Exodus chapter 33. While you're
turning, let me say in the previous chapter of Exodus 32, the people
of Israel had made a golden calf and worshipped it. And they attributed
their sovereign deliverance out of Egypt to that idol instead
of God. Can you imagine? making an idol,
melting down gold, making a calf, and saying, this is the God that
delivered us out of Egypt. Men and women in religion today
are still worshiping an idol of their own making instead of
the just God and Savior Christ Jesus. Sinners attribute their
deliverance and their redemption to many things that they ascribe
to Jesus Christ, but their Jesus is really nothing more than a
disguised work of their own self-righteousness. Folks in the name of God have
many shiny things, like that gold molten calf that they worship,
but the most high dwells not in temples made with hands, For
God says, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. And what house will you build
me, saith the Lord? Or what is the place of my rest,
hath not my hand made all these things? And the beloved Stephen,
who was stoned for preaching the gospel, said, you stiff-necked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You do always resist the
Holy Ghost, as your fathers did. So do ye. Now may God, may God
break any resistance that we have and enable us to trust in
Christ and Christ alone. Now here in chapter 33, Moses
enters into the tabernacle and we're told in verse 11 that the
Lord there spoke to him face to face. What an amazing thought
that is. As a man speaketh unto his friend,
God not only speaks to Moses face to face, but he speaks to
him as a friend. That's even more amazing and
miraculous, isn't it? Marvelous. And in the passage
of scripture before us this morning, I want us to consider the communion,
the communication between God and Moses, praying that the Holy
Spirit might be pleased to show us the things of Christ. Verse 12. And Moses said unto the Lord,
See thou sayest unto me, bring up this people, and thou hast
not let me know whom thou wilt send with me, yet thou hast said,
I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now the Lord beforehand had assured
Moses of some things. God assures his people of some
things, doesn't he? Sure he does. God assured him
that he had called Moses for this task. God assured him that
he was the one who was going to lead Moses in this thing.
deliverance of Egypt into the land of promise. God assured
Moses that he knew him. Oh, what a blessed assurance
that is to know that God knows me. You know those who are going
to one day stand in front of the Lord in that day of judgment
are going to say, Lord, Lord, haven't we done many wonderful
works in thy name? And the Lord Jesus said, I never
knew you. What a blessing it is to know that he knows his
people by name. And God assured Moses that he
had found grace in God's sight. Moses had been assured and God's
people are assured. But I'm telling you something
that I see here. Moses now needed some reassurance. I constantly need reassurance,
don't you? That's why believers come to
hear preaching. God speaks and reassures his people through
his word. In times past and in divers way,
God spoke through the prophets. But in these last days, God speaks
to his people through his son, through this book, through the
preaching of his word. That's why we give the preaching
of Christ preeminence in this place. It's by the foolishness
of preaching that God is pleased to save them that believe. Moses
needed reassurance and so do we. So in verse 13, that's what
Moses is asking for. Moses needs and he desires some
reassurance. I need that this morning. I need
more assurance and reassurance from God. We constantly need
it because we're so weak in faith. Oh, faithless and perverse generation,
Christ said, how long should I be with you? How long shall
I suffer you? Now I want you to listen to this
prayer, I want you to consider it with me, this request of Moses
to God. It's full of instruction and
it's full of the revelation of Christ. It was recorded to comfort
and assure the people of God. How do I know that? Because scripture
reveals scripture. We know that Paul wrote in Romans
15, he said, for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written
for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures
might have hope. We find comfort and hope in God's
word. Now verse 13, he says, now therefore
I pray thee, if I have 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. Now, as I said, there's much
to learn from Moses' prayer. First, I want you to notice how
this prayer begins. If I have found grace in your
sight. Moses begins this prayer the
way all prayers should begin. Knowing ourselves, we never presume
God's grace. The answer to all our prayers
is based upon God's grace to us. Every answer to our prayers
are given to us by grace alone, in Christ alone, from God alone. There's no answer to prayer apart
from the mercy and grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. God
doesn't love you apart from his love for Christ. He loves you
in Christ. And it's presumptuous for sinners
to think that God would answer any prayer of ours except through
grace. What is grace? Well, we know
it's unmerited favor. It's undeserved kindness. God gives us what we don't deserve,
that's grace. And God does not give us what
we do deserve, which is condemnation and eternal wrath, and that's
mercy. This is the believer's attitude.
