Teach me thy way. Shine through the cloud and rain,
Through sorrow, toil, and pain. Make thou my pathway plain. Teach me thy way. Long as my life shall end, ♪
We lead our way ♪ ♪ Where the road begins ♪ ♪ We lead our way
♪ ♪ Until the rain is done ♪ ♪ Until the day is done ♪ ♪ Until the
cloud is gone ♪ Thank you. All right, go back to Exodus
thirty three. I couldn't wait to. Deal with these verses. Tonight. Upon. First reading them. But after studying these verses
I didn't know if I would be able to because it is so grand. Who is sufficient for these things
Paul said and if he said that how much less sufficient am I.
I feel like the servant of God who said I've spoken things too
wonderful for me. Our subject and the question
which Moses asks in verse sixteen is this where in. Shall it be
known here. Right now. That I and my people
have found grace in my side. Where in or how shall it be known.
That I have found grace in God's side. Now, God's grace, grace
that he's speaking of, is salvation. That's what he's talking about.
The gift of God. Grace means gift. The gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And this he
freely gives. It's a free gift, God's grace. It said in Scripture that Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Remember, the Lord was
going to destroy the world, but Noah found grace. God did not destroy Noah. He
saved Noah. Scripture says that Lot found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. The Lord was going to destroy
Sodom. But the Lord being gracious to Lot, it says, laid hold of
him and took him out of the city. How shall it be known that I
have found grace in God's sight? Grace. Grace. By grace, you say. Grace. It's a free gift. What it is, is the redemption
that we have in Christ Jesus. We don't have anything. And Christ
must pay it all for our. It's the gift of complete and
eternal righteousness. Which God must give. It is the
gift of his love. Grace we're speaking of this
is what he must love us freely. There's nothing in us to love.
but he must set his love upon. It is the gift of his favor,
acceptance. It is the gift of his Holy Spirit
to lead, to guide, to teach, to protect, to conform us to
the image of Christ. It is the gift of repentance.
The goodness or grace of God leads us to repentance, else
we would not repent. It's the gift of faith. By grace
do you say through faith? Then that's not of yourself.
It's the gift of God. It's the gift of perseverance.
If he does not give us the gift of perseverance, we will not
persevere. It's the gift of knowledge. If
he does not give us understanding, we don't have it. We're ignorant. It's the gift of everything we
need, all our lives, to sustain us, to provide for us, to protect
us. We're talking about God saving,
keeping grace. How shall it be known that I
have found this grace in God's sight? Now, he says this every
time he talks about finding grace, it's in God's sight. That's what
it said. How shall it be known if I have
found grace? Look at verse 12, the last line. He says, yet thou hast also said
that I have found grace in, God says, thou hast found grace in
my sight, verse 13. He says, well, if I have found
grace in thy sight, show me thy way." Verse 16, same thing. How shall it be known if I found
grace in thy sight? Verse 17, grace in his sight. What that means is, God Almighty,
Scripture says, His eyes behold, His eyelids try the sons of men,
meaning that He sees everything. The darkness is a light. The
darkness and the light are all alike to God. There's nothing
hid from God. Men and women think they hide
from God under the cover of darkness. There is no darkness with God. He sees everything. Everything
is naked before his eye. All things. And God Almighty,
being holy, and righteous. The righteous Lord loved it righteously. And he looks upon this world,
this sin-full world, this world full of sin, with absolute disgust. The way we would look upon a
cesspool. Now that's the fact. That's what
this book tells us. That God looks upon this world
and is just sickened and nauseated by it. Scripture talks about
the stench of it coming up in his mouth, his sight, everything
he sees here. This is part of the reason our
Lord was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He came
to this world, a holy and righteous person, and everything that he
came into contact with sickened him. It repulsed him, everything. God looks upon this sinful world
with absolute disgust. But if we have found grace in
His sight, He looks upon us with love. Like that child in the field,
Ezekiel. That child, it was lying in their
blood, but God said, when I looked upon you, it was a time of love. God looked upon us in our filth,
in our pollution, in our blood, and he says, I love you. I love
you. If we found grace in God's sight,
he looks upon us with affection. Much more so than we look upon
our own children or spouses or whoever. Much more so. He looks
upon us with tenderness. He looks upon us with mercy,
he looks upon us in pity, he looks upon us with fondness. I know you've seen a parent or
a spouse look at the other, the child or the spouse with great
fondness, you know. That's unbelievable as it seems,
that's the way the Lord looks upon us. He looks upon us with
approval. How can that be? How can that
be? Sinful as we are, how can it
be? You know, the answer here, how shall we know that we have
found grace in God's sight? The answer is found in everything
that Moses asks for here. Moses may know that he has found
grace because of everything he asks for. Now stay with me here. If our desire desires and our
requests are what Moses desired and request, then we too have
found grace. In God's sight, look at verse
11. Now look at verse 11 and 12. Someone asked me if I was
going to deal with verse 11. I hadn't planned on it. I've
dealt with it before when we studied Joshua. And but after
looking at this, it struck me. This is vital to the next part. All right, the Lord spake unto
Moses face to face as a man speak unto his friend. Now, this is
Moses. This is a man. I know he's the type of Christ.
