Go ahead and turn with me to
Exodus chapter 33, if you would please. Exodus chapter 33. Look at verse
12. And Moses said unto the Lord,
see thou sayest unto me, bring up this people and thou has not
let me know whom thou will send with me. Yet thou has said, I
know thee by name and thou has also found grace in my sight. Moses knew this, he knew that
the Lord had given him a people to deliver. When he was in the
desert attending his father-in-law's sheep, the Lord called him and
told him that he heard the cry of his people, the Lord's people
in Egypt. And he sent Moses there to be
their deliverer. Moses said, you said that you
know me by name. Oh, if the Lord knows you by
name, child of God, everything's gonna be all right. To those
who said, Lord, haven't we, haven't we? He said, I never knew you,
but if the Lord knows you, you're a blessed man or woman. He said,
I know thee by name and thou has found grace in my sight. Now the Lord had told Moses that
he would still give Israel the land that he promised, but that
he himself would not go with them. We've looked at that the
last couple of times. And I was thinking if Israel
was satisfied with that arrangement of God not going with them, it
only proved that they loved the blessings that they enjoyed more
than the Lord who blessed them. But if Israel came pleading,
came pleading for God's presence, it would give evidence of a true
heart of faith. and it would give evidence of
true love for God. Those who desire the presence
of the Lord, evidence a true heart for the love of God. I
want you to think about this. Many times in the scriptures,
the land of promise was referred to as a land that flowed with
milk and honey. Did it really? Well, after all
milk comes from the memory gland of mammals and honey comes from
bees. So it was not the land itself
that flowed with milk and honey. And many of the commentators
suggest that this is a poetic expression or description that
emphasizes the fertility of the land that God had given them
and the bounty of that land. And no doubt that it does. But
the subject tonight in our text is the presence of the Lord,
the presence of God and our need of that, the necessity of God's
presence in our life. It was God's presence that made
the land of promise such a land. And it's the presence of God
that gives the fertility and the bounty to our souls. The same as heaven is heaven
because Christ is there. You know, men talk about heaven
and have a desire to go to heaven, but then they talk about the
streets of gold and the pearly gates and the mansions. Friends,
heaven is heaven because Christ is there. Christ is what makes
heaven heaven. Heaven is forever being in his
presence. Now, 10 of the spies that had
brought that evil report to Moses, remember that in Numbers chapter
13, they said the kingdom was a place, they said that eateth
up its inhabitants. But Joshua and Caleb, two out
of the 12 spies saw what none other saw, none of the other
saw. They saw that it was the presence of God in that land
that made it flow with fertility and bounty. What are the blessings
of God without Christ? What are your blessings without
Christ in you? Now, Moses here, even knowing
that God would send a created angel, according to verse two,
wasn't enough. Moses is crying out here for
the Lord's presence You know, something that every true believer
knows to be true is Christ's presence in our heart comes by
our spiritual union with Him. And it was God who initiated
that. We weren't seeking God. There's none that seeketh after
God. But the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save those
that God gave him before the world was ever created. And he
came on purpose. And he came to save sinners in
whom you and I are chief. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. It's our union with Christ that
separates sinners from the broad way that leads to destruction
unto God's way that leads unto life. That's the difference.
Those that find that straight and narrow, it's only because
God's presence was in their life, directing them and guiding them
and teaching them all things. And Christ is that way. That's
what he said. I am the way. That little definite
article, thee, used so often in the scripture, shows us that
Christ is the way, the only way. There is no other way. Christ
is God's way. Now look here in verse 13. It
says, now therefore, I pray thee, Moses speaking, if I 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." Dear believer, before God's presence entered
into your heart and my heart, did we have any desire for him
or his presence? No. God gives us life and then
he gives us a desire. We didn't have a desire in and
of our own. All of us had desire only for
our way, a way that seemed right unto us, but in the end, our
way was a way of death. Proverbs 14, 12. It's in Christ's
presence that we have the blessings of God's promises. Isn't that
what the scripture teaches? The promises of God are in Christ,
yay and amen, but only in Christ. Now, what did Adam and Eve do
when they disobeyed God and died spiritually? Do you remember?
They hid from God's presence. Genesis chapter three, verse
eight tells us that. And they heard the voice of the
Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam
and his wife hid themselves. from the presence of the Lord
God amongst the trees of the garden. But we see here in Exodus
33 in these verses before us tonight, that it was the presence
of God that made Moses to desire and to beg to know God's way.
