The book of Exodus tonight, chapter number 33. Book of Exodus chapter 33. It's been several weeks since we've been in Exodus. We've had Christmas stuff going on, New Year stuff going on, and had some detours. But tonight we're back in Exodus, picking up where we left off. Tonight we're in chapter number 33. Probably don't have to do too much of a review. I know the things that we've looked at in the previous chapter were pretty familiar. As we talked about the Golden Calf incident, which is a very sad chapter, a very sad thing in the life of the nation. And, you know, you think about the people of God here being in covenant with God, and it's actually pretty sad because you come to recognize that the law is something that cannot conquer sin. It only reveals it, doesn't it? It only expresses sinfulness and makes it known. And so all that was completely clear with the golden calf incident as the people are completely failing with the law covenant. They've already turned to idolatry and everything is a mess. And so the previous chapter was pretty sad. You come to chapter 33, some of the sadness is still there. There's some sad consequences that come as a result of all of that. But we also see here that the people are going to go forward with God and how that happens after they had fallen into sin. And you know, as I thought about the previous chapter and here in chapter 33, I was reminded kind of to give a frame of reference for both of these chapters of the New Testament text in Romans chapter 5. Again, very familiar to you all. It says, "...the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace did abound. And that's something that we're taught early on in the pages of Scripture. The grace and the mercy and the kindness of God in spite of human frailty and failures and all of that. We come to understand that nothing is earned, nothing is deserved by any of us. It's all given as a grace and as a kindness of Almighty God. Well, as we come to 33 tonight, we're going to see from this particular chapter a combination of these two things, sin and grace. And as you take up the chapter, it's not a very long chapter. It has three basic divisions. We'll look at verses 1 through 6 and 7. through 11 and then 12 to 23. Alright, so let's pick up with the first division, verses 1 through 6. And what I want to point out here is that after the people of God have this massive covenant failure, God commands His people to go on with their journey towards the Promised Land. Let's read about it. The Lord said to Moses, Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, to your offspring I will give it. I will send an angel before you and will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." And when the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, say to the people of Israel, you are a stiff-necked people. If for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments that I may know what to do with you. Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward." Well, you notice there in verse number one, that God's previous promises to the patriarchs demand that the people go on to possess the land even though they have violated the covenant. You remember that, don't you? That God made certain promises to the patriarchs before the law covenant ever existed. So you have Abraham and Isaac, you even notice here in the text that they're mentioned. You're going to go on to the land which I swore. And then he mentions the patriarchs. So you have to keep that straight in your mind that God had made certain promises to Abraham that predates the covenant that he made with the nation of Israel when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. And so you can see what's going on here is that even though the people have violated the covenant that God has made with them already, just after having received it, God's Word is still on the line because He's made certain promises beforehand. Unconditional promises to give the people the land. And so, you know, God's got to come through on His promises. And so here's the charge for the people to just go on. You've got to keep moving. There's a good lesson for us there, by the way. It's true that in the Christian life we all have to keep on going, don't we? We don't sit still. We don't just sit back in a certain position of comfort or despair or whatever. Everything in the Christian life is about moving forward. It's a journey. And we have to complete our destination. The Apostle Paul even talks about that in Philippians chapter number 3. You know the verse very well. I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. You know, you may be here tonight discouraged about stuff that's going on in your life. That happens to us sometimes. The circumstances of life can be hard and difficult and, you know, you might start feeling sorry for yourself and walk around like you've got a little black rain cloud hovering over the top of your head. And so we all need to be exhorted time to time from one another in conversations and also in moments like this from the pulpit just to, look, you've got to press on, you've got to persevere. A life of active faith is going to believe God and move on towards the goal, towards the finish line. So let me encourage you in regards to