My text this morning will be
out of the 33rd chapter of Exodus. Exodus chapter 33. I wish we
had time to cover the previous chapter of Exodus 32. It's there
that we find Moses going up into the mountain to receive the law
of God. And when the people saw that
Moses delayed, He delayed to come down from the mountain.
They gathered themselves, the scripture says, to Aaron and
said, we don't know what's become of Moses. So make us gods which
shall go before us. What a lesson is to be learned
here. They hadn't been away from God's
prophet for very long at all, and they soon fell into idolatry. You don't have to go without
hearing the gospel of Christ for very long before you begin
acting like men and women who don't know God. And even Moses,
or even Aaron, excuse me, Moses' brother, seems to be taken away
in this deception. He gives one of the saddest excuses
a man has ever gave concerning his sin. Paraphrasing Aaron from
verse 24, he said, they gave me gold, I cast it in the fire,
and there came out this calf. That's pretty ridiculous. You
know, folks can make some pretty sad and ridiculous excuses when
they try to justify their sin. Moses comes down from the mount
after receiving the law of God. And picture this, he sees the
children of Israel dancing naked around a golden calf. Verse 25. You can't make this up. It's
true. And immediately Moses destroyed
the golden cap and ground it to powder and scattered it upon
the water and made the children of Israel drink it. I was thinking
to myself as I read that verse, if men and women insist on drinking
iniquity like water, God may very well give them exactly what
they want. God said they've turned aside
quickly. quickly out of the way which
I commanded them. And they attributed their deliverance
to an inanimate golden statue and they worshiped it. They had
seen all the things that God Almighty had done to deliver
them out of Egypt and yet now they make a golden calf out of
their jewelry and they worship it and ascribe their deliverance
to that golden calf. You know, it's amazing what men
and women will make as objects of worship. Church buildings,
religious programs, activities, fundraisers. Now today we have
social media and outreach. And I recently saw a church,
I'm not kidding you, a church who's having weight loss classes.
Maybe they had too many bake sales, I don't know. Everybody
wants to be somebody for Jesus. You know, the church that I attended
growing up is still around and it's flourishing. And they have
a slogan, they have a saying, they have a proverb, whatever
you want to call it. They say here at Let Go and Let
God Baptist Church, everybody is somebody. But a group of people,
a group of sinners, that knows God, they'll tell you that everybody
is nobody and Christ is all. Churches today endeavor to become
known by what they do for the community instead of what God
does for sinners. And pretty soon they're worshiping
the molded and fashioned idols of their own hands, attributing
their salvation to a work of their own righteousness. Now
that's just a fact. That's just a fact. Moses stood
in the gate of the camp, and he said, who's on the Lord's
side? Let them come unto me. And friends, before the day was
over, all those who worshiped idols and refused to repent,
3,000 men were ordered killed by God. It's amazing the things
that a man will worship, and it's amazing the things that
a man will refuse to stop worshiping. Eight weeks ago, we began a study
in the book of Exodus on Wednesday night. We're now only in the
first part of chapter three. We've already seen, just as we
did in our study of Genesis, we've already seen in our study
of Exodus, in how many cases Moses pictured and typifies the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was hidden away in Egypt as
a baby for His own protection when Pharaoh decreed that all
Hebrew babies were to be killed. As you know, the Lord Jesus Himself
was hidden away in Egypt as a baby for His own protection when Herod
sought to kill Him. Moses willingly left his royal
home and high position in Pharaoh's palace for the sake of God's
people. And Jesus Christ, the royal Son
of God, willingly left the glory of heaven to come to earth for
the sake of His people. In due time, Moses came up out
of Egypt and he spent 40 years in the wilderness. And in due
course, Christ came up out of Egypt. He spent 40 days in the
wilderness to be tempted of Satan. And in Exodus chapter 32, Moses
offered his own life. I encourage you to read that
chapter in your leisure. He offered his own life on behalf
of the people of Israel. He had such love for them, such
compassion for them. And he was prepared to take their
guilt and their sin upon himself and to die for them. Christ has
delivered us from the bondage and slavery of sin, friends,
and He's redeemed us from our hard taskmasters of Satan, sin,
and self by His very own blood. Oh, so many pictures. And then
in our text this morning, Moses intercedes for the Israelites
when they corrupted themselves and worshiped a golden calf.
And in John 17, our Lord interceded for his elect people who were
utterly corrupted and gone astray, and Christ actually did lay down
his life for his people. And such was his love for us.
I still haven't gotten over his love for us, that he would take
our sin and our guilt upon himself and was offered to God in the
believer's place. Now, Exodus chapter 33, verse
one. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast
brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I
swear unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy
seed will I give it. And I will send an angel before
thee, and I'll drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the
Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
"'unto a land flowing with milk and honey, "'for I will not go
up in the midst of thee, "'for thou art a stiff-necked people,
"'lest I consume thee in the way.'" Now there's so much gospel
found in these first three verses. Let me just point out a few things
here that I think very well represent the gospel. First, man is so
depraved and God is so holy. How can the two be reconciled?
The message that God gives Moses to deliver to the children of
Israel has something to do, or everything to do really, with
his displeasure with them. They stood up on bad terms with
God. How about you? How about you? Outside of Christ, all men and
women are on bad terms with God. They stood upon bad terms with
Jehovah. Many think they're on good terms,
but God cannot have anything to do with sin. Do you have any
sin? If you do, then you're on bad
terms with God. God is too holy to just forgive
sin. You know, a lot of people don't
think about that. God's too holy just to forgive
sin. The wrath, judgment, and justice
of God will consume a sinner who stands before God in their
sin. Sin's got to be dealt with, and
it's got to be dealt with in justice. God, through Moses,
said in verse three, he said, you're such a stiff-necked group
of people that I would wind up consuming you in and on the way. You see, no sinner can look upon
God and live. God's too holy. Mankind is too
sinful. Look down at verse 20. God said, thou canst not see
my face, for there shall no man see me and live. Thou art of
pure eyes, Habakkuk 113 says, thou art of pure eyes than to
behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. That's just how
holy God is. How can then any be saved? Well,
you answer that and you've preached the gospel. Only in and by and
through a mediator. Only in and by and through a
substitute, an intercessor. That's what Moses was for Israel,
and that's what Christ is for his people. He's the one mediator
between God and man. And believe me when I say that
no sinner No sinner can approach God in any other way but in Christ,
our substitute and our sacrifice for sin. No other way. He said, I am the way. And no
man cometh to the Father but by me. That sounds pretty narrow
to me. Doesn't it to you? No sinner
can come apart from Christ. Now the Lord here in verse 1
told Moses to depart. He said, you and the people you
brought out of Egypt, just go. You be their go-between. You
be their mediator. You take them to the land of
promise. But did you notice what God said? God said, I'm not going.
I'm not going. God's too holy to go. We would
be consumed in His presence. Yet God would still fulfill His
promise. What grace this is. What grace
we see here. He still would fulfill His promise
and give the land which flowed with milk and honey as He promised
to Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob. And He says very plainly there,
unto thy seed will I give it. God's still gonna be gracious.
He's still gonna show mercy, but it would be through a substitute
and a mediator. That's the point I want you to
see. And it's the same with us today.
Without Christ, we'd be consumed. Yet notice that God was still
being gracious to them. At the end of verse one, concerning
the land of promise, God said, you go ahead up to the land.
I gave your fathers unto thy seed, will I give it? How wonderful
is the grace of God? Isn't it just wonderful? Oh,
we try to sing about it, but we come short of words. Yes,
it's amazing grace. It's marvelous, infinite, matchless
grace. But that just still seems to
fall short of what it is, doesn't it? But notice this. God said
in verse 2, and this is the second thing concerning how this pictures
the gospel. God says, I will send an angel
before thee, and I'll drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and
the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. I'll send this angel before you,
and through him, I'm going to eliminate all your enemies. Friends,
that angel is Christ. That's who that picture is. Christ
is the only one who can eliminate and defeat all the sinner's enemies.
