The Lord may graciously help me this evening. I would turn your prayerful attention to the chapter that we read in Exodus 33 and verse 13. Exodus 33 and verse 13. 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. Exodus chapter 33 verse 13. As I mentioned when we started reading this this this evening this was a very momentous time in the pathway of Israel. Israel had come out of Egyptian slavery.

They'd had those 10 plagues which had eventually meant that Pharaoh let them go. They'd then gone, they'd got to the Red Sea and Pharaoh had chased them. And then God appeared once again and brought them through the Red Sea and on dry land. And yet Pharaoh and his army were destroyed in that Red Sea.

The Lord graciously appeared for them. They'd seen they were something like two million people traveling through the desert with no natural provision to keep them alive at all. And God sent the manna, the daily manna, for them to eat. He sent the rock that followed them, that smitten rock from which flowed water. So they had water and they had food. God miraculously preserved them, brought them to Mount Sinai, the place where Moses had first been given his commission at the burning bush and God said as a promise he'd bring them back there.

So this was a fulfillment of what God had said he would do for Moses. And then they had the giving of the Ten Commandments and the people said don't speak to us, speak to Moses. And in Exodus 24, we read these words, and all that the Lord has said unto us, we will do and be obedient. That's what Israel said.

Moses was then taken up the mount for another 40 days to be told about the tabernacle, how that was to be made, the ark, and all the furniture, all speaking of Christ, the high priest, his garments, his consecration, all those things Moses was given that information about.

And he comes down from the mount no doubt full of those thoughts of the glories that were pointing to Christ in all those things. And then he hears lots of noise going on in the camp and God tells him that Israel had sinned and that they were going away from him and then he can't really believe God to start with that that would be true.

But then he sees with his own eyes the golden calf He sees them dancing in front of it saying, these be thy gods that brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. He sees idolatry going on. And he had those two tables of stone which had the law on them. And he cast them down in sadness as to what he saw, picturing the broken law, the Ten Commandments broken before it even come down the mount. The High Priest, who was to be Aaron, he was the one leading the people. It must have seemed that everything had gone completely amiss. Everything had gone completely wrong. He intercedes for Israel.

There was a death of 3,000 people. at this time they were killed who were still in rebellion against God. And then Moses goes and intercedes in chapter 32 for Israel to try and make intercession atonement for them. But then we came to the chapter that we read the chapter 33 and God promises then that he will send an angel with them to go to the promised land but not not go himself. If you look in verse 2 of chapter 33 and I will send an angel before thee and I will drive out the Canaanite the Amorite and the Hittite and so on unto a land flowing with milk and honey but I will not go in the midst of thee. And this of course is a great consternation to Moses.

He wanted the presence of God that was more important to him than anything else. And so we have this great intercessor, Moses, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, interceding for his people, interceding on their behalf. And we have this beautiful prayer. This morning we looked at a prayer that the Lord Jesus taught his disciples to pray on that Sermon on the Mount. And we looked at those words, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But here we're looking at another prayer, a prayer of Moses, the man of God, And this is what he prays for. And let us look at these words that he prays as we look at this account. Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way.

There was a great consternation. All the glorious things that God had shown them seemed to have crumbled. the two tables of stone were broken. Israel had said, all that the Lord tells us to do, we will do. And 40 days later, they're completely doing the opposite. Aaron, the one who was to be consecrated, to be the high priest, the nearest one to God, as it were, he was leading the making of this calf. Surely, Moses is in a state of consternation here.

Now therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way. Is there a way forward? Is there a way forward? Moses prays, you see, show me. He wants the Lord to show him personally and to show how an unholy people could still have God with them. Show me now thy way.

How can this be? And in our pathways as we come into those places of consternation and is it not that sin brings a consternation in our pathways? Perhaps we're getting on quite well and then something erupts, sin rears its ugly head and we have a problem. show me now thy way. The way that God is going to show himself through these things. And Moses wants the Lord to do this for him. If I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way. Not my way, thy way. Very similar to what we looked at this morning, thy will be done. Moses wanted God's way.

He could only see that all this that had happened had all come to a shuddering halt. How could they go on? The man, his brother that was meant to be appointed the high priest, had been the forefront leader of rebellion. Well, we'd say if that happened, Man must stand down from his office, that's the end of it.

