Good morning. Let's turn to Exodus 33. Exodus 33. Let's begin reading in verse 8. Exodus 33, verse 8. And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses until he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose up and worshipped every man at his tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend, and he turned again into the camp. But his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. And Moses said unto the Lord, See thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore I pray thee, If I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, my presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, if thy presence go not with me, carry us not a pence, for wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou has spoken for thou has found grace in my sight. I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now back in Exodus chapter three, Moses was given a command by the Lord to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt and out from under the hand of Pharaoh and into the land of Canaan. And this passage takes place right in the middle of that journey. They have left Egypt, the Red Sea's been parted, but they still have a long way to go to get to the land of Canaan. And Moses in the book of Exodus pictures many beautiful types of Christ, many beautiful things. There's so much power in the book of Exodus when you read it and you read about this journey. But in these first three verses, what we're gonna consider is Moses as a picture of Christ, our representative, and Christ, our substitute. Let's turn back to Exodus 24 for just a second. Exodus 24, verse two. This representation, Christ our representative, this is not speaking of representation as we know it on this earth. We have forms of representation on this earth. You might have a lawyer represent you in court. You might have a politician that's assigned to represent a people. This is a far greater representation, a far more powerful, a far more literal representation. Exodus 24, verse two, and Moses alone shall come near the Lord. but they shall not come nigh, neither shall the people go up with them. And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments, and all the people answered with one voice and said, all the words which the Lord hath said will we do. Now this is the representation we want to consider. These people would know nothing of Christ if not for their representative Moses. He spoke with Moses alone, Moses only. Now the people heard the words of the Lord, but it was only through Moses, and that's what we're gonna consider. That's what Moses is gonna picture for us. I'll turn back to Exodus 3, and we're gonna look at the command. Exodus chapter 3, and we'll begin in verse 7. The representation started with the command. Exodus 3, verse 7. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me, and I have seen also the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee, and there shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee. When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. Now in this command we see a few things. Number one, the Lord has a people. He says, I have seen the affliction of my people. The Egyptians are oppressing my people. There is a certain people that the Lord represents and there's a certain people that he is a substitute for. Secondly, he gives these people to Moses, completely gives them to him. These people are not given the command themselves to lead themselves out of Egypt and out from under the hand of Pharaoh, but rather through Moses. And in the command we see that the Lord's going to be with Moses. If He's with Moses, He's with the children of Israel. He's with His people. Those are the means that the Lord chose to deliver these people. Now let's turn back to Exodus 33. Again, he pictures Christ our representative, Christ our substitute. Exodus 33 verse 8, And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses until he was gone. into the tabernacle. They were given the grace to look to Moses, not to try to look past Moses, not to try to look to the Lord directly, but to look to the representative, to see what he did, to see what he was told. Verse 9, "...and it came to pass as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle And the Lord talked with Moses. Now, why did the Lord appear? Because the representative was present. Because the substitute was present. Why would God ever speak to us, bless us? Because we're in Christ. Because Christ is present with us, and we're present in Him. Verse 10, and all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose up and worshiped every man at his tent door. They didn't run in themselves. They saw the Lord appear before Moses and they worshiped. I read the whole book of Exodus. This whole journey is about the children of Israel and the deliverance of them. I didn't read one time where the Lord spoke to those children directly. He always spoke to Moses and to Aaron. He spoke to the one who he gave them to. Now, they benefited greatly. and we benefit greatly, but it's through the Lord Jesus Christ, through our representative. And it says they worshipped that. They didn't have to be in that tent themselves, they worshipped when the Lord appeared unto Moses, unto the one that they were given to. Turn over to Exodus 20 for a second. Exodus 20, verse 18, is right after God gave the law to Moses. Exodus 20, verse 18, And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they were moved and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die. If we try to come to the Lord outside of Christ, if these people try to approach the Lord outside, of Moses, all that is gonna be met, we're gonna be met with his judgment, and the Lord would be right to do so, and he'd be just to do so. But in our representative is a hope, is mercy. We can be heard through our representative, through our substitute, and that's what they were given the grace to see. Let not God speak with us. Speak to him on our behalf. Bring our sins to him on our behalf. That is our great desire. So what does our true representative do? What does a true substitute do? What does Christ, our representative and substitute do for us? Turn to Exodus 32. Exodus 32, verse one. Now, before we read this story, Remember that true representation, Christ our representative and Christ our substitute, is really only seen in times of trouble. If we didn't have trouble, if we didn't have sin, we wouldn't need a representative. We could come to the Lord ourselves. But because we have sin and because we're so depraved, we're always in a state of trouble. We're always in need of a substitute. And that's what we're going to see in this story. This is the story of the golden calf. Verse 1, And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said to 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. And 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. 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 in the morrow and offered burn offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play." It's one of the most blatant acts of idolatry that's recorded in scripture. What evil, after all that the Lord has done for these people. And we'll go through some of the things He's done. It's unbelievable what these people saw Moses do, what they saw the Lord do. And you see the depravity of man here, how quickly they turn. Verse 7, this is going to be the Lord's response to this. 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. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods over Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. That word means difficult and stubborn, a difficult people and a stubborn 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." Is the Lord right in his anger to these people? He's always right in what he does. His anger is justified. He says, let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against these people. Verse 11, Moses is gonna intercede. That's what a substitute does, really, intercedes. Verse 11, and Moses besought the Lord his God and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and 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 says unto him, 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." What a blessing. He interceded for his people. Now, he tells them to remember his covenant. The Lord made a covenant with Abraham. back in Genesis, the covenant of grace, and he tells them to remember it, to consider it, to think of our Lord praying for his people and reminding the father of the covenant what a blessing that is. Now, how's the intercession made? Intercession has to be made. How's it made? Look in verse 31 of the same chapter, verse 32. Chapter 32, verse 31. And Moses returned unto the Lord, after going down and seeing this situation, after coming off the mountain, and Moses returned unto the Lord and said, O this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book, which thou hast written. That is a representative and a substitute. It can be seen in two words, blot me, kill me, punish me. Now Moses was not making a golden calf or worshipping. Moses was on the mountain worshipping the Lord when this happened. And yet he says, blot me. The Lord never came to this earth and sinned. only man to ever come here and do perfect works. He lived a perfect life, died for the sins of his people willingly, and yet he said, blot me. And Moses, in this story we see that Moses is a type. He's a type of Christ, but he is just a type. Moses wasn't blotted this day. The Lord was blotted though. He was killed for the sins of his people. Rightfully so, he was guilty of those sins. rightfully so, and that we deserve it, but that he took those on as his sins. That is our representative. Isaiah 53, verse 5, but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Christ, our representative. Let's turn back to Exodus 33, verse 11. Third three, verse 11, and the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. It says he spoke with Moses as unto a friend. And friendship is such a blessing. To have old friends, to have new friends, the community, just having somebody there, what a blessing that is. And you know the Lord gives us friendship, he blesses us with friendship as he blesses us with all things to show us something of his friendship to us. Just like he gives us love for our children and our families, it's given to show us of his love to us. And you think about all the attributes that make a great friend, the Lord epitomizes every one of those attributes. He is loving, he is caring, he is trustworthy, he is forgiving. You think about what just happened in the previous chapter. Moses' people commit this blatant act of idolatry, make a complete fool of themselves, and yet here it says, he spoke with Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend. What a friend. And what a thing for us to look to in our friendship to our friends. Verse 12, And Moses said unto the Lord, See thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, Now he's about to ask the Lord three questions. He's about to say a prayer to the Lord, and before he does, he comes on these grounds. If I have found grace in thy sight. Now the grounds that we come on is more important than what we will even ask the Lord for in the first place. And this is where really the world gets it wrong. The world The world prays for the same things that the Lord's people pray for, but they pray for it on different grounds. They're praying for it on the grounds of what they have done, or what they deserve, or maybe what they will do, or what they are currently doing. The grounds of grace is grounded in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is grounded in what he has already done. That's why it's so sure to come on these grounds. It is something that has already happened. what we are praying for and the grounds we are coming on. David said in Psalm 51, have mercy upon me, O God. And he came on these grounds according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. And Moses here says, if I have found grace in thy sight. That's the good ground. 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. He has to know the way of the Lord. What is the way of the Lord? What is he asking for? Turn to Psalm 18. Psalm 18. Psalm 18, verse 30. As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler or a protector to all those that trust in him. For who is God, save the Lord, or who is a rock, save our God. It is God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect. Moses is looking for protection, he's looking for the Lord's continued presence, and he's looking to know his way. Moses knows if he is shown the way of the Lord, it will be a safe way, it will be the right way, it will be the holy way. He says that I may know thee. To know the Lord's way is to know him, to know what he has done already, what he is doing today, what he will, by God's grace, continue to do for us. That is to know thy way. And it says he maketh my way perfect. To know his way is to have our way be made perfect. What a, I mean, words are inadequate. Words are inadequate. Turn back to Exodus 13, or 33. Exodus 33 verse 13. Now therefore I pray thee, if I 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 again. Consider that this is your people. Consider your covenant. It's a blessing to look at this prayer as our prayer, and it's a blessing to look at this prayer as our substitute's prayer, as our representative's prayer. He says, consider that this nation is thy people. Consider me and consider my people. Verse 14, and he said, my presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. All that stuff that Moses is asking for. for protection, to know the way of the Lord, to know Him. The Lord's presence takes care of that. All we need is the Lord's presence. If we have His presence, we have all. Romans 8, verse 31, if God be for us, who can be against us? Moses had the most powerful man in the world against him, Pharaoh, the most powerful country in the world, Egypt, against him. You can read about it in Exodus. He cut through him like butter. Nothing will challenge the Lord's people if the Lord's presence is with us. Verse 15. And he said unto them, if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not 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. Now very simply, what Moses is praying here is, if you're not gonna go with us, do not send us. Don't cause us to take another step. If you're not going to follow us, to lead us, to show us the way, we'd be better off just dying right now. He's saying, don't leave me alone. Now this is a prayer that we should be praying every day in constant need. You know, if the Lord wanted to bring destruction our way, he would not need to bring an outside factor in. He would not need to bring some evil into our life. He could leave us alone and we would take care of the rest, right? Just leave us alone to ourselves. That's the great fear, is to be left alone. You think about what we're even doing right now. If the Lord is not here, in the preaching of the Gospel, in the hearing of the Gospel, in the reading of Scripture, in the prayer, in the song, if He's not here, there's literally no reason to be here. You're just listening to me talk, and I'm just speaking to you. If He's not giving us ears to hear, if He's not giving the words to say, no reason to be here. If He is here, if His presence is with us, if He's not leaving us alone, There is no reason to not be here. This is the only place to be. I find that the Lord's people, as time goes on, they see that. Don't leave me alone. Verse 17, and the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. When somebody comes on the grounds of, if I have found grace in thy sight, when the Lord gives the grace to come that way, you see the Lord's response to it. It's a yes to everything that they need. In their salvation, all needs will be met. And he says, yet again, I will do this because you have found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. I will not leave you alone. He said, if you're not gonna go with us, don't send us. And the Lord is saying, I'm not gonna leave you. Verse 18. And he said, Moses says to the Lord, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. Now, as I said in the book of Exodus, the things that Moses has seen up to this point, it is hard to put into words what amazing things and what power he has seen from the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll just give you a few. He saw the Lord harden Pharaoh's heart. He's the most powerful man in the world. And the Lord gave him the command to deliver the children out of Egypt. And then he would tell Moses, I'm going to bring this great hardship on Egypt. And right before Pharaoh says, I can't take this anymore. Let these people go so that these hardships will stop. I'm going to harden Pharaoh's heart. And he's not going to let you go. And it happened again and again. He saw the Lord turn the heart of a man, the most powerful man in the world. He saw the Passover. He saw the Spirit of the Lord smite all the firstborn and the children in Egypt where the blood was not over the doorposts. And he saw him spare the children that were in those houses. He saw the Red Sea parted, literally the Red Sea parted. He walked the floor of the Red Sea with the walls up on either side and walked straight through. and looked behind and saw that sea collapse onto the Egyptians. He saw manna fall from heaven, manna that was not there when they were in the wilderness and had nothing to eat. Moses witnessed this. And yet he says, show me thy glory. I don't know if there was anybody that ever saw more of the Lord's glory, saw him do more glorious things, more powerful things, more beautiful things than Moses. So hadn't he already seen the Lord's glory, why would he need to ask to see this? When the Lord shows his glory to somebody, and he has to show a measure of his glory for us to believe him, he's going to have to show us who he is before we can see who we are and see our need of who he is. It's in light of seeing his glory that we see our own depravity and see our need of his glory. When he does that, he's gonna give us a desire to see more of his glory. And that's what he did for Moses here. Moses had seen the Lord's glory and yet he says, show me thy glory one more time in whatever measure you will, show me thy glory. And even if the Lord gave us, even if he showed us his glory, it would be so, we see so dimly. especially the Lord's glory. We see such little, we see the tip of the iceberg of the Lord's glory on this earth. And Moses saw it. It says down in, it's in verse 20, It says, and he said, thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live. We couldn't bear to witness the Lord's full glory. We couldn't comprehend it. Just like we couldn't bear to see our full sin and see that as it is, we could never see the Lord's full glory. By the Lord's grace, maybe one day we'll be able to in glory, and so thankful for that, so looking forward to that. So what is the Lord's glory? He said, show me thy glory. What's he asking to be shown? It's seen in the next verse, verse 19. Exodus 33, verse 19. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. The Lord's glory is infinite. All of his attributes are seen. His glory is all of his attributes. But he gives us four right here. It says, I will make my goodness pass before thee, number one. I'll proclaim the name of the Lord, number two. I will be gracious, number three. And I will show mercy, number four. Now goodness, when it says, I will make all my goodness pass before me, that word goodness is defined as good in the whitest sense. Good in all things, all the time. And our Lord is glorified in that. Glory means magnificence and great beauty. He is the beauty of His goodness. We might not always see why it's good, but it is good in His sight, and He sees things as they really are. I mean, I see things every day happen. I don't see why it's good, but it's good in His sight. Good means good in His sight, and He is good in all things, all the time. Secondly, the name of the Lord. He said, I'll proclaim the name of the Lord. And our pastor said many times, in the Lord's name is all of his attributes. Everything that makes God God, he's glorified in. His beauty is shown in all of his glorious attributes. He said, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 4, I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. Why is he glorified in grace? Because he gives grace. We don't deserve it. He freely gives it to us. If we deserved it, or we could produce it, or we were the source of it, there'd be glory in it for us. There is no glory in grace for us. All the glory goes to God. Again, we benefit so greatly, so greatly. It is the great gift, but the glory's for the Lord only. And he said, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. Turn to Romans 9 for a second. Romans 9 verse 23, Romans 9 verse 23. And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he hath afore prepared unto glory. He's gonna make known the riches of His glory, He's gonna show us this, and it's gonna be through the vessels of His mercy. All of these attributes, His goodness, His name, grace, mercy, why does the Lord glorify in it? Because He is the source of these things, and He is the one giving these things. There would be glory for us if it was not that way. We cannot come up with that. We are depraved. We have this old sin nature. But the Lord is glorified in His person. He is glory. There is, I was talking about how there's love on this earth and friendship on this earth to show us the Lord Jesus Christ. Glory does not exist on this earth. It is the Lord's alone. He is the only one that is glorified. And when you're given the grace to see that, You'll see Moses' response to this. Look over in Exodus 34. Exodus 34, verse five. Exodus 34, verse five. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, stood with Moses there, and proclaim the name of the Lord." Now again, he told him four things he was going to do. His goodness, he was going to make known his goodness, his name, his grace, and his mercy. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood within there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. There's the first one. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the name, proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful, number two, and gracious, number three. Long-suffering and abundant in goodness, number four, and truth. The Lord did what he said he would do. As he always does, he fulfilled his promise to Moses, he fulfilled his covenant to Moses, and he did what he said he would do. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. And what was Moses' response? Verse eight, and Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. That is the reaction, the only reaction. It's not an option to have that reaction. That reaction is not offered. It is what will happen. The Lord is sovereign in saving his people and doing all of these things for us, and when he shows us this, we will make haste, we will bow our head, and we will worship. The Lord's people know this from, I know this from experience. You don't decide to do this, you do it because the Lord is sovereign in you doing it. Now if you want to summarize these three questions and the Lord's response to these three questions, what we really have in Exodus 33 is we have a prayer and a prayer answered. Moses prayed these things to the Lord. He said, if I have found grace in thy sight, please do these three things for us. And the Lord did all of these three things for us. And that is so, such a blessing to us and so important for us to pay attention to and to consider. And the reason is because since this happened, the Lord has not changed in the prayer that he will hear and that he will respond to. And the Lord has not changed how he will save his people since this happened. He is going to save the same way that he saved Moses, that he saved Abraham, that he saved David, that he saves us today. And we have an example here of a prayer that the Lord heard and acted on with compassion and grace. So what can we take away from that? Well, if you're like me and your prayer seems so inadequate and it seems so self-centered and so materialistic and so the word I would use is lost. It seems lost. It seems like you often don't even know who you're praying to and you just have to pray, Lord, whoever you are. If that is your prayer, or maybe you just don't know the words to say to the Lord, maybe you've never come to Him, come this way. Come on these same grounds, if I have found grace in thy sight, and ask for these same things. Because the Lord heard this prayer, and if we come this same way, He will hear our prayer. Scripture says, ask and thou shalt receive. Moses said, if I have found grace in thy sight, And the Lord said, you have found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. All right.