Well, good evening, everyone. If you would open your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 10. We'll just read a few verses, but pay attention to them. If you would, they'll be central to what we look at in the message this evening. Hebrews chapter 10, we'll begin reading in verse 16.

This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I'll put my laws into their hearts. in their minds while I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there's no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.

We'll end our reading there. Alright, Sean. Okay, you turn in your hymnal to song number 272 as we sing the Solid Rock. 272. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant, His blood, Support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Okay, if you would now turn to song number 196, Blessed Be the Fountain. Blessed be the fountain, however you want to say it. Blessed be the fountain of blood to a world where sinners revealed. Blessed be the dear son of God.

Only by his stripes we are healed. Though I've wandered far from His fold, Bringing to my heart pain and woe, Wash me in the blood of the Lamb, And I shall be whiter than snow. Wider than the snow. Wider than the snow. Wash me in the blood of the Lamb, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Thorny was the crown that he wore, and the cross his body o'ercame. Grievous were the sorrows he bore, but he suffered thus not in vain. May I to that fountain be led, made to cleanse my sins here below. Wash me in the blood that he shed, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Whiter than the snow Whiter than the snow Wash me in the blood of the Lamb And I shall be whiter than snow Father, I have wandered from Thee. Often has my heart gone astray. Crimson do my sins seem to me. Water cannot wash them away. Jesus, to that fountain of thine, Leaning on thy promise I go. cleanse me by thy washing divine, and I shall be whiter than snow. Whiter than the snow. Whiter than the snow. Wash me in the blood of the Lamb and I shall be whiter than snow. All right, let's open our Bibles now to Exodus chapter 32. Exodus chapter 32, and we'll read the first 14 verses.

And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together under Aaron and said unto him, up, make us gods, which should go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, We want not what has become of him.

And Aaron said unto them, break off the golden earrings, which were in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people break off the golden earrings, which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf. And they said, these be thy gods, O Israel. which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on the morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.

And the Lord said unto Moses, go, get thee down for thy people. I think it's funny how the Lord told Moses, thy people. That's how we talk to our spouses, but when the kids are bad, they're your kids. Thy people, the Lord said, thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves and have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf and have worshiped it and have sacrificed thereunto and said, these be thy gods, O Israel. which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I've 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. And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against my people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt? with great power, with a mighty hand. Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, for mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest by thine own self, and said unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, And all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

We'll end our reading there. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, it is with fear and reverence that we bow before your throne this evening, daring only come into your presence pleading the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And oh, how thankful we are for him. We're thankful for his obedience, which is our only righteousness. We're thankful for his precious blood, which we just sung about, that washes us whiter than snow, takes away all of our sin, and makes us righteous, holy, and blameless in thy sight. Father, how thankful we are. Father, I beg of thee that you would enable us this evening to lift up and exalt the name, the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Truly, he is our all and in all. He's our only hope. He's our only desire. We have no other. We want no other. He's our Lord, our master, our savior.

Father, enable his name to be exalted. As much as is possible with the human tongue and the human mind, let him be exalted in our eyes this evening. And father, cause us to worship is our savior is exalted. Cause us to be a based and be found at his feet, worshiping him. And father, may you be pleased to reach down your hand upon us tonight in mercy and grace and lay your hand ahold of your people. And one more time, grip our hearts with the glorious story of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let it be a blessing to us, something that we can feed on through the remainder of the week till we come back Sunday to hear again the same old, old story of Christ and Him crucified. Father, bless us for Christ's sake, we pray. For it's in His name, for His glory and His sake, we pray, amen.

Now I've titled the message tonight, Great Forgiveness for Great Sin. I don't think that there's any doubt this is one of the lowest points in Israel's history. But when you get down to that low, low point where Israel brings themselves and the worship of this golden calf, it's down there low, way down low at the bottom of the barrel. that we see God's glory and how he forgives the sin of his people. There's great forgiveness for great sin.

