I'm going to ask you now to turn
in your Bibles to the book of Exodus. Exodus 34. Exodus 34. About a week and a half ago,
I spoke out of these first four
verses Remember when Moses got the first
two tablets from the Lord, and the Lord supplied the tablets
and supplied the writing. And Moses went down, saw the
people, you know, worshiping that golden calf. His heart just
ignited in anger. Threw the tablets, broke them.
and took that golden calf and ground it up, made it powder,
put it in water, made the people drink it. And then the Lord told
him, He said, I want you to make me two more tablets just like
the two that I made. You bring them up here to me
and I'll write on them. And those two tablets right there,
Moses hewed them out. And there was Moses, a picture
of Christ, who could make two tablets like God makes them.
But God, those two tablets were a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ
who says, I delight to do Thy will, O Lord. Thy law is written
in my heart. Those two tablets now, those
second two, those were written by God Himself. Same law. But
the first time, man couldn't keep it. Man broke it. And then
the Lord wrote on those second tablets, had to come by man. He said, you make them. And there
was Moses, a picture of Christ. Those two tablets, a picture
of Christ. And notice that law, God's law, was written in the
heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. And man who could not keep it,
Christ did. And then Scripture says that
the Lord took those two second tablets and put them in the ark,
safeguarded them. Law was obeyed. fulfilled, honored. He said, I'm going to put that
in the ark and I'll just sprinkle the blood on that. That law is
going to be kept. We have a hope in Christ who
is our Savior, law keeper. And that obedience of the Lord
Jesus Christ is what is imputed to God's people. We've obeyed
the law of God in Christ. We've honored God in Christ. Now, I'd like to pick up in verse
5 and go through verse 9, and I've entitled this message, A
Message Preached by God. A message that the Lord preached. You know, I love to hear a message that a
man has been given by the Lord That man has sought the Lord
for the Lord's direction, guidance. And he's prepared, he's studied,
he's sought the Lord. And God's given him the ability
to preach in the mind to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
and then preach it. And we enter into it and our
hearts just burn as we hear the glorious gospel of God. But now
here's a message that the Lord preached, that Jehovah preached. Now I want to just read these
first five to nine, then we'll make a few comments. And the
Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, that is
Moses, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. Now here Jehovah
has descended and he's going to preach. He's going to preach
on this subject. the name of the Lord. That was
his subject. 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, upon the children's children,
unto the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses made haste
and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped. And he
said, If now I 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. The Lord, obviously, is jealous concerning His name. He said, I'm a jealous God. And what a glorious revelation
it is to us that the Lord would give us a message Now if I was
going to preach on the name of the Lord, where else am I going to go? Carl, my message better line
up with this message right here. If I'm going to entitle this
message the name of the Lord, I better say just exactly what
God has said. He's jealous. Listen to this, Exodus 20 verse
7, Thou shalt not take the name. Don't you bear or lift up is
what that means. Thou shalt not take the name,
the reputation, the honor of the Lord thy God in vain in a
false or a lying report. Look it up. You shall not take
the name of the Lord. Don't you set forth the name
of the Lord in a lying report. The Lord will not hold him guiltless
that taketh his name in vain. You preach a false gospel. You proclaim me to be somebody
that I'm not as I've revealed myself to be. I'm not going to
hold you guiltless. You stand in the pulpit and tell
people that I'm a God who tries or who wants to but can't, I'm
not going to hold you guiltless. Hallowed be thy name. Holy. Proverbs 18.10 says, The
name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth
into it and is safe. That's the name of the Lord.
Malachi 3.16, Then they that feared the Lord spake often one
to another, and the Lord hearkened. Listen to that. Those that feared
the Lord spake often one to another, and God was listening. And a book of remembrance was
written before him for them that feared the Lord and thought,
that is, esteemed and prized upon his name. Revelation 22, 4, and they shall
see, that is, personally, they shall see his face and his name
shall be in their foreheads. The worship of Almighty God in
and by the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be in
perfect communion with God. The worship of God by Christ,
in Christ, means that we're going to have communion with the Lord. We're going to see Him. That's
what the Scriptures declare. We're going to see Him, favored
by Him, accepted in the Beloved, preserved But in Christ Jesus,
listen, it's not a flippant thing. It's not a hit and miss, in and
out, up and down. It is a serious thing when we
consider our understanding of the name of the Lord. You say
it so easily, the name of the Lord. The Lord, when Moses asked Him
to see His glory, this is what He said, I will make all my goodness,
that is all of the beauty of my intelligence and my understanding,
pass before Thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before Thee. I'm going to tell you who I am.
