Turn with me, if you would, to
Exodus chapter 33. Exodus 33. Last Sunday night, our brother
Angus began the message by reading a few verses to us from this
chapter, where the Lord said to Moses that his presence would
go with Moses and that he would give Moses rest. And that was
verse 14. If you look at Exodus 33, verse
14, he said, my presence shall go with thee and I will give
thee rest. And Moses said unto him, if thy
presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. Don't let us
go. If you're not gonna go with us,
don't let us go. 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. 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. Verse 18, and he said, Moses
said, and this is what I want us to dwell on for just a minute
tonight. He said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. Show me your glory. Show me your glory. Now, let's
just think about something for a minute. I pray that the Lord
will emphasize something to us, and it's this. I pray the Lord
will more so emphasize this to us. I wanna take a second. I've
labored for this to not be laborious. I want this to be interesting.
I pray the Lord will bless it. But I wanna just skim through
some of the Lord's dealings with Moses here in Exodus. And I'm
gonna move very quickly, okay? But I pray through this, the
Lord will emphasize something to us. Look with me if you would
at Exodus chapter three. Exodus 3 verse 1 says, Now Moses
kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law. Verse 2 says, And the angel of
the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst
of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the
bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. The Lord
appeared to Moses. And this ought to really, really
show us something. This ought to really teach us
something. The Lord appeared to Moses visually in a bush that
raged with fire, but the bush was not consumed. The Lord showed
himself to Moses in that way. That's the way he chose to show
himself. And the Lord spoke out loud to
Moses. Verse 5, He said, Draw not nigh
hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon
thou standest is holy ground. The Lord revealed Himself to
Moses and He revealed His fiery judgment to Moses to the point
that the end of verse 6 says, Moses hid his face For he was
afraid to look upon God. He was afraid. He saw something. Okay? He saw something. Moses saw God. He saw the judgment
of God. He saw the holiness of God. He
saw the eternality of God. Eternal. It burned and it wasn't
consumed. He saw the sovereignty of God.
Verse 14 says, Moses saw, I am. He heard, I am that I am speak
to him. And the Lord said to him, I am
that I am said to him, you're gonna be my servant. You're gonna deliver my message.
And to prove that you are my messenger, In chapter four, he said, I'm
gonna give two signs to you. Look with me at chapter four,
verse two. Chapter four, verse two, the
Lord said unto him, what is that in thine hand? And he said, a
rod. And he said, cast it on the ground. And he cast it on
the ground and it became a serpent and Moses fled from before it.
All of a sudden he saw a snake and he got scared. And the Lord
said unto Moses, put forth thine hand and take it by the tail.
And he put forth his hand and caught it. And it became a rod
in his hand, verse six. And the Lord said furthermore
unto him, put now thine hand into that bosom. And he put his
hand into his bosom. And when he took it out, behold,
his hand was leprous as snow full of leprosy. And he said,
put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into
his bosom again and plucked it out of his bosom. And behold,
it was turned again as his other flesh. Moses saw amazing signs
and wonders, sincerely amazing signs and wonders that were given
directly to him from God. And God said, with these signs,
you're gonna go prove my message to Pharaoh. And he said, this
is my message to Pharaoh. Let my people go. Let them go. And he told Moses, Pharaoh is
not going to do it so that I can show my power in him. I'm sending
you. He's not going to listen to you.
And that's because I want to show my power in him. In chapter
seven, It says, with the staff that was in his hand, Moses told
Aaron to touch the waters, and they all turned into blood. All
right, that was chapter seven, verse 20. And I'm gonna just
kinda skim through some of this. He said, if you don't let my
people go, I'm turning all the water into blood. And he did,
and it hardened Pharaoh's heart. So chapter eight, the Lord told
Moses to tell Aaron, you stretch forth your staff over the waters
again. And frogs started pouring out
of the streams and the ponds. So much so they covered the land. All right, that was chapter eight,
verses five and six. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened
by it. So Moses watched the Lord God. Okay, Moses saw all this happen.