that tonight. You have to press on. So the Lord's telling the people that very thing. You have to depart. You have to go from where you're at to the place that I have planned for you. And so it's time to get back on your journey. Now here in verses 2 and 3, I don't know if you caught this when I read it, but this is actually kind of a sad thing that's happening here in the experience of the nation. Look at what God says. He says, I'm gonna send an angel with you to go along with you. Now think about it. Do you remember the last couple of times when we've been in Exodus, we talked about all of those instructions and all the things that the Lord gave to the people of Israel concerning the tabernacle? Now, what was the purpose of the tabernacle part of the law covenant? Well, that was going to be the unique place where God was going to dwell with the people and His presence would be among the people. And now God is saying to the people, I'm going to send an angel to go with you. His holiness has been offended because of the violation of the covenant. And he's saying, I'm still going to do what I promised. I'm going to drive out the Canaanites and all these pagan groups that are in the land that belongs to me that I'm giving to you. I'm still going to drive them out. And you're not going to have to go by yourself. I will send an angel to go along with you. So just go on. Go to the land that's flowing with milk and honey. But I'm not going up among you. Because I would consume you along the way because you're wicked people. You're stiff-necked, you're stubborn, you're rebellious, you're sinful. I'm holy and my holy anger is going to burn hot against you because of your sin. Do you see that? dichotomy that's being painted here for us between the holiness of God and what man really is as a sinner. And so, what's happening here is there's a change in the situation. Again, because of that covenant failure, God decides that he's going to provide a different way, a substitute God, a lesser God, we could say. Because God would be the ultimate. His presence would be the ultimate experience for the people of God. And God is saying, no, I'm going to send you a substitute God. It's going to make this situation less than what it could have been for the people had they not violated the covenant. Now, how do I know that that's what's happening here? Well, because you see the response of the people. Look at it. It's really sad. Verse 4. the people heard this, what kind of word was this? Comforting word? Encouraging word? Disastrous word! It's horrible! It brought them to the place of mourning. They were mourning over the situation. And the Lord said to Moses, tell the people, you stiff-necked people, for a single moment, if I should go up among you, I would consume you. So this is a sad deal. It's a reminder to all of us that sin has consequences. This is a picture of that. This is something that should stick in your memory all the time as a reminder of the horrible consequences of sin. We've said it before and you know it to be true, but you're not gonna sin and get by. That's the way it works. It always catches up. There are consequences. There are wages to be paid depending on the path that you take. And that's what's happening for the people. It's a sad thing. Well, notice this. This is an interesting thing. You get this statement about the people and their ornaments. What's that all about? Take off your ornaments that I may know what to do with you. Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward. Alright, what this is all about, I believe, is that you remember when the people left Egypt, God made the people pretty wealthy. They plundered the Egyptians. They took all kinds of spoil. They took goods and jewelry and all of these different things. And all of that was meant to be a tremendous blessing to the people of God. God is enriching them. God is giving all of these tremendous blessings. But what has happened is that these blessings have become sinful burdens. What have they done with the gold and all of the stuff that's been given to them? Well, they made an idol out of it, didn't they? And so God puts them to the test. You notice what it says, take off your ornaments that I may know what to do with you. This is a test. Let's test your connection to the blessings that I've given to you and see if you value the blessings more than you value the giver of the blessings. I think that's what's happening here. This is a bit of a test. These are hindrances. In other words, God is saying you have to deal with your hindrances because you become sinful. Isn't it true in life that good things, legitimate things, can be turned into sinful things depending on how we view them and how we use them? Things that God meant to be a tremendous blessing for our lives can oftentimes become sinful burdens and troublesome. And that's what's happened to the people. They turned it into worldliness and idolatry. And these were distractions to their spiritual progress. And more than just their spiritual progress, these things became a distraction to their devotion to God. Have you ever had anything come into your life as a obstruction to your devotion to God, things that have derailed you, things that have taken you off course. Again, it could be good things even, legitimate things, but viewed in the wrong way, they become sinful. And that's what's happening here. Now, thankfully, there in verse number 6 we see that the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward. And so it appears as if this mourning over the consequences and over the things that had happened actually turned to a measure of real repentance. That they turned away, they passed the test, God says deal with it, they actually do. And so they got rid of it from Mount Horeb onward. Well, that brings us to verses 7 through 11. You'll notice in your Bible it says, the tent of meeting. And here, this is a temporary tent of meeting that was pitched outside of the camp. Now, let's talk about this for a moment before we really dive into these verses. I want to remind you, I've already been talking about some things that need to be in your remembrance tonight, but let me say some things to you again just to catch you up to speed in case you're missing any of the parts here. God delivers the people from Egypt. He brings them to Mount Sinai and He enters into covenant with them. We spent some time on this. We've talked about covenant a lot. Now, part of the covenant wasn't just the moral law that is so highlighted in the commandments that God gave there, right? Don't steal, don't lie, all of those different commandments, the majority of them being moral commandments. There's more to the law as it's expanding. And part of what was inculcated into the law was the tabernacle system that we spent time on. We went through several chapters that are talking about that. There's this whole system designed by God that's part of the Law Covenant that people are to obey. It's going to teach them so many things. It's going to be a teacher. It's going to be a help to them along the way. And the big thing about the tabernacle, as we mentioned a moment ago, it's so that God could dwell with the people. So they would have the presence of God with them along the way. So when they followed the tabernacle instructions, God was going to show up, His presence. would be there right among the people as they camped around the tabernacle. You have the 12 tribes camping around the tabernacle, and the tabernacle's in the middle, and so God is dwelling among their people. Now, the instructions have been given to the people of God, but by this time, by the time the people fell into sin with the golden calf, do you realize they had never actually built the tabernacle yet? Hadn't happened yet. They'd received instructions of what it was supposed to look like. It was supposed to gather materials. But they'd actually never built the tabernacle. They'd never erected it. It had never been put to use. Think about it. The tabernacle that God gave them to be put into use, they couldn't even do it because they'd already broken the covenant. They've already messed up. Here with the golden calf incident. Everything seems to be ruined. Wow, we just got all this instruction for this incredible tabernacle so that God can dwell among us and we've already blown the covenant. We've already messed the whole thing up. And so this disobedience, it means forfeiture of all of the covenant privileges that God had given as well as the fact that they have no standing with God whatsoever. I mean, they've blown it. They're sinful. They've missed the mark. They're completely at the mercy of their king. What's the king going to do? What we've already seen in these verses, God says, I'm not going with you. I'm sending an angel. I'll give you guidance. They're sorrowful about this. It's terrible. It's a terrible situation. But God's not finished with His people, is He? And we know that because of the patriarchs, because of the promises that He made to them before the law covenant was given. And furthermore, God is not finished with these people because of His mercy and because of His grace and because of His kindness. Now, in this situation with their covenant failure, Don't we realize that it's God's prerogative now to do whatever He wants to do with these people? He can punish them in any way that He wants to punish them. I mean, they are guilty. They have blown it. He can do whatever He wants. But God chooses, as we're going to go on and read here, God chooses to be merciful with the people. But their sin did bring in a little bit of a change. So here's the question. The covenant that's been broken will have to be renewed in order for the tabernacle system to actually be put into functionality. Remember, the tabernacle hasn't even started yet. They haven't made the first sacrifice. But if we read on in the story of Israel, we know that they made sacrifices, right? So since the covenant has been broken, what has to happen in the life of the nation of Israel is that God has to renew the covenant. Well, does He do that? Look in the next chapter. Look, what does it say above verse 10 of chapter 34 in your Bible? What's the heading say? The covenant renewed. Wow, isn't that great? Okay, so we just look a chapter ahead and we can see that there's mercy and there's grace here that God intends for the people. Alright? Here's the question though. What has to take place? What has to happen until the covenant is renewed? The covenant has been broken. The people don't yet know. They don't know that God's gonna renew it yet. They've just heard this terrible news that an angel's gonna go with them, but God would destroy them because they're stiff-necked and because he's holy. They don't have any idea yet. that the covenant is going to be renewed. And so here's the question of the hour. What about the presence of God among His people during that time? What's going to take place until the covenant is renewed? And again, they don't even know that it's going to be yet. We get the privilege of seeing that because we have the fullness of the story. But they didn't yet know that. And that takes us to verses 7-11 and the importance of what's here. Look at this. Let's read it. Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it, what's it say? Outside the camp. So think about it. Here's the camp. The way the people camped is they camped in sections around the tabernacle. That's the way that it was going to go. God was going to dwell in the midst of them. But that can't happen right now because covenant violation. So Moses, he goes outside the camp. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up and each would stand at his tent door and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent and the Lord would speak with Moses. And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship each at his tent door. Thus, the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man would not depart from the tent." Alright, so here in verse number 7 we see that a tent to meet with the Lord had to be set up not inside the camp but outside of the camp while all of these issues concerning Israel's covenantal status was being worked through. As far as the people know, the covenant has already been broken. It's done. Right? So this is having to be worked through. Obviously, there's Moses taking this tent outside of the camp, and he's meeting with the Lord. And the text tells us in verse 8 that as Moses would go out to meet with the Lord, the people were watching. The people were paying attention. And as they heard that Moses was going outside of the camp, they would come to the front of their tents, and they would be watching Moses to see what was going to happen. And I think what's going on in their heart is there's kind of this tension and they're wondering. Is God actually going to meet with Moses? Are we going to see the presence of the Lord still? So they're at the front of the tent and they're watching Moses. And I think there's somewhat of an expectancy and at least an ember of hope in their soul believing that good things were going to come for the people and that the channel of communication with God wasn't completely cut off. This is a big deal. All that pagan people had ever had was false gods. The one true God who's just parted the Red Sea for the people and shown Himself to be miraculous through all of the plagues on Egypt and all the rest. Nobody had ever seen anything like that. Can you imagine the wonder and the awe that would have been in your thinking to see the one true God acting that way on your behalf. And then you violated the covenant. You don't know if the covenant is going to be renewed. God says you're a stiff-necked people. I'm not going with you. I'm going to send a substitute to go with you. They don't know if they're going to have dealings with God anymore or not. So Moses, he's going out, outside the camp, to meet with the Lord. And as He does, the people, what are we going to see today? Is God going to show up? Is God actually going to meet with Moses? What's going to happen to our covenant? Is God going to do something? Is there mercy? Is there grace? Is it going to be any different? Is it going to go back to how it was? I think that's what's going on in their soul. When they see the pillar come down and Moses is dealing with God, you have to believe that there was something going on in their heart that was saying, alright, it doesn't seem as if communication is totally cut off because at least God is dealing with our leader. Well, verse 9 and 10, when Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent and the Lord would speak to Moses. Now, what did the people do when that was going on? When they saw the pillar of clouds standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and do what? Worship. There they are. They're at their own tent door. They're looking out. They're seeing God deal with Moses. And they know His presence is here even though it's outside of the camp. Best thing we can do right now is worship. We've offended this God. Let's get down and let's get down quick and let's worship. So he's meeting, the people are worshiping the Lord. And so, I think what's going on here, of course, Joshua there, the son of Nun, a young man, wouldn't depart from the tents of Moses, coming back to deal with the people. I guess Joshua was there to stand guard or to watch over things, or I don't know exactly. That's a little bit to our own speculation, I suppose, about what all Joshua was doing there. But this is how things went. Moses is doing this now for a while, and now Moses has got the courage to actually inquire of the Lord about the future of himself and the nation, which brings us to the next part of the story. Alright, so this is going on. Everybody see that? Tent of meeting outside of the camp. Moses is dealing with God. God is communicating with Moses. This is going on for a while, and the suspense for Moses, he can't stand it anymore, so he gets courage and he decides that he's going to ask the Lord what the plans are for the future. That picks us up there in verse 12. So, Moses said to the Lord, See, you say to me to bring up this people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight. Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please, show me now your ways that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider, too, that this nation is your people.' And he said, My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. And he said to him, If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I in your people? It is not in your going with us, so that we are distinct. I and your people from every other people on the face of the earth." And the Lord said to Moses, this very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight and I know you by name. Moses said, please show me your glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name, the Lord. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But he said, You cannot see my face, for man shall not see my face and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. Wow. In these verses, you find actually three prayers of Moses. and the reply that God makes to prayer. First off, let's just recognize here that Moses is speaking to the Lord and the Lord is answering. The Lord answers prayer, doesn't He? The Lord is a God who communes with His people. So get that if you don't get anything else. There's encouragement here to pray because Moses deals with the Lord and the Lord responds. And so, what is it that Moses is doing? By the way, what is Moses to the people? He's not only a leader of the people, Moses serves as an intercessor for the people. Which, we understand when we read the fullness of the New Testament, that's a glorious picture of the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of us, isn't it? So, let's think of it this way. If the people have any hope at all, it's on the basis of an intercessor appealing to the mercy of God for the people. That's why we have mercy and grace, because of the Lord Jesus. So, Moses has some prayers here. In verse 12 and 13, the first prayer is, Lord, show me your ways. Do you see that? Show me your ways. He wants to know. He's arguing with the Lord a little bit. He's reminding the Lord that the Lord told him, you're still going to take these people to the promised land, but Moses is saying, well, how's that going to happen? Who are you going to send with me? What are you going to do, Lord? Please reveal your plans. Who's the one that's going to go with us? Please tell me what's about to happen. What about the covenant? What about the people, your nation? There's the intercession. He's talking about the people there. Do you see that? Consider too that this nation is your people. So Moses is saying, Lord, there's stuff that I want to know about your plans and also the people want to know about your plans. Don't forget the people. And so all of this, Lord, please show me your ways. That's Moses' way of saying to the Lord, how can we go on without knowledge of your plan and of your ways? And so, Lord, please show me your ways. Show me what you have in store for the people. That's prayer number one. Prayer number two, is in 14 to 17. Lord, give me your continual presence. Now, look at this. It's amazing how this starts out. There's good news here in verse 14 when it starts out. How does God respond to Moses' intercession? God says, and he said, My presence will go with you and I will give you rest. Wait a minute. When we first started out this chapter, what did God say? I ain't going, I'm sending a substitute. But now, what is God saying? I will go with you. Ah, there's been a change. Isn't that so gracious and merciful of God? Comes on the back of what? Comes on the back of Moses' intercession for the people. Hmm. Give me your continual presence, Moses is saying, and the Lord says, Okay, my presence will go with you. And so what we're seeing here is now a return to the original arrangement that God had made for the people. And then Moses goes on and he says, Lord, if your presence will not go with me, do not even bring us up from here. I mean, Moses is thinking about what God said about a substitute going and that kind of sickened Moses. Because that was a lesser deal, wasn't it? Lord, are you sure you're going to go? I don't want a substitute for you. That's his heart. I don't want any substitute. It's almost like Moses saying, Lord, an angel might be good, but that's less than you. I want you Lord. I don't want an angel. I don't want anybody else to take us. You being with us is the thing that makes the difference. That's the message. If you won't go with me, do not bring us up from here. He also says, For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I in your people? Is it not in your going with us so that we are distinct? In other words, Lord, isn't it you being with us that makes us distinct from all of the other peoples? I mean, what good is it if we go out