But you see, the Lord Jesus had a different way. God was going, if you read on and read on into Leviticus, Aaron was appointed the high priest. He was appointed that role and he served in it for many years. And you see, the Lord did overrule. But there was, if you look in Deuteronomy, You can see how that took place.

Deuteronomy 9 and verse 20. This is Moses speaking. And the Lord was very wrath, very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him. God was angry with Aaron for what he did with the golden calf. But look at what he says. This is Deuteronomy 9 verse 20. And I prayed for Aaron also the same time. We had hymns on intercession this morning, didn't we? The intercession of Christ for his people. Moses interceded for Aaron and that intercession was granted. Moses interceded and God heard that intercession. Surely we could say that what David said, although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And so we see here this great necessity of coming back to God.

But Moses then wants all that is going on to be a blessing. And in our pathways, when sin, as it were, brings us to a place of consternation, Sin rears its ugly head and we think, how can we go on? How can you still be a minister of the gospel if you've done that? How can you carry on?

Oh, we need the Lord to intercede for us. He ever liveth to make intercession for his people. What a high priest we have. Oh, Aaron was a picture of it. But he fell short. And it's so interesting, isn't it, that even before the Ten Commandments got down from the mound, even before Moses got down with all the information about what to do with Aaron, Aaron had already completely showed himself to be unsuitable for the work. show me now thy way. How do we go on? How do we continue? How do we continue with this, with all this sin and this rebellion?

You see, the Lord, this is what Moses says, show me now thy way, not my way, thy way. It was God-centered, you see, he wanted to know God's way. Oh, he could only see that everything had fallen apart. But he wanted to see God's way. Show me now thy way.

And when we come to those places of consternation in our lives often prompted by the sin of ourselves or the sin of perhaps of those around us. In that case, it was really Moses' brother Aaron that had greatly sinned and led the people astray in this matter. And yet Moses was there, see, as it were, seeking to pick up the pieces of all the chaos that flowed from it. And Moses, and I have found, sorry, now therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now. thy way. I can't see a way forward. I can't see how we can be a people that are going to be a separated I and this people from all the people of the world. How can this be when we're such a sinful people?

Show me now thy way. So Moses is praying for guidance and it's a good example for us when we're in those places of uncertainty. Show me now thy way. Show me the way that I should go. Open doors, close doors. Show me now thy way. How can we go on? But it's interesting to notice that Moses doesn't stop at the end of that part of the prayer. Show me now thy way. That I may know thee. There's a purpose you see to this guidance. There's a purpose to praying show me now thy way that I may know thee.

In other words Moses saying I want the Lord to guide us as a people that we may come to know more of Christ. Indeed later on in the next chapter God does reveal himself to Moses in a particular way. The Lord God passed by and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. Moses was going to learn more of the attributes of God by what he was walking through.

Show me now thy way. So in our pathways, as we pray that the Lord would show us his way and guide us in his way, the purpose of that is that we may know more of him. You see, as God leads his people, he reveals himself to them. It's the same language, wasn't it, of Paul in Philippians 3, that I may know him. the power of his resurrection, have fellowship with his sufferings being conformed to him. This is the great end that Moses says, therefore show me now thy way, that way in God's providence but also in God's grace. How can How can all these types and shadows that God has given in the ceremonial law show me now thy way for what purpose? That I may know thee. That I may know thee. That's what Moses wanted. The high priest, his garments, his intercession, the killing of all the beasts, the sacrificing, the bringing in of the blood, the going outside the camp with a sin offering.

Show me now thy way that I may know thee. May these things help us to know the Lord. And we think in our personal pathways. Are we praying, show me now thy way that I may know thee? Or is it, show me now thy ways so that I get a better job? But no, that I may know thee, that in the things that I pass through, that I may come to a better knowledge and acquaintance and fellowship with God.

God's presence, you see, to Moses was so important. And this is a key aspect of the Christian life. It's been said that heaven you see would not be heaven if Christ wasn't there to his people. It's not the streets of shining gold that they're after. It's the lamb as it had been slain. He's the one they want to see. He's the one they want to worship. Show me now thy way. that I may know thee. You see, in grace, in providence, show me thy way. But then in grace, to know how God can, how God and sinners can be reconciled. How all these Old Testament types and shadows show me that I may know thee.

