Let's start here in verse 12
and go to the end of the chapter. Exodus 33. 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 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. And he said, My presence shall
go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto them,
If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 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. And he said, I beseech
thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee. and will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy
and he said thou canst not see my face for thou shall no man
see me and live and the Lord said behold there is a place
by me and thou shalt stand upon a rock and it shall come to pass
while my glory passes by that I will put thee in a cleft of
the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by
and I will take away my hand and thou shalt see my back parts
but my face shalt thou not see. I want to take this prayer of Moses
And I want to say a few things about it. As we listened to his
prayer and looked at his prayer, God's servant, the one who God
separated, sent him down to Egypt to bring his people out. I believe
as we look at this prayer together, we'll see that all of us are
like him. We have the same needs, same
desires, same requests. You know we have this treasure,
great glorious treasure of the gospel. In the gospel we have
the blessed riches of God's grace in Christ. But turn around and
also we have this treasure in earthen vessels, in clay pots. And I tell you what, when this
treasure in us starts making requests, Moses made four, four
God-honoring requests here as he prayed before God. Four God-honoring
requests. The first thing he added is,
God, will you guide me? Will you guide me? Will you be
my guide? Ain't that what he says there
in verse 13? Now therefore I pray thee, if
I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way. He said,
Oh Lord, I want to know your way. I want to know your way. Show me now thy way. You know,
there's lots of people. God said over, and I think it's
the 103rd Psalm. He says, God showed Moses his
ways and his acts under the children of Israel. Now you can see creation
and see God's acts. You see God's acts in a thunderstorm
and in the lightning. But you can't see God's way.
You can't see His way that He does things according to His
word. You can't see His way of what He does and working in His
people. We don't see the glory of His
saving power, of His righteousness, of His dealings with sinners
like ourselves, of His salvation. We got that hymn, I think it's
337 in the book. Teach me thy way, O Lord, teach
me thy way. That's what Moses is saying.
Show me now thy way. I want to know your way, Lord. Not my way, your way. Forget
my way. My way's got to always be wrong,
but your way's always right. So show me now your way. I want
to know the way you are. The way you do things. I want to know you in your way. And oh my, see he felt and he
knew the need of God's Spirit to lead him. You know the scripture
said in Romans 8.14, as many as are led by the Spirit, they're
the sons of God. Now the Spirit of God, when He
leads us, we're just as one place He leads every one of us to.
You know, people talk about the Spirit, you know, He leads us
to do good, He leads us to do this, He leads us to do that.
But there's one place that I know the Bible is clear on this. When
the Holy Spirit leads us, He always leads us to Christ and
no place else. and always does and I'm telling
you that's what he says Lord I need to know that you'll lead
me show me now thy way and he asked this for two reasons look
what he said here's the first reason I said oh Lord if I found
grace in my sight show me thy way here's the first reason he
says it cause if I know thy way I may know thee that I may know
thee Let me ask you something. Moses
spent 40 days on the mountain with God. One time, went back
up again, spent another 40 days with God. And he, when he was
up there on that mountain, he had the glory of God on him so
much that when he came down, he had to put a veil on his face.
Because they couldn't look on him. Now how in the world can
he say I spent 40 days in one time, 40 days in another time,
and then he turns around and says I want to know you? I don't find any problem with
that at all. Real like the Apostle Paul when he says, Lord, and
you know, and yet after spending all that time with him on the
mountain, he still hungered, he still desired, he still wanted,
he needed to know the Lord. I want to know you. I want to
know you. Paul said, I want to know Christ. You think he didn't know Christ?
Yes, he knew Christ. But he still turned around and
said, I want to know Him. Oh how I want to know Him. I
want to know Him personally. I want to know Him intimately.
I want to know Him in His power. I want to know Him in His resurrection.
I want to know Him in His sufferings. I want to know Him. I want to
know Christ. Oh, I want to know him. And that's
what Moses said. Show me thy way, because I want
to know you. Lord, I want to know you. I want
to know some notes and things about you. I want to know you.
