My text this morning is found
in Exodus chapter 33 and verse 19. 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. I want this morning, as the Lord
enables us, to think about the subject of seeing God's glory. Seeing God's glory. This was
a very audacious request, it would appear, that Moses made
when he asked the Lord that he would show me thy glory. Indeed, we might wonder that
the man had such nerve to say this thing. It was clear that
the Lord God was angry at this time. Indeed, he had told Moses
just a little time before to stand aside and that he would
allow his wrath to wax grievous upon the children of Israel. It seemed indeed that Moses here
was an amazing type of the Lord Jesus Christ that we see in the
New Testament, standing in the gap before God's wrath for the
people of his choice. For here Moses did exactly that. God had said to him, I will make
thee and thy children a great nation. But Moses placated the
Lord there with his approach and with his worship. And he
says to the Lord, let me see thy glory. Show me that you are
still with me. Perhaps he was a bit presumptuous
in this request. Perhaps it was a little bit rash
for him to make such a request known. Certainly he was bold
in what he said. But I wondered as I was thinking
about this passage whether or not we might also detect in Moses'
approach here some degree of desperation Is God with us? Is God with us? I'm delighted
to see the number that are here this morning. It's a real pleasure
to see so many of the Lord's people gather together for worship,
but I know Your situation and mine in many cases is that we
are, what we might say, furrowing alone or ploughing alone furrow. We are engaged in works that
are very small. We are involved in endeavoring
to uphold and maintain a testimony to the grace of God and the glory
of God in circumstances that are really quite opposite from
what we might ourselves desire. There certainly was good reason
for Moses to doubt that the pleasure of the Lord was any longer upon
the people. There was good reason for him
to realize that the Lord had been so angered and offended
by the actions of the people. Indeed, it appeared that the
pillar that had led the people for so long had been removed.
The Lord said that he would take an angel and he would cause that
angel to lead the people into the promised land. It would no
longer be the divine presence of God that would be with them,
rather the implication as a created angel would take the part that
God had previously fulfilled himself and lead the people into
Canaan, the promised land. And in Exodus chapter 32 and
verse 7 we see that the Lord calls these people Moses' people. He doesn't call them His own
people anymore, He calls them Moses' people. And I think that
Moses was desperate. I think that Moses realized that
here they had come to this moment when the stiff-necked people
that had so debauched themselves in the previous few chapters
by their naked carousing, and their dancing around this molten
idol, their rejection of God and of Moses and of all that
God had taught them and shown them, and their desire rather
to identify in an idolatrous activity. had so turned God's
back against them, that He may well have abandoned them for
all time, He expressed as much to Moses, Stand back, stand out
of my way, and I will destroy this people. If we are God's
people, His chosen people, How is it that it is to be known,
except the Lord give us a sign, except the Lord demonstrate? And that's what Moses said in
verse 16 of chapter 3. For wherein shall it be known
here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight, except
thou goest with us? And He was looking for a sign.
He was looking for some indication from the Lord that He was still
with them. I find a striking parallel to
this passage in John chapter 14. I'm sure you can see it.