This is the way a believer prays. That's the first thing I want
you to see this morning. Grace in Christ is the only standing
for salvation that we have. Lord, if I have found grace in
Thy sight. That's the grace that's found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the only basis we have to
approach God. It's the only reason we have
to ask anything of Him. And it's the only hope that we
have that God will ever answer us. Grace. It pleased Him to
do so. It has to start there. How are
we saved? For by grace are you saved through
faith. That's not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God, not by works lest any man should boast. How
do we receive the blessings from God? A man can receive nothing
except it be given him from heaven. It's grace. What is the gift
of God? Well, the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God, oh, it's eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord. How much does God love his elect
people in this world? For God so loved the world, his
people in the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. It's the grace of God that bringeth
salvation. That's what Paul told Titus.
Noah found grace where? In the eyes of the Lord. That's
where grace is found. Grace comes from the Lord. Grace
originates with God. Why? Because all sin's against
Him. If we found grace in God's sight,
now, I'm telling you, our prayer will be this. Look at the second
thing. He says, show me thy way. That should be our prayer every
single day. Lord, show me thy way. Not a way, not my way, but thy
way. Show me your way. There's a way
that seems right unto man, but it's not the right way. It leads
to destruction. Enter ye in at the straight gate,
our Lord said, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that
leadeth to destruction and many there be that go in there yet.
We need to know God's way. Do you know God's way? Our Lord
Jesus said, I am the way. He doesn't hide that from us.
He plainly and clearly said, I am the way and no man cometh
to the father but by me. He's the only way. He's the only
way. Has God shown you that? Lord,
show us thy way for this reason. Again, verse 13, show me now
thy way that I may know thee. Do you know God? Life eternal
is to know God, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. We've had that on the front of
our bulletin for 27 years. This is life eternal. To know
God, the only true God. Not a God, not a God of man's
imagination, but the God of this Bible. The God who rules and
reigns and works all things after the counsel of His own will.
Not this little puny pygmy God that men preach today. One who's
trying and wants to. That's not true God. Not true
God. Life eternal is to know the true
God and the true Christ whom God has sent. Do you know God? Do you know Him as He's revealed
in the scriptures? Let all the house of Israel know
assuredly, know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Many claim Christ
to be their Savior. You don't talk to many folks
today that don't say, oh, I believe Jesus is my Savior. But it doesn't
take long in listening and hearing them talk where you find out
he's not their Lord. He's Lord and Savior. He's Lord
and Christ. The Jesus proclaimed in this
book is both Lord and Christ. Do you know that Jesus? The Jesus. Do you know this Christ? God
has to reveal Him to you. Galatians 1.16, Christ in you
is the hope of glory. God's gotta show you that. Christ
cannot be your Savior if He's not your Lord. Do you know that
Christ is both a just God and Savior? Most people say, oh,
He's Savior, but they don't know Him as a just God. As God, Jesus
Christ can be both just and justifier. That's what makes Him so unique.
He's the God-man. He's just. He's a just God, and
yet He's a Savior. He's a justifier of those that
believe in Him. A just God. He's too holy to
excuse sin. Have we learned that about God?
God is too holy to just sweep sin under a rug. He will by no
means clear the guilty. No means. Under any circumstance
or any reason will God clear the guilty. Sin must be punished
and paid for. God's holy law commands it. God's
holy justice requires it. Christ, the judge, will execute
the verdict. What's the verdict? The soul
that sinneth, it shall die. Guilty. Guilty as charged. Blessed Lord, what hope is there
for one guilty of offending the law and justice of God? This
is our hope, that we may know Thee. If I can find grace in thy sight,
show me your way. Show that I may know thee, the
only true God in Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. If I found
grace in thy sight, show me thy way, that I may know thee, that
I might know that he's both Lord and Christ, that I might know
that he is both a just God and a Savior. that I might hear him
say, for I am the Lord, thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom and
Ethiopia and Saba for thee, Isaiah 43.3, that I might know that
he is I, even I, the Lord. And beside me, there is no Savior. Beside him, there is no Savior.
No need to look anywhere else. There is no Savior beside him.
No salvation in any other other than the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is no Savior. Friends, who hath declared these
things from ancient times? Christ said, have not I the Lord? There is no God beside me. Did
you hear that? Jesus Christ is God. I'm a just
God and a Savior. There's none beside me. Only
one. Is this the Christ that you trust?
Well, what have we seen thus far? How does a man know God? By the gift of grace. The only
way. If we found grace, what do we ask for? We ask God to
show us His way. Not a way. Don't give us our
way. Lord, don't let me have my will.
Deliver me from my will. Deliver me from my way. Show
me Your way. Why do we want to know His way?