Let's pick up here in Exodus 32, verse one. And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together under Aaron and said unto him, up, make us gods which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, We want not what has become of him. We don't know where he's at or where he's gone. We don't know what's become of him.

Now, just six weeks ago, Israel had promised, we will do all that the Lord has spoken. They promised that. Didn't last very long, did it? I'm sure they meant it at the time, but it didn't last very long. They could not wait on the Lord. And in our experience, isn't that one of the, that's a difficult thing, to wait on the Lord. But they couldn't wait on the Lord, and they wanted an idol. I mean, it wasn't just that they wanted to go off and do something different. They wanted somebody to make them an idol that they could worship. And you think about how ungrateful that this is.

That very morning, they went out and collected manna that God caused to fall overnight. That very morning, they drank water from the smitten rock. And they say, we don't know what's become of Moses. We don't know what God's going to do with us. Well, it looks to us like God has quit blessing us when they ate the manna and they drank the water. They're just not mindful of God at all.

And you know this. Every time I look at one of these passages, I don't want anybody to think that I'm beating up on the children of Israel because we're right there with them. Every one of us, we're all right there with them. Every one of us can sing prone to wander. Lord, I feel it.

Prone to leave the God I love. And this just shows you how dependent we are on the Lord. You get just a hair's breadth away from Christ and you're in serious trouble. That's what happened to them. And the best that you can ever hope for, the best a believer can ever hope for In this life, as far as our faith is concerned, is to say, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Because we're still so full of unbelief.

Now, they hadn't seen Moses in 40 days. And in 40 days, just a month, in 10 days, they'd forgotten. It seems like they forgot everything that the Lord had done for them, everything that Moses had told them that the Lord said. And because they hadn't seen some evidence of whatever it was that they were wanting, they didn't trust the Lord.

You know, I guess they were wanting to see something to confirm to them, oh, you know, God's still with us. Again, I go back to the manna and the water from the smitten rock. I mean, they had it. It wasn't good enough for them, was it? And you know that there are things that every one of us know and believe. But you know this for yourself, how quickly we forget them.

And it's the importance, it shows us the importance of often being here to hear the gospel and being reminded the same thing over and over and over again. You know, a big part of the preaching of Christ is to be repetitive. And I try to be repetitive in such a way that I don't wear you out by using the same phrases over and over again. But if we're going to preach the gospel, it's got to be repetitive, to write the same things to you. To me, indeed, it's not grievous. But for you, it's safe. It's good for us.

We need to be reminded over and over and over again. As I studied this passage this week, I know there was a time I learned the story of the golden calf. but I don't remember, as long as, far back as my memory goes, I've known this story of the golden calf. And it's been such a blessing to me as I studied it this week, because the gospel, as it's repeated, becomes more and more precious to the believer every time we hear it, and it's necessary. Now look here at verse two, Aaron said unto them, break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.

Now, there's no question Aaron is a believer. He knows Christ, he trusts Christ, but Aaron's a weak man. I mean, that's all you can say about it. He's a weak man. He never should have tolerated this for a second. And as the high priest, as a leader in the congregation, he should have been able to just nip that in the bud and kill it right there. But he didn't. Instead, he just did what the people wanted and made them an idol to worship. And again, we're not beating up on Aaron, are we?

Because we all know we should always be strong in the Lord. We should be. Our faith should always be strong in the Lord, not because of how strong we are, but because of how mighty he is. Our faith and our confidence ought always be strong because of who we're trusting. But again, in this flesh, It's not always that way, is it?

Well, verse three, all the people break off the golden earrings which are in their ears and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool after he had made it a molten calf. And they said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, tomorrow, is a feast to the Lord, a feast to the Lord Jehovah. Now you know why the people wanted an idol? Because the flesh is always drawn to an idol.