I know that, but he's a man. I mean, he's a real man, John.
No more man than you and I are. And God spoke to him face to
face as to a friend. He really did. If he can do that
to that man, why not me? Why not this man? Hmm? If we can ask what Moses asked,
he will. All right? God spoke to Moses
face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend, and it says
Moses turned again into the camp. He was at the tabernacle. Remember? Remember Moses went out to the
tabernacle as a type of Christ, and the people looked and stood
in their tent door and watched him as he went. And he went out
there. And then he was coming back.
And it says in verse eleven, But his servant Joshua, Moses'
servant Joshua, God's servant Joshua, son of Nun, a young man,
departed not out of the tabernacle. He stayed there. Joshua went
with Moses. Didn't tell us that, but he did. We find out now that he did.
And Joshua stayed there. And Moses came back, all right?
Look at verse 12. And Moses said unto the Lord, See, or behold,
thou hast sayest unto me, Bring up this people, and thou hast
not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yes, he has, Moses. He's been
with you all this time. He'd been with you all this time.
Who's he talking about here? Who was it that went with Moses
from this time forward? And when Moses did not leave
the people in the promised land, somebody else did. Who was it?
Joshua. Joshua. Over the last part of
Deuteronomy or Numbers 1, God talks about Joshua, how he raised
him up and he ordained Joshua. The Lord has made known whom
he will send with Moses. And he'd been with him all along,
and yet Moses didn't know it. I didn't really realize who this
was. But he's in the tabernacle. That's
where you'll find him. Can you get anything out of that?
That's where you'll find who it is that's going to go with
you. He's in the tabernacle. His name means Savior. So he's
named me. His first name was Oshea, I believe,
but Moses, it said, called him Joshua. He felt led to call him
Joshua, Savior. Could not God have said to Moses, has he been so long time with
you, Moses, and yet you haven't known him? That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
said to his disciples. We wanted to see the father.
He said, Have I been so long time with you, Philip? Have I
been so long time with you, and yet thou hast not known me? Could
it be that Christ has been with us all these years, and we haven't
known him? We haven't fully realized it.
We haven't stopped to think about it. How shall it be known that
I have found grace? And I say, Well, who are you
going to send with me? He's been with you all along. Are you listening? He's been with you all along.
He was with you far long before you knew it. Watching you, taking care of
you. And God hath spoken unto us, face to face, as to a friend. Do you know of a verse of scripture
that says that we have seen something in a face? God caused the light to shine
out of darkness. that shined in our hearts, quote
this all the time, to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God, remember that, in the face of Jesus Christ. And Paul said this, we have all
with open face behold Him as in a glass. This is a glass. It's a glass
we see through dimly, but nevertheless we see. with open face, as in
a glass, the glory of the Lord. The glory of the Lord. My, my. Look over John 15, John chapter
15. And we are his friends. See,
the Lord spoke to Moses face to face. Has he not spoken unto
us? Yes. And someone who's with us, has
been with us all along, even though we didn't know him. He
said, I've girded you, though you didn't know me. And he calls us friends. Look
at John 15, verse 13 through 15. Greater love hath no man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. Read
on. You are my friends. If you do whatsoever I command
you, Henceforth, I call you not servants. The servant knoweth
not what his Lord doeth. I have called you friend. All
things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto
you." How about us? You say, that's talking to his
disciple. No, no, no, no, no, no. Well, yes, yes, yes, yes,
yes, yes. If we're his disciple, hasn't he made known unto us
everything he made known to Thomas and Bartholomew and so forth?