Oh my. And here's the second reason
he asked. God just got through telling him, you found grace
in my sight. But listen to what Moses said. That I may know thee,
and that I may find grace in thy sight. He'd been in God's sight for
going on 40 years. God found him on the back side
of the desert. Appeared to him in a burning
bush. Moses, Moses! And then he turns around and
said, Lord, I want to find grace. I want to know that you give
me grace. I want grace. I need grace. I need to know that I find grace
in your sight. I don't care what Israel says
about me. I don't care what anybody else thinks about me. I don't
care what Aaron thinks about me. For my sister Miriam, I want
to know that I found grace in your sight. It's kind of like
Ruth. when she was following and gleaning
in Boaz's fields, and she was just gleaning, and Boaz threw
out a handful on purpose. That's what Moses asked her for,
Lord, let me know that I found grace in your sight. And our
Lord Jesus, this is an amazing thing, what He does for us. He
sent His disciples out, and He sent them out without any money, Send them out without anything
to eat. He just said, go and you preach. He said, don't take
a thing in the world with you. Nothing. Don't take nothing with
you. Just go preach. They got back. He said, did you
lack anything? They said, nothing, nothing.
And that's what Moses is asking, Lord, I know you told me that
I had grace, but I want to know I've got grace. I want to experience
grace. I told Shirley on the way to
service this morning, you cannot have the grace of God in your
life and not experience grace. You can't do it. Grace is an
experience. I know we don't want to talk
about experiences, but God in grace cannot come and save you
and teach you and bring you to know Him above everything else
and that not be an experience. And I tell you what, once you
experience that, you never get over it. That's what Moses is
saying, I've been in your sight, Lord, but I still want to know
you. I want to know which way you're going, and I want to know
if I found grace in your sight. And he's saying, listen, I want
grace for the day. I want grace for the hour. I
want grace for the moment. I want grace to endure. I want
grace to enjoy you. I want grace to help. I want grace to hope. And I need
your grace so that I can show grace. You can't even show grace
without grace. Can you? And I need grace to
show grace. And here's the second thing now
he asks for. Listen to this prayer. And he
says now, down in verse 15, he said unto him, If thy presence
go not with me, carry us not up hence. Lord, if you don't go, I ain't
going. If you're not with me, I ain't going. I'm not going
to go. I don't care how well the land
is. I don't care how much milk and honey that's in it. I'm not
going. If you don't go and don't go
with me, I'm not going to go, Lord. Oh Lord, do your presence
go with me. And here's the thing, when Moses
had God's presence, And then he had God's promise that I'll
go with you. He would go anywhere, do anything,
endure anything, and do anything that God told him to do with
his promise and his presence. And look what the Lord said to
him in verse 14. And he said, My presence shall
go with you, and I will give thee rest. So God turns and promises
to give him his presence. Give him his presence. And you
know what happens when God says he goes with him? He said, I'll
give you rest. Now Moses, how in the world are
you going to have rest when you're going? How are you going to have
rest when you got two million people to lead? How can you rest
while you're doing? Well, we do it all the time. We go on living our lives and
we rest in Christ. There's never a time that we're
not resting in Christ. Never a time that we're not resting
in Christ. And how do you go and rest while
you're going and while you're doing? Well, we do it in the
Lord Jesus Christ and His very presence. God's very presence,
Christ's very presence gives us rest, gives us security, gives
us peace in this world. Dorotha said yesterday, I was
just texting her, wasn't talking to her, but I was texting her. And you know, with Bill, Bill's
been very sick, very weak. And I said, well, you know, God's
with you. God's with you. God's going to keep you. He's
going to uphold you through every bit of this. She said, that's
my only hope. That's my only hope. God's going
to hold me up. God's going to hold me up. He
ain't going to let me fall. He's going to hold me up. And that's
what Moses is saying. Lord, I've got to take these
people across He said, I'm going to be with you. That's all you
need to know. That's all you need to know.
And I tell you when we'll really need Him to be with us, when
we get ready to cross that Jordan River. They're going to go across
Jordan River. And if God goes across the river
with us, it'll be the easiest journey you ever took. It'll
be the sweetest journey. And I tell you what, you won't
have to swim. As He parted the way for them
to go through, it's gonna part for us to go through. Oh, what
a blessed hope we have. And our fellowship is with God
and with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, this fellowship is
so real. And that's why he says, carry
us not up hence. This fellowship that we have
with God and this union we have with Christ is so real, it's
like God carrying us. And I said it this morning. He
said, I'll carry you. In your old age, I'll carry you.