When God enters into the heart of a man or a woman, that will
be their chief concern in this life. What's God's way? They
see that Christ is God's way, and then they desire to know
more and more of Him. I've determined not to know anything
among you, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Moses said, if
I found grace in thy sight, in thy presence, show me now thy
way. And I want us to notice here
that it's upon God's acceptance of Moses that Moses pleaded for
the people of Israel. How plainly this points to the
Lord Jesus as the one who on behalf of his poor, pitiful people
has obtained eternal redemption for them. It's on the grounds
of Christ's acceptance that the Lord Jesus now pleads for us.
Christ is the only way that God can justify his people from their
sin justly. He has to do it justly. He has
to justify them justly. The law of God requires perfection
that we could never provide. We know that. We can't keep one
law, must less keep the whole law and keep it perfectly. Therefore,
the law of God can never justify us. And at the same time, keep
the integrity and the justice of the law. The law could not
save us, Paul said, and that it was weak through the flesh.
And we know that that's our flesh. We could not keep the law in
any degree, much less keep it perfectly, therefore we're guilty
of the whole law. So we can't, by keeping the law,
be saved. But Christ kept it, and he kept
it for his people, and he kept it perfectly. The Lord Jesus
was perfect, and his perfect work of righteousness done in
our room instead is what justly put our sin away. Christ is God's
only way of redeeming us. We were redeemed from the curse
of the law. How? By Him being made a curse for
us. No other way. To ignore our sin and still save
us, God would be unjust, but God justly saved us. He that
justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just, even
they both are an abomination to the Lord. God will by no means
clear the guilty and God will by no means condemn those that
are innocent. Christ perfectly kept the law
of God that we can never keep. He is the just one who died for
the unjust. And if he died in my place, then
in his place, I must be exonerated. I must be reconciled to the holy
God that I've offended. Christ was made to be his people's
sin, and in return, his people were made to be his perfect righteousness. How are we reconciled to God?
Jesus Christ died the just for the unjust, that he might bring
us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by
the Spirit. Do we know God's way? Jesus Christ
is God's way. Have you, by God's grace, been
made to know Him? Do you look to Him alone for
your acceptance with God? No other place to look. No other
place to look. When the people of Israel were
bitten by the fiery serpents in the wilderness, what did they
look to? They looked to that brass serpent, that brazen serpent
upon the Pope. To look anywhere else, they died.
But to look to that brazen serpent that pictured Christ, they lived.
Look and live. That's the message of the gospel.
Look to Jesus Christ and live. Favor is found only in what we
have received and obtained in Christ. Verse 14, God says, my
presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest. Two words
there that just stick out to me, my presence and I'll give
you rest, presence and rest. Rest, oh, that's a wonderful
word, isn't it? Rest is a wonderful thing, to
truly rest. Christ is the presence of God.
If we've seen Christ, we've seen the father for he and his father
are one. And when Israel came out of Egypt,
we're told back in Exodus chapter 13, verses 21 and 22, and the
Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud. Who did?
The Lord did. "'He went before them by day
in a pillar of a cloud "'to lead them the way, "'and by night
in a pillar of fire "'to give them light to go by day and night. "'He took not away the pillar
of the cloud by day, "'nor the pillar of fire by night from
before the people.'" Well, that's good news. When the sun of this
world is scorching down upon us and revealing our sin, Christ
is the cloud that covers us as He leads us. In the darkest times,
in the trials of affliction, Christ is the light that goes
before us and leads us home. And if Christ leads us, we can
rest in the safety and we can rest in the security that we
have in Him. There's no rest, no security,
no safety in anyone else. That's why the Ark of Noah so
beautifully pictures the Lord Jesus. The wrath of God fell
upon the whole world, including Noah and those of his family. But Noah and his family were
in the Ark. They were safe, they were secure.
They were in Christ, God's place of refuge. Oh, if God be for
us, who can be against us? I love that hymn we sing, he
leadeth me. Oh, blessed thought, and it is,
isn't it? that God would lead us. Our words
with heavenly comfort brought, whatever I do, where I be, it's
still God's hand that leadeth me. Christ's presence is rest
because Christ separates us and he protects us from all our enemies,
all of them. God told Joshua, he said, there
shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days
of thy life, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee, and I
will not fail thee nor forsake thee. I tell each and every one
of you here tonight without any reservation whatsoever, if you
belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, he will not fail you. He will not forsake you. Now
our problem is, is that we quit looking to him and we begin looking
within and we don't find any comfort or safety or security
there. So let's look to him. Let's look
to him and him alone. Christ bore the sins of his people
and he was forsaken of God in our place. So as our substitute,
he promises to never leave us nor forsake us. He was forsaken
of God, but he'll never forsake us. And he was forsaken of God
because of our sins. and because of our iniquity.