Huh? I call you friend. How shall
it be known I found grace in God's sight? Somebody's been
with me all along. God's spoken to me face to face,
and he's called me a friend. Read on. And Moses goes on in
verse thirteen of our text to say, Now therefore I pray thee,
I beg thee, I beseech thee. This is the way to speak to God.
This is the way someone who fears God speaks to God. This is how
a beggar talks to a king. I pray thee, I beseech thee."
None of this claiming stuff. You know, religionists like to
boast a claim. You don't make claims on a king. You plead with him. He said,
I pray thee. And he's not presumptuous, and
it's not really unbelief. He'd just say, if I have found
grace. If I have found grace in thy sight, show me now. Not later, but now. If I have found grace in myself,
show me by way when he talks about his way, God's way. He doesn't say ways. He says
way. I believe he's talking about
God's will, God's purpose for him. What are you going to do
with me? What are you going to do with
us, these people? Thy way. What have you purposed
concerning us? What is your will concerning
us? Read on, verse thirteen. Show me thy way that I may know
thee, who you are. When we see God's purpose, we
know who he is, what he's like. That I may find grace in thy
sight. And consider that this nation
is thy people. He says, show me thy way that
I may know thee. And again, may not the Lord say
to Moses, have I been so long time with you and yet you have
not known my way? Back in chapter 12, when God
Almighty was about to take the children of Israel out of Egypt,
And they put them in their houses, and he said, now you kill a lamb. Take a lamb, first one of the
flock, and slay it, and put the blood over the doorpost, and
over the little. Go in your house and shut the door. And eat that
lamb, roast, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, with your staff
in your hand, and so forth. Is he not showing him his way?
Is He not showing him that I'm going to have mercy on you, Moses?
I'm going to have mercy on everybody that's in this house under the
blood. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This is
God's way. This is God's purpose. This is
God's will concerning His people. Has He showed you the Passover
lamb? How shall it be known? I'm trying my best here. How
shall it be known that I have found grace in God's sight? Has
He shown you the Passover lamb? Do you see that you need a lamb? Huh? Has He shown it to you?
Has He shown you that He passed it over you, the cause of one
thing, the blood? Show me thy way. What about when God parted the
Red Sea? Alright, there's this vast gulf fixed between the people
and the promised land. A vast gulf fixed they can't
get over, but God cuts the sea and allows them to go over on
dry land. Them and them alone. And then their enemies pursue
them and He destroys them. Is that not His way? That He's
determined, that He's purposed, that He willed to save His people
to bring them By the way, that water was a wall under them,
so no danger to them, it was protection to them. What was
protection to them was destruction to the Egyptians. The way. When they walked over it on dry
land, on mud, stuck to their feet. It wasn't hard going, it
was smooth. Parted sea. What is all this? God's way. What is all this speaking
of? Christ. How shall it be known that I
have found grace in God's sight? Has he not shown you Christ the
Passover lamb? Has he not shown you Christ the
way over this gulf? Christ is a wall unto us, but
a destroyer to his enemy. What about when the bread just
came down from heaven? The children of Israel were the
only ones who received that bread coming down from heaven. Bread
of life. It sustained their life. Just
really given a miracle. A miracle of God's grace, provision,
just coming down from heaven. Out of the sky, bread. When has
it ever been known that bread has come out of the sky? Well,
it did. I'll tell you another time bread
came out of the sky. Several thousand years later,
Christ said, I am the bread of life. Has not God shown us His
way? What about water? What about when God said to Moses,
smite that rock, Moses, smite it. Take your rod and smite the
rock, and I'll bring water out of that rock. They were thirsty.