It's not difficult to see. But the Lord is getting ready
to leave His disciples. He's getting ready to return
back to heaven. He is going to lay down his life
and he is returning to heaven. And in John chapter 14, he says
to his disciples, let not your heart be troubled. In the eighth
verse, Philip says, Lord, show us the father. How similar is
that? Let me see thy glory. Lord, show
us the Father and it sufficeth us. If you're saying my soul
needs to be comforted, if you're calling upon me to have ease
in the absence of God, show us the Father and that will suffice
us, that will satisfy us. Just a glimpse of the glory of
God will make us content. Do we not often feel like this
also? Do we not often feel that just
a glimpse of God's goodness, just some sign, would give us
so much comfort and so much encouragement? Just a sign to show that He has
not withdrawn, to show that He has not left us altogether. We look around in our society
and we see so many evidences of the wickedness and the malevolence
of man. We seem to find that generation
after generation, I read in these old books, I read these old men
and they're lamenting the state of Christianity in their land,
in their day. and they're writing two, three,
four hundred years ago. What on earth would they take
it to be like now if they were to come back and live where we
live? If the Lord has not utterly abandoned
this land, if the Lord has not completely removed himself from
this people, Lord, show us a sign. Show thyself, come down. How
often do we hear in the prayers of the Lord's people statements
like, rend the heavens. Bear thine arm. Come and reignite
our passion. Come and show thyself to spur
us on. Motivate us again. And that will
be comfort for our troubled hearts. The Lord says, let not thy heart
be troubled. Philip said, show us the Father
then. And that will suffice us. Do you want to see the Lord's
glory? Do you want to see the Lord's
glory, Moses? Show me thy glory. Do you want
to see the Father, Philip? Brethren, do we want to see the
Lord's glory? Dare we, like Moses, beseech
the Lord, show me thy glory. Observe the wonderful condescension
of our God. So be it. So be it. All right, he says to Moses,
I'll show you my glory. I will show you my goodness. I will show you my goodness. No, Lord, that wasn't what I
asked. I asked to see your glory. I'll
show you my goodness. And I want to take a few points
this morning and just show you what it was that the Lord showed
there to Moses. And I trust that we will see
that this is an encouragement, too, for us. That we will be
able to see, as Moses saw, something of the goodness of God, something
of that which he revealed to him that day. And thereby, we,
too, will be encouraged to know that the Lord is still with us.
and that His blessing is ours. When the Lord showed His goodness,
He spoke there of something that is essential to His nature. God is good. We've been doing
a few studies in our home church up in Egglesburn, and we've been
thinking about some of the attributes of God and God's goodness. It's
amazing how often in the scriptures we read about God's goodness. And I confess I had not thought
about that sufficiently clearly. We think about the sovereignty
of God. We think about the glory of God. We think about the mercy of God,
the grace of God, the goodness of God. God is good. He's essentially good. And everything
He says is good, because He is good. And everything He does
is good, because He is good. And everything He's going to
do is good because that is His nature. He is, in the very essence,
good. And I was reminded in thinking
about Moses, about the way in which Moses describes, right
at the very beginning of the Word of God, the goodness of
God in all that He created. In Genesis 1, verse 31, and God
saw everything that He had made. And behold, it was very good,
because God is good. He saw the heaven and the earth,
and it was good. He saw the stars, he saw the
plants and the animals, and they were good. He saw the angels
that were created, and he saw man, and it was all very good. Psalm 139, verse 14, the psalmist
writes, I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. Marvelous are thy works. And I am sure that when Moses,
given that task as he was of writing these foundational books
of our holy scriptures, saw there the goodness of God, He must
also have seen the good works of God. He must also have seen
God in his creative power. And he must have seen that which
flowed from the goodness of God that God so readily revealed
to him. And of course we cannot think
about the goodness of God except also thinking about his providential
care. of all creation and especially
of His people. And we discover thereto that
God provides for all things in this world. Psalm 145, verse
16 says, Thou openest Thine hand and satisfyest the desire of
every living thing. Everything, everything from the
birds that are feeding on the trees to the cattle of the field,
He's provided for them all. And for man upon the face of
this globe, everything is delivered into our hands. For the Lord
is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth
them that trust in him. The Lord not only showed Moses
his goodness in creation and his goodness in providence, but
he showed him also his goodness in his ways and in his will. He showed him his decrees. He
showed him the choice of them that he had made. He gave that
man Moses some cognizance, some indication that even amongst
this wicked people, there were those whom he would preserve. That work of redemption, that
work of deliverance, I am sure Moses saw that too. In Matthew chapter 20 and verse
15 we are told, Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with
mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am
good? God revealed to Moses the goodness
of the Lord. And that goodness even goes to
the decrees that the Lord has made. Some people talk about
the horrible decrees of God. They don't know what they are
talking about. God in all of his goodness has
decreed his ways and he has set his plans and his purpose in
order. In the grace of God, speaks of
the goodness of God, and the sovereignty of God is there revealed
also, that He would show His sovereign grace. I will have
mercy upon whom I will have mercy, and I will have grace upon whom
I will have grace. Exodus chapter 34 verse 6, we
read that the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, The Lord,
the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in
goodness and truth. This Moses saw. These things
were delivered to him that day. There as he was in the cliff
or the cleft of the rock, that place of protection that was
provided for him, that place that spoke of the way in which
the Lord would gather him to himself and cover him in that
righteousness that he required. And the Lord showed him his goodness,
set before him all his works, all his ways and his will, all
his choice. And there he received that sign
from the Lord in such a glorious picture as that. But there's
more, because the Lord not only showed the goodness of God to
Moses, He showed him his gospel too. And it's interesting to
note the frequency with which the word proclaim is provided
in this passage. The gospel is to be proclaimed. And that's what God has given
us as a pattern. He has set in place the proclamation
of His word, for He has shown us as our great leader and captain
that this is how He would have His glory declared. The Lord
spoke. He declared himself and he declared
his purpose. When the Lord passed by Moses
there, he proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. And what is this but that grand
old gospel theme of every age? Is that not what we are called
to proclaim today, and is that not what the church has declared
in every generation? Those old prophets that came
to the people of Israel in days gone by, and the modern day preachers
of free grace are declaring exactly that. The Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth. In Matthew chapter 24, the Lord
says, this gospel, this gospel that was first delivered to the
prophets, then delivered to the preachers of the gospel, this
gospel shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto
all nations. And Paul speaks of his calling
in Acts 20 and says that he is called to testify the gospel
of the grace of God. That's the good news. It's the
news of God's goodness. It's the news of God's grace.
It's what he proclaimed to Moses there upon the mountain. It's a declaration of what God
is doing. It's not an offer. It's not an
offer for men to take or leave. It's not a plea for men to decide
upon God and to choose God at their whim. It is a declaration
that he makes as to who he is and what he is doing. What he
has done and what he will do to gather his people, to save
his sheep and to build up his church. In Exodus chapter 33
and 19 we read this, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious
and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. It's the heart of
the gospel and it is the glorious subject of all sovereign grace
preaching. The grace and the mercy of God
personified in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the essence of
the gospel and it was revealed there to Moses on the mountaintop. Indeed, the Apostle Paul, speaking
of that very gospel and the goodness of God towards his people says,
do you despise the riches of his goodness? The forbearance
and long suffering of God, the very things that he spoke about
to Moses there on Sinai, not knowing that the goodness of
God leadeth thee to repentance. It is God's goodness to his people
that brings us under the sound of that gospel. and brings us
into that place where we experience His grace and goodness. In 2
Thessalonians 1, verse 11, we read this, Paul writing again,
Wherefore also we pray that our God would count you worthy of
this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness
and the work of faith with power. Today, we see so much around
about us that we might liken to Moses' circumstances there
at that time. Is the Lord going to be with
us in the days that lie ahead? Oh, this is the calling that
he gives us. This is the faith that he works
amongst us. His goodness in providing all
that he has provided. His gospel committed to his church. The preaching of his grace and
mercy. These are the signs that He gave
to His prophet Moses. This was the evidence of the
glory that Moses sought. And we too today, if we would
see the glory of God, if we would know something of His majesty
amongst us, we turn to the goodness of His hands, we turn to the
gospel that He has committed to us, and we see that great
sign of what He has provided. But perhaps the greatest of all,
was that this also was a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ himself
to this man Moses. It was the Lord who passed by. It was the Lord himself who came
and passed by. And he declared his goodness,
he showed him his goodness. He declared he will have mercy
and he will have grace, which is the theme of our gospel. But
it was Christ himself who came and spoke these words. Who was
it that Moses saw if it was not the Lord Jesus Christ? There
are many Old Testament pre-incarnation appearances of the Saviour. He met Abram in the plains of
Mamre. He wrestled there with Jacob
at Peniel. He spoke to Manoah and his wife. He walked in the fiery furnace
with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. But perhaps of all the pre-incarnation
revelations, visitations of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old
Testament, perhaps this was the greatest of all. He showed himself
to his servant Moses. He showed himself at that time
of need. He came, Christ came, and stood
before Moses. In Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3
we see there the writer says, who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person. Who was he speaking
about? Christ. Christ was the brightness of
the glory of God. Christ, the express image of
His person. Christ, the One who was revealed. John chapter 1 verse 16. We beheld
His glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father. Christ the Son, Christ the Eternal
Word, Christ the Promised Messiah, the Redeemer and Savior of His
people, in whom are displayed all the perfections of divine
glory. Philip, remember Philip, sought
to see the Father, that they all might be comforted. That
will suffice us, that will satisfy our hearts. You're going away,
show us the Father, that will satisfy us. Jesus saith to him,
Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known
me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father, for Christ himself is the personification of the
goodness and the glory of God. There are those who require a
sign. There are those today, like the
Jews of old, who require a sign. They look for signs and wonders,
and when they're not evident, they're not beyond manufacturing
them for themselves. But Christ is Himself the One
that satisfies His people. Christ is the comfort of our
hearts. Christ in His coming, Christ
in His passing by, as He passed by Moses, is the One who manifests
all the goodness and the glory of God. He is, as the angels
proclaimed, glory to God in the highest. and on earth peace and
goodwill to all men. It is Christ that is God's glory
in the highest, and it is Christ who is goodness towards men upon
earth. He is that goodness and truth
that Moses saw. Now, did the hand that covered
Moses' face bear a mark of a nail? I wouldn't want to say that necessarily,
but Moses saw Christ. The Lord said it as much to the
Jews of his day. In John 5, verse 46, he wrote
of me. He wrote of me. You say you're
Moses' children? He wrote of me. It is Christ
that is the object of our view and our vision. And Moses recognized
his Savior. Another prophet, Jeremiah, says,
My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, saith the Lord. Satisfied with Christ. Satisfied with the goodness of
God that He revealed there in all of His handiworks. Satisfied
in the Gospel that is preached to the people of God. Satisfied
with Christ Himself. Even in an untoward age, even
in an age of small things, even amid the troubles and the trials
and the sinfulness and the persecution of this world. Brethren, The
Lord's glory is not in big numbers. It's not in great buildings.
It's not in dramatic manifestations or demonstrations of power. It's in the goodness of God to
his people. It is in the gospel of free and
sovereign grace. It is in the person of whom that
gospel speaks, the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you satisfied this
morning with the goodness of God? Are you saved? Has that goodness of God passed
before you? Have you seen that goodness in
your own soul? Then with the psalmist we say,
give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. Have you seen His
sovereignty and salvation? Do you know the doctrines of
free and sovereign grace that hold your soul in place amid
the trials and the difficulties that are part and parcel of our
everyday life? Do you know that? Then praise
the Lord! Give thanks to Him for He is
good. Do you know what it is to be
preserved over the years? To feel that you can't hold on
any longer in the face of all this trouble, all this hardship,
all this weariness that is part of our pilgrim walk, and yet
you're sustained, and yet your soul is satisfied, inexplicably,
day by day? Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for He is good. Have you seen, by faith, Jesus? Has He shielded your eyes there
in the cliff of the rock, in order that the searing flame
of divine holiness will not burn your soul? Yet has He removed
it, insofar that you might see His hindmost parts as He passes
by? For years I used to think that
this was the back of God that Moses saw, his hindmost part,
some of his garments or the train of his glory, something like
that. What's the last thing that you would see as someone walked
past you? Their heel. And where did Moses
get that picture of the bruised heel? in the early chapters of
Genesis. How did he know that Satan would
bruise his heel? Except he saw the glory of God
in the bruised heel of his savior there upon Mount Sinai. People talk about their law.
People talk about their commandments. It was grace that was evidenced
on Sinai, as the Lord Himself passed by, and there that bruised
heel was revealed to Moses, the servant of the Lord. Blind Bartimaeus,
he didn't see much of the Lord Jesus Christ as he sat by the
way, but he heard enough to cry out in faith for mercy. The glory of God is revealed
every time the people of God come to worship Him, even when
it's only two or three gathering in His name. The glory of God
is revealed every time a preacher brings the true gospel of sovereign
grace to the ears and to the hearing of men and women. We
are so blessed this morning. We have preachers that have come
prepared to lead us to the Lord in the truth of Scripture. The glory of God is revealed
in that. And people will say, where were
you at the weekend when you go back to your office on Monday
morning? Oh, I saw the glory of the Lord. How's that? Because I heard the gospel preached,
and I saw Christ lifted up. May the Lord be pleased to do
that with us today, and may He show us Himself and His Savior. Amen.