Satan, sin, self, God eliminates them. What are the other obstacles
we face? The law of God. Christ can fulfill
the law of God. And Christ did fulfill the law
of God. What about God's holy justice? Only Christ can satisfy
God's holy justice. Only Christ can deliver us without
being consumed by a holy God. And only Christ can take the
sins of a stiff-necked sinner and enable them to bow their
heads and their hearts to a sovereign God. There'll be no enemies. Now, trust me on this. There'll
be no enemies in heaven's glory. Christ will deliver us from them
all. And notice this. Here's another
thing. We have such a picture of the gospel. Notice that the
people of God mourned over their sin. It was their sin which had
provoked God to withdraw from them. I'm telling you, sin has
bitter fruits and consequences. Don't ever think that it doesn't.
The worst consequence these people could have faced was the fact
that God departed from them. Have you mourned over your sin?
Have you lamented that you offended God while all sin is against
Him? Against Him and Him only have
we sinned and done this evil in His sight. All sin is against
God. We've offended His holiness,
His justice, His law. God will cause every elect sinner
to mourn over their sin. These folks were sorry and they
mourned. And when you see that you've
offended God, you'll mourn over your sin too. I mean, if God
really shows you your sin and who it's against, you'll mourn
over it. And those who mourn, they shall
be comforted. Isn't that what the Lord said
in Matthew 6? When the people of Israel, as
stiff-necked and rebellious as they were, heard that God wasn't
going to go with them, they mourned. They mourned. They didn't just
shed a few tears. That word mourned here means
wailed and lamented. The Hebrew definition for the
word mourned is a prolonged moan or cry of pain, grief, sorrow,
and deep regret. Have you ever heard someone just
moan and wail? Oh my. It's hard to hear, isn't
it? So much pain, grief, sorrow,
and regret. But before God saves you, dear
sinner, He's going to make you sorry over your sin. When God
gets finished with you and your sin, you'll most definitely desire
a substitute and a Savior. It's our sin that shows us our
need of a Savior. Fourth thing, salvation is the
presence of God. Sin has separated and alienated
us as sinners from God. We must be reconciled to Him
in order to be saved. That's a very simple preset,
but you'd be amazed how many folks don't know that. Everybody's
got a good thing going on with Jesus, don't they? Me and the
man upstairs, everything's alright with us. No. Because of your
sin, you've been alienated from God. Separated from God. God is too holy to have anything
to do with you and your sin. You've got to be reconciled to
God. How can a man or a woman be reconciled to God while they're
in their sin? That sin's got to be dealt with.
And it's got to be dealt with in justice. Only Christ can put
away that sin. There's absolutely one thing
that the saved sinner and the true church of God must have
in order to have life, and that's the presence of God. Presence
of God. Now you can do without a preacher
until God sends another one. You can go without a preacher
who's eloquent and talented and even charismatic, but you can't
do without a gospel preacher. God used a jackass once to deliver
His Word. And I'm telling you, you don't
have much better than that this morning. But I am convinced beyond
a shadow of a doubt that I'm telling you the truth about yourself
and telling you the truth about your God and your Christ. I'm
convinced of that. There are many things that the
church can do without. We've got beautiful music. I'm
thankful for it. But we could do without it. We
have a nice, dry, cool in the summer and warm in the winter
building that we can come and worship, but we could do without
it if need be. We all have relatively nice vehicles
to get us to services, but if had to, we could take a taxi.
But there's one thing that we cannot do without. And that's
the presence of God in Christ. That's the preaching of the gospel
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Can't do without it. Can't do
without the Holy Spirit's presence. Can't. Fellowshiping and being
with God's people in the presence of God and His Word is certainly
not something that I can do without. No child of God can't prosper
in their soul. And you know, I was thinking
yesterday, It's taken me pretty much all my life. All my life
to know and see and to understand how much I need the presence
of God. I cannot be without Christ in my life and live. Just can't. Too much beating around the bush
today. Preachers don't want to offend
people. They're building big memberships.
They want people to be happy and people want to be. Everything
in religion is touchy-feely good anymore. They say, I love Jesus
and He loves me. How do you know? Because the
Bible tells me so. Does it? Is that what the Bible
says? Some man or woman who calls themselves
a preacher has told you that. That's why you believe it. And
you're happy about it. But when a person sees that life
is much bigger than themselves, their happiness is not the issue.
The cause of Christ and the saving of men and women's soul is the
real issue. So what does mainstream religion
do? They just don't tell folks the truth. They sugarcoat things. They try to make it more palatable.
And they do a great disservice to their hearers. God told Moses
in verse 5 to say to the whole congregation of Israel, you're
a stiff-necked people. He said, I'll come up in the
midst of thee in a moment and consume thee. Where's that kind
of preaching today to the lost? Folks tell sinners today, Jesus
loves you. Well, maybe He does, maybe He
doesn't. He loved Jacob, but He hated Esau. Folks say Jesus
died for everybody. Did He die for Judas? Did He
die for Pilate? Did He die for that unrepentant
thief that hung on the cross next to Him? Preachers say, God
wants everybody to be saved. Then why didn't he pray for everybody?
Why didn't he pray for the world? Christ didn't pray for the world.
He prayed for them that the Father gave him. And they're the ones
that are saved. We need to tell the folks the
truth about God. We need to tell folks the truth
of what's found in this book. People need to hear the truth. Moses told them the truth. And
you know what happened? Look at verse six. And the children
of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments. Oh, what
a picture of stripping ourselves of our own self-righteousness.
Children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments. They took
off all their jewelry, all their fancy clothes, called ornaments.
And they dressed themselves in mournful attire out of shame
and sorrow. And in verse seven, Moses took
the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp, far off from
the camp. And it came to pass when Moses
went out into the tabernacle, that all the people rose up and
stood every man at his tent door and looked after Moses until
he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass as Moses
entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and
stood at the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy
pillar stand at the tabernacle door and all the people rose
up and worshiped every man in his tent door. And look at verse
11, and the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh
unto his friend. Again, what a picture of Christ
we have in Moses here. Now, this tent was a special
tent. It was far off from the other
tents. It was called the Tabernacle of the Congregation. The tabernacle,
the main tabernacle that was to follow wasn't finished and
wasn't set up until you get to Exodus chapter 40. Moses called
this the tent of meeting. Tabernacle means tent, and congregation
means meeting. Tent of meeting. And the reason
Moses called it that was because this is where he went to pray.
This is where he went to meet God, to talk with God, to pour
his heart out unto God. This was a private place of prayer. We are instructed of the Lord
to enter into our closet and pray in secret. That's what Moses
is doing here. This is where Moses is pouring
out, as I said, his heart unto God. Now, I love public prayer. I love to hear some of you men
pray. I do. I'm so encouraged when
I hear you. But Moses went into this tent
of meeting, and he spoke to God, and God spoke to him. I think
I've finally learned that prayer is as much a part of preaching
as putting together a sermon. We have to privately pray, folks. It's a necessity for us. Shut
out the world. Shut out the distractions. And
the Lord said, your Father, which seeth you in secret, will bless
you and reward you openly. We should never neglect public
prayer, but we definitely should never neglect private prayer.
Well, David, do you get into a closet and pray? I can't fit
in most closets, but I do pray. And I pray in secret. When I
get up early in the morning, I just talk to my Lord. You know,
we put too much formality on private prayer. Prayer's just
talking to the Lord. And it's the Lord talking to
you in that small, still voice of the heart. I ask the Lord
to help me. Lord, help me. Lord, have mercy
on me. Lord, keep me. That's a good
prayer. Lord, keep me. Don't let me have
my own way. I entreat the Lord to bless me
in spite of me. Lord, bless me in spite of me.