here into this new territory, this new land, and we meet all of these other pagan tribes and nations and all the rest? If you're not with us, how are we any different than all of them? That's his argument. God has said, I'm going to go with you now there in verse 14, but Moses is really trying to press that home. Lord, are you sure? Are you really going to go with us? And then these beautiful words, verse 17, And the Lord said to Moses, This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name. So verse 17 and verse 14 are like parentheses saying the same thing to this worry and this trouble that Moses has about the ways of God, the plan of God. What are you gonna do, Lord? Two times the Lord says, alright, I'm gonna go with you. One time should have been enough, shouldn't it have? I'm thankful when God says something more than once, though. Like, when we study the Bible, if we find a truth, one time is enough. But if I see it two or three times, that's even better. That's what's going on here. God is being so, so very gracious. Do you see those two prayers? Show me your ways. Give me your continual presence. What's the third prayer? The third prayer is, Lord, show me your glory. This is great. Look in verse 18. Moses said, please show me your glory. How does God respond to that? I'll make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name, the Lord. My goodness. God is reminding Moses of His goodness. Do you know God's glory is seen in His being good? By the way, let's back up. What is glory? Glory just means weightiness, something that makes you stand back and you're in awe of it and it's a weight on you because it overwhelms you, it overcomes you, it just takes your breath away kind of thing. Have you ever had somebody be so kind to you and generous to you and gracious to you that you were like, whoa, I can't believe you did that for me. I'm talking about just on a human level. Here the Lord is basically saying that part of His glory is wrapped up in the fact that He is good. I've never known anybody to be better to me than the Lord. I've never seen any person top the goodness of the Lord. I would say it's impossible to do so. God has done the ultimate good thing for us. We fast forward to the Bible, we understand that's the giving of His Son, the Lord Jesus. How do we know that God is good? He just is. His nature, He's demonstrated in creation, but ultimately we see the goodness of God and the fact that He made provision for His people. So, I'll make all my goodness pass before you, He says. And I'm going to proclaim before you my name, the Lord. This is an incredible statement I have underlined in my Bible. You should, too, think about it. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." The glory of God not only is seen in just His goodness, but it's also seen in His sovereign freedom for Him to do whatever He wants to do. What does the name of the Lord mean? Where's the Godness in the name of the Lord? The Godness of God is in His freedom. Freedom to do whatever He wants. I mean, this right here should put an end to the Arminian scheme in one hammer blow. I'm going to do what I want to do, God says. I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. I'll show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Where does grace and where does mercy come from? Does it come from our having a claim on the goodness and the mercy and the grace of God? No, it comes in God's freedom to give it to whomever He wants. Sovereign freedom. There's glory in that, isn't there? There's nobody else who has that kind of freedom. God has freedom in an ultimate sense. Nobody else has an ultimate freedom like that. Everybody else's freedom is derived. God's freedom is not derived from anything. He has ultimate freedom. That's what makes Him God. The Godness of God is found in His freedom to do what He wants to do. Also, His glory is seen in His kindness to protect the inferior. Look at here. Here's the problem, Moses. You can't see my face. For a man shall not see Me and live. And so, because of that problem, the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by Me where you shall stand on the rock, and when My glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My hand until I have passed by." Now, maybe you read that and you say, Wait a minute. This seems like a contradiction because previously the Bible said in verse 11 that the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend. Now, that's true in the sense that God appeared to Moses in such a way that Moses could have direct communication with God. But obviously what's happening here is a greater level of revelation of who God is that would have been too much for Moses to bear. So what God is going to show Moses here when he passes by, the glory that's going to be revealed about who God is when he passes by Moses, is a greater degree of glory than what Moses was used to seeing when he communicated with God out in the tent outside the camp. So there was something about God's presence when he was outside of the camp with Moses that God protected Moses from being just completely consumed. And here, a greater degree of glory is going to be seen, but Moses can't see God from one particular angle or else it will obliterate him. And so what does God do? God's going to hide him. He's going to hide him in the rock, and then he's going to pass by. And Moses is going to get a glimpse of God, not in the complete fullness of his glory, but still a shaded glory, because he's going to see him from the back and not the front. I take that to mean that God understands who He is and who we are, and that God is so holy and so glorious that without His protection we would be consumed. Songs have been written off this scene here. We sing it, don't we? Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee. That's what we need, don't we? Nobody would ever be able to be in the presence of God. No sinner would ever be in the presence of God without a covering. Why is it that one day we'll see the glory of God? Because we have the covering and we'll be made ready through the Lord Jesus. This is a picture of that. Jesus is the rock. Make the connection. See it. And then the glory of God is seen when it's seen. You'll see my glory when you see me. There's another song we sing sometimes. What's that song? Be Thou My Vision. Moses was gonna get a vision of God that he had never had before. It was gonna take his breath away. Moses asked for it. Show me your glory. Okay, God says, I'm gonna show you my glory to such a degree it's gonna... It's going to melt your soul. So we pick up on that, don't we? And we sing things like, Be Thou My Vision. Have you ever thought about what that means? Be Thou My Vision? When you come together with the corporate fellowship and you begin to sing and you worship the Lord and you start thinking of the gospel and the things that are revealed in the Word of God, the prayer of the heart of the believer is, show me a vision of who you are in this moment. You don't have to have as a prerequisite the corporate gathering to have a vision of who God is because you've got the Bible and you can learn about God and studying the Word. But there is something special when saints come together and you have multiple people that are indwelled by the Spirit of God. All of these tabernacles setting in here right now. You are the tabernacle of God, aren't you? Because of the Spirit that dwells within you by virtue of the new covenant. So every person that's a believer in here, as I look at you, you are a unique tabernacle of God because He dwells within you. And when you get all that happening together, that many people together who are Indwelt by the Spirit of God, there is a sense of the presence of God. Oftentimes it comes in that environment more so than when you're just by yourself in your Bible. That's why it's so important. Man, you should just kind of hit yourself when you have to miss sometimes, miss the corporate worship, because what should be going on in your mind is, oh, I'm going to miss something today. I'm going to miss something. I'm going to miss something about God today if I don't meet with the saints. I will be so sorry if something happens and I'm not there. Every one of these meetings that we have, they're not repeated in the same way. They're all unique. The Spirit of God is doing something in your soul right now different than when we preach chapter 32 and chapter 31 and chapter 30. It had its own glory, but now this chapter has its own glory, doesn't it? God does things from this chapter in your soul to make you like Christ that He didn't do in the last chapter. Every chapter is unique. Every little chisel blow that comes with every chapter. And if you miss it, you say, oh, what am I going to miss? That's what should go on in our hearts. Why do you suppose that these three things are what Moses asked for? It's a good thing to think about, isn't it? Well, I think he asked these three things because these three questions, these three desires, this is what lies at the heart of a covenantal relationship with God and really is the desire of every true believer. The first one, what was it that Moses said? He's talking to the Lord and he's wanting God to show him His ways. A fallen world without God's ways only leads to chaos and disorder. The ways of God. It's wonderful in the life of the Christian that you have the revealed ways of God, that everybody can go to the Bible, objective truth, you know what God loves, you know what God hates, and when your mind is filled with the Bible, and you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, you have through those two things everything that you really need in life to know the will of God and the ways of God, and how that relates to you specifically for your particular walk and place in life. How do you have understanding of the ways of God, wanting to live in the way and the path of God for your life individually as it relates to you? Well, you've got to know the revealed ways of God first, don't you? And you have to walk in the ways of God and be led by the Spirit of God. And then through a Bible mind, being indwelt by the Spirit, the Lord begins to open up things to you about the path and the direction that you should go. And when you start going down a wrong path, there's these red caution lights that start going off in your soul, and you know it's the wrong thing. That's how God leads us. One of the prayers we should pray all the time. When we rise in the morning and we