Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. In Exodus chapter 33, verse 18,
Moses makes this request to God. He says, I beseech thee, show
me thy glory. Now I want you to think of all
the things that Moses had seen. Moses was used by God to deliver
the children of Israel from the bondage of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. He had seen God plague the land
with those 10 plagues, and how God would harden Pharaoh's heart
so he would not let the people go. And on the 10th plague, they
ended up begging them to leave, and they left a wealthy people,
the Egyptians, giving them their riches. Now, on the way toward
Sinai, God hardened Pharaoh's heart again. He went after the
children of Israel to bring them back. And this is the time that
God parted the Red Sea. And the children of Israel walked
through it on dry ground. And when the Egyptians tried
to do, the might of the sea came back over them and drowned them
all. And the children of Israel actually saw their dead bodies
washed up on the seashore when they were on the other side.
Moses had seen God provide manna from heaven. Moses had seen water
rush out of a smitten rock. Now both of these are great types
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, but they were what Moses
saw literally. Moses was given the law, the
Ten Commandments, the oracles, the words of God. He had seen
all of this. Yet he says, I've not seen your
glory. I beseech you, show me your glory. Now, let me give you the setting
of this request. This is right after Moses had
gone back up into Mount Sinai and was there for 40 days. Now
at this time, while he was on the mount, just a few weeks after
they left Egypt in the first place, verse 1 of chapter 32,
And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out
of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron,
and said unto him, Up, make us gods which shall go before us.
For as for this Moses, The man that brought us up out of the
land of Egypt, we want not what is become of him. Now, how quickly
they defect. This Moses, we never liked him
anyway. We don't know where he is. Make
us gods. Now, these men wanted, these
women wanted a man-made God that they could worship. Man's desire is for a God he
has made. If I've made that God, I can
control it. So they say to Aaron, up, make
us gods. which shall go before us. We
can get them to do what we want. They'll 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 and of your sons and of your daughters and bring
them unto me. Now these golden earrings were
ornaments to beautify them. Aaron says, let's break them
off and give them to me. I think it's interesting he selects
earrings. When people go bad, hearing goes
bad. They can't really hear. Verse three, and all the people
break off their golden earrings that were in their ears and brought
them to Aaron. And he received them at their
hand and fashioned it with a graving tool. Now he's making a God. And he made it a molten calf. And they said, these be thy gods,
O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. How tragic, how wicked, how unbelieving. They made a golden calf and said,
this is the God that brought you up out of Egypt, the God
that we have made. Psalm 106 verse 20 says, they
changed their glory into a similitude of an ox that eateth grass. That's what they made their God
into. Now verse five, I believe to
be one of the saddest verses in all the Bible. And it indicates
what men do in their religion. Religion is an evil thing. man's
religion is an evil thing. And here we have such a fair
representation of what it is. And when Aaron saw, he built
an altar before it, before this golden calf, and Aaron made proclamation
and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord, to Jehovah. Here we have this golden calf,
and Aaron mentions Jehovah's name. I suppose this legitimatized
what they were doing, and it gave them affirmation in what
they're doing. This is being done in the name of Jehovah.
This is Jehovah. And this reminds me of the, quote,
Christianity of our day. They'll make up a Jesus that's
not the Lord Jesus of the Bible and call him Jesus, and everybody
thinks it must be okay. It's not okay. It's an idol.
It's a false God. And that's what they were doing.
They made what they thought was a good representation of God,
a golden calf, and called him Jesus. Jehovah in seeking to
make what they're doing legitimate. Verse 6, And they rose up early
on the morning, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace
offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and
rose up to play. Now this is what could accurately
describe most services that go on under the name of Christianity,
playing, playing church. Using scriptural phrases and
peppering them in with what we're doing, scriptural names, but
it's nothing but playing and idolatry. That is what is going
on, and that is what provoked the Lord's anger. And you can
go on reading in this chapter of what the Lord said to Moses
about this, and Moses was greatly troubled. He thought perhaps
the Lord was going to cut him off because of this great Sin. And he prayed for the people,
and he prayed for the Lord's mercy. Now I want to pick up
reading in chapter 33, verse 1. You would find it interesting
to read the rest of chapter 32 if you can. I think one of the
interesting verses, and Moses said unto Aaron, verse 21, and
Moses said unto Aaron, what did this people unto thee that thou
hast brought so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, let not
the anger of my Lord wax hot, thou knowest this people set
for mischief. For they said unto me, make us gods which will go
before us. As for this Moses, the man that
brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what's
become of him. And I said unto them, whosoever
hath any gold, let him break it off. So they gave it me, and
I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. Now
isn't that ridiculous? He wouldn't even take responsibility
for what took place. He says, this calf just popped
out. This demonstrates the ridiculousness and the unbelief and the sinfulness
that was going on. Now it's in that context that
Moses asks the Lord, show me your glory. Verse one, chapter 33. And the
Lord said unto Moses, depart and go up hence, thou and the
people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt,
into the land which I swear unto Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob,
unto thy seed I'll give it, and I'll send an angel before thee.
I'm not going. I'll send an angel before thee,
and I will drive out the Canaanite, and the Amorite, and the Hittite,
and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, unto a land
flowing with milk and honey, For I'll not go up in the midst
of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in
the way." And when the people heard these evil tidings, and
evil tidings is as the Lord said, I'm not going to be with you.
That's evil tidings. When the people heard these evil
tidings, they mourned and no man did put on his ornaments,
the things that would beautify him. For the Lord had said unto
Moses, saying to the children of Israel, you're stiff-necked
people, a hard-hearted, callous people. I will come up unto thee
in the midst of thee in a moment and consume thee. Therefore now
put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto
thee. All the things they thought beautified them, they were to
get rid of, and they were to stand naked before God. Have you ever said, nothing in
my hands I bring? Simply to that cross I cling. And the children of Israel stripped
themselves of their ornaments by the Mount of Oreb. And Moses
took the tabernacle, and this is not the tabernacle that would
later be built that had the Holy of Holies and the veil and all
the paraphernalia of that tabernacle. That was to be built later. This
was just a tent called the Tabernacle of Meeting. And Moses took the
tabernacle and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp,
and called it the Tabernacle of the Congregation. And it came
to pass that everyone which sought the Lord went out into the tabernacle
of the congregation, which was without the camp. And that would
be an accurate description of a believer, someone who seeks
the Lord. Am I someone who seeks the Lord? And it came to pass when Moses
went out into the tabernacle that all the people rose up and
stood every man at the tent door and looked after Moses until
he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass as Moses
entered 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 at the tabernacle door, and all the
people rose up and worshiped every man in his tent door. Now,
if you ever see the Lord, you will worship. And you will only
worship an absolute sovereign. You're in his hands. That God you'll worship. And the Lord spake unto Moses
face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." Now this demonstrates
the power of the gospel. God spoke to Moses as his friend. Moses was a sinful man. God spoke
to Moses as his friend. Abraham was called the friend
of God. And the Lord said to his disciples,
you are my friends. If you do whatsoever, I command
you. Now here's what the gospel does.
First Corinthians 1.30 says, of him are you in Christ Jesus
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. That describes every believer. The person who has wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption, Christ made all that to them.
That's God's friend. And God speaks to that person
face to face. And Moses said unto the Lord,
see thou sayest. Now he begins with what the Lord
said. And that's a good place for you and I to begin with what
the Lord has said in his word. I'm not interested in men's opinions
and men's theology. I want to know what God has said
in his word. Lord, see thou sayest unto me,
bring up this people And yet 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 found grace in thy sight." Now this was Moses'
desire. I want to find grace in your
sight. I want your grace. I don't want
to be given what I deserve. I don't want to be given what
I merit. I need pure, free grace. If you deal with me according
to my works, there's no hope for me. I need grace. The same grace Paul spoke of
when he said, by grace you are saved through faith. And that
not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. And he says, if I found grace
in thy sight, show me now thy way. I don't want to know man's
way. I want to know God's way. Christ
said, I am the way. He's the way to the Father. He's
the way of righteousness. He's the way of grace. He's the
way of peace. He is the way. He's the way of
salvation. No man comes to the Father, but
by me, He didn't say, I'll show you the way. He said, I am the
way. Show me now thy way that I might know thee. I want to
know God. And I don't want my knowledge
of Him to be simply name dropping. I know God. Does He know you
is the question. You wouldn't be using His name
merely name dropping, but when you call on Him, He knows who
you are. That's how you know God is if
He knows you. Now that you've known God or
rather are known of God, oh, I want to know you. The Lord
said, this is eternal life that they might know thee, the only
true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I want to know you that I might
find grace in your sight and consider that this nation is
thy people. I know they're sinful, but you're the one who chose
them. And he said, my presence shall
go with thee and I'll give thee rest. The rest of faith. And he said unto him, if thy
presence go not with me, carry us not up hence, for where shall
it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy
sight, and 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, if you know God, you know you're separate
from other men. And you know what separated you?
The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The difference between you and
somebody that doesn't know God is His separating, distinguishing
grace. It's the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ that made you differ from somebody else. And the Lord said
unto Moses, I'll do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for
thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And this is when Moses makes
his request, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And Moses is saying, I've not
seen it yet. I beseech thee, show me what
you say, Your glory is. Now, if you would ask a hundred
different men what the glory of God was, you'd probably get
a hundred different answers. But here is God describing His
own glory. Here's His answer to Moses' request. I will make all my goodness pass
before Thee. The Lord's glory is His goodness. Every attribute of God is a demonstration
of His goodness. His sovereignty, His absolute
control of everybody and everything is a good sovereignty. His omnipotence
is good omnipotence. His wrath is good wrath. It's right, it's just, it's holy
like His person. His wisdom is good wisdom. Immutability, the fact that he
can't change is a demonstration he's good all the time. Everything
God does is good. Men sit in judgment on God and
say, well, how can God let this happen? How can God do that?
God's good. We're bad. God's good all the
time, whatever he does. And I'm not going to try to apologize
for anything he does. He's good. It's the goodness
of God that leads thee to repentance. You'll remain hard-hearted unless
He, in His goodness, does something for you. You see, the very fact
that He can save people that are as wicked as the Israelites
at this time, as unbelieving, is a demonstration of His goodness. He said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before thee. I'll proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. His name is his attributes. It's
the person behind the name, every one of his glorious attributes. When you think of a person and
you think of their name, you don't just think of the spelling
of the name, you think of the attributes and the characteristics
of that person. The name of the Lord is his character,
his attributes, his personality. And then he says, I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. And I will show mercy to whom
I will show mercy. Now he will be gracious. He will
show mercy. That's who he is. But he'll show
mercy to whoever he's pleased to show mercy. And he will have
compassion on whoever he is pleased to have compassion. You see,
grace is always sovereign. You know, when you ask somebody
to forgive you, you don't say, It's your duty to forgive me,
and if you don't forgive me, it's wrong on your part. No, you come
to that person as a sovereign. Would you be pleased to forgive
me? It's up to you. Now, that's the way God's grace
is. If somebody comes into his presence and says, you need to
give me grace, it'd be wrong for you not to. I've accepted
you, I've done this, I've done that, now give it to me. You're
not asking for grace, you're asking for merit. You're asking
for God to pay you what he owes you. And my dear friend, if he
pays you what he owes you, it's bad for you and it'd be bad for
me. He says, I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious. and
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. And then we have that amazing
story in verse 20, and he said, thou canst not see my face, for
thou shalt no man see me and live. The Lord said, behold,
there's a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and
it shall come to pass while my glory passeth by, that I'll put
thee in a cliff of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand
while I pass by. And I'll take away my hand and
thou shalt see my back parts. But my face shall not be seen.
His back parts is what he's done. His back parts is his salvation. No man can see his face and live. But he said, you'll see my back
parts. And this is where that glorious hymn, Rock of Ages cleft
for me, let me hide myself in thee comes from. Now, verse 5
of chapter 34, remember he said, I'm going to proclaim the name
of the Lord before you? He begins to proclaim his name
to Moses. This is an answer to Moses' request. I beseech you, show me your glory. And the Lord descended in the
cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the
Lord. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, Jehovah, Jehovah
Almighty. Now when he makes himself known
to Moses, the first way he makes himself known is as The Lord
God, the Lord God Almighty, the Lord God Omnipotent. If He's not Omnipotent, all of
His attributes are meaningless. But He is Omnipotent, and He
has the power to make everything He wills come to pass. He has
the power to perform the will of all of His attributes. The
Lord God is one, and He makes Him first known as the Lord God
Almighty, and then He says, merciful. This is used only to describe
God. Merciful, gracious. He delights in mercy. Long-suffering,
patient, and abundant in goodness. And truth, there's no lie, or
there's no darkness, or there's no error in him. In him is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning. God is light, and
in him is no darkness at all, keeping mercy for thousands. He delights in mercy. and forgiving
iniquity and transgression and sin, that three-headed monster,
iniquity, transgression, and sin. Iniquity, the sin of our
good things. Transgression, the sin of our
bad things. Sin, our nature. He forgives
it all. Yet look what it says next, 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 fourth generation. How is it that God can forgive
sin and by no means clear the guilty? That is understood only
in the gospel of Jesus Christ, how God has made a way to be
just and never clear the guilty, and yet justify everybody that
Jesus Christ died for. This is the great mystery of
the gospel, how he can forgive and never clear the guilty. That
is only understood in the light of the cross, what the Lord Jesus
accomplished on Calvary's tree. This is who God is. This is his
glory. And what was Moses' response?
And Moses made haste, bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. And he said, If now I have found
grace in thy sight, he didn't presume on this. Oh, this is
my desire. If I have found grace in your
sight, and I know the only way you can deal with me is if you
deal with me according to pure, free grace. If I have found grace
in thy sight, oh Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us. We need your presence. For it's a stiff-necked people,
that's why we need grace. We're stiff-necked. And pardon
our iniquity and our sin and take us for thine inheritance. Now that is the Lord's answer
to Moses when he says, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. We have this message on CD, DVD,
write, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniber praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. To receive a copy
of the sermon you have just heard, send a request to todd.neibert
at gmail.com, or you may write or call the church at the information
provided on the screen.