The flesh can only believe what it can see and touch and feel with our human senses. That's the only thing that the flesh can believe. If you just give me something I can see, give me something I can touch, give me something evidence that I can see with these eyes, then I'll believe. Whereas faith doesn't need prompts like that, does it? Faith believes things which are not seen. Whom having not seen, ye love.

But the flesh is always gonna be drawn to an idol, something that will please our flesh. And here's another thing the flesh will always do. And we have to be so careful of this. The flesh, the old man will always try to compromise the gospel. I really get the feeling here. Aaron knew this was wrong, but he was too weak to stop it. He knew it was wrong. So he called the idol Jehovah. Like he's trying to say, well, now we're not really worshiping a golden calf. This is just a representation of Jehovah. We're really worshiping Jehovah. This is his image. It's a representation of Jehovah. I thought about this today.

There is no sense in anybody telling us to keep the Ten Commandments. We're no better than Aaron and the children of Israel. We can't get past the first one. Look back at Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20, verse 1. And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. I did that.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, Jealous, I'm a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers Upon the children under the third and fourth generation of them that hate me We can't get past the first one. They broke every one of these commandments saying well somebody else that brought us out We're gonna make an image of God and they couldn't think of anything better than a cow That's that's the image.

That's the image of God and bowed down themselves to worship it Now, the Lord does give his people, especially in the Old Testament, there are tangible pictures of Christ, aren't there? Just like there are today. They're tangible pictures. When we observe the Lord's table, that's a tangible picture of the broken body and the shed blood of Christ. When we have a baptismal service, that's a visual picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. That's the believer's hope. The Lord had given them the tabernacle. What a glorious picture of Christ that whole tabernacle is.

But I'm going to show you the difference between the tabernacle and this golden calf. The golden calf was melted into shape. And then Aaron took a carving tool and kind of cut out some of the fine details, you know, probably while the gold was still soft from being melted. But that was melted into shape. The gold in the tabernacle, the mercy seat, the lamp stand, was that gold melted and poured into shape? It was beaten into shape, wasn't it? It was beaten into shape.

And that's something that every form of idolatry always ignores, the need to satisfy the justice of God. And the only way the justice of God can be satisfied is by punishment, by punishment by death. And the only way God's justice can ever be satisfied is by Christ himself being beaten for our sake, being beaten for the sin of his people, having his flesh torn apart for the sin of his people, making his soul an offering to God. That is the only way sin can be put away. And that's what idolatry misses every time. How can God be both just and still justify the ungodly? How can God punish sin and still be merciful to sinners like you and me? That's what idolatry always misses.

And the glorious good news of the gospel is you don't have to make up your own way of salvation. God has provided one way of salvation. Now, it's just one way, but it sure is a sure way. It sure is a glorious way. That's the way of salvation in Christ And idolatry just misses it. Well, verse six says, they rose up early on the morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.

You know, idolatry, it's religion that's all flesh. Beware of any form of religion that makes the flesh feel good. The gospel's supposed to slay the flesh, supposed to, you know, the double-edged sword of the word is with one edge supposed to kill the flesh and the other edge heal. But you beware of any time any form of religion tries to make the flesh feel good. Idolatry is always taken up with something about the flesh, entertaining the flesh.

Telling the flesh lies. Oh, you can please God. You can do better. If you'll just try harder, you can quit sinning and make God happy with you. All these people were doing lying to themselves. They're lying to themselves, but it made their flesh feel good.

They came to eat and to drink and they were playing. They rose up to play. Nobody's bowing in worship. They rose up to play. They just had to hurry up and entertain everybody with this playing and eating and drinking, so they didn't have time to think about, I'm lying to myself. These people that are telling me that this golden calf is the God that brought us out of Egypt, they're lying to me. But if you keep them busy entertaining them and playing games and eating and drinking, nobody has time to think about it.

And that's what's happening here. And this is my every week prayer that God will be pleased to deliver us from playing religious games. You think how serious it is to play games with the name of God, how serious it is to play games with the son of God, with the sacrifice of Christ and not treat these matters of the word with such weight.