My friend, if there's ever any information, revelation, knowledge
that we need and desire, this is it right here. For the Lord
to proclaim His name, what He's saying is, I'm going to reveal
to you who I am, my character. The Lord Jesus Christ in His
high priestly prayer declared unto the Father, I have manifested,
I have made visible that which was hidden. I have manifested
Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest me out of the world. You want to know the sign of
a believer? They know that God's sovereign. That's what they know. And they bow to them in their
heart. They bow. They struggle within, without,
but in their heart they know. You're the Lord. John 17, 26,
And I have declared, made known unto them thy name, and will
declare it. God's people, the Lord's taught
them, and He's teaching them, and He will teach them. That's
why we're here today. I want to hear, I want to understand,
I want to know something. I need the Lord to declare to
me. I will declare it that the love
wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them.
Now listen, verse 5 says, And the Lord descended in the cloud
and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
Now, it's not to be thought that He who is omnipresent. God's everywhere. God is Spirit. It's not to be understood that
the Lord left some place and came to another place. How can
He who is omnipresent? But in our understanding, these
words are spoken that we might understand that God met with
Moses, personally, came to Moses. I want the Lord to do this for
us today. Lord, meet with us. I know you're
everywhere. You're omnipresent, but He said,
where two or three are gathered together in my name, I'm in the
midst of you. Now, there's something special about that. He's here. He came in a cloud. That's what He said. He descended
in the cloud. No matter what we know concerning
the Lord, there's much we don't know. He was hidden. He was hidden. And the Lord, in His prayer to
the Father, Matthew 11, 27, all things are delivered unto Me. All things are given over to
Me. to use, to take care of, and
to manage. That's what delivered. Delivered
unto me of my Father. And no man knoweth, that is,
with any accuracy. Now, we who know the Lord, we
know Him. But is He not in a cloud? Do we not see through a glass
darkly? Do we not know in part Do I not preach in part? I know
a few things, but the older I get, the more I realize how dumb I
really am. I am an ignorant creature. Things that I speak, I believe
in the tri-unity of God. One God revealed in three distinct
persons. Can I understand that? No, but
I believe it. I believe it. I'm standing in this world, I'm
standing behind a pulpit right now and the scripture says in
Romans 8.30 that already I'm glorified in heaven. Now, do
I believe that? Yeah, I believe it. I don't understand
it, but I believe it. The Lord descended in a cloud. He came down, he's going to meet
with Moses, he's going to teach Moses something. And us! Verse 6 says, And the Lord passed
by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth. Here the Lord fulfilled His promise
when Moses said, ìShow me your glory.î He said, ìI am going
to call all my goodness to pass before you and I will proclaim
the name of the Lord.î And here he is going to do it, right here.
The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. God is going to teach. He said,
ìI am merciful.î Do you know what God's mercy
to us is? That He's not going to give us
what we deserve. In the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ
who was made sin, bore the guilt in His own body. He was made
sin. And before God Almighty, God
dealt with Him. as the substitute of His people. There is Christ and we are in
Him. And He dealt with him in judgment. And He drank the cup of sin. God now shows mercy to us for
Christ's sake. He's already dealt with sin.
He's already dealt with it for His people. He's dealt with it.
I lay down my life for the sheep, and God, He said, I'm going to
proclaim the name of the Lord. I'm merciful. He delights to show mercy. And He said, and gracious. You
know what grace is? Grace. is to not give us in judgment
what we deserve. He's merciful by giving us something
that we don't deserve, salvation. Gracious to not give us judgment. He said, I am merciful and gracious. The Scripture declares that He
has not dealt with us after our sins. nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him." To proclaim the name of the Lord
is to proclaim that God is merciful. He's gracious. That's what he
says. And then he says this. Here's
the name of the Lord. Long-suffering. He's slow to
anger. How patient is the Lord toward
those for whom Christ answers. He says, I'm long suffering.
You know, unless He revealed Himself to be so, how would any
of us know? Unless the Lord revealed it,
how would any sinner know that the Lord is not slack? That is, that he tarries long,
but not without a reason. Are we sinners? Yes, we are.
We say we have no sin. We make God a liar. Why is God
tarrying right now in judgment? The Lord is not slack concerning
His promise. He said, I'm a just God. The soul that sinned is going to
die. Lord, why are you tarrying? Why does he tarry? He's not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but here's
what it is. He's long-suffering to us. Slow
to anger against this world and its rebellion for the sake of
his people, for the honor of Christ. How do I know? How do you know how long the
Lord is going to tarry? What if one of His elect has
not been born yet? What if one of His elect is going
to have two parents that don't know God? And the Lord, for the sake of
His elect, He is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance There's one
that He knows. I don't know who they are, but
He knows. And He said, I'm long-suffering.
All my sheep are going to be born. All my sheep are going
to be called. All my sheep are going to be with me. Long-suffering. Isaiah 30, 18
says, And 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.
Blessed are all they that wait for him." The Lord descended in a cloud.
He proclaimed the name of the Lord. And this is what he said,
merciful, gracious, long-suffering. Then he said, and abundant in
goodness. That word goodness right there
is best interpreted. Kindness. Kindness. How kind
is the Lord to His people? Psalm 3121, Blessed be the Lord,
for He has showed me His marvelous kindness in a strong city. Who is that strong city? That's
the Lord Jesus. That's the city of refuge. That's
the haven of rest. Christ Himself, blessed be the
Lord, He showed me His marvelous kindness in Christ. Isaiah 3, 7, I will mention thy
lovingkindness. I will mention the lovingkindness
of the Lord, the praises of the Lord according to all that the
Lord has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the
house of Israel which He hath bestowed on them according to
His mercies, according to the multitude of His lovingkindness.
Let me ask you this. Has the Lord concerning this
group right here, has the Lord been merciful, gracious, long-suffering,
kind? Has He not been? Has He? And Scripture says in abundance
in goodness and in truth, it's the name of the Lord. Abundant
in truth. John 14, 6 declares the Lord
Jesus Christ to be the truth. I am the way, the truth, the
truth, and the fulfillment of all of His promises. You know, time would fail us,
wouldn't it, to mention all the promises that God has given His
people in Christ. Can you imagine trying to mention
all the promises of God? He's abundant in truth. Listen
to this. I shall call His name Jesus,
and His promise. He shall save His people from
their sins. This is the encouragement that
we have continuing to preach the gospel. The gospel that is
the power of God unto salvation. This is the reason that God's
people want to hear the gospel. This is the message that the
Spirit of God is going to bless to the salvation of God's elect. What a promise. He shall save
His people. I will never leave thee. Let me ask you something. Do you
desire the Lord's presence? I'll never leave you. I'm never
going to forsake you. Everything that comes the way
of a believer is for that believer's good. I know that soul. I need the Lord to teach me that
afresh. Now listen to this promise. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, now listen to this, I will come again. and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there you may be also." There's coming a time,
believer, where we're not going to have to suffer anymore. There's
going to be no more tears, no more sorrow, no more hurt, no
more pain, no more worry, and we will forever be with the Lord. Oh, with respect to this life
and that which is to come, The Lord never suffers. His truth
to fail. Here's what he said in proclaiming
the name of the Lord. He's continuing to proclaim.
Here's what he says, keeping mercy for thousands. Keeping
mercy. I thought this was so beautiful.
In that word keeping, it means continually looking at the covenant. I'm going to continue. Keeping,
looking, beholding the covenant. Keeping mercy for thousands. How many is that? I don't know.
But I can tell you this, everyone that He's everlastingly loved,
there's mercy for them. I know that. In His heart, in
His purpose, in His decrees, according to that covenant, He
maintains mercy for all His chosen, all the elect in Christ, and His blood was shed for them.