He watched the Lord send lice. That was in verse 17. He watched
the Lord send swarms of flies in verse 24. He watched the Lord
send disease through all the cattle, all the animals. That's
chapter nine, verse six. Boils broke out on all the people,
verse 10. Hail killed all the crops. Fire
ran through the land, burning everything up. That was verse
24. Locusts ate everything that was left. All because Pharaoh
would not let God's people go. Locusts just came in and ate
everything that was left. That's chapter 10, verse 13. Then darkness
fell for three days that was so thick it could be felt. They didn't move from their place
for three days. All right, but here's the thing
about it. Moses witnessed the fact, he saw the fact that none
of those things came to Israel. None of those things came to
Israel, God's people. Their cattle was fine. Their
crops were fine. They all had light in their tents.
Everybody else is sitting in utter darkness. They had light
in their tents. And then Moses witnessed the greatest demonstration
of the fact that God has put a difference between those who
are his people and those who are not his people on the night
of the Passover. Moses witnessed the promise of
God, the judgment of God in bringing death to the firstborn male of
every house. And then after that, Moses witnessed
Pharaoh letting God's people go. And they all went out with
a high hand. And when they went out of Egypt,
this is what Moses saw. They were led by a pillar of
a cloud every day. And they were led by a pillar
of fire every night. Moses witnessed. He saw the absolute
protection and provision of God the whole time they were in the
wilderness. They were in danger. Moses watched
the sea part. Can you imagine seeing that?
I mean, you talk about amazing. You talk about full of wonder. Can you imagine? And then he saw it close up again
on their enemy. That's chapter 14. They were
hungry. Moses witnessed with his own
two eyes bread, it was called manna, laid out for God's people
every morning and quails laid out every evening. That was chapter
16. They were thirsty. Moses saw God pour thirst-quenching,
unending water from a rock that followed them everywhere they
went. Everywhere they went. The pillar
would move. How did they know when it was
time to move? The pillar moved. That's how all of God's people
know it's time to move. The pillar moves. They saw this
pillar and it would move. pack all their things up and
get their tents and get their families and they would follow
the pillar until it stopped at their next camp. And as soon
as they got there, there was that same rock pouring water,
same rock. Living, flowing, refreshing water. Do we know who that rock was?
Moses watched, sat there and watched. I just, this makes my
heart skip a beat to think about it. Moses sat there for however
long it took and watched the finger of God write his commandments
on tables of stone. Chapters 20 through 23. He read with his own eyes every
commandment that God openly gave. And not only did Moses see his
commandments and his provisions and his judgments and his fire,
Moses physically did see God. Turn with me if you would to
Exodus 24 and look at verse 9. Then went up Moses and Aaron,
Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel, and they saw
the God of Israel. And there was under his feet,
as it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were, the body
of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children
of Israel he laid not his hand. Also they saw God and did eat
and drank. They ate and drank with him. They saw the body of heaven in
his clearness. That's what Moses saw. Moses
saw the blueprints that he gave for his tabernacle. and the furnishings
of his tabernacle. All of this is chapters 25 to
31. Moses saw the ark of God's covenant. I don't know if anybody's heard
of the ark of the covenant. Has anybody heard of that? Moses
saw the ark of the covenant. Moses saw what God put in the
ark of the covenant. I don't know if anybody knows
what God put in the ark of the covenant. Moses saw the priest
God ordained. He saw the garments God ordained
for him. He saw the altar. He saw the
sin of God's people that required the altar. Sin was continual,
but one that stands out concerning Moses is when they made that
golden calf and they tried to worship it because Moses was
up there and God was given all those commandments and they said,
he's taking too long. So they made this golden caft and Moses
saw God's anger against that sin. Look at chapter 32, verse
nine. And the Lord said unto Moses,
I have seen this people and behold, it is a stiff necked people.
Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against
them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee
a great nation." Because of everything that Moses had seen. Look at
Exodus 32, verse 30. It says, Exodus 32, 30, 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." Because of everything
Moses had seen, he said to the people, I'm going to go seek
God on your behalf. I'm going to go meet with God
on your behalf. Now look at chapter 33 verse 9. 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 the Lord spake
unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend. Verse 18 says, And he said, I
beseech thee, show me thy glory. Now here's what I pray might
be emphasized to us. After everything Moses had seen,
do we realize what all Moses had seen? After everything Moses had seen,
the fire, the holiness, the wonders, the judgments, the provisions,
the commandments, the person, the God of Israel, the Sapphire,
the clearness The face of God himself as a man speaks with
his friend. After all that, Moses still said,
show me your glory. After all that, the Spirit of
God inspired him to say, there is still something that I desperately
need to see. After all that judgment and all
those wonders and all that provision, He still said, show me your glory. Show me what is your greatest
glory. Verse 19. And God said, I will
make all my goodness pass before thee. He said, I will show you
my glory. I will make all my goodness pass
before thee. And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee." And here it is. He said, I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. I will be gracious in showing
mercy. God said, that is my glory. That is my glory. We talk about
the glory of God. We talk about the glory of the
gospel. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Hallelujah means praise the Lord.