These are weighty, weighty matters. They give me joy. I hope they give you joy. They give the heart of the believer confidence and joy and peace. But let's not ever get over this, the weight of the word, the weight of dealing with these eternal matters of people's souls. See, this was not just an error in judgment that somebody made. is something that corrupts the souls of men and women.

Look what the Lord says in verse seven. And the Lord said unto Moses, go get thee down for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. You know, sin, absolutely. It's not obeying God's law. But in not obeying God's law, we corrupt our whole being. We corrupt our soul, we corrupt our mind, we corrupt our spirit, we corrupt our body. Any form of religion that is not Christ alone is gonna do nothing but corrupt us. That's how serious this matter is.

And then, verse eight, the Lord says, they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I have commanded them, They have made them a molten calf and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

God saw that happen. Do you get some idea how insulting this is to the person and the character of God? It's no wonder his wrath was waxed up. And the Lord said unto Moses, I've seen this people, and behold, it's a stiff-necked people. Now therefore, Let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them, that I may consume them.

And I'll make of thee a great nation. Now Moses is being tested, isn't he? The Lord tells Moses, I'm going to kill every one of them. And I'm going to start all over with you. And all this nation is going to come from your loins. And you're going to be great in the earth. You're going to be known as as the father of Israel, as the father of the people of God.

And at this time, Moses could have sought fame for himself, couldn't he? He could have sought glory for himself. And if that's what a person wants, you can go after it if you want to. But if you want glory for yourself, trusting Christ is not for you. Moses could have had glory for himself, and he turned it down. He turned it down flat.

Now, I went through all that story to point out this. Isn't this a great sin? I mean, what a great sin. But that's all of our sin. Every sin we ever commit is a great sin. It's sin that's directly against the character of God and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And instead of seeking fame and glory and comfort for himself, Moses interceded with God for the people. And this is what I want us to go home hanging on to tonight. This is a great and comforting picture of Christ, our intercessor. And it'll also give us some idea about prayer and how to intercede with God for ourselves and for our loved ones. First, as Moses intercedes with God, he's asking the Lord to forgive the sin of the people.

It's a great sin. So this is gonna need a great forgiveness And Moses said, Lord, forgive the sin of your people for your glory's sake, not just to do them a favor, but for your glory's sake. Verse 12, wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say for mischief to bring them out, to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth. Turn thy fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy people. Moses said, Lord, you know, the heathen and particularly the Egyptians would have been such a such a problem.

They're going to say, well, you had the power to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, but you didn't have the power to do what you promised them that you do. You just took him into the end of the end of the mountains and into the wilderness to kill him because you didn't have the power to bring them to the land that you promised to give. You didn't have the power.

Now, That's not true. I mean, if the Lord would have destroyed Israel, it would have been because of their sin, and he'd been right to do it, wouldn't he? But the Egyptians wouldn't know that. They wouldn't know it was because of the sin of the people. They'd think it's because the Lord lacked the power to save his people and to deliver them like he promised to do. And Moses says, Lord, if you don't bring your people into the land that you promised to give them, the heathen are never gonna have any reason to trust you. The glory of your name will be tarnished if you don't exercise your power and do what you promised to do.

And do you know this is how Moses is pleading for Israel. He's doing it as a type of Christ. This is the very way Christ our Savior makes intercession for you and me. Look at John 17. John 17. Verse 1, these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee.

You know, the sin of your people is great. Enable me to glorify you. by putting their sin away through the sacrifice of myself. Enable me, strengthen me as a man to be able to go to the cross and endure this and pay the price so that your people will see your glory. Do this, he didn't say do this for your people because you feel sorry for them, forgive their sin because you feel sorry for them. Do it so you'll be glorified when you forgive their sin.

Don't let the glory of your name be tarnished, but instead, put it between heaven and earth for all men to see. Here is the glory of God. God saves sinners through the sacrifice of his son. And every last one of them will be brought to glory with Christ. You know why? Because God would lose all of his glory if one of them perished.