So that we might know Him. Moses said, so that I might know
Thee. That was his prayer. Boy, that's a good prayer, isn't
it? How does a man know God? By knowing His way. How does
a man or woman get in God's way? By grace, by God in grace showing
them His way. And I can assure you of this,
you're not going to know God going your own way. What did
our Lord say? Again, He said, I am the way,
I am the truth, and I am the life, and no man, no woman, no
sinner, nobody cometh to God but by me. I think about that every day.
A lot in a day. I endeavor to mention it in every
message. Why? Because Jesus Christ is
the way and no man comes to God but by Him. There's only one
way to be saved. There's only one way to have
your sin put away. No man knoweth the Father save
or except the Son and He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. Matthew
11, 27. And there's just no doubt in my mind in considering this
passage of Scripture for some time now, there's just no doubt
in my mind that Moses wanted to see Christ. Well, Christ wouldn't
come to hundreds of years later. No. Christ always was. He says, I am the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Moses said, show me thy way that
I might know thee. To know God is to know Christ.
To see the Father is to see the Son. To see the Son is to see
the Father. They're both God. God the Father
and God the Son. Philip asked the Lord, he said,
show us the Father. He said, show us the Father and
that'll suffice us. What an arrogant attitude we
have, don't we? Philip said, you know, you say
you're going to prepare a place for us in your Father's house
or many mansions. We'll be able to swallow that
a little bit easier if you'll just show us the Father. That'll
suffice us. That will satisfy us. Listen,
Christ does not have to meet our demands. He's the one who
we must suffice and satisfy. God owes us nothing. You ever see that, you'll thank
God for His grace. He didn't owe you a thing. We
must know Him to know that. Men who try to obligate God don't
know Him. I'm telling you they don't. Christ
told Philip, have I been so long with you, Philip? And yet hast
thou not known me? Did you notice that question?
Has thou not known me? If you know God, you know Christ.
And if you know Christ, you know God. They're one in the same.
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And how sayest thou
then, show us the Father? Moses wanted to see and know
Christ. Do you? Do you? Do you have a saving interest
in Him? You better have, because I'm
telling you, Christ is God's righteousness. He's God's righteousness. God requires perfect righteousness. It can only be obtained in Christ
Jesus our Lord. He is God's righteousness. Christ
is God's sacrifice for sin. By the offering of Himself, He
sacrificed Himself for our sin. Christ is the fulfillment of
the law. He said, I came not to do away
with the law, I came to fulfill it. He dotted every I and crossed
every T of God's law for His people. And now when we stand
before the law, perfect. Innocent, not guilty. God's holy
justice cannot charge us. Why? Because we have no sin in
Christ. And you know, it's hard to even
say that, isn't it? Knowing ourselves. I have no
sin. But I'm telling you, I don't.
Not in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's put it all away. Moses wanted to know Him. You
can only know him by faith through grace. Moses said, if I found
grace in thy sight, only by and through grace can we know his.
Show me thy way, not my way, not my will, not my work, but
thine. We're like sheep that have gone
astray. We've turned everyone, what,
to our own way. God's ways are not our ways.
Moses didn't want his way, and I'm telling you, neither do I.
I don't want my way. Lord, deliver me from my way.
We pray that very often, don't we? Lord, don't leave me to myself. Don't let me have my way. For
this is eternal life, that we may know Thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ. Now look at the last thing Moses
requests here in verse 13. He said that I may find grace
in thy sight and consider this nation as thy people. The fourth
thing, I need to know if I belong to Christ. I need to know. I need to have some assurance,
some confidence, some hope that I know Him. Why? Because He is
the way to life. Life is only in Him. Am I one
of His chosen people? Am I one in His chosen nation? Does God consider me one of His
children? He plainly said in John 15, 16,
He said, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you. Folks say,
I've decided to follow Jesus. No, you didn't. No, you didn't. You have not chosen me. You've
not decided anything. I made the decision. I decided. I've chosen you. The Lord did
not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were
more in number than any people. For you were the fewest of all
people, not only in number, but in morality. And just, oh my,
we're the fewest, the least of the least, the worst of the worst.
But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the
oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought
you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house
of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Now I want to know if the Lord
has set his love upon me, don't you? I want to know if he's brought
me out with a mighty hand. I want to know if he's redeemed
me out of the house of bondman, if he has snatched me out of
the hand of my taskmaster. In verse 14, we see that the
Lord granted Moses' request. And God said, my presence shall
go with thee, and I will give thee rest. My, what a wonderful
comfort that is. Now we come to the true believer's
attitude. I'm telling you, there's a lot
of instruction in these verses. The true believer's attitude,
verse 15. And Moses said unto the Lord,
if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. Now here's the resolve of the
child of God. Lord, if you don't go with me,
If your presence don't go with me, I don't want to go. I don't
want to go. And what a picture this is of
our redemption. I was thinking about this yesterday.