Glory, glory, praise the Lord. What are we talking about? What
are we talking about? We're talking about big, you
know, bright lights and big cities. And what are we talking about?
What is the glory of the gospel? What is the glory of God? It's
that he will be gracious and he will show mercy. Now he is
a sovereign God who will be gracious to whom he will be gracious and
will show mercy on whom he will show mercy. Salvation is of the
Lord. It's not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth. It's of God that showeth mercy.
But the amazing thing is he will show mercy. on whom He will show
mercy. His glory is in the fact that
He will be gracious at all. That's His glory. That He will
show mercy at all. His glory is in the fact that
He can be gracious and can show mercy. Many of you have heard
this, but after I say this, I'm going to add something to it.
This has been said many times. When people hear that God said,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. The natural reaction
is, that's not fair. I remember thinking the same
thing in my, you know, simpleness. How's that even fair? It's not
fair. How could God love Jacob and
hate Esau? Many of you have heard the response
of, I can understand how God would hate Esau. What I don't
understand is how could God love Jacob? They're both vile, wretched
sinners, all have sinned. How could God hate sinners? Well,
that's easy to see. When he's holy and pure and high,
how could he love Jacob? That's true, that's true. But
even though there's nothing worthy of either of them and loving
of either of them, I want to take that a step further by asking
the question, How could God possibly love Jacob? I'm not saying why would God
choose Jacob over Esau? That's his business. Whoever
he chooses is his business. What I'm saying is how could
it even be possible for the Holy separate from center centers
God to love Jacob? How's that even possible? If
God cannot have anything to do with sin, how could God love
a sinner? How can God love a sinner? The answer to that question is
his glory. That's his glory. A man made
the statement one time that if God had gathered all the host
of the angels together as soon as Adam sinned against him, All
the host of the angels in heaven, if God gathered them all together
and asked them, okay, man has sinned against me. How can I
remain holy and just? I have to remain holy and just.
How can I remain holy and just and justify my people from their
sin? The man said, if God asked the
angels, how could I do that? He said they would still be sitting
there pondering the answer to that question. How is this possible? How is this even possible? The
fact that he provided a way to be gracious and to be merciful
to his people while still remaining just and holy, still maintaining
all of His justice and all of His holiness, that's His glory. And what was that way? Verse
20, He said, Thou canst not see My face, For there shall no man
see me and live. I am holy and just. Sinners cannot
approach to me. That's what he told Moses on
Mount Sinai. You tell the people, don't come up on this mountain.
Don't even get close to it. They'll die. I'm a holy God. I'm a just God. Verse 21, and
the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me and thou shalt
stand upon a rock. And do we know who that rock
is? That rock is Christ. Verse 22, it shall come to pass
that while my glory passes by, I will put thee in a cliff of
the rock. That rock is going to be broken
for you. A way is going to be made, a
way of safety. My holy justice demands a breaking,
crushing judgment and it has to be a breaking, crushing judgment
on your sin. So I'm going to put you in that
rock and as my judgment pours out on you in that rock, that
rock is going to suffer that blow for you and will be broken
through that suffering for you. Verse 22. It shall come to pass
while my glory passes by, I'll put thee in a cliff to the rock
and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. And I'll take
away my hand and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall
not be seen. On the night of the Passover,
the Lord said, death is coming to every house, including Israel. But the Lord said, I'm gonna
provide for my people a substitute lamb. That lamb is Christ. And when
I come through, bringing death, bringing blood,
as soon as I see that holy justice has come to this house, as soon
as I see blood is here, I'll pass over you. I'll pass over you. That's how
I'll be just in justifying you. I will provide blood for you.
