God. To those that God would even
leave to themselves. I think about, I'll just give
you this as an illustration. My mother came from a family
of nine brothers and sisters. Nine brothers and sisters. Her
mom and dad, and their mom and dad, and mom and dad, and mom
and dad, and mom and dad. How many, how many God was long
suffering to? Why? Not willing that one should perish. Who is the Lord? Show me your
glory. I'm gracious. I'm merciful. I'm gracious. I'm long-suffering. Isaiah 30, 18, Therefore will
the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore
will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you. For the
Lord is a God of judgment, faithfulness to His covenant. What that means.
Blessed are they that wait for Him. Then he says in the latter
part of verse 6, An abundant in goodness, Abundant. He's the chief in kindness. Psalm 31-21, Blessed be the Lord,
for He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city, in
Christ, the city of refuge. That's how He's shown me. That's
how He's shown me His marvelous kindness. The Lord declared in
Jeremiah 9-24, But let him that gloryeth, gloryeth in this, glory
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the
Lord, that exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in
the earth. In these things I delight, saith
the Lord. In the latter part of verse six,
scripture says, and in truth. He's abundant in goodness, he's
abundant in truth. What do you mean? Steadfastness.
steadfastness. He is the God who can be counted
upon. Concerning His promises given
to His people in Christ Jesus, His word shall not fail. He's the truth. Way, truth, and
life. All the promise of God in Him
are yea, and in Him, Amen, unto the glory of God by us. You can
count on Him. He said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Then He said in verse 7, keeping
mercy for thousands, thousands. He never said that He was keeping
mercy for everyone without distinction. He said thousands according to
His promise to show mercy and compassion to whomsoever He will. Guard them. That's what he says.
Keeping mercy. Keeping. That's what that word
keeping means. Guarding it. Protecting it. Maintaining his
word to show mercy to his people. Forgiving iniquity. Transgression
and sin. Forgiving iniquity. The guilt. The guilt. Contracted by sinning. Transgression. Transgressors,
what does that mean? We did it. We did it. And sin,
what we are. Three descriptions of our problem. All sorts of sins, that's what
he's saying, that are committed by his people. All sorts of sins. Secret. Secret things. Sins that you don't know about.
There's stuff I've done you don't have any idea what I've done.
There's some things you've seen. but secret sins, open sins, presumptuous
sins, sins of ignorance. Things I did I didn't even realize
what I was doing. All the sins of His people to
whom Christ has everlastingly stood as the surety. What Scripture
says, forgive them. Lifting them off. That's what
forgiveness is. Lifting it off. He put it on
another and put it away. Where are they? They're gone.
Where are the sins of God's people? They're gone. Far as the east
is from the west, behind the back of them, cast into the sea.
Where is that? I don't know. I don't want to
know. They're gone. No condemnation to them that
be in Christ Jesus. And Scripture says, and that
will by no means, verse 7, clear the guilty. What does that mean? He's just. He's a just God. I'll by no means hold innocent. I'm not going to acquit the guilty. God is just. He never shows mercy
and grace at the expense of His justice. That's what He's saying.
When Christ bore the guilt and sins of His people, Those sins
were made to be His own. Those sins were made to be His
own. He bore them, the Scripture says,
in His own body. God had made Him to be sin. Mine iniquities, Psalm 40, are
more than the hairs of my head. You understand this? Who are
you? Show me your glory. I am merciful, gracious, and
long-suffering. I'm not going to quit. I'm not
going to quit the wicked. I'm not going to clear the guilty. God Almighty, when He bore the
guilt of His people, you listen to me, they were His. He took them. He took them. Bore that guilt of it and put
that guilt away. And I know the sins, we still
commit them, but let me tell you something. If we say we have
no sin, we make Him to be a liar. But let me tell you something.
There's no guilt. He paid the guilt. Who are you? Who are you? Show me your glory. Show me who you are. I'm going
to clear the guilty. And then lastly, the Scripture
says in the latter part Seventh verse, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children
unto the third and to the fourth generation. Let me tell you what
the Lord is not saying there. He's not saying here that the
children and the children's children are going to suffer the eternal
punishment of the father's iniquity. He's not saying that. All men
apart from Christ are going to stand before God based on their
own guilt. Ezekiel 18-20, I can prove that.