They're all going to be there because this thing, All of the gospel, everything that God promised his people must come to pass so that God's glory is seen throughout all of his creation. So this is the way Moses made intercession. This is the way Christ makes intercession for his people. And this would be a mighty good pattern for us to follow.

When we're interceding with the Lord for us, for our children, for our loved ones, for whoever it is, you know, Lord, save for the sake of your glory. Lord, you would get a whole lot of glory if you'd save a sinner like me. You'd get so much glory. To forgive my sin, which is so great, you'd get so much glory if you would save me, if you'd wash me in the blood of your son. And you know what?

It'd be just like God to do it. If we ask God to save us for his glory's sake, for the glory of his son, it'd be just like God to do it. I wish I'd come up with this statement, but I didn't. Todd Nyberg did. God will save anyone when he can get all the glory for saving them. Then we'd be mighty wise to say, Lord, save me for your glory. Save my children for your glory, my grandchildren, my friends, my whoever it is that the Lord lays on your heart, Lord, save them for your glory sake. Show us your glory, your redemptive glory.

Number two, Moses says, Lord, forgive the sin of your people and finish the work that you started. Now, Lord, you started this work. You promised you're going to deliver your people and bring them to the promised land. And boy, you delivered your people with a mighty hand, didn't you? I mean, he reached down and made it. So that now, not only was Pharaoh not trying to keep the children of Israel there, Pharaoh thrust him out. He said, don't even wait till morning. Get out now. I mean, the Lord just moved in such power.

He parted the Red Sea, delivered his people on dry ground. He's led them through the wilderness, feeding them with manna from heaven, water from the smitten rock. They're getting meat from quails, just falling dead in the camp every day. Oh, the Lord's done a marvelous work.

But now Moses says, Lord, if you don't finish the work and bring your people all the way to the lane that you promised to give them, your glory, again, is going to be tarnished. Lord, do this for the sake of your glory. I love the way that Moses makes intercession here.

He doesn't say, Lord, you know the people and I know the people. We know them. Lord, they didn't mean it. Lord, they won't do it again. Yeah, they'll do it again. Yeah, they meant it. I mean, is there a sin any of us have ever committed we didn't mean to do? No, we meant every last one of them.

He says, Lord, forgive him for your glory sake and finish the work that you started. And Christ, our mediator, again, makes intercession for his people the very same way. Father, you began the work. You began the work in divine election. You chose a people and you gave them to me to save. You put all of those people in me as the surety, their surety. Now Father, I came and in the covenant of grace, you promised you'd save your people if I shed my blood and will sacrifice to put their sin away. Now I've done it. I've finished the work that you've given me to do.

Now Father, forgive them. Forgive them. Forgive them this second, and this second, and this second, and this second. Forgive them this day, and this day, and this day. Father, keep forgiving them, and preserve them, and bring them all the way to glory.

Because salvation will not be complete until all of God's people are in their assigned seat in glory, singing praise to our God. Now finish the work. Father, do what only you can do, and finish the work. And you know that the Father will. He answers that intercession. He's going to finish the work. Now again, this would be a mighty good example for us to follow. When we pray for forgiveness for ourselves, forgiveness for someone else, salvation for someone else, Father, finish the work that you began. I cannot ask you to forgive me because I promise I won't do it again, because I will. I can't ask you to forgive me because I didn't mean to do it. I just slipped up and it was a mistake. No, I meant to do it.

Father, finish the work that you started. Don't leave me to my own now. Father, you began the work. You chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world. You sent me a preacher. You gave me ears to hear the gospel. You gave me a heart to believe the gospel. And Father, in this flesh, I'm still nothing but sin. Father, finish the work that you started and bring me to be with you. Make me just like your son. You know, I say this often, if we would plead with God, the sure way that God will do what we ask is plead God's own word with him. Look at Philippians chapter one. Philippians chapter one. Verse six, being confident of this very thing.