I ask Him to open my eyes to the Scriptures. I ask Him to
enable me to preach directly to your heart. If He doesn't
help us, friends, we won't be helped. If He doesn't save us,
we won't be saved. If He doesn't keep us, we won't
be kept. When Moses went into this tent
of meeting outside the camp, everyone in Israel knew what
was going on. They rose and they stood in the door of their tents.
And when Moses entered into that tent of meeting, that cloud hovered
over that tent there in the wilderness. And it was the evidence of the
presence of God. And the scripture tells us in
verse 11 that God spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh
unto his friend. Israel couldn't speak to the
Lord face-to-face and live, but their substitute could, their
mediator can, and he sits at the right hand of God and makes
intercession for his people. Again, what a picture of Christ
Moses is. He intercedes for us to God the
Father face-to-face. Why, he's right on the throne
with him. Well, he's God's best friend. I don't suppose everybody
had a great relationship with their father, but I certainly
did. I loved my father. He was my best friend. A lot
of times I'd lose track of that. I'd lose sight of that. But you
know what? He never did. He never did. He always had my best interest
at heart. And Moses had the interest of
the people of Israel on his heart. And Christ had the best interest
of His people on His heart. And God has the best interest
of His Son on His heart. So by our relationship and by
our union with Christ, God has our best interest at heart. This
intercessory prayer of Moses contains the Gospel. My time's
almost up, but let me quickly give you a few things here. Look
at verse 13. Moses begins, I pray thee, if
I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may
know thee. My first point here is answered
prayer is based upon the grace of God. Moses didn't say, show
me thy way that I may know thee. He was not presumptuous that
God would show him His way. He requested this favor from
God based upon God's own mercy and grace. He said, if I have
found grace in thy sight, show me thy way that I may know thee. When you appeal to God according
to His love, His mercy, and His grace found only in Christ, He'll
hear you. Moses didn't say, Lord, I've
been faithful all these years, ever since the burning bush.
Moses didn't say, I did all these things. He didn't say, I've been
faithful, I've been loyal. No, sir. Moses didn't appeal
to God based on his doing. He appealed to God based on the
love and the grace and the mercy of God and Christ's work of grace
and righteousness. And you appeal to God on that
basis, He'll hear you. Never turned anyone down. It's
appealed to him on his own love, mercy, grace, and righteousness
that he provides for the sinner. What a way to start our praying.
If I have found grace in thy sight, answer my prayers according
to your own honor, glory, and righteousness. Where did Noah
find grace? In the eyes of the Lord. That's
where we find it. When God delivered Lot out of
Sodom, Lot prayed, Behold now, thy servant hath found grace
in thy sight. You read anything about the life
of Lot, you'll say he didn't deserve it. That's what makes
grace grace, isn't it? It's undeserved. He said, I found
grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which
thou hast showed unto me in saving my life. Oh, if I found grace
in your sight. Gideon prayed, Lord, if I found
grace in thy sight, show me a sign that you speak to me. Why don't
we hear people praying like that anymore? People today pray like
they deserve an answer, merit an answer from God. Not so. If we did, it wouldn't be grace.
Peter said, we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
we shall be saved. Paul said, I am what I am by
the grace of God. You and I better get a hold of
this kind of praying. I'm telling you, if we ever expect
to be heard. Moses prayed with the faith of
a little child. He said, Lord, if I have found
grace in thy sight, would you show me your way that I might
know you? What a wonderful prayer. It's
grace that chose us. It's the election of grace. It's
Christ's grace that has redeemed us, in whom we have redemption. It was grace that called us.
Paul said, God separated me from my mother's womb and called me
by His grace. You and I weren't called because
of any distinction that we have among our fellow worm friends. It was grace that called us.