Holiness says blood has to be there. God said, Noah, judgment is coming
for the sin of this whole world. But he said, I'm going to put
you in an ark. That ark is Christ. And God said, when I pour out
my judgment on you, it's going to beat down on that ark. until
that ark raises you all the way up to safety. He said, that's how I'm going
to be just in justifying you. He was just in justifying his
people. He said, I'll provide a covering
for you. I'm going to beat down on you, but I'm going to provide
an atonement. I'm going to provide a covering
for you. That's his glory. That is his
glory that he will and can be gracious to whom he will be gracious,
and will and can show mercy on whom he will show mercy. That's
his glory. Now, our Lord, it says concerning
our Lord that he did not preach without a parable. And I've preached
for a minute, so now I'm gonna tell you something. I'm gonna
tell you a story. This is one of my favorite stories on this particular
subject right here of just and justifier. You remember the story
of Big Johnny and Little Billy. If you know it, that's all I
need to say. I can just step down. But if you don't, back
in the days of the one-room schoolhouse, all grades, everybody was there
together. Big Johnny had his lunch stolen. And at the beginning of the year,
they all decided that they were going to make rules. The teacher
set all the kids down and said, we're going to establish rules
for this schoolhouse. We have a lot of kids, a lot
of ages. There are going to be some rules. And he said, you all are
going to help me make them. Let's hear what rules you want
to establish. Well, the one that Big Johnny
said he wanted established was no stealing school lunches. He said, I hate it when my lunch
gets stolen. And the teacher said, OK, so
what will be the punishment for stealing lunches? Johnny said,
10 licks on the back with your rod. The teacher said, well,
that sounds pretty stiff. But OK, if that's what it's going
to be, OK. Well, Johnny got his lunch stolen. And after looking
into it, it was found out that little Billy is the one that
stole his lunch. And he was the poorest kid in
the class. He was the scrawniest little
kid in the class, sat in the back. And the teacher asked him,
Little Billy, why did you do that? Why would you do that? And Little Billy said, I'm sorry,
Johnny. He said, I didn't want to steal
your lunch, but we don't have any food at home. And I was so
hungry, and I just couldn't help it. I just had to have something
to eat. I'm sorry. And the teacher said, all right,
Billy, come on up and get your legs. So little Billy had this
big coat on. He said, I want you to take your
coat off. So he took his coat off. And everybody could see
that he was just skin and bones, just scrawny, thin, small skin
and bones. And he started walking up to
the front. And Johnny, big Johnny, said, it's OK, teacher, never
mind. He doesn't have to get his legs.
And the teacher said, yes, he does, Johnny. And Johnny said,
no, no, teacher, please don't give them to him. It's OK. He
doesn't have to have them. And the teacher said, Johnny,
we made rules. And if we're going to have order,
we have to uphold our rules. There has to be law here. And
he has to get his legs. That was the rule. And he's going
to have to get his legs. They're not going to be broken.
So he said, Billy, you put your hands on my desk, lean over.
And the teacher drew up that rod. And just before he struck
Billy, Johnny cried, teacher, wait. And Big Johnny got up from
his desk, and he came up and he wrapped his arms and his whole
body around little Billy. And then he said, OK, teacher,
let him have it. And that teacher tore into Big Johnny. And Big
Johnny, with tears and crying, he took every one of those licks. And in the teacher giving those
licks to Johnny, he justly gave Billy what he deserved through
the grace and mercy of Big Johnny. Big Johnny took every single
one of them. They were all intended for Billy. And Billy stood there
and took exactly what he deserved. He put his hands on the desk
and leaned over and he stood there while every blow was given
to him. But he took them in the grace
and mercy of Big Johnny. That's what Christ did for us.
That is truly what Christ did for us. He put us in him and
bore the cross. bore the sin, bore the judgment,
took the punishment, and we all suffered it. God just poured
it out on us in Him. And we survived in Him. We live
in Him. That's the very thing that Christ
did for us, and that's His glory. The law wasn't broken, God's
justice was upheld, and we were set free. We were forgiven and
set free. We endured the punishment in
Him. That is His glory, that He can
be merciful and gracious to sinners like us. I pray the Lord will
let us see that The rest of our days on this earth, time and
time again, I pray the Lord will show us His glory. That's what
we need to see every time we meet together, His glory.