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The Son shall not bear the
iniquity of the Father, neither shall the Father bear the iniquity
of the Son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon
Him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon Him. So
the Lord is not speaking of one bearing the eternal judgment
of another. But what He is saying is this,
now listen to what I'm saying. What does the Lord mean? He means
exactly what He said, right here. And this is exactly what He said. He said that though men think,
they think that sin, once it's done and it's over, then it's
soon forgotten and all of its damage is passed away. But let me tell you something.
Let me tell you. I will never be able to set forth
the glory of what the Lord has forgiven us from. But I can tell
you this, according to the word of the Lord, sin has its consequences. It has consequences. According
to the revelation of God, there are remembrances of the consequences
of what has been done. that we might be reminded of
the heinousness, if I'm using the right word, I might have
made that up, of sin. How heinous sin truly is. Listen to this, Lamentations
5-7. Our fathers have sinned and are
not, and we have borne their iniquities. We've borne the consequences
of what was done. One of the best examples. Well,
I can tell you a better one than that. I can tell you this. When
Adam rebelled against God, who actually sinned against God?
Adam. Adam. Who actually sinned against
God? Did it have any lasting consequences? Was there any consequences
from that? Listen to this in 2 Samuel 12. David took Bathsheba. 2 Samuel. 12, verse 7, God sent, after David
took Bathsheba, He sent a prophet, Nathan, to David. Nathan said
to David, Thou art the man, thus saith the Lord God of Israel.
I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the
hand of Saul. I gave thee thy master's house
and thy master's wives into thy bosom, gave thee the house of
Israel and of Judah. And if that had not been too
little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such
things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to
do evil in this sight? Now let me tell you who he's
talking to. God's talking to a man after His own heart. He's
not talking to somebody that doesn't know Him. He said, Thou
hast killed Uriah the Hittite with a sword, hast taken his
wife to be thy wife, hast slain him with a sword of the children
of Ammon. Therefore, the sword shall never
depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me, and hast
taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the
Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine
own house, and will take thy wives before thee, and give them
unto thy neighbor. He shall lie with thy wives in
the sight of the sun, for thou didst it secretly. But I will
do this thing before all Israel, and before the Son, and David
said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan
said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy guilt, thou
shalt not die. How be it? Because by this deed
that thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to
blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall not die.
Now let me ask you something. Does our rebellion have any consequences? Yes, it does. Yes, it does. Has
God been pleased to put away the guilt of the sin of His people? Yes, He has. Has God saved them
by grace? Yes, He has. I remember an incident that happened
years ago. I started not to tell this, but
I'm going to. before the Lord was pleased to reveal Himself
to me. I was trying to be so faithful
in being what people would call a soul winner. And I diligently
tried my best to do everything that I was instructed to do.
Got this person to get down like I wanted them to. Got them to
agree to me like I wanted them to. ask them some, you know,
directed questions so they'd answer just exactly the way I
wanted to, so that I could be able to go back and tell people
back at the church that I was, what I had done. Get another
notch, you know, in my soul winner's pistol handle grip. Be able to
bring a little attention to myself. Years later, the Lord was pleased
to reveal Christ to me. And I realized that that wasn't
right. I went back and tried to tell
that person. I said, listen, I was deceived.
I was deceived. I told you wrong. And as far
as I know to this day, he still holds to that. He told me, he
said, no, you led me to the Lord. You, you were the one. You were
the one that did it. I mean, when I heard those words,
my heart was smitten. Now, did I do it ignorantly? Yes, I was ignorant. But the
effects, the effects of taking the name of the Lord in vain,
the effects of it are far reaching. And the scripture says back in
Exodus chapter 34 and verse 8, after God had spoken to Moses,
and Moses made haste, and he bowed his head toward the earth,
and he worshipped. He worshipped. And he said, if
I now have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I
pray thee, go among us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and
pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. to pardon our iniquity. Lord,
have mercy. Lord, You said You're a God of
mercy. Have mercy on us. You're a gracious God. Be gracious
to us. Lord, You're long-suffering.
Be long-suffering to us. Lord, I know You're not going
to quit the wicked. I know that. And I know, Lord, that sin has
its consequences. And I will go through the rest
of my life remembering, thinking to myself, this is what I deserve. This is what I deserve. But God
was merciful, been mercy. And I pray God have mercy upon
that one that I spoke to. And I'll never forget. I'll never forget how evil sin
is. Lord, take us and treat us as
your inheritance. And we bow before you and we
worship you for who you say you are, for Christ's sake.