It's God's grace that's sufficient. And did you notice what Moses
asked for? He said, if I found grace in
thy sight, show me thy way, that I may know thee. How does a man
know God? Well, you're not gonna know God
by going your own way. You're not gonna know God going
the world's way. You're not going to know God
going the religious way. You can only know God by going
his way. Show me your way, that I might
know thee. There's a way that seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." We don't
know what's best for us. We really don't. Sometimes we
think we do, but we really don't. But He knows what's best. And
that's why we pray, Lord, not my will, not my way, but Your
will and Your way be done. Don't let me have my way. Oh,
if you ever know and love Christ, it'll be by grace. If you ever wind up in the way
of life, it'll be by God's grace. It won't be because of something
you gave God, but because of something God gave you. Our Lord
said, I am the way, no man cometh to the Father but by me. And
God is revealed in Christ. And some of Israel saw Christ
in Moses by picture. He was their mediator. He was
their go-between, them and God. Moses wanted to see Christ. He
said, show me your way that I might know you, Lord. Moses wanted
to see God's righteousness. He wanted to see God's sacrifice,
God's salvation. Christ is the brightness of God's
glory. Christ is the express image of
God's person. Learn Christ and you learn God.
Love Christ and you love God. Worship Christ and you worship
God. Deny Christ and you miss God.
Another thing quickly, secondly in verse 15, Moses said, Lord,
if your presence goes not with me, then carry me not up hence. If you don't go with me, I don't
want to go. Now listen, Egypt was behind them. Egypt's gone. Can't and don't want to go back
there. Yet there's a long, hard wilderness before them. And Moses
wanted some reassurance of the presence of the Lord on this
difficult journey. The Lord already said, I'm not
going. And Moses said, Lord, if you don't go, I don't want
to go. If you don't go with us, then
I don't want to go. You know what? If the Lord doesn't
go with me, I don't want to go either. I won't make it without
God's presence now. I'm just telling you I won't.
I say with Moses, Lord, if your presence go not with us, don't
even let us go. You know, heaven is going to
be heaven because Christ is there. Egypt's behind us, and heaven,
the promised land's before us, the land of joy and rest, and
the land of God's presence and glory is before us. And the only
thing between the believer and heaven is a long, hard trip through
the wilderness. And we're gonna walk through
some barren, bleak, pagan, heathenistic, sin-infested world. You can count
on it. We're going to be subject to
the trials and the tribulations and the temptations and attacks
of men and Satan along the way. And what do we say? We say with
Moses, Lord, if You don't go with me, I'm done for. I don't
even want to go. And there's one more request
here. Moses said, Lord, show me Thy glory. Moses had seen
some pretty magnificent things. He saw a bush on fire that was
not consumed. We looked at that this past Wednesday
night. He saw every plague that the
Lord sent. He saw the death of the firstborn.
He saw the dividing of the Red Sea. He saw manna that fell from
heaven. He saw water that flowed from
a rock. But in the end, Moses wanted to see one more thing.
He said, Lord, show me your glory. Show me your glory. He wanted
to see God's chief glory. Well, what is God's chief glory? God said in verse 19, Moses,
I'll cause all my goodness to pass before you. You see friends,
God's goodness is His glory. His goodness, His grace is His
chief glory. This is grace for the guilty
and mercy to the miserable. God lifting the fallen, opening
the eyes of the spiritually blind and spiritually deaf ears. That's
His chief glory. Isn't that what Christ said?
He said, I finished the work you gave me to do. Now, Father,
glorify Thou me with the glory I had before Thee before the
world was. when God would have been justified
to save no sinner. He said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before thee, and I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before thee,
and I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious, and I'll show
mercy on whom I'll show mercy. Then in verse 21, he said, there's
a place by me, and you can stand upon a rock, but we know who
that rock is. And he said, I'll cover thee
with my hand while I pass by. Oh, Christ the solid rock is
the one on whom we stand. And He's the only way that a
holy God can still be just and justify the ungodly. Christ,
the sure foundation, that rock of offense, He died the just
for the unjust. Why? To bring us to God. So what
is our prayer? Well, it's the same as Moses'.
If we've found grace in your sight, show us your way that
we may know thee. And look at verse 17. And the
Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou
hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know
thee by name. Oh, may God add his blessings
to the preaching of his word.