I'll pick you up from your mother's womb and I'll carry you. When
you get old and gray headed, I'll carry you. I'll carry you. And we're underneath them everlasting
arms of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all this, and not only did
He promise His presence to go with Him, mean fellowship and
rest, but protection and victory. You remember when we talked about
that cloudy pillar last week? Well, I tell you what, His presence
is our cloud by the day, and our pillar of fire by night,
I mean He'll never ever leave us nor forsake us. You know what
He said? Let your conversation be without
covetousness. For He has said, I will never,
no never, no never, no never, leave you or forsake you. Never do it. Never, never do
it. There have been a lot of wives
left their husbands, a lot of husbands left their wives. But
Christ ain't never gonna leave us. Even when we get into eternity,
He's never gonna leave us. That's what a rest that is. What a rest. I'm never going
to leave you. Our minds may leave us, but He's
not. Our strength will leave us, but
He won't. Our breath will leave us, but
He won't. Our heart will stop beating,
but His won't. We'll go blind, but He's still. Whatever goes on in this world,
I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. And here's
another thing they ask. Look what he says here in verse
16. He said, wherein shall it be
known here, here, right here now, wherein shall it be known
here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight. And
that's what he wants to know. How's everybody going to know?
How's it going to be made manifest that you're our God? wherein
shall it be known that I and thy people thy people have found
grace in thy sight is it not 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 wherein shall it be known how is everybody
going to know that you are God how is everybody going to know
How is everybody going to know? Well, he said go separate us. Look what he said here. So shall
we be separated, I and thy people? That's how we're going to know
we're God's for us. Shall we be separated? You know God makes
such a difference that he separates people in this world. He separated
Cain and Abel. Separated Isaac and Ishmael. He separated people, always separated
people. And he said the people that he
separates and puts them over here, they're goats and he puts
the others over here and they're sheep. But he's always separated
people. He separated Abraham from everybody
else. Separated Jacob from everybody
else. Separated them and he said this
is how people's gonna know you're our God you separated us God
makes the difference between Israel and God makes the difference
between us and the rest of the world Now I want you to see something
look over here in Exodus 11 Look at 11 look what God said over
here 11 in verse 7 You know how he separated them
and made such a difference? Same way he did Jacob and Esau.
Jacob have I loved that Esau. That old sorry rat. He said,
I hated him. What made the difference? God.
God did. And look what it said here in
verse 7. But against any of the children of Israel shall not
a dog move his tongue. Against any man or beast that
you may know that the Lord doth put a difference between the
Egyptian and Israel." He said a dog ain't even gonna
bark. A dog ain't even gonna bark.
And how did he separate us? He separated us by election.
Chose us in Christ. By blood, they put the blood
over those doors, Christ shed his blood. By calling, calling
us out of Egypt, calling us out of this old world. And then he
done it by his sovereign choice. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. And he did it by his act of power.
He brought them out with a high hand. And he done it, affectionately,
taking them all away into the promised land. Amos asked this
question, how shall two walk together except they be agreed?
How shall two walk together except they be agreed? Well, I know that God and the world
are not in agreement. I know that. But I tell you what, I'm in agreement
with him, ain't you? I agree with whatever he says
and whatever he does. The two walk together, except
they be agreed. I agree with God. You know, and
me change, agreeing with him, ain't gonna change him one iota.
Does not change him at all. The only person it changes me.
It don't change him, it changes me. And then look what else it
may say. Look what else he says now. So
you separated us of all the people that are upon the face of the
earth. You separated us. All the people on the earth,
you made us to be your people. And the Lord said unto Moses,
I'll do this thing that thou hast spoken. For thou hast found
grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. I know my sheep,
and I know them by name. And he said, I beseech thee,
show me thy glory. He went from wanting to know
thy way to now, I want to see your glory. Oh God, show me thy
way. Now show me thy glory. God said,
I'll do this thing, Moses. I'll do this way. And I'll do
it in a two-fold way. First of all, he said, he gave
him a sight of his character. Look what he said in verse 19.
Show me your glory. And the first thing he said,
I'll make all my goodness pass before thee. I'll make all my
goodness. And you know, I say this all
the time, God is indeed good to Israel. But God is good in
three persons. He's good in the Father. Oh,
how good the Father is. The goodness of God leads us
to repentance. He's good in the Son. Oh, how
good is the Son. How good is He that He would
come, take our nature upon Him, and bear our sins in His own
body on the tree. And He's good in the Holy Spirit
to bring the things and teach us the things of Christ. He's
good in His ways. He's good in His actions. And
Old David said, good is our thoughts towards Me. Good is thy thoughts
toward me. And then look what he says. His
glory is his goodness. And he said, I'll make all my
goodness pass before you. All of it. And I'll proclaim the name of
the Lord before you. That's the character. I'm good. My name. He said, well, when
I go down to Egypt, who am I going to tell you say sent me? I am
that I am. That's who you'll say. And he
said, I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before you. Wherever
you go, my name will be right before you and I'll proclaim
it. And then he says, oh Moses, I'm going to be gracious to whom
I will be gracious. And I'm going to show mercy to
whom I will show mercy. Oh, the glory of God in that.