Now Paul said, I'm confident of this, that he which hath begun a good work in you, he'll perform it, he'll perfect it, he'll finish it until the day of Jesus Christ. Now that gives the believer confidence that the Lord's not gonna forgive me for my sake, it's because he's gonna finish the work that he started in me.

He started this work in me when he caused me to be born again, and he's going to finish it. And I tell you the way he's going to finish it. One day he's going to separate the flesh from the spirit. And he's going to bring that new man to be with him. And when the Lord returns, we're going to be perfect, body and soul. And then we're going to shout hallelujah for eternity. God finished the work.

He finished the work. Now that gives you such confidence. It seems like that every time I think the world can't go any further, it goes further off the rails. I mean, it just seems like it's more confusing than ever before. But we got this confidence. The Lord's going to finish the work he started and all of his people will appear with him in glory. And then here's the third thing, and this is this is this is big.

Father, forgive the sins of your people. because of your covenant promises of grace. Verse 13, Moses says, remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thy swearest by thine own self, you promised by your own self. And you said unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. Now anytime in scripture you read about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you read about them together, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that always refers to covenant promises.

God made this promise to Abraham that not only will his people, Abraham's descendants come and inherit all this land that we're on. Abraham was just a stranger. He just wandered all through it, never owned any of it except for a cemetery. But he also promised, that the Messiah is gonna come through you. He's gonna come through you through Isaac.

And he confirmed that promise to Isaac, he confirmed it to Jacob. And that's a picture of God's covenant of grace. Before time began, God made a promise of grace. The word covenant means a promise. He made a promise that his son is coming to do all of the work of redemption for his people.

They're guilty. He's gonna make them not guilty. They're sinful, they're vile. He's gonna make them righteous and holy. They're a helpless people. He's gonna be the help of the helpless and redeem them lock, stock and barrel and make them what the Father will accept.

That's God's promise. And it's a covenant of grace because we don't deserve the fulfillment of any of those promises, do we? I mean, if a sinner who deserves hell is gonna receive glory with Christ, It has to be by grace, it has to be by grace. And Moses is pleading with the Lord, Lord, keep your promise. God, who cannot lie, will always keep his promise, always keep his promise. And this is the very same thing Christ, our mediator, is pleading for us right at this very moment. Lord, you chose this sinful people, you chose to save them by your grace. They've gathered together here on a Wednesday evening, in the middle of the week, to worship you. And their minds wander. They think about a hundred different things. They're so weak in faith.

Father, don't cast them out now. Yes, they sin, but don't cast them out now. Father, You knew about their sin before you ever chose them, before you ever put them in me. The very reason that you chose them unto salvation and put them in me to save is because you knew they'd be a sinful people. They're fallen in Adam. Father, you knew about their sin. You knew what they'd be. Now forgive them, Father. Forgive their sin, because that's what you promised that you'd do.

Now that's grace. That's grace. I love to think about the Savior making intercession for me, and that none of it depends on me. None of it. It's for the glory of the Father. It's because the Father's going to finish the work once begun. It's because the Father is going to keep His promise. It's all about Him, isn't it?

That's grace, and that's something that a sinner can hang on to and be confident of. Now, this is the way Moses made intercession. This is the way Christ our Savior makes intercession. Again, it'd be a mighty good pattern if we would follow this pattern. Whenever we intercede with God and beg God for mercy, Lord, forgive my sin because you promised to be merciful to sinners. Now, we can't make intercession like the Savior can, can we?

He knows who the elect are. He knows who it is that the Father gave him. Father, he prayed for his people. But we don't know who God's people are. None of us have ever seen the Lamb's Book of Life. We've not seen those names written there to know who it is that the Father elected and who he didn't. So I can't say, Father, forgive me, because you chose me before time began. I can't say that, because I don't know that for sure.