Moses didn't just want to have all these ceremonies and no knowledge of what they meant. No knowledge of how they pointed to Christ. Moses, if you remember, he was up that Mount of Transfiguration. And what was he speaking of? Of that, that which Christ would accomplish at Jerusalem. His exodus that he would accomplish at Jerusalem. He would, that's what Moses was interested in.

And you see God's people, this is what's precious to them. If I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way. God's way, a God-centered approach to show us that he is the way. The Lord Jesus said, I am the way. Moses said, show me thy way. Christ said, I am the way. I am the way. The way where? The way to God. The way to the Father, through the Son, through his shed blood. God is able to bring his people, Christ is able to bring his people to the Father. Present them faultless, in his own merit, accepted in the beloved. Show me now thy way, that I may know thee.

This was what Moses wanted. He wanted to know God. This is why he wanted to be guided, that the things that he was guided in may teach him and show him more of Christ, more of his glory, so that all these Old Testament types and shadows were not just so many rituals that didn't mean anything. but they were rich in Christ. They showed something of the need of an intercessor, the need of one to plead on our behalf, the need of sin to be atoned for, the need of a sweet savour unto God, which was the finished work of Christ and the giving up of his perfect life.

Show me now thy way. He wanted it personally. He wanted a personal religion, not somebody else. Show me. And the Lord's people, you see, they want to know, speak to me. Show me. Show me that I am born of God and that my treasure is above. Show me these things and the things I walk through in my pathway. If they don't teach me about God, then they're not really that good for me. the things that we walk through in our lives, we want them to bring us closer to God. We want to learn about God's ways in the way that we go. Show me now thy way that I may know thee.

And then the next petition he asks for is that I may find grace in thy sight.' The favour of God. He wants to know the favour of God. He wants to know that God is with him and to feel his favour. But interestingly you see in verse 12 it says, I know thee by name and thou hast also found grace in my sight.

Moses prays for more of it. Grace is not something that we say, well, we've had enough of the favour of God now. No, we want more of his favour, more of his presence, more of his blessing. Moses prays that I may, show me now thy way, that I may know thee and that I may find grace, the unmerited favour of God in thy sight. That's what he prays for. And as we come in our lives, that we may be guided by God in our pathways to see God's hand in our circumstances. Whoso shall observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. The psalmist, in the ups and downs that he was brought through, They taught him about God. They taught him about the faithfulness of God. They taught him about the greatness of God. They taught him about the love of God.

And Moses says show me now thy way. Because this is the Puritans would say if you you get by looking at the ways of God you you get to know the character of God. What he is like to know him. that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. As Paul said, Paul wanted to know the power. He wanted to know, not about God, but know him.

This is the prayer of Moses, the man of God. That I may find grace in thy sight and consider that this nation is thy people. He's now concerned. Moses is an intercessor as well, you see, himself. He's concerned for these people. God has said that I'm going to consume them. He had also said to Moses, I'll make of thee a great nation. I'll consume them. But Moses pleads on their behalf. And God promises that he will not destroy them. And yet, you see, Moses wants to bring these people into favor.

And if we've known something in the favor of God ourselves, we will be concerned for others to bring them into the favour of God. If all the world my Saviour knew, sure all the world would love him too, because we want others to know that favour for themselves, because the favour of the God of Lord is everything to God's people. Show me now thy way, that I may find grace in thy sight. and consider that this nation is thy people. You see earlier in the chapter if you look at the beginning it says and the Lord said unto Moses depart and go up hence thou and the people which thou has brought up out of the land of Egypt. Almost Moses they're your people. But Moses wants to recognize them as God's people. He wants God to consider them as his people.

And of course, as we think of it in a gospel sense, no one is able to pluck them out of my hands, says Jesus, and nobody is able to pluck them out of my father's hands. Consider that they are thy people, the flock of thy pasture, those people that thou hast redeemed and thou hast blessed in that way.