They were hungry, and God gave them bread. They were thirsty,
and God said, smite the rock. And Moses smoked the rock, and
out of it flowed pure a river of water. River water, not a
trickle, not a stream, but a river of water that all who were thirsty
could drink as much as they wanted to. Now, what is that? That's
Christ, the water of life. What is God's purpose and will
for His people? To feed His hungry sheep, to
water them, to bring them across. That's His purpose. That's His
way. That's His will for His people. Well, read on. Here's
Moses' request. He says in verse 13, Oh, that
I may know that I found grace in thy sight and consider that
this nation is thy people. Lord, consider. Lord, he prays. Moses prays for these Israelites. Because Moses actually loves
his people. He did. Now, you've been reading
with me what kind of people these were. Sorry. No good. if not rotten rebels all of them
everyone up to the man and the one I don't know good but Moses
love they were his brother they were his people why did Moses
love why do you think Moses had pity and all that on them and
it treated for them because he was a man to He was a man of
like passions as they were. And he knew it was only the restraining
grace of God that had him up on that mountain that day, and
he wasn't down in the midst of that idolatrous people. He knew
that. And he loves these people. He loved these stiff-necked people.
How shall it be known that I have found grace in God's sight? By
this shall all men know you are my disciples. yet love one another. This is
how you know you've found grace in God's sight. It's until you
love the brethren. We know, John said, we've passed
from death unto life because we love the brethren. Listen to this. Everyone that
loveth him that begat loveth him also that's begotten. Can
you not say that you love these people? Do you not pray for them? Do you not entreat the Lord for
these people? Oh, they're a bunch of stiff-necked
people. That old Stan Anderson, he ain't no better than he was
years ago. He'll tell you that. Won't you,
Stan? He'll be the first to admit it. But don't you love him? Don't
you pray for him? How shall it be known that I
found grace in God's sight? Do you pray for the brethren?
Do you love the brethren? Read on. Moses says this in verse
14. He says, God said, My presence
shall go with thee. Here's God's way. I will go with
you and I will give thee rest. God said in verse 15, and so
Moses replies unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry
us not up hence. If you don't go with me, I don't
want to go. How shall it be known that I
found grace in God's sight? If you really and truly don't
want to make a move, unless God's with you. It's good to God that we did
seek his will in all things. We don't, but truly, God's people,
they don't want to be outside of his will. They want his presence. They want his presence. That's what God's people want.
The world wants God's favors. God's people want God. Is that right? If you don't go with me, don't
take me. I don't want to go. Verse 16, then Moses says, For
wherein shall it be known here, here, right now, that I and thy
people have found grace in thy sight." And he answers his own
question. Is it not? Is not this how we
shall know we've found grace? Is it not in that thou goest
with us? Isn't this how we know that we're
God's people? God is with us. Huh? God is with us, the presence
of God. And he said, this is how we'll
be separated. So shall we be separated. That means sanctified.
That means set apart. This is how we're going to be
separated, set apart, I and thy people, from all the people that
are upon the face of the earth. God's people are set apart. They're
known. They're sanctified. They're known
by the fact that God is with them. All right. Years ago, A child
was born, a son was given. And his name is called what?
Immanuel. What does that interpret? Right. Immanuel means God. God with
us, God's presence. See, in the beginning was the
Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things
were made by Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, right, and dwelt among us. And we beheld. Who did? God's
people. Everybody didn't behold His glory,
but have you beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth? Have you? Have you not seen Christ's glory?
Christ, the Word, in the Word, have you not? The Word made flesh. The Word was made flesh. And
hasn't Christ been with us? I mean us, here, right here tonight. Has not Christ been with us through
His Word all these years? I can say that with the utmost
confidence, that the Lord Jesus Christ has been with this little
flock. all these years through the preaching
of His Word and by His Spirit. How shall it be known that we
have found grace in God's sight? Is it not that He goes with us? I listen to things out there,
and you do too, and I don't hear much gospel in it. I don't hear
the glory of God. I don't see the glory of God
foremost In this religion today, I don't hear Christ mentioned
very often. This is attributes is saving,
redeeming work and God's sovereign electing grace and the Holy Spirit's
preserving power and the redeeming blood of Christ, justification,
sanctification, propitiation, all of these things. I don't
hear these things. Do you? Now, God may be just
and justifier. This is his essential glory in
person. It's his glories that stay. I
don't hear those things. Do you? You hear them here? How much? How often? How long? How long have you been
hearing them? It just keeps on. That's how
we know that we've found grace. His presence is with the Word. It's made flesh. We see Christ
through the preaching of his word as a real person. Yes, we
do. And we hear his voice just as
really as if he spoke out loud. Isn't that so? We dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but we sure wholly lean on his word. And we beheld his
glory. And had we not, as John said,
John in 1 John 1, he said, The word of life, he said, we've
heard him. He said, we've seen him with our eyes. And John is and have we not,
Vicki, have we not done the same thing spiritually? Have we not
heard him? Have we not seen him with our
eyes? Yes. Whom have we not seen? We love, Peter said. Have we
not looked upon him that has beheld him, his glory? Have we
not laid hold of him by faith? Have we not? The word of life.
