is my fear. And that's the question
that I would like to ask to this religious generation in which
we live. I'd like to raise that question in the churches of this
land in this day, when I see and hear of all the tomfoolery
that passes for worship in our day. That's the question I ask
you tonight. Where is the fear of God? I know this. No sinner has ever
had Christ revealed to him in his saving grace and glory and
walked away the same as he was before. It never happened. When Christ reveals himself,
something happens. And the result is always the
same. Always the same. The flesh withers
before God. When the Lord Jesus is pleased
to reveal Himself in His saving grace and glory, the flesh withers. That's true when He reveals Himself
initially in the conversion of our souls. And that's true every
time he's pleased to reveal himself to us through the days of our
pilgrimage here. When the Lord God came to Adam,
seeking Adam in the garden, Adam hid himself and was afraid because
he was naked. He was sinful. He was found naked
before God. When God revealed himself to
Abraham in Genesis 15, we read, ìLo and horror of great darkness
fell upon him.î Turn to Leviticus chapter 9 for a minute. Let me
show you something here. Abram offers sacrifice, a burnt offering
to God. We begin reading in verse 22. Leviticus 9, 22. I want you to
see that whenever God is pleased to reveal Himself, to reveal
Himself in such a way as to make Himself known, the flesh withers
before Him. Leviticus 9, 22. Aaron lifted
up his hand toward the people and blessed them and came down
from offering of the sin offering and the burnt offering and the
peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into
the tabernacle of the congregation and came out and blessed the
people. And the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. The glory of the Lord appeared
manifesting God's approval of the sacrifice which pointed to
the sacrifice of Christ by which all the blessings of grace come
to chosen sinners through the blood of His darling Son. Verse
24, And there came out a fire from before the Lord and consumed
upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat. God's fire came
out from the tabernacle and consumed the sacrifice, accepting the
sacrifice just as he has accepted Christ on our behalf. Now watch
this. Which when all the people saw, they shouted and fell on
their faces. Whenever Christ reveals himself
to chosen sinners, the flesh withers. Manoah and his wife
saw the angel of the Lord doing wondrously, and they fell on
their faces to the ground. When David and the elders of
Israel saw the captain of the Lord so stand before them, they
fell on their faces before him. That is what happened to Isaiah
when Isaiah saw him. He saw the Lord high and lifted
up, and he withered before Him, crying, Woe is me, for I am undone,
I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips." Ezekiel experienced the same thing. You can read
it in Ezekiel 1. He said, I fell on my face. Daniel made this
statement. When the Lord revealed himself
to him, he said, There remained no strength in me, for my comeliness
was turned into corruption. And I retained no strength, and
behold, a hand touched me which set me upon my knees and upon
the palms of my hands. But the disciples saw our Lord
Jesus transfigured before them. On the mouth of transfiguration
they fell on their faces before Him. John, when he was in the
isle of Patmos, as he saw the Lord Jesus revealed to him, he
said, When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one dead. Now let me tell you something.
I'm telling you that this is a blessed withering. Oh God,
come and turn our comeliness into corruption in our eyes.
Cause us this hour to behold the glory of God in the face
of Christ and to bow before you with reverence. How blessed to
fall at his feet as one who had been slain in his glorious presence. We're never so much alive as
when we're dead at his feet. We're never so truly living as
when our flesh withers in death before our great, glorious God
and Savior. Every believer wants, every believer
wants, perhaps I can safely say more than anything else, every
believer wants the death of all that is sinful and rebellious
and contrary to God in him. Christ who slays the flesh will
always raise up and revive the one who is withered and slain
before him. He said to John, or John says,
he laid his hand upon me and he raised him up. He said, fear
not. The Lord Jesus revealed in the
heart not only causes the flesh to wither, but he always gives
a gracious revelation of himself to that one who is withered before
him. Now, that's exactly what we had
before us in Exodus chapter 3. The God of glory, the angel of
the Lord, appeared to Moses. The pre-incarnate Christ came
to him in the burning bush, and when he did, Moses hid his face,
for he was afraid to look upon God. And then the Lord spoke
a word of redemption, grace, and salvation to his servant. In verses 7 through 10, he told
Moses, I've come to deliver my people. Now look at Exodus 3.6
with me for just a little while. May God the Holy Spirit open
the text to us. Moreover, the Lord God said to
Moses, I am the God of thy Father." Now, just in case I neglect to
point it out in a little bit, every time the word God is used,
these four times here in Exodus 3, 6, it is the word Elohim. It is the word God in plural,
and yet it is the God, rightly translated, singular. The God,
the God, the only God there is, is the triune God, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, revealed in the crucified Christ. He said,
I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face. for he was afraid to look upon
God. The Lord Jesus here reveals himself
to Moses as the covenant-keeping God, the God of all grace. When He picked out Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, and made them to be the fathers of His chosen people,
it wasn't because of any excellence that He saw in them, or that
He saw might be in them, but altogether because of His free
grace. He came to Abraham because He
would come to Abraham. He loved Jacob because He would
love Jacob. That's the character of the God. His choice of those men and the
covenant he made with them was a matter of pure sovereignty
and boundless grace. Now, he says, I've come to redeem
Israel from the hand of bondage, to bring them out of the land
of Egypt, not because of any good in them, not because of
any good that he expected from them. He didn't expect any. But
rather, redemption comes to Israel purely as a matter of God's free,
gracious bounty toward a people whom He chose. And that because
they portray and beautifully portray, beautifully in the sense that
I mean clearly, they portray the people whom God has chosen,
whom God has gathered here. He's redeemed by His grace. He
made you His people not because of any excellence He saw in you,
not because of any good He expected from you, but just because He
would be your God and make you His people. Oh, blessed be His
name. Were He to look for something
good in any before He should choose to be gracious, none would
ever experience His grace. The God of Abraham is our God,
the one who sovereignly chose us in Christ before the world
began. The God of Isaac is our God,
the one who by His miraculous power makes us new creatures
in Christ. The God of Jacob is our God,
the one who patiently bears with us in the immutability of His
grace and goodness and never forsakes His own. The Lord, who
is our God, is that God who declares He will perfect that which is
His work in us. Now tonight, I want us to focus
our attention on this last sentence of verse 6. And Moses hid his
face, for he was afraid to look upon God. When Moses saw the
Lord revealing himself in the burning bush and heard him speak,
identifying himself as the God of resurrection, life, the God
of a people whom he has chosen for himself, a people to whom
he has given life and who live in him. When Moses heard the
voice of the Lord in the bush, he wrapped his face in his mantle
and bowed before him because he was afraid to look upon God. What does that mean? What's the
meaning of that word, afraid? What does the Holy Spirit intend
for us to understand by, what does he teach us here? In what
sense was Moses afraid to look upon God? Now, the word afraid,
as we commonly use it, expresses the idea of a distressing emotion. The distressing emotion that
comes from a sense of impending danger, whether the danger is
real or imaginary, where there is a sense of impending danger,
one is made to fear. The word means to shudder with
terror. It means to quake and tremble
with horror. Now, without question, there
is a natural fear, a natural fear of God, which causes the
natural man, the lost, unregenerate sinner, when he thinks of God,
to quake and tremble, to be horrified before him, to be terrified by
him. Now, he may suppress it, he may
pretend that it doesn't exist, but there is no such thing as
a man who is not afraid of God as a consequence of sin and guilt. Guilt terrifies men, and guilt
will terrify the ungodly forever. But that's not the word that's
used here. The word that's used here is a word that means to
revere. It is the word that is used when
the Lord says, where is my fear? It would be better translated,
Moses was fearful, or Moses was reverent, because he was afraid
or reverent to look upon God. This is the fear that God, the
Holy Spirit, gives to those who are born of His grace. It's the
fear of faith. That's the word that's translated
afraid, and that's the word that is used throughout the scriptures,
throughout the Old Testament, I should say, with regard to
the fear of God. Let me show you a few passages.
Turn to Proverbs chapter 2. Listen now while you turn it.
Behold the fear of the Lord. That's wisdom. So the Holy Spirit,
when He here tells us Moses was afraid to look upon God, He's
saying the Lord Jesus, having revealed Himself in His saving
grace and glory, calls Moses now to enter into the wisdom
of life and faith. Moses was afraid. The fear of
the Lord is clean, and it endures forever, the psalmist says. The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Of good understanding
have all they that do his commandments. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge. Here in Proverbs chapter 2 verse
1. My son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments
with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply
thy heart to understanding, Yea, if thou cryest after knowledge,
and liftest up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest
her... Now remember, I'm not talking
about carnal wisdom. I'm not talking about natural
wisdom. I'm not talking about learning.
I'm not talking about just knowing facts. I'm talking about that
wisdom which is Jesus Christ, our God and Savior. If thou seekest
her as silver, and searches for her as for hid treasures." Oh,
if you seek Christ as a man seeks silver, search for Christ as
a man searches for hidden treasure. This is what it says. Then shalt
thou understand the fear of the Lord. Then you will know by experience
what Moses here experienced. Thou shalt understand the fear
of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom,
out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth
up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler to them that
walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment,
and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand
Righteousness and judgment. Righteousness and justice and
equity. Righteousness, justice and truth. Yea, every good path. You seek Christ like a man seeks
silver, like a man seeks hidden treasure. God will give you the
knowledge of Christ, and you will be made to understand by
the revelation of His Word, righteousness, truth, and justice in Jesus Christ
our Lord. The fear of the Lord, again,
we're told, is the beginning of wisdom. Look in Proverbs 16,
verse 6. Here's a further explanation
of what I'm saying. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. And by the fear, that's the same
word that's translated afraid back here in Exodus 3, verse
6. And by the fear of the Lord,
by the reverence of the Lord, men depart. They are called to
depart from evil. Be thou in the fear of the Lord,
the wise man says, all the day long. Now, this is a fear not
to be feared, but craved. I'm talking to you now about
a fear that greatly eliminates and ultimately will altogether
eliminate all other fears and eliminate them forever. Blessed
is that sinner who learns that fear with which Moses was consumed
at the bush when he hid his face because he was afraid to look
on God. I hope I can express with truth what David said when
he wrote, Come ye, my children, hearken unto me. I will teach
you the fear of the Lord. I will teach you the fear of
the Lord. When the sinner is awakened from
the death of sin, when it brought forth to light and life the light
and life of grace in Christ. Perfect love, we are told, casteth
out all fear. Therefore, we read in the book
of God, ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to
fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we
cry, Abba, Father. It is a blessed thing to be freed
from that dread and terror, that horrifying fear which all men
live with all their days by nature, and to be brought into blessed
fear of reverence before God. Now listen to this sweet promise.
Now turn and look at it. Jeremiah 32, verse 40. Jeremiah
32. This is the promise that God
makes in the covenant. This is what God promised to
do for all His chosen. Jeremiah 32 for you. He says,
I will make an everlasting covenant with them. I will not turn away
from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts
that they shall not depart from me. Now let me show you. why we fear and worship the Lord
Jesus Christ, our God and Savior. As we've seen repeatedly, the
Lord God who speaks to Moses here in the bush, the angel of
the Lord, is himself Jesus Christ, the pre-incarnate Christ, our
Redeemer and Savior. In fact, in this sixth verse,
as I mentioned earlier, he calls himself God, using the plural
name for God, the triune God. Three times he says in one verse,
I am the God, the Elohim, the Triune God. And Moses hid his
face before the God, the Triune God. That God, the Triune God,
is seen, known, and revealed only in Jesus Christ. Now please understand what I'm
saying. He is seen known and revealed only in Jesus Christ. He is that one who is the embodiment
of God. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. That means that if Adam saw God
in the garden, the God he saw is Jesus Christ. That means if
Abraham saw the Lord, the God he saw is Jesus Christ. That means if Moses saw the Lord
and heard his voice, right here in Exodus 3, 6, the God he saw,
the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, whom he saw,
is the pre-incarnate God, our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. We bow before Christ in reverent
fear. because he is the God of glory. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 6.
Let me show you this. Now, as you read this passage,
it's one of those passages that makes it obvious that God, the
Holy Spirit, has deliberately written this book in such a way
as to confuse folks who refuse to bow to divine revelation.
As you read the verses, I'm fixing to read them to you. It looks
like that Paul is talking about God purely as spirit. And yet, if you read the context,
it's very clear that he's talking about Jesus Christ, God the eternal
Son, who in time assumed our nature and came into this world
in human flesh, and now is seated upon the right hand of the majesty
on high, never ceasing to be God. Look at verse 13, 1 Timothy
6. He says to Timothy, I give thee charge in the sight of God,
who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before
Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. He says, Timothy,
I charge you in the sight of God, even Christ Jesus. Verse 14, that thou keep the
commandment, keep his word without spot. unrebukable unto the appearing
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in His times He shall show, who
is the blessed and only potentate." That's a big word. We don't use
that much. It means the blessed and only sovereign. The King
of kings and Lord of lords. who only hath immortality dwelling
in light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor
can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. Christ is the only Potentate. He is the only Sovereign. Jesus Christ is that man who
is God, who rules the universe. who has in his hands the reigns
of absolute monarchy over all things. He is that one whose
name is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It is the name that's
on his vesture and upon his thigh. He is the only one who hath immortality. That doesn't mean just that he
lives forever, though certainly that's the case. We are given
immortality, but he hath immortality. When the Scripture says here
that he alone hath immortality, the Scriptures are telling us
that he is the fountain of life who gives life, sustains life,
controls life, the only one who has life in himself. And the
Lord Jesus Christ is that immortal God who dwells in unapproachable
light, light which no man can approach unto. The glory of Christ is unapproachable,
as unapproachable as the light of the sun. His brightness is
the brightness of the Father's glory. He's called the Son of
Righteousness. What does this mean? His light
is such that no man can approach it, no man can draw near to it. He is God so glorious that none
can even look upon Him unless He is given a covering to veil
his face like Moses was in the mount. Unless he is hidden like
Moses was in the cleft of the rock, or unless he who hath immortality
dwelling in light which no man can approach unto, veils himself
in humanity. And that's what Jesus Christ,
our God, has done. The triune God reveals all the
fullness of His glory in the man Christ Jesus. He veiled Himself
in human flesh, and yet we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. This
is our God, Jesus Christ, whom no man has seen nor can see. Moses couldn't see God. He couldn't
speak to God. God could not and would not speak
to Moses. And yet the Scripture tells us
here that Moses turned aside to see this great sight. And
God spoke to him out of the bush. And when Moses saw him, he covered
his face and he bowed before him because he was fearful, reverent
to look upon God. Wouldn't do it. Turn to 1 John
chapter 1. I don't know about you. Well,
I think I do. I speak for you and me both,
if you'll allow me. I've seen God. I've seen God face to face. I've touched Him and been touched
by Him. I have handled him and been handled by him. I have beheld
his glory. Let's see, let's see. 1 John 1, that which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled,
of the word of life. For the life was manifested and
we've seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life. That One, that God who has immortality dwelling in life,
which was with the Father and was manifested, revealed unto
us. That which we have seen and heard,
declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with
us. And truly, our fellowship, our union and communion is with
the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. This is what the
experience of grace is in salvation. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, shines in the hearts of sinners to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. To him who alone is God our Savior,
the honor and power forever. Amen. How come? Because God our
Savior is the eternal God, which is and which was and which is
to come. The faithful witness and the
first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the
earth. And he loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood
and hath made us kings and priest unto God and our Father. We worship Him. We revere Jesus
Christ. We fear Him. We reverence Him. We bow before Him with that adoring
fear that one has who is altogether overcome with the love and the
greatness of another. That adoring fear that longs
to honor the object of its love and faith because of who we are. Now let me tell you who we are. Remind you who we are. We are
a sinful people. Corrupt. vile from head to foot. There's nothing in us but wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores. Corruption within and corruption
without. Corrupt in our hearts, corrupt
in our thoughts, corrupt in our words, corrupt in our deeds.
But our corruption will never cause us to fear God. Our corruption will never cause
us to reverence God. The more openly corrupt men are,
the more it is manifest that there is no fear of God before
their eyes. Oh no. But when our corruption is taken away by God our Savior,
then we bow before Him with reverent fear. That's exactly what happened
here with Moses. The Lord God appeared to him,
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of life and grace. And when Moses saw the Lord,
he bowed before him, wrapped his face in his mantle, and was
reverent before him, feared him, so that he dared not and would
not and desired not to pry into God. And that's what the word
look means. To pry. Men by nature do not
look upon God. And they do not look upon Christ,
but they ever try to pry into God. Pry into His character. Pry into His secrets. Pry into
things not revealed anywhere about Him. Ever craving to learn
some new thing. But those who are made to know
His saving grace, to whom Christ has revealed Himself, no longer
pry into God, they bow before Him and worship Him. Turn to
Isaiah 6 for a moment. Isaiah chapter 6. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne. high and lifted
up, and his train filled the temple. Now you don't have to
guess who this is talking about. If you want to read it at home,
our Lord Jesus in John chapter 12 says Isaiah is talking about
me. I'm the one he saw. But the Lord wasn't yet sitting
on his throne. I beg your pardon. But he hadn't
yet been crucified and exalted and given the reigns of sovereign
dominion. I beg your pardon. Indeed, he
had. Those things were publicly manifested
in time, but he was given dominion from eternity as our covenant
surety. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord sitting
upon his throne, high and lifted up, exalted, and his train filled
the temple, his glory filled his house. Above it stood the
seraphim. Each one had six wings, with
twain, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his
feet, and with two he did fly. The seraphim, like Moses, wrapped
their face in humiliation, and wrapped their feet in humility
before him, and quickly flied to do his will. Verse 3, And
one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, Let me interject exactly what
is said here. Elohim, Elohim, Elohim. The God, the God, the God is
holy. The triune God is holy. Holy is the Lord of hosts. The
whole earth is full of His glory. His glory is manifest in all
His works. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having the alive coal
in his hands, which he had taken with tongs from off the altar.
And he said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, thine iniquity is taken
away, and thy sin is purged." When the Lord God reveals Himself
in His saving glory, He reveals Himself in the efficacy of His
grace sprinkling the heart with the precious blood of Christ,
and with the live coal from off the altar, that is, with the
burning, ever-burning, ever-effectual sacrifice of Christ, comes and
lays it upon the lips of the sinner who confesses his sin
and says, Your sin is gone! And you bow and worship Him. Something else that's clear here.
Back in Exodus 3, verse 8, every sinner to whom Christ reveals
Himself receives a message from Him, a message to declare to
others like Himself, sinners in need of mercy. And it's a
sweet, glorious message of redemption and grace. The Lord God says
to Moses, and come down to deliver. We declare deliverance, redemption
accomplished by the blood of God's sacrifice, just as it was
typified in that Paschal letter. We declare to sinners redemption
accomplished by the power of God's outstretched arm, just
as it was typified in Israel crossing the Red Sea. Redemption
by free grace alone. The message is always the same.
It's from Christ. It's about Christ. It is Christ.
It's a message of a perfect redeemer, a perfect righteousness, a perfect
sacrifice, perfect grace, and perfect love. Let me show you
one more passage. Turn to 1 John chapter 4. When Christ is revealed in the
heart of a sinner, That sinner who once cringed in fear before
God in terror, afraid of God's horrid wrath, is freed from fear
and overcomes that fear that terrifies with a fear of reverence,
faith, and love that bows gladly before the throne of God. I know
what it is. My God, I know what it is. to
be afraid of God. Do you? To quake with terror
before His holiness. To tremble with dread at the
thought of facing Him. Blessed be His name. I know what
it is. Not to be afraid anymore, but
to fear Him. with reverence, to fear him in
faith. 1 John 4, verse 17. Herein is
our love made perfect. What on earth is that talking
about? Well, John is telling us that
if we love each other as God loves us, then our love is made
perfect. No, he's not. We ought to love one another
as God loved us. Indeed, we should. But that's not possible. Would
to God I could love you like he loves me. One day I shall. But that's not
possible here. That's not possible. What's he
talking about? He's talking about the perfection
of that love wherewith we are loved. Herein is our love made
perfect. The love of God for us made perfect. That we may have boldness in
the day of judgment. That clinches what I just said,
doesn't it? Well, I'm going to have boldness
when I stand before God because I love Him. Not hardly. Not hardly. But because of His
love for me. Because as He is, so are we in
this world. Moses wrapped his face, bowed before God, and worshiped
Him because he saw Christ in His glorious grace and saw himself
in Christ. In Christ. One with Christ. Accepted in
Christ. That's what faith always sees. Because that's what God the Holy
Spirit reveals in the Gospel. There is no fear in love. Which of you, I'll let you be
the interpreters, which of you has ever loved anything or anyone,
including God, so fully that your love takes
all fear from you. Anybody? No. Oh, but listen. The blessed assurance
of His love for me in the sacrifice of His darling Son, forbids all
fear, all dread, all terror, all trembling and quaking before
Him. We who have seen Him have been made to know His perfect
love, and perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love, not brought to completion in love. Now here is what we
know about love. We love Him, not like we should, not like
we wish, not like we shall, but we love Him, David. Because He first loved us. His love preceded ours by eternity. And His love causes ours by continually
flowing into our souls by His grace. And we love Him. Now, hear me, children of God. Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid. Our Savior says,
be not afraid, but only believe. This I know. If God, my Savior,
is my salvation, there are some things I never have reason to
fear. I never have reason to be afraid
of God. Never. that has come boldly to the throne
of grace. We have a new and living way,
the blood of His cross, by which we have free access to God and
we stand in this free access of grace continually accepted.
I should never fear, never fear God providing for my needs. Isn't that foolish? Did you know
that God Almighty fed the children of Israel with over 100,000 bushels
of manna every day for 40 years. And they never stuck a plant
in the ground. For 40, 100,000 bushels of manna
every day for 40 years. I got a hunch there's no problem
with him feeding me. I should never fear Him taking
care of me, protecting me. I had someone ask me this week,
he said, did you ever meet a man who has enough, who has all he
wants? And I said to him, you're looking
at one. He said, you mean you don't want anything? I said,
I don't want anything. I've got everything I want. I
have Christ.