go about our day, oh God, show me your ways for my life for today. Give me what I need to live in such a way that I'm going in the direction that you want to go. Because my life is going to fall into disorder and chaos if I take a path that's not your path. And beloved, God's path is so very narrow and there's so many exit points and tricks that are attractive that will say, why don't you go down this way for a while? And then you go down that way for a while, thinking it's going to lead to some wonderful thing, and all you've done is walked around in a big circle. You come right back to the same spot. Where have I been? What have I been doing? We have to be in tune with God to know the ways of God, so we don't fall into chaos and disorder. Also, Moses said, I want your presence, that your presence would be with me continually. A fallen world without God's presence only leads to loneliness and fear. Loneliness is a sad thing. Fear is a horrible thing. Do you ever know anybody that lives in fear? Just continual fear about everything. Always doom and gloom. Worrying about this thing. Worrying about that thing. Constant anxiety. Constant worry. Constant dread. The sky is falling. Things are not going to go well. Just constant way of thinking. Such a defeatist kind of a life. Beloved, as a Christian, if you focus on, pray about, think clearly about desiring the presence of God, that stuff will start fading out of your life. You'll have courage. You'll be able to do the things that God wants you to do. You'll be able to do your tasks. You'll be able to do your duties. You'll be able to live with victory in your life. And so, the prayer of the believer is, Lord, I need your presence continually in my life. And then the third thing. When He's talking about, show me your glory, that's so important in the life of a Christian because a fallen world without God's glory only leads to cheaper joys that provide no ultimate or lasting satisfaction. When you behold the weightiness of God and the glory of God, you find joy for your soul. Your soul latches on to something that gives it delight. And if you don't have glimpses of the glory of God, then you're going to find other things that are far cheaper, far lesser joys than that of God. That's some good stuff, isn't it? Man, what a chapter. What a chapter. We've just dusted it too. So many things there could be talked about. Well, here we are. We have to ask the question, what's going to happen next? Well, the answer to that is that the King of the Covenant is going to be very gracious and He's going to renew the covenant with His people. Here, let's get a taste of it. Go over to verse 10. And He said, Behold, I am making a covenant before all your people. I will do marvels such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with What's that last statement? With you. Wow! Isn't that great? It's going to be a renewal of the covenant. That's what's going to happen. That's what we're going to see in chapter 34. I'll leave you with this last thought. We've already talked about it. Let me put it back in your remembrance in light of chapter 32 and chapter 33. I want to ask you this question. I want you to think about it. Have you experienced the dual realities of sin abounding and then grace abounding all the more? That's 32, 33. That's Romans 5, where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more. Think about that. If you haven't, I pray you'll experience His grace. Amen? Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for this glorious chapter. Father, I pray that we would dwell on it and think about it and would be encouraged about having You as our God. Lord, our souls are moved by the tension that we read in Scripture as You dealt with the people. And Lord, I think about those people and how they responded and how they mourned over violating the covenant and the fact that Your presence wasn't going to be with them. Father, I am so grateful tonight that we are in a covenant with you that we will never lose your presence. We have covenantal promises that have assured us you have deposited your Spirit within us. You're not going to lose your Spirit. You're going to keep us. You're going to hold us fast. And we thank You for that. We thank You for new covenant salvation. We thank You for all that Christ has done for us, Lord. We don't even get it. We don't even begin to understand, really, all that's there for us in the Lord Jesus. Father, we thank You tonight. We praise You for Your Son. Lord, if there's any person here tonight that hasn't experienced Christ, Lord, if there's any person here tonight that's treasuring up in their heart cheaper joys that really bring no ultimate satisfaction, Lord, rid them of that. Bring them to the place of repentance, Lord. I pray that whatever blessings that you've given them, if they've become sinful burdens, Lord, that you would deliver them and help them to see Christ, Lord. Lord, that they would experience the grace abounding far more than all of their sin, and they would find eternal life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to be faithful to continue to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified in Your glorious plan and Your Son. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.