And when the Father sees the blood, He says, I'm going to
pass over you. Listen to Psalm 89, 28, My mercy will I keep
for Him forevermore. My covenant shall stand fast
with Him. Is He going to show mercy to
His people? He said He would. Then He says,
verse 7, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. There are three different words
there, and obviously they mean three different things. And as
closely as I can tell, this is what they mean. Forgiving iniquity. That is the guilt that is contracted
by sinning. Here's the situation. We're guilty. Forgiving iniquity and transgression. It means the trespass. This is the reason that we're
guilty. Why? because we revolt against
God. We're guilty because of what
we do. And sin, that's the penalty of. We're guilty because of what
we do, and there's a penalty associated
with it. What does the Lord say? Here's the name of the Lord.
Forgiving, iniquity, and transgression. and sin. Why? Why would the Lord lift
off from us and put upon the Lord Jesus Christ what we are,
what we do, and what we deserve? Why? Because He said, I'm a merciful
God. I'm merciful. Christ made sin, bore the guilt
of His people, made satisfaction before God's law. And God Almighty
says, here's my name, I forgive iniquity and transgression and
sin. But He's just God. He said, I
will by no means clear the guilty. God's just. Without full and
proper satisfaction to justice, God's not going to clear the
guilty. I'm a just God. Have we not sinned? Yes, we have. Yes, we have. We're sinners. What about that sin? Christ's
voyage. And now, there is therefore,
Now, no condemnation to them which be in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, trying to justify themselves before
God, but after the Spirit, believing what God has done for them in
Christ. He said, I will by no means clear
the guilty. Then he said, here's the name
of the Lord, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,
upon the children's children, unto the third and fourth generation. What do you mean, Lord? What
do you mean? There's a consequence of what
we are and what we've done. in this life, visiting the iniquity. A couple of verses here, I think,
describe what it is. Why do we suffer some of the
things that we suffer? Our guilt's been put away, Mitch.
Now, the guilt before God had been put away. But you know what? We're still suffering in this
world, aren't we? Why? Because there's a remembrance
of what we are. Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth,
chastises everyone that He receives. We go through this life and we've
got some problems. If you be without chastisement,
you're not born of His. Listen to Lamentations 5-7. Our
fathers have sinned and are not. They're gone. And we've borne
their iniquities. Let me look at this, Psalm 89,
3 and 4. Psalm 89. This gives a good understanding.
Visiting the iniquity. Visiting. Not in judgment, but
in remembrance. Now, this verse, I think, will
absolutely clear this up. Visiting the iniquity. There's
a remembrance. He brings it back. Not in judgment,
but causes us to remember. Look at Psalm 89. three and four. He said, I've made a covenant
with my chosen. I've sworn unto David my servant. Thy seed will I establish forever
and build up thy throne to all generations. There's a promise
of God. I'm going to show mercy to you. But I want you to look
at verses 30 to 34. If his children forsake my law
and walk not in my judgments, If they break my statutes and
keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgression
with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my
lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my
faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break,
nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips." Visiting the
iniquity. of the fathers upon the children,
children's children, third and fourth generation. Let me ask
you something. Do we not see that in our lives? How about this country? Let me
ask you something. Does this country, does our families,
does our persons, do we see ourselves suffering because of the rebellion
that we've seen in ourselves? We're reminded of it. If I abuse
this body, you know what's going to happen? It's going to suffer. Is God going to have mercy on
me? Yes, it will, but there's some chastisement. He said, visiting,
back in Exodus 34, 7, the iniquity of the fathers upon children,
children, children, unto the third and fourth generation.
We've sinned and come short of the glory of God. We deserve a whole lot more than
what the Lord's put on us. Isn't that right? And if He allows
us to go through some chastisement to remind us what we are and
what He's done for us, we're blessed people. And after the
Lord preached that message, verse 8 and verse 9, Moses made haste
and he bowed his head toward the earth and he worshipped and
he said, I found grace in thy sight, O
Lord." Lord, you said you're gracious, you're merciful, you're
long-suffering. Lord, you've declared who you
are. Now, Lord, I'm going to ask you something. O Lord, if
I found grace in thy sight, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among
us, for it's a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity. Lord,
you said you would. You said you've forgiven iniquity
and transgression and sin. Lord, forgive ours. And Lord,
take us for Thine inheritance. Lord, I'm not in a bargaining
position. Lord, You're not a God that's
bargained with. You're the Lord. That is the proclamation of the
name of the Lord. May the Lord teach us. concerning
His name for our good and for the eternal glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen.