A place by Me

Q: What does the Bible say about God's glory?

The Bible reveals that God's glory is so profound that no man can see His face and live, but He allows us to witness His glory in other ways. God's glory is a central theme in Scripture, demonstrating His majesty and holiness. Exodus 33:21-23 illustrates the intimacy of God's relationship with Moses, where He promises Moses he can see His back but not His face. This reflects God's transcendence and the unapproachable nature of His holiness. In Christ, the fullness of God's glory is revealed (John 1:14), allowing believers to comprehend His character and mercy. Moses' encounter highlights our need for divine mediation, fulfilled in Christ, who enables us to experience God's presence safely.

Q: How do we know Jesus is our foundation?

Jesus is described as the cornerstone and rock in the Scriptures, symbolizing stability and security for believers. Jesus as the cornerstone is a significant theological truth found throughout the New Testament, particularly in Ephesians 2:20. The imagery of Christ as the foundation illustrates His essential role in the life of the church and individual believers, providing security amidst life's storms. In Matthew 7:24-25, Jesus contrasts the wise man who builds his house on the rock with the foolish man who builds on sand. This emphasizes the durability and steadfastness found in Christ compared to the instability of worldly values. Relying on Christ as our rock signifies faith in His redemptive work and promises.

Q: Why is it important to wait on the Lord?

Waiting on the Lord is vital for spiritual growth, as it cultivates patience and trust in God's timing. The importance of waiting on the Lord is deeply woven into the narrative of Scripture, particularly in Exodus 32-33, where the Israelites’ impatience leads them to idolatry while Moses communed with God. The act of waiting reflects our faith in God's sovereign plan and His perfect timing, as seen in Isaiah 40:31, which promises renewed strength to those who wait upon the Lord. This waiting prepares our hearts, calms fears, and fosters a deeper reliance on God's wisdom rather than our quick, often misguided solutions. It emphasizes that God’s timing is paramount in fulfilling His promises and purpose in our lives.

Q: How does Christ mediate for us?

Christ mediates for us by interceding before the Father on our behalf, providing access to God through His sacrifice. Christ’s role as our mediator is vital to the Reformed understanding of salvation and relationship with God. In Hebrews 7:25, it explains that He lives to intercede for us, highlighting His ongoing ministry following the completion of His redemptive act on the cross. Like Moses, who pleaded for Israel (Exodus 32:11-14), Christ’s intercession assures us that our failings are addressed before God. His righteousness becomes our own, granting us acceptance despite our sins. This mediation reassures believers of God’s grace and empowers them to boldly approach the throne of grace, confident in their identity as children of God.

Q: What does it mean to be placed in the cleft of the rock?

Being placed in the cleft of the rock signifies safety and security found in Christ, who is our refuge. The imagery of being placed in the cleft of the rock, as described in Exodus 33:21-22, symbolizes the profound safety and protection that God offers His people through Christ. The cleft represents the hiddenness and shelter we have in Jesus, who bore the judgment for our sins. This metaphor speaks to the believer's experience of security amidst a fallen world, allowing us to withstand the trials and tribulations of life. Moreover, it indicates an intimate relationship with God, where we can find refuge and strength. Just as Moses was shielded by God's hand, believers today are protected in Christ from the wrath and consequences of sin.

us to turn together to the chapter that we read, Exodus 33 and the text you'll find in verse 21. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. and it shall come to pass while my glory passes by that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock and I will cover thee with my hand while I pass by.

So we saw this morning of the lengths to which the Lord Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd set sail, enduring a storm to come to the aid of the mad Gadarene to bring him from the kingdom of Satan and all the abuse that that kingdom had laid upon him, that heavy yoke, that heavy burden that was laid upon him being in the kingdom of darkness and all the trouble that he passed through. And as Christ then enters into the area of the Gadarenes he lays upon his yoke, the yoke that is easy, that his burden is light. And we find that that man is sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ clothed and in his right mind.

We see that he is taken from one kingdom and placed into another. And we can say that he is taken from the miry clay of the kingdom of Satan and placed upon the rock. the Lord Jesus Christ, the foundation of the church, the cornerstone, the unmovable rock, the security of the Lord's people. And we see the instability of the kingdom of Satan, the instability of this world, how that is constantly changing. Nothing is the same for very long and we saw in the instability of that mad Gadarene, he is chained, he is driven of the devil into the wilderness, he is seeking to be restrained and there's an instability in his life.

And then when he comes face to face with Jesus, all that instability is taken away. He is founded upon a rock. He's sitting at the feet of Christ. He's learning the stable truths of the scripture, the truths that don't change or alter, are not affected by time or human pressure. We find him sitting there at peace learning of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so in the book of Exodus we have this instability and we have this stability. The instability comes from the Lord's people. people that had been delivered from the land of Egypt and brought through the Red Sea and were wandering in the wilderness and the Lord gives them his Ten Commandments by word as he speaks to Moses, as he speaks to the people of Israel first he speaks to them and he explains to them how he desires that they live how he requests that or he commands that they have no other gods before him.

Then as time goes on God has declared these truths to them, these unchangeable truths. Then we find that the children of Israel they rebel against God. As Moses enters again up into Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments we find that the people of Israel begin to murmur against Moses. And so they come to Aaron and they ask him to make them a god. How impatient they were. As we looked at the other day, the fruit of the Spirit, that is patience, endurance. How much trouble we bring on ourselves when we are not willing to wait. The people of Israel were not willing to wait.

All that the Lord had done for them, all that the Lord had shown them, that He was their God, He is able to split the sea. He was able to lead them in a cloud and a pillar of fire. he was able to provide for them he was able to give them his law and yet Moses disappears up into the wilderness for 40 days and they up into the mountain for 40 days and they begin to say well we don't know what's happened why is he taking so long and so they ask Aaron to make them a god in verse chapter 32 when The people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain. The people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, Up, make us gods which shall go before us. But as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not or we don't know what is become of him. And so Aaron tells them, take off all of your ornaments, all of your earrings.

And he fashioned it into a molten calf. And the people of Israel began to worship this golden calf. All that God had done. You shall have no other gods before me. But they wanted something to see. They wanted some object by which to declare that this is our God. And so they fall down and they worship that instability. Constant changing of mindset. St Joshua that says, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. You choose whom you are going to serve but as for me and my house we are going to serve the Lord. It's all an instability but he was willing to make a stand.

Aaron, swayed by the people, makes guards of gold. When Moses comes down from the mountain he tells Moses that we threw this gold into the fire and out came a god So they begin to lie How often it is isn't it that sin multiplies sin One sin causes you to add to another sin As it was with Aaron He listened to the people, he makes their gods and then when confronted he has to lie to try and deflect the blame upon the people.

But God had entered into a covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and he had promised that their seed was going to inherit the promised land. No matter what these people were going to do, God's promise was going to be brought about. God's word would not be failing. And so in all of this instability of the people of God, there is this stability of God that is unchanging.

Moses has to intervene on behalf of the people God says to Moses I'm going to destroy this people but Moses rises up and he beseeches the Lord to have mercy upon them God says that this people they are a stiff-necked people hard-hearted in another place it says they push away the shoulder but Moses he besought the Lord acted as a mediator acted as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ to petition God on behalf of the people of Israel chapter 32 and verse 11. And Moses besought the Lord his God and said, Lord why does thy wrath wax or why has it become hot against thy people which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, and for the mischief did he bring them out to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy people remember abraham isaac and and israel thy servants to whom thou swearest by thine own self and said unto them I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and all this land that I have spoken of, I will give it unto your seed and they shall inherit it forever. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. And so Moses comes, as it were, to the throne of grace and he brings the promises of God, the word of God to God himself and said, Lord, this is what you have said.

You have promised that this people are going to be your people. You have promised that this people are going to enter into the promised land. You have promised that these people, they are your people. And he intercedes for them as a mediator.

In verse 30 it says, And it came to pass on the morrow that Moses said unto the people, You have sinned a great sin, and now I will go up unto the Lord. Peradventure, I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord and said, O these people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Now yet, if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not block me out, I pray thee of the book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him I will blot out of my book. God then says to Moses that he was not going to go with the people of Israel.

He says to him that he was going to send an angel before them. The Lord had led them out. He had gone before them in a cloud and a pillar of fire. He had been there with them. He had been present with them. Yet because of their sin and their rebellion, he distances himself from them and says that I'm going to send an angel.

The scripture tells us that we, even in the New Testament, although we may be the Lord's people, although we may experience his favor and blessing upon our lives, yet our sin can cause us to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. We can experience a seemingly lack of the power and influence of the Holy Spirit within our lives. And Moses had to come again to the Lord and plead on behalf of the Lord's people that God would go with them. that he would not be happy with anybody else, not even an angel. He says, if thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.

He wanted God and God only. The Bible tells us that The Lord spoke with Moses as a man speaks to his friend. As Moses went to the tabernacle, to the tent of congregation where they offered the sacrifices, where the Holy of Holies was, the Lord descended and spoke with Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend.

The Bible then says that Moses is not able to see God's face. No man can see my face, for there shall no man see my face and live. verse 23 and I will take away mine hand and thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall not be seen. It's very easy I think to think well I can't understand that. I'm going to jump over it and not try to reconcile those two points. What if the scripture says that God spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend and then later on it says nobody is able to see the face of God and live, how is it that Moses spoke to him face to face and still lived?

Well it's either that God in the cloud as it descended upon the tabernacle of the congregation spoke to Moses so closely through that cloud that it was a face-to-face meeting or that he spoke to him through the Lord Jesus Christ. It says that God spoke to him face-to-face Sometimes we say we have a face-to-face meeting. It speaks of closeness. Closeness of the relationship. God spoke to Moses face-to-face as a man speaks to his friend. Moses is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ as he intercedes for the people of God, seeking to obtain God's favour and blessing upon them and seeking to obtain God's presence.

He communes with him face to face. But then he asks God for something. He asks to see his glory. And it seems that God's glory is in his face. If you remember Moses when he came down from the mountain, after communing with God, his face shone. The radiance of God radiated from his face, so much so that the people of Israel said to him, cover your face, for they were afraid to look upon him. And it seems here that Moses asked God, show me your glory. Show me your face. And God says to him, you can't see my face. Well, nobody can see my face and live. But this is what I will do. There is a way by which you can see my glory. There is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock.

The Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father, at the place by God, co-equal with God. seated at the right hand of the Father. All authority and all power has been given to the Lord Jesus Christ. In Peter it tells us 1 Peter chapter 3 In verse 22 or verse 21, the like figure whereunto even baptism does also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but of the answer of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him. And so Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father and he always has been seated at the right hand of the Father. And so there is a place by me by which you are able to see me, by which you are able to behold my glory and I will put you upon a rock. Who is the rock? The Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember he tells us of the wise man that built his house upon the rock and the winds and the floods came and beat upon the house and it didn't fall because it was founded upon the rock, the unmovable, secure foundation. It is solid. Think of the mountains that have spanned the generations are still there. an unmovable rock. I thought of Psalm 40.

He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the Māori clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. Think of the mad gathering in the Māori clay. Think of you and I in our unregenerate state in the Māori clay of unbelief, in the Māori clay of the kingdom of darkness, no stability, no security. But then there is a place by me and I will put you upon the rock. Takes us from the Māori clay. He sets our feet upon a rock and he establishes our goings. He sets us in the right course.

What did the Mad Gadarenes say? Can I follow you? Can I go with you? Jesus says, go and tell your friends how great thing the Lord had done for you. He established his goings, he set him in the right way, put him on the right course, on that narrow way that leads to life, that narrow way that leads to glory, that unmovable rock.

Behold look at this there is a place by me and thou shalt stand upon a rock Not only is he to stand upon the rock but he's also put into the cleft of the rock And it shall come to pass, while my glory passes by, that I will put thee in a cleft of a rock, and I will cover thee with my hand." And does it show us?

The military, think of America, and think of Iran, they tried to build their nuclear research station right buried down in the rock. America has some nuclear bunker buried down underneath a mountain and to be placed into a cleft of a rock, a culvert, a cave it symbolizes security. that those that are founded upon the rock, that are secure in Christ Jesus, they're placed in the cliff, placed in the cleft.

They're secure and there is safety. This afternoon are we in the Maori clay or are we on the rock? Are we outside of Christ, unsecure? Or are we safe in the cleft of the rock? But also there's the rock that is struck. You remember as Moses came out of the land of Egypt with the people of Israel, there was no water and they grumbled and complained and God showed him a rock that he was to strike. And he, instead of striking that rock, although he struck it, he spoke to it also. But Paul tells us in the book of Corinthians that that rock was Christ. And when struck, that water flowed, that sustaining, thirst-quenching river that followed them through the wilderness, that was Christ. And we see upon the cross that Calvary, the Lord Jesus Christ, struck by the Father. That fountain was then opened for sin and for uncleanness which enables one to be placed upon the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. Enables one to find safety and security in the cave because the rock was struck.

And outwith flowed blood and water and the Lord Jesus Christ by his blood, by his sacrifice is able to cleanse from all sin. Why is it that no man can look at God face to face? Because God cannot look upon sin. And so the only way by which there can be that relationship, that reconciliation, is by the rock being struck, by the Lord Jesus Christ being struck and becoming the foundation of the church by which we are able to be established upon.

But also we can be hid in Christ Jesus. He says, I will put my hand over the cleft of the rock and I will pass by. You will not see my face but you will see my back parts are covered by God. So we saw the mad Gadarene sitting at the feet of Jesus in his right clothed and in his right mind was covered covered in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is only there that we have that acceptance with God. No righteousness can we obtain ourselves. There is only that righteousness which is put on by faith. And just like the people of Israel, we see ourselves. God has done so much for us in redeeming us, bringing us out of Egypt, leading us and guiding us and directing us and yet there are times of our sin, times of unbelief, times where we may worship idols. Yet the Lord Jesus Christ acts as a Moses, acts as a mediator to plead on our behalf just as Moses pleaded on behalf of the people of Israel so Christ as our great high priest pleads on our behalf.

And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass, while my glory passes by, that I will put thee in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.

May the Lord help us as we close this service by singing hymn number 15 from Hymns of Worship. We love the place, O God, wherein thine honour dwells, the joy of thine abode, all earthly joy excels. Hymn number 15 from Hymns of Worship, the tune 955. Where in thine honor dwells The joy of thine abiding, All earthly joy excels. We love the house of Beth, Where in thy serpents live, We love the word of life, the word that tells of peace, of comfort in the storm, and joys that never end. ♪ A blessing freely given ♪ ♪ A joy we long to have ♪ ♪ The triumph song of life ♪ ♪ Lord Jesus, give us grace ♪ ♪ On earth to have thee known ♪ Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with you all now and for evermore. Amen.

A place by Me

What does the Bible say about God's glory?

How do we know Jesus is our foundation?

Why is it important to wait on the Lord?

How does Christ mediate for us?

What does it mean to be placed in the cleft of the rock?

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About James Gudgeon

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A place by Me

What does the Bible say about God's glory?

How do we know Jesus is our foundation?

Why is it important to wait on the Lord?

How does Christ mediate for us?

What does it mean to be placed in the cleft of the rock?

Sermon Transcript

About James Gudgeon

Comments

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