Well, in our uncertainties in our lives, in the places that we come to, we don't know whether we should turn to the right or the left. Which way should we go? The prayer of Moses, show me now thy way. Show me that way. Don't let me go my own way. Don't let me just drift through life aimlessly, just not really learning anything about the attributes and the glory of God.

We're here below for a purpose. We're here below to be prepared for eternity. We're here below to come to know God. So that in eternity we will enjoy him forever. But you won't enjoy God forever here in eternity if you don't know him here below. You see here below we are to come to know God. And how are we going to do that? We're sinners. It is through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden.

Ah Aaron, he fell. In the New Testament, Peter, the one that was going to be that pillar, going to preach that great sermon on the day of Pentecost and be so, write the lovely epistles of Peter. He fell. He fell, didn't he? Denied his master with oaths and curses on the very night the next day that his saviour would stand in his place at the cross of Calvary, denying him with oaths and curses that he never knew him.

If I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way. You see to us it doesn't seem there is a way. To Moses how could there be the high priest, how could he intercede for them when he was such a sinner himself? It seemed that the whole system was was broken. The Ten Commandments was broken. The high priest was broken. The people didn't said that they would serve the Lord, but they didn't. Everything was broken. You see, all the things in the Old Testament were but shadows of good things to come.

The Lord Jesus was going to be that one who would fulfill it all. He was going to be the great high priest that never needed somebody to intercede for him because he was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. He was going to bear his people upon his heart and he was not going to lead them to worship a golden calf. He was going to lead them back to God and led them away from God to start with.

But the Lord Jesus in all the Old Testament with its beauty and yet the seeming cracks at the seams there are. It was pointing that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. Aaron could never really be the ultimate high priest. They were all broken, but they were all quietly pointing. There's coming another one, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would not be like Aaron in his sin, who would be truly that great high priest, the one that would atone for his people.

And the Lord Jesus Christ would also be that perfect picture of Israel, the Israel of God, who would obey the commandments of the Lord in his perfect life. He was what Israel should have been. And he lived that perfect life so that he could present that life to his father, a sweet saviour unto God. And by that, his people are accepted in the Beloved, taking their sins and standing in their place. Well, Moses, this man of God, praise this prayer. Show me now thy way. And we need the Lord to teach us each, take us each by the hand, day by day. And this is not just a once off event that we just see the way and then we go and do something else.

The Apostle Paul, who wrote the Romans, Paul's hoping to give an introduction to that at the Bible study, but it's a deep, vast book. Paul the Apostle said that I may know him. that I may know him. Paul says in Philippians 3, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. This is Philippians 3. And then verse 10, that I may know him.

This is a desire. This is an aspiration. He later tells us, in fact, in the same chapter, not as though I had already attained or was already perfect, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and pressing forward to those things that are before. You see, this is his aspiration. This is a desire. And Moses, thousands of years before, really expresses the same desire.

Show me now thy way, God's way. And the Apostle Paul wanted to know more of that way, wanted to see Christ in all the scriptures. show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this people, this nation is thy people.

Well, what did God say to Moses? Did God answer him? Well, we look in verse 14 and it says, and he said, this is God's reply, my presence shall go with thee, And I will give thee rest. Oh, he had, as it were, said, I will not go up in the midst of thee because you're a stiff necked people. But then you see with Moses intercession, Moses pleading. And sometimes you see the Lord appears that he won't be with his people.

He tests them. You think of those two on the road to Emmaus when they had enjoyed God's presence or the Lord Jesus his presence expounding the scriptures on the way when they got to Emmaus. He made as if he would have gone further. Why did he do that? He wanted to see what their reaction was. He wanted to see how much how precious Jesus was to them. How precious was this person who had explained the scripture to them.

And they constrained him and said, abide with us. It is toward evening, the day is far spent. You must come back to our house. You mustn't go on. But he made as if he would have gone further. But they constrained him. And here you see God, here, he made as if he would not go with the children of Israel.

And Moses, as it were, he was testing Moses. Moses, do you want the promised land? Do you just want the promised land, but you're not, but just with an angel? Or is it the presence of God that is everything to you, Moses? Moses passed his test beautifully and intercedes for Israel and says and then God says my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest and then Moses tests it again and tries to clarify and he said unto him if thy presence go not with me carry us not up hence. In other words I don't want to go to the promised land I don't want to go if thou art not going with me. I'll stay here. I'll stay on Mount Horeb. And then there's a beautiful description in verse 16 of the definition of the Lord's people. 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?

This was the great dividing line between God's people and all the nations of the world. Not that they just had the mark of circumcision. No, Moses goes beyond that. He says the mark is that God is with us. That's what separates us. May that separate us here at Red Hill. In our hearts, from as it were, all the nations of this world, all the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them, that God is with us. That's the most important thing. God is with us.

And we're praying, show me now thy way. We want God's way because we want God with us. Oh, Moses didn't want to grieve the spirit. We read in the New Testament of grief, not the Holy Spirit. Oh, as we go our own way and think our own thoughts and go in a way that seems right to us, we grieve the Spirit. Moses didn't want that.

He wanted God to be with his people. 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 had threatened not to go with them. And Moses said, if you don't go with us, we're not the people of God. We're not separated. We're just like everybody else. We're lost and ruined.

But with the presence of God, Then Moses was content, and then God graciously answers in verse 17, and the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. So God confirmed that he would go with Israel, he would be with Moses. Moses had pleaded with God, show me now thy way. And God had graciously answered that he would show the way. He would give his presence.

So there's a gracious encouragement here for us, isn't there? We read elsewhere, I have not said to the seed of Israel, seek ye me in vain. God has encouraged us to come. come and plead and come and seek the Lord's face. And so there's an encouragement here, is there not? In Moses' prayer, the prayer that we had this morning, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

But here, show me now thy way. The way that I should go, the way that will bring glory to thy great name, the way that will bring me to a knowledge of the Savior. Those valleys and those paths that will enable me to know thee more. Show me now thy way. In all the Old Testament sacrifices as we read the word of God, show me now thy way. And may they reveal Christ to me. and so that I can see Christ in all the scriptures.

This is what Christ, the Lord Jesus, did to those two on the road to Emmaus. He did what Moses prayed for here. Show me now thy way that I may know thee. He began in Moses and all the prophets. He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

The Old Testament speaks of Christ. the New Testament is the fulfillment of that as he comes in all his glory, in all his humility, in all his grace. Show me now thy way that I may know thee. Moses prayed this and there's an encouragement for us then, meeting here in each of our pathways or if we're visiting friends wherever they're meeting, may this be our prayer. show me, personal, now, not just oh in 20 years time, oh when I'm an old person, when I've had my fling in the world, show me then. Moses didn't say that. Show me now, thy way. I want to know it now. I want to be living it out day by day now. I want the presence of the Lord. Show me now. thy way." Christ said, I am the way, the truth, the life. Moses was asking, show me now thy way that I may know thee. Beautiful, isn't it? Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

He was asking for Christ. He was asking for a revelation of the glory of God. You see, Hebrews opens with those beautiful words. Speaking of Christ, Hebrews chapter 1. God who at sundry times in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, Moses was a prophet, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. who be in the brightness of his glory, in the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Show me now thy way. This is the way. This is the way back to God. This is the way, a better than Aaron, a better than those 10 commandments that are completely broken. This is the way. The Lord Jesus Christ, there was a shadow of good things to come in the Old Testament, but show me now thy way. Moses could see that there was something wrong, there was something missing. But it was quietly pointing forward to a better. Hebrews picks it up beautifully, that there was something better, something better than Aaron and his priesthood, something more glorious, something that was beautiful.

But Moses lived in the day he was living. And he wanted in the day that he was living to see God's glory. He wasn't living in the New Testament days. He was living in the Old Testament days. But he wanted to see God. and see the glory of God in the day that he lived. And maybe we just want to see it in our day.

We don't know when the end of this world will come. We don't know when everything will happen. But we do know that while we're here below, our greatest and most important thing here below is to know the finished work of Christ applied to us to know him personally, to live out of him, to live for him, and to live to him.

Show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that's the purpose, that I may find grace in thy sight, that I may know the favor of God, unmerited favor, recognize my unworthiness of it, and consider this nation as thy people. Seek to be an intercessor for others, that they might come to know the Saviour too. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.