What an example of our journey to the land of promise. What
a picture of our journey into eternity. Egypt was now behind
them. Well, they left Egypt, and as
they went out of the city, the people of Egypt were coming up
and just giving them everything they had. Here, take this. You may need it. My, that's the
way God does things. That's the way God delivers his
people. God had delivered them from Egyptian bondage. The land
of promise lay ahead of them. It was before them. But what
lies immediately ahead? A journey in the wilderness.
Moses said, if you don't go with me, don't make me go. Don't make me go, Lord, I don't
want to go without you. Is that not the way you feel,
child of God? Lord, I don't want to go another inch further if
you're not with me. If you don't go with me, I don't
want to go. You see, we've left Egypt. We've been delivered from
Egypt. God's people have. We're no longer
slaves to Pharaoh. No longer slaves to sin. The
Egyptian law is no longer upon us. It's been fulfilled. It's
been done away with. We've been delivered from the
curse of the law. We've been delivered from the
condemnation of the law. We've been delivered from the
penalty of sin. We've been delivered from the
power of sin. We've been delivered from the
practice of sin. We were talking about that in
the men's meeting. Oh yes, we still sin. But we hate our sand,
don't we? We're delivered from the practice
of it. But we still got a journey to
make. And that journey's in the wilderness. And theirs took 40
years. Ours may take longer. I don't
want to go if he don't go with me. Child of God, you're walking
through a barren, oblique, sin-infested wilderness. And you will not
make it if Christ is not with you. And that's just a fact. Our prayers should be the same
as Moses. Lord, if thy presence go not with me, carry us not
up hence. David wrote, yea, though I walk
through the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why won't you, David? For thou
art with me. I'm not going to fear because
God's with me. When we pass through the waters, when we pass through
the fire, fear not. I'm with thee. Oh, my. Christ said, Lo, I'm with
you always, even unto the end of the world. What a wonderful
lesson for us. The presence, now listen, this
is so encouraging. The presence of the Lord is the
evidence that we found grace in His sight. If God's presence
doesn't go with us, then we haven't found grace in the sight of the
Lord. And here's something else, look at verse 16. For wherein
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? So shall we be separated, I and
thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the
earth. You see, friends, the presence of God separates us
from the other people on earth. The presence of God distinguishes
us as His people. How do I know that I'm one of
His? He's with me. He's going with me. We sung it. He walks with me and He talks
with me along life's narrow way. How shall it be known that we
found grace in your sight? How shall it be known that we
are thy people? By His presence with us. By His
going with us, by His separating us. God is going to separate
His people from all the others upon the face of the earth. He
already has. God's separating of His people
is the proof of His grace. God's separating them is the
evidence of His presence. See how all these things go together.
Their separation from the world is the result of His grace and
His presence. He says, come out from among
them and be ye separate, saith the Lord. You will come out for
who has resisted His will. If He says come out, you'll come
out because His command is always effectual. Who's resisted His
will? His command is effectual. His
purpose cannot be resisted. His will cannot be ignored. He
said, I am the Lord your God, which has separated you from
other people. Leviticus 20 verse 24. And what about the words of Paul
who said, who maketh thee to differ from another? What do
we have that God didn't give us? What do we have that we've
not received? And if we've received it, how
do we glory in it? How do we pat ourselves on the
back and say, boy, me and Jesus have a good thing going? Blasphemous. Saved by grace through faith,
and that's not of ourselves. God made the difference, friends.
God makes the difference. He's the one who causes us to
differ from others. 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. Now
let me quickly give you the last thing that Moses desired. And this is his prayer. These
are the things that Moses wanted most. Are these the things that
you want most? Are these the things that I want
most? These are the things that God's
people want and desire. We've already seen four of them.
We want His grace. Don't we? Moses said, if I found
grace in thy sight. We want to know His way. Our
prayer is, Lord, show me Your way. We want to know Him. We want to know Christ. That's
the third thing. We want to know that we belong
to Him. That's the fourth thing we've
seen. Now what's the last thing? What's the fifth thing? Moses
wanted to see his glory. That's something that God's people
want to see more than anything, the glory of God. The glory of
God. I want to see his glory. Look
at verse 18. And he said, Moses said, Lord
I beseech thee, show me thy glory. Now what is God's glory? Let me leave you with the answer.