And he said here, God said in verse 14, if my presence, my
presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest. Are we not resting? in the Lord
Jesus Christ here. Do you not rest in the Lord Jesus
Christ? Huh? Do you not? Don't you? You keep the Sabbath, don't you,
Jeanette? Aren't you resting? We rest seven
days a week in Christ. He's our Sabbath. He's given
us rest. Do you not find rest? I mean,
peace, joy, rest, peace, in Christ alone. The world out there doesn't find
it. They talk about it, but they don't find it, and they're looking
here and looking there. Have we not found grace in the
eyes of the Lord and found rest? Huh? Come unto me, Christ promised,
and I'll give you rest. Don't we have rest? Are we not
the called, chosen, and elect of God? Has He not set us apart
by his truth, has he not? That's not presumption, people,
to say that. Has he shown you the truth, Christ
the truth? Has he shown you his covenants? He'll make known his covenant
unto his people. Has he not shown you the mystery of his will?
Huh? All those that fear his name, he'll make known the mystery. How shall it be known that I
have found grace in his sight? He sets us apart. He sanctifies
us through his truth, his word of truth. We're set apart. I talked about those things that
you don't hear today, but we hear them. Our young people are
cutting their teeth on these things. That's what sets us apart. That's who sets us apart. The
Lord makes a difference between his people and the Egyptians.
He makes a plain difference. God's people are truly about
His glory, and they worship God in spirit. They really do worship
God in spirit. They're not playing religious
games. They're worshiping God. And they rejoice in Jesus Christ.
They're not rejoicing in their denomination and their little
playhouse, but they rejoice in Jesus Christ. He is their joy
and rejoicement. And they have no confidence in
any flesh whatsoever. That's how you know that you've
found grace in God's sight. Can you not say those things?
How shall we know? And God says in verse seventeen. You wonder, you know, you wonder,
aren't you going to go on through the rest of these verses? No,
I'm not. Did you get all of what I just
said? You perfectly retained that. Did we say all that can be said
about that? I began studying this and I thought this has got
to be a two part message. The Moses asked for two things.
He says, show me by way. And then God says all. And then
in verse 18, he says, show me by glory. And we're going to
look at that next Wednesday night. But in verse 17, God concludes
answering Moses with this, the Lord said unto Moses, Moses,
said how shall it be no I found grace in my side and this people
have found grace show me that way all go with us your present
give us rest don't go don't carry us up if you don't go with it.
May we be a separated people on the day. Oh Lord. Verse seventeen the Lord said
in the most I will do this thing also. That thou has spoken. I will do the Kelly, he's already
done. He had already done it. He already
gave him a man to go with him. He already revealed his way to.
He already did all this. But now he says, I will do it.
In other words, I will continue to do this. He will continue to show us his
way and keep us in the way. I will do this. He has, he does,
and he will yet show us his way and keep us in the way I will
do this thing that that has spoken for. Now has found right in my
side you have and I know the. If not Christ say of his feet
I know my shoe. What else would he say that.
He said I know my feet and. am known of my. You know you don't know if you
do and flesh and blood didn't reveal to you how you how many
you know that you found grace and God's side is revealed under
you. He found great God's side. Of course Christ is God's grace. The gift of that is his son,
the revelation of his son, the salvation that's in his son.
All right, stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, thank
you for your word. We are lost without it, we are
in darkness without it, we know nothing, and yet we still preach
in part, we know in part, We thank you for that part we do
have, that which you have made known unto us. And though we
do see Christ as all and in all, yet we feel we know nothing at
all, and we want to know Him more. And we say, oh, that we
might grow in grace, find grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We believe we have found grace.
Sovereign electing, redeeming, revealing grace. We believe we
have it. Lord, we need more grace. We ask you for it, and you've
promised to give it, promised to give more grace. May we continue
to ask for these things, for you delight to give these things
which Moses had. And dear Lord, continue to show
us thy way, which is Christ, and keep us. And the way in Christ's
name we pray and ask these things that have met here tonight. Amen.