The glory of God is seen and I'll do what I do. For who I'll
do it for. I don't owe anybody anything. If you get anything from me,
it'll be grace. If you get anything from me,
it'll be mercy. And if I do it, it'll be because
I do it. And I will to do it. Not because
you deserve it. Not because you deserve it. I'll
just do it. I'll just do it. And oh my. We see the glory of His goodness
seen in Christ. And look what He says now. If
thou canst not see my face, you can't see it. For there shall
no man see me and live. Now this is something that's
so true. God dwells in the light that no man can approach unto.
And if we can see God as He is, outside of Christ, We cannot
see Him and live. So how in the world can we see
God, and see His glory, and see His goodness, and see His power,
and see His mercy, see His compassion, and live only through seeing
Him in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what he tells
us here next. That's what he shows us here.
That's what he shows us. And he says, and the Lord said
by me. And the Lord said, behold, there's
a place right here by my side. Right here. Right here close. Right here close. There's a place
close. And oh, he had the shelter of
his hand. He said, and listen, and stand
there on a rock. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. There's a place by me, and you
stand on that rock right there. And this gonna come to pass,
and it always comes to pass like this. Now listen to what he says
now. I will put thee in the cliff
to that rock. He didn't say climb in there,
hide yourself in there, crawl in there, He said, I'm going
to take you and I'm going to put you in there. And then look what he says, and
it shall come to pass while my glory passes by. It's going to
come by you, Moe. Do you want to see it? Well,
I'm going to let you see it. and I'm gonna put you in that
cleft of the rock and then look what else he says and will I
will do this I will cover thee with my hand oh my and then I will put my hand over
you while I'm passing by we're in the hand of God and in the
hand of Christ and look what he says And I'll cover thee with
my hand while I take away. And then he says, you know, while
you're in that cleft of that rock, I'm going to take away
my hand. I'm going to take it away. And
you go see my back parts. Oh my. He saw such glory in the
back parts of God that he never got over it. But my face shall not be seen.
Oh my, nobody feels the need of God's covering more than those
that behold His glory. And in the cleft of that rock,
Moses had a vision of God's glory. And you know where God's glory
is seen now? In His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where
it's seen. Oh, the glory of His goodness,
the glory of His grace, the glory of His sovereignty. Oh, what
glory there is in the Lord Jesus Christ. We sang that hymn, Rock
of Ages, cleft for me. And let me give you three places
where God's glory has been seen. First of all, his glory was seen
in the face of Moses. When Moses came down off that
mountain, he had to put a veil. You know why he put a veil over
his face? Because God's glory was going
to fade away. And he didn't want them to see
God's glory fading away. And then, secondly, We see it
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's glory is seen in
the face, revealed in the glory, we see the glory of God in the
face, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then there
was a day When Christ's glory was manifested
to Stephen while they were stoning him to death. And they said,
behold he's got the face of an angel. And he looked up and he
saw the Lord Jesus. So his glory would fade away
in the law. He got no glory in the law. That's
what it meant, no glory in the law. Where's God's glory at? in the face, in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the face of Stephen, imparted
to him, no wonder, no wonder Moses said, show me now thy glory. Do we need him? Oh, gotta have
it. And I tell you how many times,
how many times have we said, Lord, oh, to see your glory. And every once in a while, just
every, every once in a while, He'll come into our midst and
we'll get about that much glimpse of His glory. But you know what
that does for us when we just get a little... If Moses just
saw the backside and God gives us just that much of His glory
and we see that much of it in a service sometime, we leave
here feeling like we've been in the presence of God Himself
just seeing that much. It don't take a whole lot But boy, we're grateful to see
it. Our Father, thank you for the
day. Oh, you've been so good to us today. So gracious, so
kind, so pitiful. Lord, you know who we are. You
know what we are. We can't come with any pretense
or hypocrisies into your presence. We come as we are. We've come
as we are, needy, looking, trusting, believing, cleaving, resting. Design your glory, design your
will, design you. As David said, Oh, to behold
the King in his beauty and dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Oh, what a blessed day we've got to look forward to. We see
just a little tiny, tiny, tiny bit of your glory here. But Lord,
we're thankful for every time we see it, every time you manifest
it. In your word, in your gospel,
in our hearts, in our homes, as we meditate on you and think
about you, call on you. You give us just a glimpse of
your glory and how it fills our heart with joy and thanksgiving. And oh Lord, we enjoy you. We
enjoy you, your presence. We enjoy your power. We enjoy
your grace. We enjoy you being our God. We delight in it and thank you
in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen.