As you know, Israel has committed
a great iniquity against the Lord, a great rebellion. They urged Aaron to make for
them a golden calf, and then they danced around that calf,
and God was angry. In fact, God said, I'm gonna
wipe them all out, Moses, and I'm gonna raise up a new nation
from you. And Moses said, Lord, don't do
that. Lord, these are your people. They're not my people. They're
your people. And then Moses, later he offered
a sacrifice on behalf of the people. And then in this, in
chapter 33, God told Moses, he said, I'm going
to, you'll still go to the promised land. The children of Israel
will still enter into the land of promise. And I'm going to
drive out all their enemies. And Israel will go in and they'll
have, they'll live in the land of milk and honey. But let me
tell you this, I'm not going with you. My presence isn't going with
you. And that fact, that caused the
people to weep. The scripture says in verse four,
and when the people heard these evil, evil tidings, it greatly
afflicted them and their souls. This is not good news. It's not
good news to hear God's not with you. That's not good news. It was to them evil, evil tidings. And when they heard this, they
began to mourn. They began to weep. Their hearts
are broken. And therefore, in obedience to
God, they shed their fancy jewelry their festive clothing, they
got rid of that. And they humbled themselves before
God, dressed no doubt in sackcloth, putting ashes upon their heads. They mourned. To hear that God
is not going with you, that's a reason to mourn. That's a reason
for grief. Because you see, if God isn't
with you, if He isn't with us, if He isn't with me, we know
God is love. Well, that leaves nothing but
hatred. We know God is light. That means we'll be left in darkness. God is joy. That means we'll
be left with broken hearts. God is salvation. If He's not with us, there is
no salvation. There is only condemnation. Well might the people of Israel
weep. I'll tell you somebody else that
hit real hard is Moses. And he said this down in verse
15. He's speaking to the Lord and
he says in verse 15, if thy presence go not with me, carry us not
up hence. Don't want to go. I know you've said you're going
to drive out the enemy. But of what good is a land for
us to live in with no enemies, but no God? No presence of deity. I know, Lord, you've said it's
a land of milk and honey. It's a land of wealth. It's a
land of prosperity. But Lord, that means nothing. If you're not with us, I don't
even want to go. If you don't go with us, we're
not going. But it's such a beautiful land. It means nothing if God's not
with us. But there's an abundance, an
abundance of good things in that land. What is all the goodness
of this world without God? It hit Moses' heart. He said,
if thy presence go not with us, we're not going any further.
We'll forget that land. You know, in some ways, the land
of Canaan, the promised land, is a picture of heaven. It's
a picture of the joys that await the people of God. But I'll tell you, who wants
to go to heaven If our Lord isn't with us, and if He's not there,
what's use in going? Who wants to go? Oh, but it's
got streets of gold, the walls of jasper, the gates of heaven,
all the holy angels, the blissfulness that will last forever. Well,
what's all that without the Lord? I hear people talk about heaven,
going to heaven, not any of you like this, but I hear others,
false preachers. preach about heaven. They'll
talk about meeting mom and daddy in heaven and all the joys of
heaven, all the happiness of heaven, not going to be sick
anymore, going to wipe away all tears from their eyes and no
more disease and all of that. They scarcely mention the name
of Christ Jesus. Let me tell you something. That
place called heaven, it's not going to be heaven if Christ
isn't there. You see, His presence makes it
to be the land of promise, the land of rest. I'm not interested
in going to heaven if the Lord's not with me and if He's not going
to be with me there. You can talk about all the family
reunions you want to in heaven and all of that sort of stuff,
but it all means nothing if the Savior's not there. We're not
looking for family reunion. We're not looking for mama and
daddy or husband or wife or brother or sister or son or daughter. We're looking for Him. Heaven is wherever the Lord Jesus
is, that's heaven. That's heaven. And Moses said,
I don't want to go. I don't want to go to the promised
land. You go ahead and drive out all
of the enemies, Lord. But if the enemies aren't there
and you're not there, I have no interest in going any further.
I know it's a land of milk and honey. We've been promised that.
But the joy of heaven, hear me now, that joy of heaven, is to
see and to be with our Lord Jesus Christ. and join with all the
saints of God singing, worthy is the lamb that was slain, who
has redeemed us to God by thy blood. Salvation to our God and
unto the lamb. That's what we want. That's what
we want in heaven, to see him, to be with him forever and ever.
We want his presence now. We want his presence always. And he says, I'll never leave
you. I'll never forsake you. He's
with us. He's with us this morning. He's
with you, child of God, and He'll always be with you, and one of
these days, He's gonna take you up to where He is now, and you
will forevermore be with the Lord. Oh, the vital presence
of the Lord. No wonder David said in Psalm
51 verse 11, he said, after he confessed his sin to the Lord,
he said, cast me not away from thy presence. Don't do that. Take everything from me. And of course, the Lord did take
his baby. Take all my possessions. Take
everything I've got. but don't take your presence
away from me." In the book of Revelation chapter
1, John saw our Lord Jesus, the glorified Son of God. He saw
Him standing in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Where is He to be found? Where
is His presence wherever His people meet? There's no use in meeting if
he's not gonna meet with us. If thy presence go not with us,
Moses said, we don't wanna go any further. Notice again there in verse 14,
it says, my presence, my presence, which is quite literally my faces,
my faces. That is, Moses is interested
in God going with him, God the Trinity. You notice in verse
14, God said, my presence, it shall go with you and I'll give
you rest. There's no rest unless the Lord
is with us. The Savior said, come unto me
and I'll give you rest. Rest from your burden of sin.
Rest from a guilty conscience. Rest, knowing that all is well
with the Holy God because of the faithfulness of the Son of
God, your substitute and Savior. He says, my presence shall go
with thee, my faces, my faces, as those saying, God the Father
will go with you. God the Son will go with you.
God the Spirit will go with you. My faces, you who are the redeemed
of God, you who have been quickened by the Spirit of grace, brought
to repentance toward God in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
all of your hope. He's all of your confidence.
He's all of your righteousness. He's all of your salvation. God the Father is with you. God the Son is with you. God
the Spirit is with you. God the Father is with you because
you're one of His children. He'll never forsake one of His
children. God the Son is with you because
He's your representative. In fact, God put you in Christ
before the world began. You're one with Him. What God
has joined together, nobody can put asunder. You're one with
Christ Jesus. Why, sure, He's with you. He
said, lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the world. God the Father's with you because
you're His child. God the Son is with you. He's
your Savior. You're united to Him. You're
one with Christ Jesus. And God the Spirit is with you.
The Lord said, I'll take up my abode in that person who believes
me. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That is, Christ not only in you,
but with you, and the Spirit with you. Consider just three things this
morning. Number one, the doctrine of the
very presence of God. You know, we say of God, God
is omnipresent. Well, we know what it means to
be present. What does omni mean? It means
all. He's all present. He's everywhere,
in other words. God cannot be bound or limited
by time, by space, He's everywhere. Jeremiah said, can any hide himself
in secret places that I shall not see him? Quoting the Lord. The Lord said, I feel heaven
and earth. He didn't say I'm to be found
throughout heaven and earth. He said, I feel it. I feel it,
I feel it to the full, my presence. His presence is essentially present
throughout all of his vast creation. If he's God, and he is, he must
be somewhere, but since he's spirit, he's not confined as
we are to one location, He's there for everywhere. God is
spirit. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth. God is everywhere. God is omnipresent
by His power. As He made all things, so He
keeps everything going. He sustains all things. There's
nowhere in all of his vast creation where his power is not actively
working. That's what our Lord Jesus said
in John chapter five. My father worketh hitherto and
I work. How does God work? By his power,
by his might, by his providence. And God is everywhere by his
authority, by his purpose. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He in heaven and earth and in all deep places. He is
the King who is present throughout His kingdom. Earthly kings can
only be in one location at one time. An earthly king may have
a vast kingdom, But He doesn't know what's going on out there
to miles and miles away because He's not there. He's in the palace.
But our God, His kingdom is over all and He rules over all and
He knows everything that's going on in His kingdom because He's
everywhere. He's everywhere by His knowledge. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in His sight but all things are naked and
open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Hebrews
4.12. He's everywhere, therefore he
has an infinite, unlimited knowledge of everything and everybody,
and that includes you and that includes me. Now, to think of
his infinite knowledge of me brings forth a twofold reaction
from me. Number one, embarrassment. He's always with me, so he knows
every thought, every motive, every word spoken, every dream. That embarrasses me. It should
embarrass you. He knows what nobody else knows
about you, because He knows you inside and out. He knows every thought, every
foolish word, every action that doesn't have
His honor and glory as the motive for doing it. He knows. That's embarrassing, that's what
it is. Lord, I'm sorry. But it is not only embarrassing,
it is comforting to the child of God. Our Lord asked Simon Peter, Simon
son of Jonas, do you love me? He had done some awful things.
Or he denied that he even knew the Lord. Cursed his name. Embarrassment. Shame. But he found comfort in this. Lord, thou knowest all things. You know that deep down in my
heart, I do love you. When I think of how feeble my
faith is, more times than not, I'm embarrassed. I'm ashamed. But when I think of the fact
that God has given to me a good hope through grace, He's led
me to cast my soul with all of its sinfulness and corruption
on the only Savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus. fully dependent
upon His bloody sacrifice to put all of my sins away. And
I really do believe. I don't believe Him like I ought
to. I don't believe Him like I want
to. I don't believe Him like I'm going to. I don't love Him
like I want to. I don't love Him like I ought
to. I don't love Him like I'm going to. But Lord, Thou knowest
all things. You know I love You. That gives
me comfort. Lord, you know. You know. This omnipresence of the Lord
then is a loud call to humility. Oh, we fall down in our hearts
before such a great God who's everywhere. And yet, He condescends
to be with us. Isn't that something? The Lord made and owns all things. He's everywhere, but He especially
makes His presence known to His people individually. That's so humbling. And the omnipresence
of the Lord is a powerful reminder of how much we need Christ Jesus. We sing that song sometimes,
I need thee, oh I need thee. I need you every hour of every
day, every minute of every hour. I need His grace. I need His
mercy. I need His power. I need His
righteousness. I need His love. I need His continual
gift of grace in me. I need Him. I need Him. You need Him? I need Him. And I say with Moses, Lord, if
Your presence doesn't go with me, I don't want to go any further.
I just stop right here. What's the use of living if you
live without Christ Jesus? What's the use of living? Life
has no meaning. Life has no purpose. And thank God, He said, my presence
will go with you. My faces will go with you. Boy,
that's comforting words right there. And I'll tell you what, the omnipresence
of the Lord, that serves a very strong consolation in times of
trouble and trial. David said, yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Listen, our whole life's journey
is a walk through the valley of the shadow of death. And yet
David said, I'll fear no evil. What's the reason? You're brave?
You're courageous? You gonna fight off all your
enemies? He said, no, here's the reason.
Thou art with me. Thou art with me. Thy rod, thy
staff, they comfort me. The Lord's with you, child of
God. When Jeremiah was threatened by the religious leaders of his
day, the Lord said to him in Jeremiah 1.8, be not afraid of
their faces. I'm with you to deliver you. Paul was in Corinth. Evidently
something happened. Somebody said something caused
him a little grief and caused him a little fear. The Lord said,
I'm with you. Don't be afraid of any of them.
No man's going to sit on you to hurt you. I have much people
in this city. So don't be afraid. Just preach
the gospel. To the sons of Jacob, the Lord
says, fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for
I am thy God. I'll strengthen you. I will help
you. In fact, I'll hold you up with
the right hand of my righteousness." Then quickly, the second thing
is, let's consider the real bodily presence of our Savior. He came
to this earth in a real body, having a real soul. He was present
in this world. From His birth to His ascension,
He was present here. A body thou hast prepared me,
he said, Psalm 40. While born of a virgin, he lived
in this world. He grew up from a baby to a youngster,
from a youngster to a teenager, from a teenager to a young man,
from a young man to full adulthood, present in this world. And yet all the while, he remained
God. No wonder David said, such knowledge
is too wonderful to me. I can't grasp it. I can't fathom
God. A skeptic said to a believer,
well, I want you to tell me about your God. Is your God great or
is your God little? Is He big or is He little? The poor child of God said, he's
so great that he fills the universe. And yet he's so very small, he
can dwell in the heart of a poor old sinner like me. That's my
God. Behold, our Savior lived in that
body. And behold, our Savior died in
that real body. Sin's just consequences is death. The wages of sin is death. He
died. Why did he die? Because he took
all the sins of all of his people upon himself. In fact, he'd been
responsible for them from before the foundation of the world.
Christ died for our sins. That's why He took flesh and
blood into union with His Godhead. Make no mistake, while He was
on this earth, while He was living and when He was dying, He was
still the God-man. As God, He was still everywhere.
He told Nicodemus in John chapter 3. He talked about the Son of
Man who is even in heaven. He's standing there in front
of Nicodemus and said, well, the Son of Man is in heaven.
Don't you know that blew his mind? He said, well, how can
that be? Well, we can't comprehend it.
But we believe Him. We believe Him. In that body
He died. In that body He arose. In that
body, He ascended. And in that body, He's present
with the Lord at His right hand, representing us. In that body,
He rules and reigns as King. And in that body, He's coming
back someday, and every eye shall see Him. The angel said to the
disciples, why do you stand here gazing up into heaven as you
see Him go up into heaven? This same Jesus, He's going to
come again in like manner if you've seen Him go. And then, finally, the real spiritual
presence of Christ is with us always. When we die, what does
that mean? It means to be absent from the
body and guess what? Present with the Lord. We'll be in His presence. He's
been with us by His Spirit all along, ever since conversion,
since He quickened us by His mighty power. And then at His
pleasure and according to His will, He takes us home unto Himself,
where we shall see Him as He is. We'll be in His presence.
He's with His people on earth, where two or three are gathered
together. He said, I'll be in the midst. I expect there's people
watching this morning, two or three people together, watching
this, even one person meeting with us in worship. Don't you get discouraged. He's
with you too. I wish I could be a part of a
congregation. I wish I could be there with
y'all. Well, right now, providential hindrances prevent that. But if you're a child of God,
if you're an heir of grace, if you're one of the redeemed ones,
you've been regenerated by the Spirit of God and brought to
cast your soul upon the Lord Jesus Christ, mark it down. He's with you. He's present with
you wherever you go. He's with us individually. He's
with us in the time of trial. Fear not. I'm with you. I'm with you. This past Friday,
I had a funeral of a dear lady who I never met, but some of
you remember her. She attended here for about 10
years. Never met her. The Lord revealed the gospel
to her. Family was telling me some of
the words that she had to say, and it was so encouraging to
me, the words that they related that she had spoken. I was thinking,
you know, I never had an opportunity to meet her. I didn't know her. But the Lord knew her, and the
Lord was with her. And though she moved many miles
away, or a family moved her miles away to live nearer to them,
where she went, the Lord went with her. The Lord went with her. Wherever
you go, wherever a child of God goes, the Lord is with you. He's present with us through
our life's journey. Thank God for the presence of
the Lord. And it's one thing to be like
the children of Israel and weep over the fact that the Lord said,
I'm not going with you. But that's not nearly as powerful
as what Moses said. If your presence doesn't go with
me, I'm not going. I'm not going. But if your presence
is with me and he assures all of his people that it is, I can
go anywhere. I can face anything. I can face disease. I can face COVID. I can face death. And I can face God if Christ
is with me. Makes all the difference, doesn't
it?