Verse 19. God answers this in layers. Verse 19, and God said, I'll
make all my goodness pass before thee. The goodness of God is
His glory. Is it not? Child of God, God
will cause all His goodness to pass before thee. Jesus Christ
is all God's goodness. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Why, it's the goodness of God
that leads men and women to repentance. Christ is God's goodness to us. Read on. And God says, and I
will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. God's gospel. Second thing. God's gospel is His glory. God's
goodness is His glory. God's gospel is His glory. Christ and Him crucified is the
message of the gospel. Salvation has to do with who
proclaims the name of Christ. God says, I will proclaim the
name of the Lord. It's God who makes the word effectual
to His people. I'm just a voice crying in the
wilderness like we've been studying in John 1. That's all God's preachers
are, just voices, just messengers, just reporters. But God is the
one that's got to make that word effectual. God says, I will proclaim
the name of the Lord. And if he does, you'll hear.
And you'll come. Because none can resist his will.
It's God who makes his word effectual to his people. And you'll not
be saved hearing a word from me, I can assure you of that.
You'll be saved by hearing a word from God. Oh, that God might
speak to your heart. When you hear men preach, you
ought to be listening for God to speak to you. I remember that
story. I believe it was Mr. Spurgeon
or Henry Warren, I forget who, said there was a little boy sitting
on the front pew like this. And his mama said, why do you
have your hand coupled up around your ear like that? He said,
well, the preacher told me that God speaks through his word. And I'm thinking he might have
a word for me. Oh, if we would listen like that. If we would
listen to hear a word from God, we should come prepared to hear
a word from God. I'm reminded again of what my
dear sister Clare East said to me Friday. She said, you know
David, she said on Tuesdays I never would do much because she said
I don't want to be tired on Wednesdays. And she said, on Saturday I try
not to do a lot either because I don't want to be tired on Sunday.
You see, the child of God doesn't work Christ around their life. The true child of God works their
life around Him. Isn't that right? That's the way it ought to be. And then when I left, And more
than likely, apart from a miracle of God, Clare East will never
come out of that bed again. But she said, now listen, Brother
David. She said, I don't know when I'll
be able to come back to church. You see what's on her mind and
on her heart? That's what's on God's people's mind and heart.
Oh, they want to hear a word from God. God said, I'll proclaim. I'll proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. If He does, you'll hear. If He
does, you'll believe. Then look at the last part of
verse 19. This is God's glory. He said,
and I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. And we'll show
mercy on whom I'll show mercy. And we're right back to salvation
being about God's grace and God's mercy to us. This is the glory
of God. God will be gracious to whom
He'll be gracious. But this is His glory. He shall
be gracious to some. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. And we go, well, how could God
hate Esau? And the child of God says, how
could He love Jacob? How could He love me, the sinner
that I am? This is God's glory. He shall
be gracious to some. Do you, like Moses, desire to
see God's glory? God will show mercy on whom?
He'll show mercy. That's His glory. He'll show
mercy on Son. He's gonna show mercy on Son.
How glorious is the thought that it pleased the Lord to bless
Israel? Did they deserve to be blessed? No. That's what makes
it grace. How glorious is the reality that
it pleased the Lord to make you His people. Eternally glorious
is the reality of that. How glorious is the truth that
it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, that it pleased the Lord
to put Him to grief and to make His soul an offering for sin. I've never heard anything more
glorious. Because it's in God making Christ
these things that I have life. by trusting in Him and Him alone
to redeem me and save me from my sin. How glorious is the fact
that it pleases the Lord by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. Look at verse 20. And he said,
Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and
live. And the Lord said, Behold, there
is a place by me. I wonder what that place is.
I know, don't you? And thou shalt stand upon a rock. Oh, I wonder who that rock is.
That rock is Christ. And it shall come to pass, as
all things do, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee
in a cleft of the rock. Is this not the gospel, friends?
And I'll cover thee with my hand while I pass by. Christ is that
place by God. God says there's a place by me.
Oh, have you seen that place? Have you seen who it is? Christ
is that rock on which we stand. All other ground, sinking sand. Those that build their house
upon a rock, when the storms of life beat against it, that
rock shall stand. He is that firm foundation. Christ
is that rock. Christ is that cleft of the rock
that God puts us in. It's the hand of God that covers
us in mercy, and it's the blood of Christ that covers us from
the hand of God's wrath. I need Him. You need Him. Christ is all in all. Won't you come to Him? Now we're
not going to sing a bunch of verses of a song and plead and
beg people to walk from one part of the church to another. No
salvation in that. Salvation is coming right here
in the heart. May God enable you to come to
Him. God enabling you to do so is the only way you will. The
only way I will. Oh God, make it so. Make it so.