I do. I do now. The only way I know that is because God gave me faith in Christ, but I don't know that because I've seen the Lamb's book of life. But here's what I do know about myself. I know I'm a sinner. I know I'm a great sinner. And I know that God promised to be gracious to sinners. Lord, I'm a sinner. Would you be gracious to me? Because you promised to be gracious to sinners. I've got no other hope. I've got no other plea. Father, I'm pleading your covenant promises of grace. Would you be pleased to forgive my sin because you promised you'd be gracious to sinners? Now again, if you're gonna plead with God, plead his word.

Plead what he already promised to do. There's no one in the history of mankind who has ever prayed and asked the Lord, Lord, save me because I'm a sinner and you promised to forgive the sins of, you promised to save sinners. Not one person who ever honestly said that has gone to hell. Not one.

Because that's what God promised to do. You know, you think, why would God deliver Israel from Egypt? You know, they'd been down there so long, they'd basically assimilated into Egyptian society, into Egyptian religion, these kinds of things. They forgot all about God. They forgot about the promises of God. They were worshiping God.

Why would God deliver Israel from Egypt? Exodus chapter two. Exodus chapter two, verse 23. And it came to pass in the process of time that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of their bondage, and they cried. And their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage, and God heard their groaning. And God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them. Now they're not a respectable people, but God had respect unto them because of his covenant, because he promised he would deliver them.

How do we know that God's gonna bring his people into the promised land? How are they gonna get there? How do you know? It's God's covenant. Exodus chapter six, verse eight. And I will bring you into the land concerning the which I did swear. I did promise to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I'll give it to you for an inheritance. I am the Lord. I'm going to bring you to that land, I'm going to give it to you, because that's what I promised that I would do.

And one more scripture, Deuteronomy chapter 9. Deuteronomy 9. See, God doesn't do these things for our sake. One of the things I desire most of all is to be found faithful, to be found faithful to to believe Christ, to preach Him, to look to Him, all to be found faithful. But I don't ever want God to do anything for me because of anything I did. It's always because of Christ. Deuteronomy 9, verse 5. Not for thy righteousness or the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go to possess their land.

But for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee that he may perform, that he may do, perform the word, keep the promise that the Lord swear unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Everything God ever does in this creation is because he promised to do it before he ever said, let there be light.

And then verse 14, back in our text, after this intercession, the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. The Lord turned from the evil, which he thought to do unto his people. Now, you know, the only way God can turn his wrath away from us and our sin is if he turns his wrath on Christ, our substitute, on the very one who's making intercession for us at this very time. And he's going to do it for the glory of his name, that he'll have mercy on whom he will have mercy.

Now that's the way Christ our mediator pleads for you and me, and it'd be a good idea next time we find ourselves pleading with the Lord if we follow this example. I believe the Lord will hear us, don't you? I believe he will. All right, let's bow together.

Father, we thank you for this time that you've given to us to look into your word and see this assuring picture of our Savior constantly, always, ever living to make intercession for his people. And that his intercession is always based upon your character and the work that he finished for his people. Father, we're so thankful that none of it depends upon us, but it all depends upon our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we're thankful.

I pray you take the word that's been preached and apply it to our hearts that we might be found trusting in, believing in, and resting in Christ our Savior. Father, we ask you to save. We beg of you to forgive our sin. We beg of you to bless, for Christ's sake, that you get all the glory for saving, for blessing and keeping such a sinful people as we are. Father, we thank you. It's in Christ's name, for his sake we pray. Alright Sean.

If you would turn in our hymnal to song number 393 and stand as we sing take my life and let it be. 393. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my hands and let them move. at the impulse of thy love, at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee.

Take my voice and let me sing always only for my king always only for my king take my lips and let them be Filled with messages for thee. Take my silver and my gold. Not a mite would I withhold. Not a mite would I withhold. Take my love, my God, I pour At Thy feet its treasures store. Take myself, and I will be Ever, only, all for Thee. Ever, only, all for thee.