Christ, our great shepherd, and never leave us nor forsake us.
And when we do leave, when we are, we were so prone to wonder
that when we do, our great shepherd, he finds us and he carries us
all the way home to where his fold, his sheep resides and abides. Matter of fact, let me read this
first, Isaiah 63, verse nine. It says, in all their affliction,
he was afflicted. and the angel of his presence
saved them. In his love and in his pity,
he redeemed them and he bare them and he carried them all
the days of old." He's carrying us. It's on his shoulders that
we read. Christ is our rest. The Lord
said, come unto me and I'll give you rest. The Lord said, learn
of me and you shall find rest where your soul. Are you troubled? Lean on him. That's where you
find rest, where your soul. I look at verse 15, and he, Moses,
said unto God, if thy presence go not with me, carry us not
up hence. Now Moses knew that if God's
presence didn't go with him, it was all in vain. He had no
confidence in his self, and we shouldn't have any in ourselves,
no confidence. We put no confidence in the flesh.
Notice also that Moses wasn't satisfied with the prospect of
God sending an angel before them. Moses wanted the one that he
knew and one that he had proved and one that he trusted going
with him. It was the Lord's presence. It
was the Lord's communion with him that his soul prayed. Once
you have fellowship and communion with God, you'll settle for nothing
less. This is still the longing of
every regenerated heart. And very appropriate it is to
behold Moses here now identifying himself with Israel. He said,
if thy presence go not with me, he said, carry us, carry us not
up his. What a picture that is of the
Lord Jesus and us being found in him and us being one with
him. Again, Moses foreshadows Christ
who said, behold, I am the children which God hath given me. Hebrews
chapter two, verse 13. We are truly bone of his bone
and flesh of his flesh. And in Christ, we are separated
from the world. Look at verse 16. For wherein
shall it be known here that I am thy people. Moses never refers
to himself without referring to the people of God. He said,
if shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace
in thy sight, is it not in that thou goest with us? That's the
token of God's grace that he's with us, that we're one with
him. So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the
people that are upon the face of the earth? You see, Christ
separates his people from this world's mere form of religion
and he gives us true worship. True worship is in spirit and
truth. That's what the Lord told the Samaritan woman. He said,
you know not what you worship. But God's people worship in spirit
and in truth. You see, you can't worship God
in this flesh. You just can't do it. You can
only worship him in the spirit. You can't worship God through
false teaching. Can't do it. People say we have
a wonderful worship service and they never mentioned God in Christ
at all, not once. That wasn't worship. You have
to worship God in the truth of scripture, in the truth of who
Christ is, in the truth of what he's done, in the truth that
he laid down his life for his people, and his people trust
in him for all their righteousness. That's where true worship's found.
It was Moses that pitched that tent outside the camp. But I'm
telling you, it was only a tent until the presence of the Lord
entered into it. That's all it was. We got a lot
of tents today that men had pitched, but the Lord never enters them.
It's just so. It's not our gathering and it's
not our going through an outward formality that is worship. It's
God's presence that gives us true worship. The Lord Jesus
said, where two or three are gathered in my name, there I
am in the midst. But to be gathered in Christ's
name is to be gathered in the truth of the scriptures. So those
who worship a God of their imagination, God's not with them. God meets
where two or three are gathered in his name and the truth of
his word. It's God's presence that gives us true worship. It's
God's presence. If it's not with us, all this
outward form of religion is absolutely as useless as Israel dancing
around that golden calf. They thought that was worship,
but it wasn't. No, sir. Concerning many throughout
the ages, God has said, this people draw near me with their
mouth and with their lips, they do honor me, but they've removed
their heart far from me. worship the thing of the heart.
And he said, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of
men. Men today don't have a fear or
reverence of God, because they're not taught who God is. They're
not shown who God is. God's not preached to them as
a sovereign God who does what he wills in the army of heaven
among the inhabitants of the earth. And men just have a flippant
attitude towards God. Well, God is love. He loves us
too much to send us to hell. He loves us too much to hold
us accountable for sin, and not the God of this Bible. Men need
to acquaint themselves with Him. It's solely on the sovereign
and immutable grace of God that Moses now appeals, and Christ
is the only appeal that any of us have to God. We plead the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Men say, oh, won't you give Jesus
your heart? It's deceitful and above all
things and desperately wicked. God has to give us a new heart. And it's only if Christ's blood
was shed for us that he does. Moses said, if I found grace
in thy sight, show me thy way. And then Moses said, if I have
grace in thy sight, consider that this nation is thy people.
God said, I'm done with them. I'm going to go ahead and give
them what I promised them, but I'm not going with them. And
Moses here, picturing the Lord Jesus Christ, pleads on their
behalf. He said, Lord, if I found grace
in your sight, the Lord Jesus found grace in his father's sight,
no doubt. Moses said, if I found grace
in thy sight, show me thy way. And he said, and if I have this
grace that you tell me that I have, oh, consider these people. this
nation that you claim to be your, that you said you would deliver.
You know, I thank God every day that the Lord identifies with
us as Moses did Israel. When I stand before God and the
law stands to accuse me and says, okay, what have you done? that
would cause you to be worthy of the presence of God. I've
got an advocate. I've got an intercessor. I've
got one that'll stand for me and say, I fulfilled the law
completely. I satisfied your justice, dear
Father, by my precious blood. And the law can't condemn me.
The law has no claims on me because of what Christ has done for me. My substitute was saved by Him
the only one who ever did and worked out a perfect righteousness
standing in our place. And it's in Moses identifying
himself with the sinful people of Israel that his appeal was
not in vain. It's Christ identifying with
us that we're saved. The Lord used one man, Moses,
to lead the whole nation of Israel. And it was a constant and visual
reminder that Christ alone leads his people. Christ alone is our
shepherd. Christ alone is our head. Christ
alone is our bishop. Christ alone is our great high
priest. He's alone our king. He alone
is our Lord. Now Moses, he was a faulty, fumbling,
powerless sinner, just like the rest of us. But God is pleased
to use such man. Every faithful preacher is nothing
but a faulty, fumbling, powerless sinner. But God, by the foolishness
of preaching, is pleased to save those who believe. And he uses
preachers, just men, to preach that glorious gospel. Paul tells
us that Christ uses nobodies and nothings. Well, I qualify
for that. What are your qualifications,
Mr. Edmondson, to be a preacher?
Well, I'm a nothing and a nobody. so that no flesh glory but in
his presence. Those who glory shall glory only
in the Lord." Moses knew he was nothing. That's why he's here
begging to God on behalf of the people. It was the Lord's presence
that kept them separated from the rest of the world. And it's
the Lord's presence in our lives that keeps us separated from
the world. Christ knits the hearts of his preachers and his people
by making us all to know this about ourselves. Only those made
teachable by the Spirit of God understand this and submit to
Christ in. You know, every single time that
Israel had a problem, it seems it was because the people tried
to lead themselves or they tried to push Moses aside. The people
rose up and they told Aaron to make them gods. Well, we see
where that got them. Korah rose up with his followers. And he said, Moses, you take
too much on yourself, especially seeing that we're all holy. Let
us help." And you remember what happened there. Aaron and Miriam,
Moses' own brother and sister, rose up against him at one point.
And in each case, this led the whole congregation into grave
error. And each and every time Moses
sought the Lord on Israel's behalf. You tell me that's not a picture
of the Lord Jesus, begging the Lord's presence in their midst.
Each time the Lord sent Moses to preach His word to them. Each
time the Lord turned Israel to Him and led them in the right
way. What a Savior. So it is with
Christ and His people. If we endeavor to push Christ
aside and out of our lives, we're going to have trouble. When you
stop placing all your trust in the Lord Jesus, thinking that
they're putting too much confidence, too much hope, too much assurance
on him as your savior, as your sacrifice and your substitute,
just like Torah, you begin trusting in a holiness that you perceive
to have, that you don't. And you begin to trust in a righteousness
that you believe is yours by your own doing. Don't do it. Oh, I beg you, don't do it. We
see by God's grace that the mediation of Moses always and completely
prevails. How much more so is that of Christ,
the perfect one. Now look at verse 17, I'll begin
to wrap this up. And the Lord said unto Moses,
I will, I like those words. I will do this thing also that
thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and
I know thee by name. Shout of God, your redemption
in the Lord Jesus is only because of who Christ is and what Christ
has done. How blessed we are to know that
Israel's God is our God. God promises to each of his elect
people, he says, my presence shall go with thee. What else
do we need? What else would we desire if
God goes with us? God gives his elect the same
assurance as we journey through this world. No matter the roughness,
no matter the difficulty of the path, no matter the trials and
the disappointments that come our way, and there will come
many. It's through much tribulation
that we enter the kingdom of God. Most of you have already
seen that. But no matter what comes our
way, the Lord is with us. That's what he said. I am with
you always, even into the end of the world. How long is he
with us? Christ is with his people to guard them, with them to protect
them, to lead them and to guide them. He's a very present help
in time of trouble. Fear not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. And yet we worry and we fret
about so many things. He said, I'll strengthen thee.
Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Oh, to be in his right hand,
everything's gonna be all right. Now we're not gonna get out of
this life alive. We're just not. This corruption
is gonna be put in the ground and we're gonna be raised incorruptible.
And the problem today, it seems, is that everybody wants to go
to heaven, but nobody wants to die. But to live is Christ and
to die is gain. To be absent from this body is
to be present with the Lord. I'll be the first to admit, I
don't look forward to the act of dying, but I sure look forward
to the result of it. In Christ, God's promises to
us is my presence shall go with thee. And I'll give thee rest. the rest of God, the rest from
sin and sorrow, the rest from toil and labor. Rest, rest, rest. My faith has found a resting
place. It's not in device. It's not
in creed. It's not in man's creed, the
church's creed. I trust the everliving one. I
trust the Lord Jesus Christ. His wounds for me shall flee.
Don't need no other argument, need no other plea. It is enough
that Jesus died and that he died for me. Through the presence
of Christ in preaching, we walk by faith, which works by love. God gives us a heart to obey
Christ and trust in him. We can't do that on our own.
God doesn't just zap us with salvation and then leave us to
work it all out on our own. One of the greatest tokens of
God's mercy besides saving us is keeping us kept by the power
of God. And we know that even our trials
are sent by him and designed by his purpose to do us good. Now it's true that sometimes
the Lord lets us go down to Egypt as he did Abraham. And it's true
that sometimes he allows us to go down to Moab like Naomi did. until he makes it bitter to us
as he did her. He's not gonna let his people
stay in Egypt and he's not gonna let them stay in Moab. Do you
remember what Naomi said? She said, don't call me Naomi,
call me Mara. Mara meaning bitterness. But friends, the presence of
God, the Holy Spirit leads us back to our Boaz, our kinsman
redeemer every time. He'll never leave us nor forsake
us. Our constant prayer should be as David's. Cast me not away
from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Yea,
though I walk to the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. Why? For thou art with me. Fear
thy not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I'll strengthen thee. Yea, I'll
help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. As I consider Moses in these
passages, I'm reminded of how blessed we are to have Christ
as our mediator, as our high priest, as our intercessor and
our substitute. And I see in Moses how Christ
deals with me, the sinner that I am. Our sin is so precisely
pictured by Israel, as rebellious as they were. What a picture
that is of me. but Christ pleads my cause and
my case just as Moses did theirs. And he does so on the basis of
his acceptance with God. He found grace in God's sight.
He said, what about these people that you gave me? That's what
Christ said. You know, that's why it's so
blasphemous for men to say things like, I accepted Jesus as my
personal savior. We don't have the life or the
ability to accept anything. We're dead in trespasses and
sin. Why are statements like, I accepted
Jesus so dishonoring to God? Because to the praise of the
glory of God's grace, he made us accepted in the beloved. No
true child of God would dare take any credit for what Christ
has done for elect sinners. I can find no confidence, I can
find no acceptance in anything that I do, anything. Well, you're
a preacher. Oh, that makes it even harder
sometimes. Oh, that I would preach the gospel
to others and myself be a castaway? My acceptance is completely in
what Christ has done for me. I'm accepted in Him. And that's
where I rest. Will you rest there? You know,
this wilderness journey is not gonna last forever. And whether
it's for a few more years or a few more minutes, God's gonna
deal with his people as he dealt with Israel. He redeemed them
and he bare them and he carried them all the days of old. Do you believe God? That's what
he said he'd do. And that's what it is for grace
to abound over our sin. This is our God, the God of all
grace. Until that day that we stand
before Christ in judgment, God's people can rest in what Christ
has done for them. And then when they actually stand
before God in judgment, they can rest even more knowing that
Christ, their advocate, will plead their case and plead their
cause. I don't have any better news
than that. I pray that God will make it effectual to your hearts. He's the only one that can intercede
at the right hand of God for you. And because of him and him
only, our great God says to each of his elect, my presence shall
go with thee and I'll give you rest. So let's rest, okay? All right.